Folklore from Adams County Illinois

(3rd Edition, 2002, from 1935 and 1965 Editions)

By Harry Middleton Hyatt
[Ed. by John Schleppenbach]
Table of Contents
CLIMATE (1-948)
WEATHER SIGNS (1-889)
Sun - Moon - Star - Colored Sky - Rainbow (1-122)
Clouds - Lightning - Thunder - Storm (123-185)
Wind - Whirlwind - Rain - Snow (186-293)
Freeze - Frost - Thaw - Mist - Fog - Dew (294-329)
Bubbles - Water Level - Spring - Well - River (330-336)
Weather on Special Days and during Various Seasons (337-372)
Blackberry - Cocklebur - Clover - Corn (373-392)
Dandelion - Flower - Grass - Milkweed (393-400)
Mushroom - Onion - Purslane - Raspberry (401-410)
Tree: Bloom - Foliage - Bark - Moss - Gall (411-428)
Nuts: Acorn - Beechnut - Hazelnut - Hickorynut - Walnut (429-433)
Weed - Vegetable - Violet - Wheat (434-438)
Insect - Ant - Bee - Butterfly - Caterpillar (439-469)
Cricket - Fly - Gnat - Hornet - June Bug (470-481)
Lightning Bug - Locust (Cicada) - Snail - Spider (482-499)
Tumblebug - Wasp - Woodtick - Worm (500-509)
Crawfish - Eel - Fish - Turtle - Frog - Toad - Snake (510-548)
Bird - Blackbird - Bluebird - Blue Jay - Buzzard (549-572)
Crow - Dove - Wild Duck and Goose - Hawk (573-586)
Meadow Lark - Owl - Parrot - Phoebe - Quail (587-605)
Redbird (Cardinal) - Robin - Snipe - Snowbird (Junko) (606-619)
Sparrow - Swallow - Thrush - Whippoorwill (620-629)
Chicken - Crowing Rooster - Duck - Goose (630-679)
Guinea - Peacock - Pigeon - Turkey (680-692)
Bat - Bear - Beaver - Cat - Cow - Dog (693-752)
Ground Hog (Woodchuck) - Hog - Horse and Mule (753-777)
Mouse - Mole - Muskrat - Rabbit - Raccoon and Opossum (778-794)
Sheep - Skunk (Polecat) - Squirrel - Weasel (795-807)
Human: Bone - Ear - Feet - Hair - Head - Nose - Stomach (808-821)
Chimney - Door - Floor - Gate - Window (822-829)
Carpet - Camphor Bottle - Chair - Clothesline (830-833)
Glassware - Lamp or Lantern - Kettle - Tobacco - Pipe (834-837)
Iron Objects - Washcloth or Sponge - Waterpipe (838-840)
Fire - Smoke - Soot (841-852)
Food - Cooking - Eating - Drinking (853-866)
Burning Brush - Shutting and Opening Gate (867-868)
Flying Kite - Moving Day - Picnic - Preventing Rain (869-873)
Singing in Bath - Stopping Swing - Telephone - Umbrella (874-878)
Kicking up Rug - Shoes Squeaking - Person Falling (879-881)
Women on Street - Baby Carriage - Washing and Cleaning (882-887)
Fireworks - ammunition - Battle during War (888-889)
PROTECTION AGAINST LIGHTNING (890-907)
INFLUENCE OF WEATHER ON CROPS (908-948)

PLANTS (949-1329)
FARM AND GARDEN RULES (949-966)
CLOVER - GRASS - WEEDS (967-1011)
FLOWERS (1012-1082)
VEGETABLES (1083-1208)
Time of Day for Planting (1083-1093)
Planting by the Zodiac (1094-1125)
Planting in the Moon (1126-1135)
Planting according to Wind (1136)
Planting at Blossom-Time (1137-1139)
Special Planting Days (1140-1168)
Sex and Planting (1169-1170)
Temper and Planter (1171-1173)
Planting Rhymes (1174-1177)
Planting Incantations (1178-1186)
Miscellaneous Beliefs (1187-1208)
CORN -OATS -WHEAT (1209-1249)
 TREES -SHRUBBERY - VINES (1250-1329)

ANIMALS (1330-2582)
SMALL FORMS OF AIR AND LAND LIFE (1330-1529)
Insect - Ant -Bedbug - Bee - Butterfly (1330-1379)
Caterpillar - Centipede - Cricket - Doodle Bug (1380-1404)
Dragon fly - Flea - Fly - Grasshopper - Katydid (1405-1424)
Lady Bug - Lightning Bug (Firefly) - Locust (1425-1435)
Lice - Moth - Snail - Spider (1436-1522)
Tumblebug - Wasp - Worm (1523-1529)
AQUATIC ANIMAL LIFE (1530-1543)
Sea Shell - Oyster - Crayfish (1530-1536)
Fish - Gold fish - Minnow - Perch (1537-1543)
FROG - TOAD - LIZARD - SNAKE - TURTLE (1544-1617)
BIRDS (1618-1771)
Birds - Blackbird - Bluebird - Blue Jay - Canary (1618-1660)
Cedar Waxwing - Crow - Dove - Eagle - Hawk (1661-1687)
Kingfisher - Martin - Owl - Parrot - Phoebe (1688-1723)
Quail - Redbird - Robin - Sparrow - Swallow (1724-1758)
Turkey Buzzard - Whippoorwill - Woodpecker - Wren (1759-1771)
CHICKEN -HEN -EGGS -ROOSTER (1772-1975)
DUCK - GOOSE - GUINEA - PEACOCK - PIGEON - TURKEY (1976-2001)
WILD ANIMALS (2002-2061)
Bat - Guinea Pig - Mice - Rabbit - Raccoon (2002-2044)
Rat -Skunk - Squirrel - Flying Squirrel (2045-2061)
CATS (2062-2219)
DOGS (2220-2319)
FARM STOCK IN GENERAL (2320-2339)
STOCK BREEDING (2340-2354)
SHEEP (2355-2360)
HOGS (2361-2399)
COWS (2400-2478)
HORSES AND MULES (2479-2582)

BIRTH AND INFANCY (2583-3533)

WHO WILL HAVE A BABY (2583-2623)
NUMBER OF CHILDREN YOU WILL HAVE (2624-2639)
TWINS AND TRIPLETS (2640-2660)
DETERMINANTS OF SEX (2661-2720)
BIRTHMARK (2721-2886)
Cause of Birthmark (2721-2837)
Prevention of Birthmarks (2838-2849)
Removal of Birthmarks (2850-2886)
CONTRACEPTIVES -ABORTION -MISCARRIAGE (2887-2913)
GESTATION (2914-2951)
Labor Pains - Afterbirth - Caul - Naval Cord (2952-3037)
Premature Birth - Stillborn (3038 - 3040)
Posthumous Child - Seventh Son (3041-3050)
DIRECTIONS FOR CONFINEMENT (3051-3067)
TIME OF BIRTH (3068-3107)
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BABIES (3108-3137)
CARE OF INFANT (3138-3352)
Layette - Cradle - Moving Baby about House (3138-3210)
Baby Taken on Visit - Visit to Baby (3211-3244)
To Give Baby Curly Hair - Haircut for Baby (3245-3261)
Baby’s Nails Trimmed - Measuring Baby (3262-3271)
Baby tickled - Picture of Baby (3272-3278)
Baby and Mirror - Disposition of Baby (3279-3305)
Baby’s Health - Slobbering Baby (3306-3332)
Baby Falling out of Bed (3333-3336)
Learning to Walk and Talk (3337-3352)
DENTITION (3353-3419)
First Appearance and Number of Teeth (3353-3360)
Teething Remedies (3361-3419)
LACTATION (3420-3484)
Caked Breasts - Weaning - To Dry up Breasts (3420-3484)
BAPTISM -NAMING -SPONSORS OR GODPARENTS (3485-3510)
DETERMINATION AND DIVINATION OF CHILD'S FUTURE (3511-3533)

THE HUMAN BODY (3534-4523)

 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS (3534-3549)
HEAD-FOREHEAD-CHEEK- CHIN-FACE-NECK (3550-3583)
HAIR (3584-3814)
Quantity of Hair - White or Grey Hair (3584-3606)
Light and Dark Hair - Red Hair - Curly Hair (3607-3640)
Cowlick - Crown - Beard and Mustache - Washing Hair (3641-3671)
Cutting Hair - Combing Hair - Disposal of Hair (3672-3791)
MOUTH - LIPS - TONGUE (3792-3814)
TEETH (3815-3858)
LAUGHING - CRYING - YAWNING - WHISTLING - SPITTING (3859-3900)
SINGING (3901-3927)
SPEAKING (3928-3980)
EARS (3981-4014)
EYES - CROSS-EYES (4015-4069)
NOSE - SNEEZING (4070-4179)
BACK - BELLY - BUTTOCKS - SHOULDER - ARM - ELBOW (4180-4203)
HANDS - FINGERS (4204-4285)
FINGER-NAILS AND TOE-NAILS (4286-4374)
LEGS -KNEES -ANKLES -FEET (4375-4415)
MOLES ON THE BODY (4416-4477)
BEAUTY (4478-4523)

FOLK MEDICINE (4524-7213)

SICKNESS AND HEALTH (4524-4638)
General Remedies (4524-4582)
Sickbed (4583-4635)
Healer (4636-4638)
AMPUTATIONS AND SURGICAL OPERATIONS (4639-4649)
APPENDICITIS (4650-4654)
AURAL AFFLICTIONS (4655-4686)
Earache (4655-4678)
Hearing and Deafness (4679-4686)
BACKACHE AND LUMBAGO (4687-4698)
BITES AND STINGS
Dog Bit - Insect Bite or Sting - Snake Bite (4699-4744)
BLEEDING
Cuts - Nosebleed (4745-4831)
BOWEL TROUBLE (4832-4846)
BURNS (4847-4860)
CHILLS (4861-4897)
FEBRILE DISEASES (4898-4967)
Fever - Malaria - Measles (4898-4949)
Scarlet Fever - Smallpox - Typhoid Fever (4950-4967)
FEMALE DISORDERS (4968-4992)
FOOT AND HAND AILMENTS (4993-5177)
Ingrowing Toe-Nail - Sweaty Feet - Frostbitten (4993-5019)
Sore Feet - Foot or Hand Cramp or Pain - Corns (5020-5144)
Swelling - Gout - Splinter - Nail Wound - Sprain (5145-5177)
GOITRE (5178-5232)
HEADACHE (5233-5300)
MUMPS (5301-5310)
MUSCULAR COMPLAINTS
Crick - Hiccough - Sideache - Swimming Cramps (5311-5365)
NERVE MALADIES (5366-5402)
Hysteria - Nervousness (5366-5368)
Neuralgia - Neuritis - Shingles (5369-5402)
OCULAR MATTERS (5403-5510)
Bi-Colored Eyes - Blindness - Cataract and Growth (5403-5411)
Cross-Eyes - Pink Eye - Particle in Eye (5412-5421)
Sore or Weak Eyes - Sty - Sun Pains (5422-5510)
PAROXYSM
Colic - Epilepsy - Spasm - Piles (5511-5603)
PULMONARY AFFECTIONS
Lung Trouble - Pneumonia - Tuberculosis (5604-5639)
RESPIRATORY DISTURBANCES
Asthma - Catarrh - Hay Fever (5640-5676)
RHEUMATISM (5677-5804)
SKIN COMPLICATIONS (5805-5904)
Blister - Chafing - Chapping - Eczema - Erysipelas (5805-5827)
Freckles - Hives - Itch - Pimple - Poison Ivy (5828-5890)
 Rash - Scrofula - Tetter - Thrush (5891-5904)
SLEEP DIFFICULTIES (5905-6004)
Insomnia - Snoring - Sleep-Talking (5905-5948)
Sleep-Walking - Night Sweat - Nightmare (5949-6004)
SORE AND BEDSORE (6005-6039)
STOMACH DISORDERS (6040-6071)
THROAT INFIRMITIES (6072-6219)
Cold - Cough - Croup - Diphtheria (6072-6147)
Sore throat - Tonsilitis - Whooping Cough (6148-6219)
TOOTHACHE (6220-6261)
TUMOR - CANCER - BOIL (6262-6293)
URINARY PROBLEMS
Bed Wetting - Kidney Trouble (6294-6325)
WART ORIGINS (6326-6335)
WART DOCTOR (6336-6340)
WART CURES (6341-7051)
Apple - Bacon - Baking Soda - Bean - Beef (6341-6452)
Bone - Bread - Broomstraw - Button (6453-6476)
Castor Oil - Chalk - Chicken - Cloth or Rag (6477-6508)
Corn - Counting - Crossroad - Dandelion (6509-6574)
Dead: (6575-6610)
Cemetery - Grave - Tombstone - Coffin - Corpse - Funeral Bell - Candle - Procession
Dish Rag - Dog - Dress - Elder - Hair - Horse (6611-6675)
Match - Meat - Milkweed - Moon - Nail (6676-6718)
Needle - Onion - Osage Orange - Paper (6719-6764)
Pea - Peach - Pebble - Penny - Pin - Pork (6765-6821)
Potato - Raisin - Ring - Rock - Saliva (6822-6891)
Salt - Shoe - Soap - Snow - Spoon - Stick (6892-6906)
Straw - String and Thread and Yarn - Teeth (6907-6975)
Tomato - Tree - Turtle - Water - Wishing (6976-7000)
Miscellaneous Wart Cures – One Each (7001-7051)
Beet - Menstrual Blood - Breath (7001-7003)
Burning - Cow Manure - Cross sign (7004-7006)
Dew - Dime - Dishwater - Elm - Fingernail (7007-7011)
Fly-Flea-Flue - May Flowers - Friday - Frog (7012-7015)
Grapevine - Hazel - Hickory - New House (7016-7019)
Jimson Weed - Lamp Wick - Lemon - Lime (7020-7023)
Liver - Negro - Nickel (Coin) - Nightshade (7024-7027)
Pencil - Pin - Peroxide - Pine Board (7028-7030)
Potato Bug - Rice - Rubber Band - Sand (7031-7034)
Sassafras - Scissors - Silver - Snail Shell (7035-7038)
Soot - Sow Urine - Spider Web - Splinter (7039-7042)
Suet - Sword - Silver Thimble - Toad Urine (7043-7046)
Toenail Parings - Toothpick - wild turnip (7047-7049)
Own Urine - Green Walnut (7050-7051)
WHITLOW: FELON - RING-AROUND - RUN-AROUND (7052-7066)
WORMS AND RINGWORM (7067-7095)
YELLOW JAUNDICE AND GALLSTONES (7096-7114)
MISCELLANEOUS CURES (7115-7213)
Dead Bone - Diabetes - Dropsy - Drunkenness (7115-7126)
“Fallen Palate” - “Falling-Off” or “Flesh-Decay” (7127-7132)
Heart Trouble - Insanity - “Livergrown” (7133-7155)
Kernel - Wen - Mole (7156-7167)
Pain - Paralysis - Peritonitis - Poison (7168-7179)
Rupture - Seasickness - Trainsickness - Stuttering (7180-7196)
Sunstroke - Swallowing - Venereal Disease - Vomiting (7197-7213)

DREAMS (7214-8376)
DREAMS MADE TRUE (7214-7239)
INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS (7278-8376)
Sky - Water - Land (7278-7398)
Flowers - Provender - Vegetables - Fruit - Trees (7399-7481)
Insects - Worms (7482-7517)
Fish - Frog - Toad - Turtle - Snake (7518-7561)
Bird - chicken - Duck - Goose - Pigeon - Turkey (7562-7626)
Eggs - Feathers (7627-7650)
Animals - Ape - Bear - Cat - Cow - Dog (7651-7694)
Donkey - Elephant - Goat - Hog - Horse (7695-7733)

Lion - Mice - Mule - Rabbit - Rat - Sheep (7734-7749)

 Birth - Baby - Children (7750- 7771)
Man - Woman - Negro - Family - Blood (7772-7821)
Eyes - Face - Feet - Hair - Skin - Teeth (7822-7854)
Sickness and Health (7855-7885)
Anger - Fight - Quarrel - Friend (7886-7900)
Crying - Laughing - Singing - Kissing (7901-7921)
Naked - Clothes - Personal Ornaments (7922-7977)
Wedding - House - Household Equipment (7978-8054)
Fire-Stove - Smoke - Ashes - Matches (8055-8076)
Food and Drink (8077-8121)
Waving - Climbing - Crawling - Falling - Flying (8122-8138)
Riding - Running - Traveling - Walking (8139-8149)
Vehicle - Road - Lost - Crowd - Meeting (8150-8173)
Letter - Mailman - Telegram - Money (8174-8215)
Thief - Policeman - Prison (8216-8225)
Pastimes (8226-8248)
Religious Matters (8249-8269)
The Dead - Coffin - Grave - Cemetery (8270-8343)
Murder - Hanging - Headless (8344-8349)
Miscellaneous Dreams (8350-8376)

WISHES (8377-8798 194

GENERAL PRINCIPLES (8377-8387)
WHEN A WISH MAY BE MADE (8388-8798)
Sun - Moon - Star (8388-8432)
Thunder - Lightning - Rain - Rainbow (8433-8437)
Water - Bridge - Reflection in Water (8438-8450)
Plant Life (8456-8506)
Double Almond - Apple - Beans or Peas (8456-8462)
Boy Britches - Clover - Corn - Dandelion (8463-8484)
Flower - Fruit - Hay - Lettuce - Lilac (8485-8498)
Love Vine - Maple - Onion - Peach (8499-8502)
Persimmon - Potato - Vegetable - Wheat (8503-8506)
Insects: Butterfly - Lightning Bug - Spider (8507-8512)
Frog (8513)
Birds: (8514-8541
Bluebird - Buzzard - Owl - Redbird - Robin - Dove - Whippoorwill - Woodpecker
Chicken: (8542-8559)
Gizzard - Heart - Egg - Wishbone
Cat - Dog - Horse - Mule (8560-8594)
Mouse - Rabbit - Squirrel (8595-8599)
Human Body (8600-8798)
Hunchback - Ear - Eyelash - Face (8600-8606)
Head - Hair - Combing - Red-Headed Woman (8607-8619)
Hand and Fingernail (8620-8624)200
Blister - Bruise - Bump (8625-8626)
Wooden Leg - Toe - Tooth - Sneeze (8627-8637)
Simultaneous Speech (8638-8644)
Clothes (8645-8693)
Dress: Turned Up - Backward - Wrong Side Out (8645-8654)
Hat - Shoe - Shoestring - Stocking - Garter (8655-8666)
Pin - Hairpin - Ring (8667-8693)
Household Matters (8694-8741)
Going to Bed and Getting up (8694-8706)
Sweeping - Broom - Mop (8707-8711)
Eating - Birthday Cake - Pie - Coffee - Tea (8712-8720)
Dish Rag - Towel - Knife - Fork - Spoon (8721-8729)
Saw - Scissors - Thimble - Salt - Pepper (8730-8736)
Coal - Match - String - Lamp - Letter (8737-8741)
Automobile - Baseball - Button - Your double (8742-8748)
New Friend - Three Hour Service - Hill Climbing (8749-8753)
Horseshoe - Strange or New House - Forgetting (8754-8774)
Key - Lucky Strike - Nail - Negro Wedding (8775-8783)
Penny - Dime - Machinery - Schoolhouse - Sidewalk (8784-8791)
Park Bench - Freight Train - Wagon - Woman or Man (8792-8798)

LOVE BELIEFS AND RITES (8799-9894)

FROM SKY AND WATER AND LAND (8799-8912)
Moon and Stars (8799-8829)
Water in: Glass - Pan - Cup - Tub (8830-8853)
 Molten Lead in Water (8854-8857)
Drinking Water: Swallowing - Spilling - Throwing (8858-8866)
Well - Spring - Running Water (8867-8895)
Ground - Pebbles - Sand (8896-8912)
LOVE SAYINGS AND PLANTS (8913-9080)
Clover (8913-8943)
Weeds Mostly (8944-8963)
Cattail - Dandelion - Mayapple - Milkweed (8944-8952)
Mistletoe - Holly - Plantain - Mullein - Thistle (8953-8963)
Flowers (8964-8984)
Bouquet - Daisy - Hollyhock - Ivy (8964-8972)
Live-For-Ever and Love Vine (8973-8977)
Old-Man-Plant - Rose - Sunflower - Zinnia (8978-8984)
Vegetables:
Beans - Cucumber - Cabbage - Onion (8985-8990)
Peas - Potato - Sage - Turnip (8991-9004)
Grain - Hay - Straw: Corn - Rye - Wheat (9005-9020)
Berries: Gooseberry - Colored Berry - Twin Berry (9021-9024)
Nuts: (9025-9034)
Acorn - Buckeye - Beechnut - Chestnut (9025-9029)
Coconut - Hazelnut - Nutmeg - Walnut (9030-9034)
Apple - Lemon - Trees (9035-9080)
ANIMALS AND LOVE BELIEFS (9081-9216)
Insects: (9081-9094)
Butterfly - Measuring Worm (Caterpillar) (9081-9084)
June Bug - Lightning Bug - Mosquito (9085-9087)
Spider - Tumble Bu - Wasp (9088-9094)
Snail - fish - Frog - Toad - Snake (9095-9102)
Birds: (9103-9143)
Canary - Dove - Hawk - Humming Bird (9103-9119)
Owl - Redbird - Robin - Turkey Buzzard (9120-9139)
Whippoorwill - Unspecified Birds (9140-9143)
Poultry: Chicken - Goose - Peacock - Pigeon - Turkey (9144-9174)
Rabbit - Cat - Dog - Cow - Horse - Mule (9175-9216)
HUMAN BODY AND LOVE-LORE (9217-9333)
Head - Hair - Eye - Ear - Nose (9217-9247)
Nosebleed - Sneezing - Cheeks - Teeth (9248-9259)
Hiccough - Blister - Kiss - Chin - Shoulder (9260-9276)
Breast - Belly - Mole - Shiver - Skin (9277-9281)
Elbow - Hand - Fingers - Fingernails (9282-9319)
Toenails - Knee - Leg - Feet - Big Toe (9320-9333)
SIGNS FROM LOVE ITSELF (9334-9344)
Love and Marriage:
Loving Same Man (9334)
Thinking of Beau - First Date (9335-9337)
Lovers’ Quarrel - Three Weddings - First Marriage (9338-9344)
Love Letter (9345-9373)
HOUSE AND ENVIRONS AND LOVE (9374-9832)
The Building (9374-9396)
First Night in House - Bedroom - Papering - Stairs (9374-9384)
Through Window - Cellar Door - Rain Barrel (9385-9389)
Circumambulating House - Gate - Fence (9390-9396)
Household Equipment (9397-9476)
Bed - Candle - Chair - Clock - Ladder (9397-9423)
Lamp - Mirror - Paper and Naming - Photograph (9424-9454)
Knife - Fork - Spoon - Table (9455-9476)
Match and Fire (9477-9494)
Food and Drink (9495-9548)
“Dumb Supper” or “Silent Supper” (9549-9584)
(1) Set-Table Variant (9549-9561)
(2) Egg Variant (9562-9575)
(3) Salt Variant (9576-9584)
Cleaning (9585-9625)
Bath - Dish Water - Mop - Broom and Sweeping (9585-9619)
Washing Clothes - Ironing - Bed Making (9620-9625)
Sewing (9626-9681)
Thimble - Thread - Ball of Yarn - Needle (9626-9646)
Scissors - Pin - Hairpin - Safety Pin - Button (9647-9681)
Clothes (9682-9759)
Dress - Pants - Shirt - Necktie (9682-9712)
 Stockings - Socks - Garters (9713-9732)
Shoes - Shoe Strings - Hat (9733-9759)
Clothing Accessories (9760-9877)
Apron - Gloves - Handkerchief - Purse - Penknife (9760-9796)
Ring - Earrings - Beads - Breastpin - Hairbrush (9797-9820)
Nailfile - Watch - Cuff Links - Umbrella (9821-9877)
SAYINGS ABOUT LOVE FROM WALKING FORTH (9833-9877)
LOVE BELIEFS AND PASTIMES (9878-9894)

MARRIAGE (9895-10340)
WHOM TO MARRY (9895-9917)
Birthday - Physical Considerations (9895-9910)
Disposition - Name (9911-9917)
PROPOSAL (9918-9922)
ENGAGEMENT (9923-9941)
TIME OF WEDDING (9942-9979)
WEATHER AT WEDDING (9980-9997)
BRIDAL ATTIRE (9998-10113)
Material - Color - Borrowed - Old and New (9998-10037)
Making - Preview - Care - Veil (10038-10064)
Slippers - Ornaments - Ring - Flowers (10065-10113)
THE WEDDING (10114-10209)
Dressing for - Affected by Death (10114-10139)
To and From Church - At Altar (10140 - 10194)
Bridal Kiss - Tears at Wedding (10195-10209)
WEDDING FESTIVITIES (10210-10301)
Things Thrown - Presents - Feast (10210-10268)
Charivari - Entering New Home - First Night (10269-10301)
MARRIED LIFE (10302-10340)

CLOTHING AND DRESSING (10341-11154)

SEWING (10341-10636)
Time to Sew - Mending (10341-10406)
Thimble - Thread - Needle - Scissors (10407-10490)
Pin - Hairpin - Safety Pin - Button (10491-10636)
FOOTWEAR (10637-10817)
Shoes - Shoestrings - Stockings - Socks - Garters (10637-10817)
DRESS -PETTICOAT -PANTS -SHIRT -COAT -NIGHTGOWN (10818-10977)
Color - New - Gift and Loan (10818-10858)
Time of Wearing - Order of Dressing (10859-10879)
Backwards - Wrong Side Out - Crooked (10880-10909)
Upturned Hem - Exposure - Tear - Stain - Hole (10910-10956)
Ravel and Basting - Care of Clothes (10957-10977)
HAT AND CAP (10978-11021)
CLOTHING ACCESSORIES (11022-11154)
Apron - Gloves - Handkerchief - Purse - Beads (11022-11079)
Belt - Breastpin - Earrings - Charm - Locket (11080-11096)
Ring - Birthstones - Gems - Eyeglasses - Umbrella (11097-11154)

HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES (11155-12644)

CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIRS (11155-11169)
TOOLS - NAIL - LADDER (11170-11216)
RENTING OR BUYING (11217-11222)
MOVING (11223-11350)
FURNITURE (11351-11506)
Unspecified - Bed - Bric-a-brac - Chair (11351-11415)
Clock - Watch - Curtain - Shade - Mirror (11416-11480)
Picture - Photograph - Table - Trunk - Key (11481-11506)
KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM ARTICLES (11507-11704)
Knife - Fork - Spoon (11507-11633)
Bread Knife - Butcher Knife - Pocket Knife (11634-11653)
Dishes - Glassware - Oil Cloth (11654-11680)
Pan - Skillet - String - Kettle - Bucket - Pitcher (11681-11688)
Tablecloth - Napkin - Toothpick (11689-11704)
HEAT AND LIGHT (11705-11778)
Match - Fire - Stove - Ashes - Candle - Lamp (11705-11778)
DRINK AND FOOD (11779-11999)
Water - Alcohol - Wine Making - Coffee - Tea (11779-11866)
Tobacco - Salt - Pepper - Sugar - Vinegar (11867-11972)
Jelly - Preserves - Pickles - Sauerkraut (11973-11999)
 BAKING (12000-12047
COOKING (12048-12116)
EATING (1217-12209)
HOLIDAY MEAL (12210-12239)
SOAP MAKING (12240-12249)
BATH (12250-12274)
DISHWATER -DISH RAG -DISH TOWEL (12275-12348)
MOPPING AND SCRUBBING (12349-12363)
SWEEPING AND BROOM (12364-12499)
WASHING CLOTHES (12500-12536)
IRONING (12537-12564)
BED MAKING (12565-12581)
GOING TO BED AND GETTING UP (12582-12644)

SOCIAL RELATIONS (12645-14394)

GOING FORTH (12645-13007)
Company - At the Door (12645-12694)
In and Out Different Doors - Through Window (12695-12712)
Up and Down Steps (12713-12724)
Stubbing - Stumbling - Tripping (12725-12747)
Stepping over Person (12748-12755)
Two Pedestrians Separated - Hello and Goodbye (12756-12785)
Journey - Finding a Horseshoe (12786-13007)
RETURNING HOME FOR FORGOTTEN ARTICLE (13008-13101)
READING AND WRITING (13102-13151)
Letters - Chain Letters - Pen - Ink - Pencil (13102-13141)
Book - Newspaper - Bible (13142-13151)
LOSS AND GAIN (13152-13176)
Presents - Lost Articles - Theft (13152-13176)
Law - Numbers - Money (13177-13270)
BUYING - PAYING - SELLING (13271-13289)
WORK AND BUSINESS (13290-13339)
OCCUPATIONS (13340-13413)
Barber - Miner - Sailor - Circus - Theatre (13340-13413)
SPORTS - PASTIMES - GAMES (13414-14118)
Marbles - Kite - Horseshoes - Dancing (13414-13430)
Boxing - Football - Basketball - Baseball (13431-13562)
Fisherman - Hunter - Gambler - Craps (13563-13868)
Horse Race - Playing Cards - Fortune Telling (13869-14085)
CHILDREN AT PLAY (14086-14118)
RHYMES (14119-14253)
RIMED RIDDLES (14254-14394)

DEATH (14395-15415)
TOKENS OF DEATH (14395-15079)
Moon - Star - Rain - Rainbow (14395-14402)
Plants (14403-14452)
Bean - Beet - Cabbage - Carnation - Carrot (14403-14408)
Clover - Corn - Cucumber - Cypress Vine (14409-14414)
Flowers - Kale - Onion - Lettuce - Mustard (14415-14424)
Sage - Bush - Tree (14425-14452)
Snail (14453)
Insects (14454-14472)
Bee - Butterfly - Black Bug - Cricket (14454-14460)
Blowfly - House Fly - Lightning Bug (14461-14463)
Locust (Cicada) - Dragon Fly - Spider (14464-14472)
Snake - Bat (14473-14482)
Birds (14483-14612)
Blackbird - Blue Jay - Buzzard (14483-14487)
Chimney Swift - Crane - Crow (14488-14491)
Dove - Wild Goose - Hawk - Owl (14492-14528)
Phoebe - Pigeon - Quail - Redbird - Robin (14529-14563)
Sapsucker - Sparrow - Swallow (14564-14574)
Whippoorwill - Unspecified (14575-14612) 363
Poultry: (14613-14738)
Chicken - Guinea - Peacock (14613-14647)

Animals (14648-14738)
Mouse - Groundhog - Rabbit - Rat - Squirrel (14648-14654)
 Cat - Dog - Hog - Cow - Horse (14655-14738)
Human Body (14739-14801)
Ear - Eye - Tears - Nails - Cut (14739-14748)
Hair - Combing - Hand - Headache (14749-14761)
Laughing - Measuring - Neck - Nosebleed (14762-14766)
Sneezing - Simultaneous Speech - Forgetting (14778-14797)
Teeth - Urinating - Whistling (14798-14801)
Clothes (14802-14859)
Sewing - Thread - Needle - Scissors (14802-14813)
Garment: New - Falling - Black (14814-14819)
Dressing - Shoe - Shoestring - Washing Clothes (14820-14847)
Hat - Breastpin - Hairpin - Pin - Ring - Umbrella (14848-14859)
House (14860-14884)
Addition - Moving - Chimney - Brick (14860-14866)
Door - Gate - Wall - Window (14867-14884)
Tools (14885-14893)
Ax - Hatchet - Hoe - Ladder - Nail (14885-14893)
Rake - Rope - Saw - Shovel - Spade (14894-14899)
Furniture (14900-15079)
Bed - Sweeping - Broom - Candle (14900-14929)
Chair - Rocking Chair - Clock - Dish (14930-14966)
Glassware - Icebox - Lamp - Auto Light (14967-14975)
Electric Light - Mirror - Musical Instrument (14976-14991)
Picture - Person’s Shadow - Stove - Ashes (14992-15016)
Window Curtain - Shade (15017-15018)
Food and Drink (15019-15051)
Going Forth (15052-15072)
Pastimes (15073-15079)
DEATHS FOR THE YEAR (15080-15088)
DIVINATION OF DEATH (15089-15100)
DEATHBED (15101-15126)
DROWNED BODY (15127-15136)
DEATH AFFECTS WEATHER (15137-15151)
HOUSEHOLD ARRANGEMENTS AT DEATH (15152-15188)
False Report of Death (15152)
Animals during Death in the House (15153-15167)
Clock - Mirror - Picture (15168-15188)
PREPARATION FOR BURIAL (15189-15211)
Coffin Maker - Undertaker - Shrouding (15189-15211)
Coffin - Crape - Flowers - Pallbearers (15212-15244)
Property of the Dead - Time of Burial (15245-15260)
How Long Spirit Lingers - Limber Corpse (15261-15266)
Withered Hand - Smiling Corpse (15267-15269)
Suffering Corpse - Photograph of Corpse (15270-15272)
Grief for Dead - Ill of the Dead (15273-15289)
Fear of Dead - Mourning Clothes (15290-15306)
On Way to funeral - Late for Funeral (15307-15312)
Leaving Anything at - Funeral Service (15313-15319)
FUNERAL PROCESSION (15320-15344)
Animals an - Riding in - Stopping (15320-15344)
Meeting - Watching - Counting Cars of (15345-15371)
RELUCTANT CORPSE (15372-15376)
GRAVE AND CEMETERY (15377-15415)
Orientation of Dead - Water in Grave (15377-15380)
Accident at Grave - Leaving Grave (15381-15391)
Cemetery Visit - Stepping on or over a Grave (15392-15408)
Future Grave - Tombstone - Exhumation (15409-15415)

SPIRITS (15416-15639)
TO CALL SPIRITS (15416-15419)
THE SPIRIT SPEAKS (15420-15454)
Through Animals - From Leaves and Trees (15420-15429)
Out of the Wind - In Whispers (15430-15432)
Using Normal Voice - A Command (15435-15438)
Person’s Name - Sending Presentiments (15439-15449)
Writing Message - With Song - By Prayer (15450-15454)
SPIRIT NOISES (15455-15543)
Crying - Groaning - Laughing - Cracking (15455-15466)
Breaking - Falling - Unloading - Running Stick (15467-15483)
Dragging - Hitting - Rapping - Rattling - Shaking (15484-15517)
 Scratching - Digging - Rolling - Dripping - Ticking (15518-15528)
Ringing Bell - Making Music - Walking (15529-15543)
ATTACKED BY A SPIRIT (15544-15580)
Hand of Spirit - Light Put Out (15544-15550)
Door or Window Opened or Closed (15551-15558)
Chair Rocked - Bedclothes Disarranged (15559-15570)
Nose and Toes Pulled - Hair Jerked (15571-15572)
Face Stroked - Shoulder Touched (15573-15575)
Body shaken - Leg Kicked - Person Grabbed (15576-15580)
SPIRITS GUARD HIDDEN TREASURE (15581-15606)
DEMON RIDER (15607-15611)
DEVIL TALES (15612-15616)
BLOOD OF THE MURDERED (15617-15624)
Haunted Instrument of Death (15617)
Indelible Stain - Redder During Rain (15618-15622)
Continues to Drip - Cries Out (15623-15624)
LAYING THE GHOST (15625-15639)
Bible - Blessing - Divine Name - Crossroad (15625-15630)
New Lumber - Moving - Mustard Seed (15631-15633)
Salt - To Cross Water (15634-15635)
Fulfill Last Wish - Bury Unburied Body (15636-15639)
SECOND SIGHT (15640-15851)
SEERS (15640-15644)
SUPERNATURAL ANIMALS (15645-15673)
MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS (15674-15719)
Bright Light - Colored Light - Fire Ball (15674-15705)
Candle - Lamp - Lantern - Lightning Flash - Star (15706-15719)
APPARITIONS CONCERNED WITH DEATH (15720-15786)
Angel of Death - Strange Undertaker (15720-15724)
Weird Priest - Vision of the Cross (15725-15730)
Fateful Black - Ghostly White (15731-15745)
Phantasmal Winding Sheet - Uncanny Crape (15746-15755)
Unearthly Flowers - Spectral Coffin (15756-15772)
“Spiritual Wagon” - Phantom Funeral (15773-15780)
Unnatural Grave - Eerie Tombstone (15781-15786)
SPIRIT SEEKING GRAVE BEFORE DEATH (15787-15790)
HEADLESS SPECTRE (15791-15793)
WRAITH (15792-15851)

WITCHCRAFT (15852-16537)
ORIGIN OF POWER (15852-15897)
Caul Born - Four-Jointed Finders (15852-15853)
Evil Eye - “Two-Headed Nigger” (15854-15856)
Witch Power Inherited - Sold to Satan (15857-15862)
How to Conjure - “Black Cat Bone” (15863-15873)
Diabolic Music Master - Devil Book - Curse (15874-15883)
Hair-Ball - Witch-Ball - Witch-Bag (15884-15886)
Healer’s or Witch Doctor’s Bag - Salt Bag (15887-15889)
Hoodoo Ball - Hoodoo Bottle - Hoodoo Bag (15890-15894)
“Hand” - “Talking Hand” (15895-15897)
DO-IT-YOURSELF WITCHCRAFT (15898-16086)
A WITCH'S LIFE (16087-16110)
SUPERNATURAL DISTANCE IN WITCHCRAFT (16111)
IMMOBILITY OR ARRESTATION A SPELL-CAUSED CONDITION (16112-16119)
WITCHES CAN MAKE THEMSELVES INVISIBLE (16120-16123)
SHAPE CHANGING BY WITCHES (16124-16160)
Witch in Shape of Cat - Deer - Dog - Fly (16124-16145)
Horse - Pig - Rabbit - Snake - Indefinite Shape (16146-16160)
ZOOANTHROPY AND POSSESSION (16161-16166)
LIVE THINGS IN YOU (16167-16177)
BEWITCHED ANIMALS (16178-16185)
Black Bug - Lice - Potato Bug - Rat - Chicken (16178-16185)
Duck - Goose - Guinea - Hog - Cow - Horse (16186-16241)
WITCH IN THE CHURN (16242-16254a)
WITCH WREATH (Bewitched Feathers in Pillow or Bedtick) (16255-16323)
Feathers in Circular Form (Normal Shape) (16255-16284)
Feathers in Various Forms (16285-16310)
Feathers with Other Articles (16311-16323)
PROTECTION AGAINST WITCHES (16324-16536)
To Avoid Bewitched
 Flee From Witch - Don’t Let Witch In (16324-16325)
Never Touch Bewitched Article (16326)
Beware Gift of Three - Third Answer (16327-16330)
Throw Away Bewitched Article (16331)
Give Away Bewitched Article (16332-16334)
Return to Witch Bewitched Article (16335)
Recover from Witch Bewitched Article (16336)
Change Position of Bewitched Article (16337)
Never Lend to Witch (16338)
Evil Spell Broken by Animal and Plant (16339-16347)
Witch Counteractants: Boiling - Cutting - Sticking (16348-16357)
Burning Kills Witch’s Work (16358-16375)
Problems Puzzle Witches (16376-16393)
Broom - Backwards - Circumambulation (16376-16385)
Measuring - Upside Down - Inside Out (16386-16389)
Knots - Black Coat - Shoes (16390-16393)
Witch Detergents: Flour- Salt - Pepper - Vinegar (16394-16425)
Water a Remedy in Witchcraft (16426-16429)
Steel Conquers Witch Spells (16430-16453)
Awl - File - Fork - Knife - Spoon (16430-16439)
Hatchet - Horseshoe - Nail - Scissors (16440-16453)
Silver Keeps Witches Away (16454-16464)
Whipped Witches Never Bother You (16465-16469)
Shoot a Witch in Self Defense (16470-16480)
Scatologic Methods to Repulse Witches (16481-16499)
Spitting - Obscenity - Animal Manure (16481-16487)
Human Excrement - Urine (16488-16499)
Professional Witch Hunters (16500-16505)
Religion a Guard Against Witchcraft (16506-16536)
Bible - Cross - Holy Water - Prayer (16506-16521)
Sacred Names - Blessed Medals - Priest (16522-16536)
THE DEATH OF A WITCH (16537)
 1

CLIMATE (1-948)
WEATHER SIGNS (1-889)
Sun - Moon - Star - Colored Sky - Rainbow (1-122)
1. A hazy sun early in the morning indicates rain; a clear sun, fair weather.
2. They say a red sun has water in its eye.
3. At dawn in summer a red sun means a sultry day.
4. If the sun comes up like a ball of fire and immediately disappears behind clouds, it is a sign of rain before ten o’clock that morning; if such a
sun disappears behind clouds later in the morning, it is a sign of rain anytime that day.
5. If a morning sun draws water, rain will fall that night; if an afternoon sun draws water, rain will fall next day.
6. A dull sunset is attended by bad weather.
7. You may depend on a clouded sunset foretelling stormy weather and an unclouded sunset foretelling serene weather.
8. "If the sun goes pale to bed,
It will rain tomorrow it is said;
If the sun should set in gray,
The next will be a rainy day. "
9. After a cloudy sunset there will be three rainy days; after a cloudless sunset, three sunny days.
10. The significance of a glowing sunset is a storm.
11. Throughout the summer a sun that glows at sundown will be succeeded by sultriness next day.
12. Sunshine on Monday; sunshine all week.
13. Interpret a cloudy sunset on Monday as rain before Friday.
14. If the sun on Tuesday sets among clouds, expect rain before Friday night.
15. The sun setting behind clouds on Wednesday is a token of rain before Sunday.
16. A concealed sunset on Thursday denotes rainless weather until Sunday.
17. A cloudy sunset on Friday turns the weather colder.
18. If on Friday the sun sets in a blaze, it will bring rain before Monday morning say some; before Monday night say others. The contrary is also
believed: if on Friday the sun sets in clouds, it will bring rain before Monday morning say some; before Monday night say others.
19. A flaming sunset on Friday; a rain before Tuesday night.
20. Each Saturday during the year the sun shines long enough for a virgin (the Virgin?) to dry her shirt.
21. Each Saturday during the year the sun shines long enough for a workingman to dry his shirt.
22. Yearly there are three Saturdays on which the sun will not shine.
23. On Sunday a murky sunset means rain before morning.
24. An unclear sunset on Sunday is a forecast of rain before Wednesday.
25. There is never any sunshine on Good Friday.
26. Although its appearance may be brief, you will always see the sun on Easter.
27. No matter how much rain or how overcast the sky during a rainy season, the sun will appear every fourth day, if only for a minute; that is, the
sun never hides for more than three days.
28. Some regard a solar halo as an indication of rain before night, but others contradict this by reciting:
"Circle or ring around the sun,
Rain none."
29. Morning sun dog, colder weather; afternoon sun dog, warmer weather.
30. In summer a sun dog warns you of cooler weather; in winter, chillier weather or a blizzard.
31. The meaning of a sun dog north of the sun is rain from the northwest; south of the sun, rain from the southwest.
32. If a sun dog is seen on each side of the sun, a severe storm will arrive during the night.
33. A sun dog on each side of the sun in the morning is a portent of milder weather; in the afternoon, harsher weather.
34. Two sun dogs in the east denote cold weather.
35. An eclipse of the sun is followed by five successive days of rain.
36. "When the moon is wet,
No rain you get;
When the moon is dry,
A rain is nigh."
37. Weather prophets prophesy twelve months ahead by observing the first change of the moon in January: if it occurs during the day, a wet year;
if during the night, a dry year.
38. A moon changing in the morning is the beginning of unsettled weather; in the afternoon, settled weather.
39. A moon that has changed during the night will commence a wet season; the nearer the change to midnight, the sooner the rain.
40. If the moon changes while the wind is in the east, disagreeable weather will follow.
41. According to some, a moon becoming new on Monday notifies you of fine weather; according to others, this is a notice of rain for forty days.
42. Two full moons within the same month give us rain.
43. Five phases of the moon in any month reverses the weather for thirty days.
44. An uncloudy moonrise reveals clear weather for the next twenty-four hours.
45. If a Friday moonset is bright, rain will come before Tuesday.
46. "If moon red be,
Of water speaks she."
47. "A pale moon doth rain,
A red moon doth blow;
A white moon doth neither rain nor blow."
48. A red-tinged girdle about the moon betokens rain in summer and snow in winter.
49. A moon with a blue cast is a sign of rain.
50. A moon veiled by vapor is a foreshadow of different weather within the next twenty-four hours.
51. If the horns of the moon are hidden on the third or fourth day, a rain is imminent.
52. If the first new moon in January lies on its side or back (horns upward), predict a wet year; if on its belly (horns downward), a dry year.
 2

53. If in the spring a crescent moon hangs crossways (stands on one or both horns), a wet spring is signified.
54. If in the spring a crescent moon hangs like a cradle (rests on its back), the summer will be dry.
55. If the points of the moon curve downward, water is running out of the apron (a wet month); if upward, the apron withholds the water (a dry
month). However, some reverse these meanings: in the former, the apron has already been emptied (a dry month); in the latter, the apron now full
will soon empty itself (a wet month).
56. If the ends of the moon extend downward, water is pouring over the lip of the dipper (a wet month); if upward, the dipper retains the water (a
dry month). Nevertheless, one explanation is sometimes substituted for the other.
57. If the tips of the moon tilt downward, much water will flow under the bridges (a wet month); if upward, the water now flowing beneath the
bridges will be reduced to a mere trickle (a dry month). But in each case, the opposite interpretation is also held.
58. If an Indian cannot suspend his powder-horn (or shot-horn) from the moon, it presages a wet month; if he can, a dry month. Notwithstanding,
these presages are at times interchangeable.
59. If you are unable to hang a dipper on the edge of the moon, a wet month may be predicted; if you are able, a dry month. Yet, one prediction is
occasionally exchanged for the other.
60. A moon standing on its horns will within three days begin a wet spell lasting the whole month.
61. If the upturned horns of a moon lying on its back lean toward the northwest, you can look for a chilly month with rain.
62. A moon slung low in the south during February will introduce thirty days of agreeable weather.
63. Watch for cold weather when the moon is in the north, warm weather when the moon is in the south.
64. "Circle or ring around the moon,
Rain soon."
or
"Ring around the moon,
Brings a storm soon."
65. A halo about the moon foretells rain next day say some, within three days say others; the time frequently being determined by the size of the
halo: the smaller the halo, the sooner the rain.
66. During cold weather a lunar halo discloses warmer weather; during warm weather, colder weather.
67. If there are two moon-rings, it will snow within twenty-four hours.
68. As many rings as the moon has, so many will be the days until rain.
69. The appearance of stars in a moon-ring bodes a change of weather.
70. If stars appear in a moon-ring, each star will represent one day until the weather changes.
71. If a moon-ring has stars, the number of these stars will enumerate the foul days approaching.
72. If the moon does not have a ring and yet several nearby stars are grouped about it in an irregular circle, you may prepare for rain.
73. "When the stars begin to huddle,
The earth will soon become a puddle."
74. If stars twinkle brightly, radiant weather is at hand.
75. Stars that sparkle and seem larger than usual in summer are fore-casting rain; in winter, a sharper temperature or frost.
76. A multitude of stars means pretty weather and a scarcity of stars means falling weather.
77. If the Big Dipper is upside down, there will be rain; if right-side up, no rain.
78. One expects a continuation of excellent weather after the Milky Way has glittered with unusual brilliance.
79. The direction in which the Milkmaid's Path (Milky Way) points will be the course of the wind on the fallowing day. The name Milkmaid's
Path is not often heard.
80. In whatever direction a star shoots, the wind will blow next day.
81. Meteors (called shooting stars) in greater number than usual signify unpleasant weather.
82. A deep-blue sky is always an indication of beautiful weather for the rest of the day.
83. If on a gloomy day there is a patch of blue sky the size of a handkerchief, the weather will soon clear.
84. If on a gloomy day there is a patch of blue sky large enough to make a pair of britches for a Dutchman, the weather will soon clear.
85. If on a gloomy day there is a patch of blue sky large enough to make a shirt for a sailor, the weather will soon clear.
86. Rain is in the air when a faint greenish hue overspreads the sky.
87. "An evening red and a morning grey,
Make a fair fair day. "
88. "Evening red and morning grey,
That's the sign we'll have a fair day."
89. "Evening red and morning grey,
Two sure signs of one clear day."
90. "Evening grey and morning red,
Will pour rain on the pilgrim's head."
91. "An evening grey and a morning red,
Send the shepherd wet to bed."
92. "Evening red and morning grey,
Will set the traveler on his way;
Evening grey and morning red,
Will pour the rain down on his head. "
93. "Evening red, morning grey,
Speed the traveler on his way;
Evening grey, morning red,
Bring down rain upon his head."
94. "Evening grey and morning red,
Send the traveler back to bed;
Evening red and morning grey,
Send the traveler on his way."
95. "If at morning the sky be red,
 3

It bids the traveler stay in bed."

96. "Red at night, sailor's delight;
Red in the morning, sailor take warning."
or
"Red in the morning, sailors take warning;
Red at night, sailors' delight."
97. "Red at night, shepherd's delight;
Red in the morning, shepherd's warning."
98. "Red at night, soldiers' delight;
Red in the morning, soldiers are mourning."
99. A leaden sky at daybreak in summer will be replaced by intense heat later that morning.
100. A pinkish sky in the west at night is an omen of rain.
101. A red sky in the morning signifies blustery winds.
102. After you have seen a rosy sky, make preparations for a hailstorm.
103. At sunset a transparent sky with a scattering of small red clouds is a promise of fair weather.
104. If at sunset a ruddy sky reflects from clouds in the east, a change of weather is near.
105. To have a blazing sky reflect against clouds in the south at sunset denotes rain.
106. If a fiery sky at sunset is reflected on clouds in the north, storms and high winds can be expected.
107. From clouds with a golden glow at sunset pleasant weather is presaged.
108. Yellow in the sky at sunset is a portent of rain.
109. In the sky at sunset pale yellow portends high winds.
110. "Rainbow in the morning,
Farmer take warning."
111. "Rainbow at night,
Fisherman's delight."
112. "Rainbow at night,
Sailors' delight;
Rainbow in the morning,
Sailors take warning."
113. "Rainbow in the morn,
Sailors warned."
114. "A rainbow at night,
Is a shepherd's delight;
A rainbow in the morning,
Is a shepherd's warning."
115. "Rainbow at noon,
More rain soon."
116. "When you see a rainbow before noon,
That is the sign of rain soon."
117. "You may look for rain soon,
If there's a rainbow before noon."
118. Despite the foregoing rhymes, many persons think of a rainbow as indicating clear weather for the rest of the day.
119. A rainbow anytime during the day is a boding of rain next day.
120. If a rainbow appears in the east, the weather will be dry according to some, wet according to others.
121. If a rainbow appears in the west, the rain will soon resume.
122. If a person sees a double rainbow (one arched at a distance above the other), it will rain three days during the following week.

Clouds - Lightning - Thunder - Storm (123-185)

123. Rain-clouds appearing before moonrise will drift away as soon as the moon rises, but rain-clouds after the moon has risen always remain.
124. "Morning wonders,
Evening blunders."
125. "Open and shet,
Is a sign of wet."
126. Morning clouds opening before seven and closing soon afterward foretell rain before eleven.
127. Light fleecy clouds produce rain only; heavy rough clouds, rain accompanied by wind.
128. Thin streaked clouds will eventually collect rain.
129. Clouds with streamers pointing upward carry rain.
130. Small white clouds indicate rain within three days.
131. Buttermilk clouds are rain-bearers.
132. "Dominicker sky,
Storm close by."
(Dominicker = Dominique = barred)
133. "Horses tails and fishes scales,
Make sailors spread their sails."
134. Clouds resembling a mare's tail presage rain.
135. "A mackerel sky,
Never twenty-four hours dry."
136. "A mackerel sky,
Never (leaves the earth) three days dry."
137. White drift-clouds often called "sheep" are a rain warning.
 4

138. A thunderhead --- a white drift-cloud darkened at one end usually known as the head --- is always a rain-carrier; so when you observe clouds
of this type cropping up singly from the horizon all day, finally joining each other in a mass that seems to seethe, you may look for wet weather
during the night or next day.
139. If clouds bunch together to form a tree --- formerly described as a "cloud-baum" or "cloud-tree" by some of the old-time Germans --- a rain
is impending.
140. "I remember one day I wanted to go somewhere real bad and the weather was bad, and grandmother said, 'It will soon stop raining and clear
up and you can go, for the clouds are going east, for it never fails.' If you get up in the morning and it is storming, or if a real bad fog, if the
clouds go east, it will clear up that day. And I got to go that day."
141. Monday clouds portend cloudy weather two more days that week.
142. Sheet lightning at night foretells hotter weather and therefore is generally referred to as heat lightning.
143. If it lightens in the north during the day, expect an immediate rain; if at night, a downpour within twenty-four hours.
144. Three consecutive nights of lightning in the north will bring rainy weather.
145. During the day, lightning in the northwest betokens rain at once or that night; after sunset, rain before morning.
146. Northeast lightning is considered by some an omen of rain within twenty-four hours; by others an omen of dry weather.
147. Dry weather always accompanies lightning in the east.
148. To see it lighten in the south is an indication of a drought.
149. February lightning forecasts a frost sufficient to kill on the corresponding date in May.
150. Lightning in March means unseasonable weather all year.
151. Lightning in December means a cold spell.
152. "Thunder before seven,
Rain before eleven."
153. If you hear thunder before seven in the morning, seven thunderclaps will be heard before night.
154. "Thunder in the morning,
Is a sailor's warning."
155. "Thunder before noon,
Showers in the afternoon."
156. Northwest thunder means rain within forty-eight hours.
157. Autumn thunder, warmer weather; winter thunder, colder weather.
158. October thunder will be followed by milder weather.
159. If it thunders in November, there will not be any cold weather until after Christmas.
160. Late November or early December thunder does not change the weather.
161. December thunder makes the weather colder.
162. To have thunder in December is a forecast of frost in May.
163. After thunder and lightning on New Year's Day comes a cold snap.
164. The date of Thunder in January will be the number of spring days during May.
165. January thunder indicates an April frost.
166. If there is thunder in January, predict a May frost; hence, as many times as it thunders, so many will be the frosty days. Further, the date in
May will correspond to the day in January; the fourteenth of each month being frequently cited as an example of this correspondence.
167. A January thunder; a June frost.
168. A January thunder; a June flood.
169. February thunder denotes a May frost; the date of the former denoting the time of the latter --- consequently, as many thunders as are in
February, so many will be the frosts of May. In particular, for corresponding dates, either the sixth or the last day of each month is mentioned.
170. Thunder in February; snow in May.
171. If it thunders in February, it promises a cold spell say some; if it does not thunder in February, it promises a cold spell say others.
Occasionally these contradictory opinions refer to late February thunder.
172. On whatever day it thunders in February, on a similar date it will thunder in May.
173. Early March thunder brings cooler weather.
174. March thunder ends wintry weather.
175. Thundery weather in March is a sign of a cool summer.
176. While trees are bare, thunder or lightning, or both, signifies chillier weather; after trees have leafed, milder weather.
177. If while trees are leafless there is thunder or lightning, or both, six more weeks of cold weather may be expected.
178. A spring thunder proclaims a cold spell.
179. Winter is ended by the first thunder of spring.
180. The worst storms follow an east wind.
181. Severe storms in winter are from east to northeast.
182. If the first spring storm is from the north or southwest, all subsequent storms will come from the same direction.
183. If a storm subsides before sunset, next day will be fair; if during the night, next day will be cloudy.
184. Stormy weather on Friday; clear weather on Saturday.
185. A Friday storm will reappear before Monday.

Wind - Whirlwind - Rain - Snow (186-293)

186. Wind from the east and warm weather are companions.
187. An eastern wind is followed by rainy weather in summer and by snowy weather in winter; soon say some, within thirty-six hours say others.
188. In early winter or late spring an easterly wind precedes a rain or a snow.
189. Three days of wind from the east terminate in rain.
190. If an east wind veers to the northwest and rain fails to accompany it, there will be no wet weather for a week.
191. A south wind is accompanied by warm weather.
192. It never rains while the wind is southerly and the sky cloudy.
193. Summer rains are regularly produced by south-to-east winds; and as a consequence, we have this local saying: look for rain when you smell
the paper-mill ---the latter being located south of Quincy.
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194. The south wind veering to the northwest portends bad weather.
195. If a wind blows three days in the south, it will afterward blow three days in the north.
196. There is never any rain during a west wind.
197. It will not rain during a west wind and a cloudy sky.
198. Cold weather attends a west wind.
199. Northern winds are always cold.
200. Rain does not fall during a north wind; accordingly a north wind springing up will drive rain away.
201. A northeast wind in winter is the forerunner of a big snowstorm.
202. "Wind in the east,
Sailors feast;
Wind in the west,
Sailors distressed."
203. "When the wind is in the east,
'Tis neither good for man nor beast;
When the wind is in the north,
The skillful fisher goes not forth;
When the wind is in the south,
It blows the bait in the fish's mouth;
When the wind is in the west,
Then 'tis at the very best."
204. "The south wind brings wet weather;
The north wind, wind and cold together.
The west wind always brings us rain,
The east wind blows it back again."
205. The quarter of the wind at five o'clock in the morning on New Year's Day will be its direction three times that year.
206. In whatever direction the wind blows on New Year's morning, it will blow every twenty-four hours (or will not shift for more than
twenty-four hours) during the next forty days.
207. The course of the wind on New Year's Day will be retraveled every forty-eight hours, for a few minutes at least, throughout the following
forty-eight days.
208. If the wind before sunrise on New Year's Day is from a certain point, during the next two months you will not find it out of that point for
more than forty-eight hours.
209. For the next three months the wind will not deviate from its path on New Year's Day.
210. As the direction of the wind is on New Year's Day, so will it be mostly all year.
211. If the wind comes from the south on New Year's Day, it will come from the south every day during January.
212. A southern wind on New Year's Day will return every three days all winter.
213. On New Year's Day a southerly wind begins forty days of clement weather.
214. Wind in the south on New Year's Day means a dry summer; wind in the north, a wet summer.
215. If the wind is blowing from the northwest on New Year's morning, for forty days it will continue from that direction.
216. The direction of the wind on Good Friday will prevail during the next forty days.
217. Either a north or a northwest wind on Good Friday will be succeeded by six weeks of inclement weather.
218. From whatever direction the wind blows on Easter, it will blow for the next six weeks.
219. The direction of the wind on Easter will be its direction during the forty days that follow.
220. Wind in the northeast about six o'clock on Easter morning foretells seven weeks of rain.
221. On March 10 the direction of the wind will remain unchanged for forty days.
222. If in April a northeast wind shifts to the northwest and returns to the northeast, you may look for rain with hail.
223. The direction of the wind on the Ember Days of September (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after the fourteenth) determines the weather
for winter: if it blows from the north, expect a closed winter; if from the south, an open winter.
224. On September 21 a south wind indicates a light winter; a north wind, a heavy winter.
225. The quarter of the wind on September 21 governs its prevailing direction for the next six months.
226. If on the first three days in November the wind travels from the south (provided the weather is warm say some), the winter will be mild.
227. The direction of the wind on the first three days of December shows whence the wind will blow during the three following months.
228. A whirlwind as a rule will indicate dry weather, but at times it is thought by some to be an indication of rain.
229. Whirlwinds in the spring mean a droughty summer.
230. If you see a whirlwind traveling downstream, rain is imminent.
231. Years ago steamboat men on the Mississippi River used to say a rain going upstream (south to north) would be back again (north to south)
within three days.
232. East rain continues for three days.
233. Dry weather follows a shower that threatens and does not keep its threat.
234. "Rain in the morning,
Sailors take warning."
235. "Early morning rain and an old woman's dance are soon over."
236. An early morning rain stops before noon.
237. "Rain before seven,
Stop before eleven."
238. A rain starting at three o'clock in the afternoon will last until three o'clock next afternoon.
239. Monday rain never stops until it has rained for three days.
240. On Monday a rain signifies three rainy days before the end of the week.
241. Rain on Monday (morning say some); rain every day that week.
242. "Rain on Monday,
Sunshine next Sunday."
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243. Rain on the first Monday of the month presages three Monday rains for the month.
244. A rainy Friday; a rainy Sunday.
245. If rain falls on Friday, there will be no rain before next Friday.
246. Sunday rain is a sign of rain for seven consecutive Sundays.
247. If it is raining on the first Sunday of the month, it is going to rain every other Sunday that month.
248. If it is raining on the first Sunday of the month, it is going to rain every Sunday that month.
249. If the first day of the month has a rain, the month will have fifteen rainy days.
250. Rain on these three days ---the first two days of the month and the last Friday of the preceding month ---is a portent of a wet month;
however, some say this applies only when Friday happens to be the final day of the previous month.
251. A rain on January 1 forecasts seven rainy New Year's Days in succession.
252. Wet weather on New Year's Day is an omen of a rainy January.
253. On one of the first three days of January a rain betokens a wet February.
254. A wet Palm Sunday will be followed by seven weeks of rain.
254a. A wet Palm Sunday means a sunny Easter.
255. If it rains on Good Friday, it will rain the seven following Sundays.
256. If it rains on Good Friday, summer will be hot and dry.
257. If it rains on Good Friday, there will not be much rain the remainder of the year.
258. Rainy weather on Easter will not cease for seven days.
259. An Easter rain means wet weather for the next six Sundays.
260. An Easter rain means rainy weather for the next six Sundays and ten Mondays.
261. Wet weather on Easter remains until Ascension Day forty days later.
261a. If it rains on an Easter falling on April Fool's Day (April 1), it will not rain for seven Sundays.
262. Rain on March 10 (called "forty riders day") means rain for forty days.
262a. After a rain on May 1, you may predict twenty rainy days for the month.
263. If it is raining on June 1, it will rain fifteen days before clearing off.
264. Rain on July 1 brings seventeen rainy days that month.
265. A rainy July 1 denotes rain, or rain off and on, for the next three weeks.
266. If on St. Swithin's Day (July 15) it rains, the forty days thereafter will be wet.
267. Rain on the first day of dog days is succeeded by forty rainy days.
268. Much rain in October; much wind in December.
269. A rainy October; a windy January.
270. A wet and cloudy November 1 is an indication of a wet winter.
271. If late in the fall or early in the spring it rains for several days and then the sun comes out white, there will be snow before the season ends.
272. Look for colder weather to follow a rain that becomes thick and heavy.
273. If raindrops are large (the size of a quarter according to some), it will soon stop raining.
274. Large raindrops betoken dry weather.
275. If during a hard rain the drops are large, three successive days of rain may be expected .
276. That rain does not continue long, during which the drops adhere to any of the following: bushes, clothesline, wires, windows, and screens of
doors and windows .
277. A rain making bubbles on the ground shows the weather will soon clear.
278. Rain bubbling on the ground warns you of showers for the next three days. Some say this is true only of a Monday rain.
279. When a rain spatters, it is merely a shower.
280. "A sunshine shower,
Never lasts an hour."
281. If the sun shines during a rain, it signifies rain next day.
282. At whatever time it rains while the sun is shining, it will rain at the same time next day.
283. Three rainy days for the week are foretold by a rainbow that appears during a rain.
284. Large snowflakes, short snowstorm; small snowflakes, long snowstorm.
285. If all snow melts on reaching the ground, the storm will be a flurry only.
286. If all snow melts on reaching the ground, except occasional patches in fence corners and other sheltered places, it will soon be snowing
again.
287. If after a snowstorm you find snow sticking to the sides of trees, it will snow again within a few hours.
288. Examine trees after it has snowed: snow only in the forks means more snow soon; snow only over the top branches, no more snow.
289. If it is snowing and the sun comes out, expect snow next day.
290. As many days as there are between the first snow and Christmas, so many will be the snows that winter.
291. The date of the month on which we have the first snowfall will be the number of winter snows.
292. Snow on March 1 can be followed by snow anytime during the next thirty days.
293. If it snows in May, look for an early summer and a late winter.
Freeze - Frost - Thaw - Mist - Fog - Dew (294-329)
294. A freeze on February 22 is a sign of forty more freezes.
295. If it freezes on March 6, it will freeze on the fortieth day thereafter --- April 15.
296. A freeze on March 10 may be followed by freezing weather anytime during the next forty days.
297. If it freezes in Christ's grave (while Christ was in the grave, Good Friday to Easter), it can freeze anytime during the forty days that follow.
298. "If there is ice in November that will bear a duck,
There will be nothing thereafter but sleet and muck."
299. If geese on November 11 walk over ice, they will walk in mud at Christmas.
300. A white frost is a rain omen.
301. Three successive white frosts mean a rain.
302. A frost clinging to trees late in the morning foretells snow.
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303. Frost during the light of the moon does not nip plants or fruit-tree blossoms; during the dark of the moon it does. These explanations are at
times reversed.
304. Plants are not harmed by frost while the wind is from the north, but they are harmed by frost while the wind is from the south.
305. After March 15 a frost never damages plants.
306. If there is no killing frost in September, there will be none until after October 15.
307. If any day of September is cold but without frost, we will have no frost until the same date in October.
308. The ground thawing in December indicates a thaw every month during winter.
309. If it thaws enough for water to run down the ruts in a road during the first three days of January, an open winter may be predicted.
310. A January thaw betokens a wet July.
311. If the ground is frozen on St. Matthias Day (February 24), it will soon thaw; if the ground has thawed by that day, it will freeze again; hence
the rhyme:
"St Matthias breaks the ice;
If no ice, he makes ice."
312. Three misty mornings in succession warn you of rain.
313. Mists in March are followed by frosts in May.
314. A muggy day without the slightest trace of a breeze is a token of a thunderstorm.
315. Early in the morning a clear atmosphere with little or no humidity promises a fine day.
316. If some distant object seems unusually clear, a rain is close; the clearer the object, the closer the rain.
317. If you hear a train whistling at a greater distance than usual, it portends rain.
318. If a train whistle sounds dull, look for rain; if sharp, nice weather.
319. A foggy morning will fade away; a foggy afternoon will stay. This may be an old rhyme.
320. They say, "Whatever goes up must come down." Therefore, if a fog in the morning fades away without rising, the weather will be good; if
the fog rises, the weather will be bad. These interpretations are often interchanged.
321. A morning fog lifting early is an omen of rain; lifting late, a clear day.
322. The day on which a fog occurs in January will be the date of a frost in May; thus, as many foggy mornings as there are in January, so many
frosty mornings will there be in May.
323. The number of fogs in August determine the number of snows in winter.
324. If fogs in August are light, a light winter may be expected; if they are heavy, a heavy winter.
325. Much autumn fog; much winter snow.
326. No dew in the morning is a forecast of rain say some; say others:
"When dew is on the grass,
Rain will never come to pass. "
327. A light dew in the morning will be followed by rain; a heavy dew, by splendid weather.
328. Some say the lack of dew for three mornings brings rain, whereas others say rain is brought by three dewy mornings.
329. Heavy dews in March; heavy fogs in August.

Bubbles - Water Level - Spring - Well - River (330-336)

330. Bubbles rising from marshy ground or from stagnant water in an old pond are a warning of rain.
331. If in a seep-hole, spring or well, the water-level rises, or if water is found in a dry seep-hole, rain will soon appear.
332. Foam on the water in a river or creek (brook) signifies rain; therefore this is also a sign of high water.
333. Sediment floating near the surface of a river or stream foretells an immediate rise in the water.
334. A rising stage in the river during November denotes a high stage all winter.
335. If the river piles driftwood on its banks in March, the river will unpile it in June.
336. It is an old belief along the Mississippi that, when the river breaks up in the spring, high water will rise to the top of the ice jams.

Weather on Special Days and during Various Seasons (337-372)

337. All signs fail in dry weather.
338. Rain never falls while the ground is wet in dry weather.
339. Friday is the "foulest of the fair" --- either the best or the worst day of the week.
340. Whatever the weather is on Friday, that will be the weather until the following Friday.
341. Whatever the weather is on Friday, that will be the weather all next week.
342. The weather on New Year's Day rules the weather of the three following months.
343. As the weather is on the first three days of January, so will it be during the three months of winter.
344. As the weather is on the first three days of January, so will it be the entire year.
345. The weather during the first twelve days of January will control the weather for the whole year.
346. New Year's Day occurring on Sunday presages a dry summer.
347. The cold days of February will be the warm days of March; contrariwise, the warm days of February will be the cold days of March.
348. February always has one week of good weather.
349. If March comes in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion; if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.
350. "Years ago my father used to say it was an old saying:
‘If March comes in a raring,
She'll go out a tearing'."
(Not tear from eye, but to tear cloth, etc.)
351. A dry May is followed by a wet June.
352. Hot weather during the first week of August means a white winter, but cool weather on these days means an open winter.
353. Cool August nights reveal hot weather for September.
354. A chilly August, a cold February; a sultry August, a mild February.
355. Raw weather on All Saints' Day (November I) and All Souls' Day (November 2) warns you of the approach of winter, but fair weather on
these days will last for six weeks.
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356. According to some, a fair November II, which is also cold and dry, forecasts an open winter; according to others, bad weather on this day
also forecasts an open winter.
357. As the weather is on November 21, so will it be all winter.
358. The weather of November 25 will be the weather of February.
359. November weather is duplicated during March.
360. The weather on the first three days of December regulates the weather for the three winter months.
361. A white Christmas, a green Easter; a green Christmas, a white Easter.
362. A warm Christmas, a cold Easter; a cold Christmas, a warm Easter.
363. An early Easter, an early spring; a late Easter, a late spring.
364. A cloudy Easter will be followed by seven weeks of cloudy weather.
365. If the weather on Ember Days is fair, three months of good weather will follow; if the weather on these three days is rainy, the following
three months will be wet.
366. The weather on the first three days of any season decides the weather for that season.
367. A long autumn; a long winter.
368. A warm autumn; a cold winter.
369. A cold winter, a hot summer; an open winter, a cool and rainy summer.
370. A hot summer, a cold winter; a cool summer, a mild winter.
371. A winter beginning early will be long and cold, beginning late it will soon end.
372. A hard winter; an early spring.

Blackberry - Cocklebur - Clover - Corn (373-392)

373. Blackberries that ripen late are an indication of a hard winter.
374. As long as the top bur on a cocklebur bush stays green, so long will there be no frost.
375. After the burs of a cocklebur bush have started forming, you need not worry about frost for six weeks.
376. When the top burs of the cocklebur bush have ripened, winter is at hand.
377. The ripening of the very top bur on a cocklebur bush signifies an exceedingly bad winter.
37? You will always find clover blossoms closed just before a rain.
379. Clover on first coming up will in some years be found with its leaves curled back; this is a token of a backward spring.
380. Twisted-up corn blades denote rain.
381. Corn blades twined about the stalk mean rain.
382. If corn silk is abundant, a cold winter is portended; if scanty, a warm winter. ,
383. If corn silk has a light texture, look for a light winter; if a heavy texture, a heavy winter.
384. If corn husks are thin, a moderate winter may be expected; if thick, a harsh winter. ,
385. If the corn husk tightly enfolds the ear, winter will be severe; if loosely, winter will be mild.
386. If the corn husk entirely conceals the ear, predict a closed winter; if the tip of the ear protrudes through the corn husk, predict an open
winter.
387. If corn husks are pointed, it foretells a hard winter; if blunt, a good winter.
388. If corn husks are long, a long winter is approaching; if short, a short winter.
389. If corn cobs have scattered grains (a few here and there), prepare for an uneven winter (weather changing from one extreme to the other and
sometimes doing this overnight) ; if corn cobs are full-grained, prepare for a normal winter.
390. If the kernels on corn cobs are in crooked rows, an irregular winter will follow; if in straight rows, a regular winter.
391. Red corn is followed by a rigorous winter.
392. If while cutting corn in the autumn the ears fall to the ground as soon as you hit the stalk, deep snows will fall during the winter.

Dandelion - Flower - Grass - Milkweed (393-400)

393. Dandelion blossoms shut just before a rain.
394. To have dandelions bloom in January is an omen of clement weather for the rest of winter.
395. Flowers just before a rain are always more fragrant.
396. Flowers remaining open all night and having a stronger fragrance than usual forecast rain.
397. The blooming of flowers late in the autumn presages a bitter winter say some; a mild winter say others.
398. If a flower blooms twice during the year, a sharp winter is revealed.
399. Grass that remains green into late autumn is a portent of a warm winter.
400. The autumnal air filled with cotton from milkweed pods indicates no snow on Christmas.

Mushroom - Onion - Purslane - Raspberry (401-410)

401. A lot of mushrooms popping up overnight warns you of rain.
402. Mushrooms in November disclose a light winter.
403. Thin onion skins in autumn signify a mild winter; thick onion skins, a cold winter.
404. To discover the dry and wet months of the year: "Take twelve onions all the same size, then cut a hole in the top of each onion, then fill each
top with the same amount of salt, then lay each onion in a straight row on a table. You must lay them the way the sun rises and sets. You must do
this on Christmas Eve between eleven and twelve. And don't let anyone go near the table after you have put them there. Get up on Christmas
morning early and go to the onions and say January, February, March, April and so on. Then
look at each onion. Some onions will have water running out of them and some will be dry. The onions that have water running out of them will
be wet months; and the dry onions, dry months for the coming year."
405. The wet and dry months of the year may be divined as follows:
"Take twelve onions. Name each onion after one of the months. Cut off the tops of the onions and gouge out a cup in each one. Let the onion
stand until water gathers in the cups. The onion and the corresponding month which has water in the cup will be a rainy month. Do this on New
Year's Day. "
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406. "On New Year's Eve take the middle slice [core] out of an onion. Do this to twelve onions. Put salt all over them, naming each month. In the
morning it will tell the wet and dry months of the year: if the salt don't melt on them, it will be a dry month; the one that the salt melts on, it will
be a wet month."
407. "My father used to try to see what months would be wet or dry. He took six onions on New Year's Eve just at twelve o'clock, cut them in
half to make the twelve months, then put salt over them. In the morning he looked to see which were wet months and dry ones. The salt will all
melt and make water run out of the onions that are the wet months. If there is no water on the onions, they are the dry months. You must name
each [half] onion a month.
408. Halve an onion, sprinkle water on one half, and plant the two halves near each other: if the watered half comes up first, the weather that
summer will be rainy.
409. The blooming of pursley (purslane) is an omen of rain.

Tree: Bloom - Foliage - Bark - Moss - Gall (411-428)

410. "If raspberries bloom twice in one year and some of the blossoms produce fruit, it is a sign of a very mild winter. But never pick any of these
second-crop berries; you will have bad luck."
411. Contrary to the preceding belief; if a fruit tree has two crops the same season, it means a harsh winter.
412. If a fruit tree blooms twice the same year (does not have two crops as in the preceding beliefs), it means a harsh winter. This is also said of
flowering shrubbery, especially of the snowball bush.
413. If tree leaves curl up to form cups, rain will soon fill the cups.
414. If tree leaves with silvery or whitish undersides turn upside down or inside out, rain is on its way. The cottonwood, elm, maple, oak and
willow are ordinarily named; also the following plants: bean, clover and grape.
415. If tree leaves turn up on Monday, a rain will turn up before Sunday.
416. Stand at the foot of a tree after it has leafed in the spring: if you can see the sky through the leaves, a pleasant summer may be predicted; if
you cannot see the sky, a hot and dry summer.
417. Heavy foliage, heavy winter; meagre foliage, meagre winter.
418. Tree leaves turning yellow in August warn you of an early autumn.
419. The curling up tree leaves before they fall in the autumn is a sign of an open winter.
420. An early falling of leaves denotes an early winter.
421. Leaves still hanging on the branches in late October and early November foretell much snow that winter.
422. If trees are not stripped of leaves before November 11, a raw winter is betokened. They say the same thing about grapevines.
423. If in autumn the tops of trees are bare but leaves hang on the sides, prophesy a mild winter; if they have fallen from the sides but remain on
the tops, a severe winter.
424. Dead branches dropping from trees in fair weather are a rain warning.
425. A hard winter always follows the appearance of moss on the South side of trees in autumn.
426. If in the autumn you open an oak ball (an oak tree gall) and find a worm, it denotes a warm winter because the worm is naked; but if the oak
ball contains a fly instead of the larval worm, it denotes a cold winter because the fly is covered with hair.
427. Sycamore trees with smooth white bark in the autumn indicate an open winter.
428. The looseness or tightness of sycamore bark in the autumn shows what kind of weather we shall have: peeled easily, a loose winter; peeled
with difficulty, a tight winter.

Nuts: Acorn - Beechnut - Hazelnut - Hickorynut - Walnut (429-433)

429. Dry beechnuts on November 1 portend a disagreeable winter.
430. If walnuts drop early, watch for an early autumn.
431. If walnut or hickory nut hulls are loose, winter will be open; if they are tight, winter will be closed.
432. If walnuts or hickory nuts have thin hulls, a thin winter is presaged; thick hulls, a thick winter.
433. Either Nature or God is thought to provide for the wants of wild animals and birds by an abundance of wild fruits and nuts before a cold
winter and a scarcity of them before a warm winter. These foods, given in separate sayings, are mentioned as: acorns, beechnuts, wild
blackberries, wild grapes, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, walnuts and weed seed.

Weed - Vegetable - Violet - Wheat (434-438)

434. Tall weeds in autumn; deep snows in winter. Specifically, from time to time, they mention the bitterweed; perhaps because of a bitter winter.
Here again, as in the previous belief, this is a provision for wild animals
and birds --- to keep the snow from covering the seed.
435. When vegetables in the spring begin to wilt, a long dry spell is near.
436. Long-tailed vegetables --- beets, carrots, parsnips, radishes and turnips --- have longer tails before a hard winter.
437. Violets flowering in October betoken a mild winter.
438. If wheat remains the same color as when it was threshed, a light winter is coming; if the grain darkens, a rigorous winter.

Insect - Ant - Bee - Butterfly - Caterpillar (439-469)

439. The mating of insects in August is a presage of a delayed autumn.
440. As soon as you observe insects carrying material for nests, you will know that cold weather is not far away.
441. An unusual activity among ants will be succeeded by rain.
442. Ants herding together and running about in circles warn you of rain.
443. Look for rain after you see ants traveling in a straight column.
444. If piss ants approach your door early in the week, rain will arrive before Sunday.
445. The appearance of red ants announces the arrival of spring. This belief is sometimes expressed: there is never any frost after red ants have
appeared.
446. Summer arrives while the first ants are throwing up their mounds.
447. If ants raise the sides of their mounds higher, rain is in the air. This belief is sometimes given: open ant mounds foretell rain.
448. If ants increase the size of their mounds at the beginning of July, they are enlarging the tunnels of their nests in expectation of an early and
severe winter.
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449. To kill an ant or to tread on an ant-hill, intentionally or unintentionally, causes a rain.

450. Bees stay in or near the hive before a rain and make journeys only when the weather will continue fair; so, more bees entering than leaving a
hive betokens rain; and further, if they crowd into the hive all at once, a bad storm will accompany the rain.
451. The swarming of bees always occurs just before a storm.
452. After bees have buzzed about in March, preparations may be made for a cold spell.
453. The first bumblebee humming about your door will tell you cold weather has gone and warm weather has arrived.
454. If bees drone about as late as September, they are storing up additional honey against a long winter.
455. An early hatching among butterflies in the spring is followed by excellent weather.
456. Autumnal butterflies proclaim immediate cold weather.
457. Yellow butterflies during autumn presage a frost within ten days that will tint the leaves with the same color.
458. November butterflies are an indication of an open winter.
459. Late-autumn caterpillars are an indication of a very mild winter.
460. Some say a large number of caterpillars in autumn signifies a cold winter, but others say this is a sign of a warm winter.
461. If a caterpillar comes to your door in August or September and tries to enter, winter will be cold; if the caterpillar merely crawls about your
door and does not try to enter, winter will be mild.
462. If in autumn the front half of a caterpillar is large and the back half small, the first half of winter will be colder than the second half; and
conversely, if the front half of a caterpillar is small and the back half large, the second half of winter will be colder than the first half.
463. If the autumnal caterpillar is of one color, an open winter may be forecasted.
464. Dark-colored caterpillars in the autumn mean a harsh winter and light-colored ones a light winter.
465. During the autumn you are warned of a severe winter by black caterpillars and of a mild winter by yellow caterpillars.
466. If the head of the autumnal caterpillar is black, the early part of winter will be cold; if the center of the body is light-colored, the middle of
winter will be light; and if the tail is black, the end of winter will be cold.
467. If caterpillars during autumn are dark-brown in the central part of the body and yellow at each end, all of the cold weather will come in the
middle of winter.
468. If there is a speck of yellow on the nose of the autumnal caterpillar, the earlier part of winter will be cold; if on the tail, the latter part of
winter.
469. If a yellow stripe runs down the back of the autumnal caterpillar, expect cold weather for the middle of winter.

Cricket - Fly - Gnat - Hornet - June Bug (470-481)

470. The killing of a cricket brings rain that day say some; the day following say others.
471. Kill a cricket and it will rain within three days.
472. If you hear crickets chirping, it is an omen of rain.
473. If crickets chirp louder than usual, or loudly at night, they are informing you of rain.
474. If crickets chirp in the house, the weather will become colder.
475. A large number of flies about the house denotes rain.
476. Expect rain soon, when flies begin biting --- or bite harder or oftener than usual.
477. When flies start to drop from the ceiling, autumn and cold weather are approaching.
478. "If you see those little yellow flies hopping from one flower to another in the fall --- they call them henschrecken in German, I don't know
what they call them in English --- that is the sign of an open winter. "
479. Gnats appear in swarms just before warmer weather with rain.
480. If hornets build their nests low, a mild winter will follow; if high, a hard winter. This is also believed of mud-daubers.
481. The person who kills a June-bug causes a rain.

Lightning Bug - Locust (Cicada) - Snail - Spider (482-499)

482. If lightning-bugs (fireflies or glowworms) fly high, there will be dry weather; if low, wet weather.
483. A great many lightning-bugs in June foretells a hot summer.
484. Noisy locusts (cicadas) are a warning of a dry spell.
485. A locust (cicada) singing after sunset is forecasting hot weather for next day.
486. After you have heard locusts (cicadas), it will be six weeks till frost.
487. Snails seen in large numbers are a token of rain.
488. If you kill a spider, it will rain within twenty-four hours.
489. If you kill a spider on Friday, it will rain on Sunday.
490. If you kill a spider on Sunday, it will rain on Monday.
491. Many spiders in the house; much rain soon.
492. Spiders desert their webs before a rain.
493. If you notice outdoor spiders mending their webs, there will not be any rain that day.
494. Spider webs floating in the air mean rain.
495. Some say a great many spider webs on the grass is a prediction of rain; others say dry weather.
496. Large spiders trying to get into the house all summer signify an extremely cold winter.
497. An Indian summer is foretold by spider webs on the trees in autumn.
498. In September more spider webs than usual presages an early winter with cold weather.
499. "The cobwebs are webbing up tight the first week of September this year; you can look for a very cold and long winter. For a mild winter
they should web up in the first week of October."

Tumblebug - Wasp - Woodtick - Worm (500-509)

500. That year in which tumblebugs are numerous will be a year having a severe winter.
501. If you see a tumblebug pushing his dung-ball, an exceptionally harsh winter can be expected.
502. Wasps attempt to enter the house as cold weather approaches.
503. It is said by some that a summer of many wasps will bring a winter of much snow, but by others this is said to apply only when wasps are
numerous in autumn.
 11

504. "My husband went blackberrying day before yesterday and found a tick, and he said, 'We need a rain.' If you find a woodtick, stick a pin
through it and stick it on the side of a wall or tree and it will rain in twenty-four hours. So he stuck a pin through it and stuck it on a maple tree,
and we had a pour-down of rain before twenty-four hours."
505. If a person sees worm holes in the ground or a large number of worms crawling about, rain will fall within twenty-four hours.
506. Those who live along the banks of the Mississippi say worms coming to the surface of the ground in early spring denote high water for the
river.
507. One of the things showing the arrival of spring is worm holes in the ground.
508. If worms live near the top of the ground in late autumn or early winter, good weather is indicated for winter; if deep in the ground, bad
weather.
509. "I was walking down Tenth Street, Friday morning, and the ground was just full of worms, and I said, 'Oh, look at the worms! ' An old
German woman was hanging over the fence and said, 'Lady, that is the sign of a very mild winter, for fishing-worms on the ground during the
autumn indicates an open winter."'

Crawfish - Eel - Fish - Turtle - Frog - Toad - Snake (510-548)

510. A great number of crawfish quitting the water for land is a rain sign.
511. The catching of an eel warns you of a rise in the river, because eels are caught only before high water.
512. Eels in greater number than usual during the spring betoken high water.
513. If fish swim near the surface of the water --- or gold fish in a bowl wash their faces or suck air --- rain is signified.
514. If fish flop up in the water, you can look for rain; the more the flopping, the larger the storm.
515. A fish-box is either an open crate built of slats narrowly spaced (something like a rectangular chicken coop) or a solid-board box full of
augur holes, so that the fish cannot escape; and each, until the lumber becomes water-logged, is weighted down into the water by a heavy stone to
keep the fish alive. If on raising a fish-box the fish flounder about and beat against the wood, it means higher water for the river.
516. Fish failing to roll with the first rise of the water in spring indicate a higher stage for the river. Particularly applied to buffalo and carp while
spawning, rolling is a lazy undulating motion near the surface of the water. Years ago before game laws, and even after them, this was the time
when fishermen waded out into the shallow backwater of the river to spear fish with a gig; an ordinary pitchfork often being used.
517. If you kill a turtle, there will soon be lightning and thunder.
518. Frogs heard in March are an omen of an early spring.
519. As soon as you hear the male frog croaking, you will know that spring is here.
520. After the first frog croaks, you will look through glass (a thin sheet of ice) before spring.
521. After the first croaking of frogs in spring, you will look through glass three times (see three more freezes) before summer.
522. "The man that brings us whipped cream said he never plants anything until the frogs have croaked three different times, because there will
be killing frost until they do. He said they have only croaked once this spring and we will have two more killing frosts; says this is a sure sign and
always depends on it."
523. Frogs croaking during the day are calling for rain; it will soon come.
524. If frogs croak long and loudly at night, rain is at hand.
525. A tree toad trilling in a tree is a forecast of rain. This animal is also known as a tree frog or rain frog.
526. A tree toad that trills about ten o'clock at night will bring rain.
527. A small frog clinging to the well chain is a rain portent.
528. You can divine the weather by filling a glass half-full of water and placing into it a small frog and a little wooden ladder: if it is going to
rain, the frog will stay at the bottom of the glass; if the weather is to be fair, the frog will climb up on the ladder.
529. An exceptional number of toads at one time is followed by rain.
530. You cause a rain by killing a frog or toad.
531. When we were children, whenever we had a dry spell, my father would say, 'Children, go out and find all the toad-frogs you can, kill them
and put all their bellies up so it will rain.' We did, and it would rain."
532. If snakes appear before February 1, you are warned of an early spring.
533. Snakes in great numbers during the spring foretell a dry summer.
534. More snakes than usual during the day is an indication of rain.
535. To have a snake cross your path betokens rain.
536. Snake tracks in the dust of a road mean rain within twenty-four hours.
537. The tracks of a snake that has zigzagged back and forth across a road signify rain within several days.
538. If snakes abandon the water, rain soon follows.
539. If snakes along the river abandon the water for high ground, high water is denoted; the higher the ground, the higher the flood stage.
540. Along the river, especially in the sloughs, when one sees snakes on tree limbs over-hanging the water or on partly submerged logs, rain may
be expected soon.
541. To see at anytime or anywhere a stretched-out live snake is a storm warning.
542. If you kill a snake and let it lie on the ground, it will rain before morning.
543. If you kill a snake and lay it on its back, it will rain soon; before sundown according to some.
544. If you kill a black snake (in dry weather only say some) and hang it up; it will rain before morning.
544a. "If you kill a snake and hang it up on the fence with his belly up, it will storm like hell in five hours."
544b. "One morning on our way to school in the country years ago we found some black snakes, and we hung them up by their tails in a row on
the fence, and it just poured down before we went home from school."
545. If you kill a black snake, skin it and hang the skin on a fence; it will rain.
546. If you kill any kind of snake, skin it and nail the skin to the barn; it will rain.
547. As a weather divination, kill a snake: if it remains on its belly, the weather will be fair; if it rolls over on its back, the weather will be wet.
Some add: unless the snake is still belly-up at sunset, it will not rain.
548. As a weather divination, kill a snake and throw it up into the air: if the reptile falls, or after falling remains, on its belly, the weather will be
fair; if on its back, wet.

Bird - Blackbird - Bluebird - Blue Jay - Buzzard (549-572)

 12

549. Birds eating a great amount of food in the morning mean rain.
550. Birds always oil their feathers just before a rain.
551. When you see a multitude of small birds dusting themselves, they are preparing for a storm within three days.
552. If birds sing during a rain, the weather will soon brighten.
553. Caged birds singing in the morning before they are uncovered are a presage of a bright day.
554. A bird that flies back and forth in its cage is forecasting a storm.
555. Clear weather is foretold when birds venture far out over the water; stormy weather, when birds remain near the shore.
556. The flight of birds in a southerly direction, no matter how short the distance, is a signal for falling weather.
557. Mating among birds in August tells of a late winter.
558. If birds depart for the South during early September, the winter will be long and cold.
559. The call of a spring bird late in winter is a token of colder weather.
560. Spring is ushered in by the first blackbird.
561. Blackbirds flocking together always announce a change of weather: in summer, a rain; in winter, a snow.
562. Before a snow you will always see a large flock of blackbirds on the ground.
563. As soon as blackbirds gather in a cornfield, you may make ready for winter.
564. One harbinger of spring is the first appearance of a bluebird.
565. On hearing the first bluebird of the season, expect a rain soon.
566. If you see a bluebird, it denotes good weather next day.
567. A bluebird near your house in the morning brings a rain before night.
568. Blue jays just before a storm become excited and cry repeatedly.
569. The male blue jay is supposed to have a peculiar but indescribable note which it uses only preceding a storm.
570. As a herald of spring, wait for the first buzzard.
571. If a turkey buzzard is sailing through the air, the weather will turn warmer.
572. A buzzard in flight is always a sign of rain.

Crow - Dove - Wild Duck and Goose - Hawk (573-586)

573. The cawing of a crow early in the morning foretells fair weather for the day.
574. If the caws of crows are remarkably loud and incessant anytime during the day, rain is near.
575. One flying crow presages a bad storm; two flying crows presage a mild storm.
576. Three crows are an omen of rain.
577. A large flock of crows signifies a change of weather; in summer, a rain; in winter, a snow.
578. The calling of a rain crow (the black-billed cuckoo) is followed by a storm.
579. If a rain crow calls late in the evening, next day will be rainy.
580. There will be neither freeze nor frost, after doves have cooed in the spring.
581. Doves that coo constantly and are more restless than usual warn you of rain.
582. A dove cooing in a tree is a rain omen.
583. If on their southward migration wild ducks or wild geese fly high, prepare for a warm winter; if low, a cold winter.
584. If wild ducks or wild geese start South in early autumn, an early winter is betokened; if in late autumn, a late winter.
585. If wild geese along the river are restive in daytime and clamorous at night, they are preparing to go South because winter is at hand.
586. A soaring hawk indicates clear weather.

Meadow Lark - Owl - Parrot - Phoebe - Quail (587-605)

587. A meadow lark singing before sunrise means rain that day.
588. If an owl hoots in the morning, colder weather is coming.
589. If an owl hoots about two o'clock in the afternoon, rain may be expected.
590. If an owl hoots just at dusk, rain is signified.
591. If an owl hoots anytime during the day; it will storm within twenty-four hours according to some, within forty-eight hours according to
others.
592. If an owl hoots in daytime while sitting on a fence, rain is in the air.
593. If a number of owls hoot at the same time in daylight, a change of weather will follow.
594. If during the day an owl hoots among trees on high ground or back in the hills, it warns you of dry weather; if down in the timber along a
branch or creek, wet weather.
595. If you can just about hear the far-off hooting of an owl, you may look for rain.
596. "I was in the shoe-repair shop Monday and a farmer came in and said to another man, 'I knew we were going to have this big change in the
weather, for last night two old owls were hollering around my house between midnight and one o'clock. I told my wife it would be warmer in
twenty-four hours, for it never fails that we don't have a change in weather, if two old owls holler around midnight!"
597. "Just last week we had an owl cry in the day. My husband said, 'Look out for a snowstorm!' An owl crying in the day in the late fall is a sign
of a snowstorm. The next day we had a big snowstorm."
598. A chattering parrot is an indication of rain.
599. The call of a pewee (phoebe) foretells the nearness of a storm.
600. In winter the call of a phoebe informs you of warmer weather.
601. If you hear quail whistle, it is going to rain.
602. Quail whistling before two o'clock in the afternoon signify rain.
603. If a flock of quail crosses your path, a rain is three days away.
604. If quail are numerous in the autumn, an open winter may be predicted; if scarce, a hard winter.
605. If quail are hatched as late as September, it foreshows a late winter with mild weather.

Redbird (Cardinal) - Robin - Snipe - Snowbird (Junko) (606-619)

606. Redbirds seen in winter denote a cold spell or a blizzard.
607. Early spring is presaged by a redbird that sings in January.
 13

608. A redbird singing early in the spring forecasts cold weather.

609. If a redbird near your house calls incessantly, it is calling for rain.
610. The call of the redbird before fair weather is pretty, pretty.
611. The call of the redbird before rainy weather is variously given: squirt, squirt and wet, wet and wet weather, wet weather.
612. Watch for a rainy summer and autumn following a spring in which the redbird calls wet year, wet year.
613. If at the beginning of each flight a redbird flies up, clear weather is indicated, if it flies down, wet weather.
614. If while watching a redbird it flies away to the right, colder weather approaches; if to the left, warmer weather.
615. If a redbird flies high, it betokens good weather; if low, bad weather.
616. Spring arrives with the first robin.
617. Rain is on its way when robins do one of three things: hop along the ground, sing on the ground, and fly close to a house.
617a. If a robin rests on the ground with one wing spread out, expect rain within twenty-four hours.
618. Winter is broken by the first cry of the snipe.
619. Snowbirds flying along a fence (years ago this meant the now obsolete rail fence and the almost obsolete osage orange hedge) or near a
grove of trees are a sign of colder weather within twenty-four hours.

Sparrow - Swallow - Thrush - Whippoorwill (620-629)

620. If sparrows mate in March, there will be six more weeks of cold weather.
621. Sparrows will collect into large flocks just before the weather turns colder.
622. Sparrows collecting into large flocks mean an early autumn.
623. The first swallow is a messenger of spring.
624. If flying swallows undulate in circles near the ground, rain is near.
625. If swallows fly low, it means wet weather; if high, fair weather.
626. There is an old Indian saying about cliff swallows: if they bore nest holes high in the clay of the bluffs along the river, expect high water that
year; if these holes are low, expect low water.
627. After the thrush has arrived in the spring, frosts are finished.
628. "In the year of 1914 we were out in the country and it rained fourteen days straight and we could not get home. On the night of the
fourteenth day my brother came running in and said, 'It will be clear tomorrow, for there is a whippoorwill singing out in the tree.' And it was a
fine day. If a whippoorwill sings at night, it is sure to be a clear day the next day. "
629. "An old saying of my mother on the farm was: when the whippoorwill hollers, sign of dry weather; unless it chucks just before he hollers
whippoorwill, that means rain. "

Chicken - Crowing Rooster - Duck - Goose (630-679)

630. "If chickens roll in the sand,
Rain is at hand."
631. Predict rain when you notice chickens picking up little stones.
632. Chickens refusing to leave the henhouse in the morning warn you of rain.
633. If it is raining in the morning and chickens refuse to leave the henhouse, it will soon clear off; if they leave the henhouse, it will rain the
entire day.
634. If during fair weather chickens begin to huddle together or search for sheltered places, rain is imminent.
635. If chickens seek shelter at the beginning of a rain, it will be a shower only; if they do not seek shelter, the rain will last all day.
636. The singing of chickens in a rain is followed by fine weather.
637. If chickens fly up on something during a rain and preen their feathers , the rain will soon stop.
638. Chickens standing with their tails to the wind are an omen of rain.
639. A storm is approaching when chickens run about flapping their wings.
640. If chickens after dark sit on a fence and flap their wings, rain will fall before morning.
641. Chickens huddling together outside the henhouse instead of going to roost betoken rain.
642. "If a hen goes singing to bed,
It will get up with a wet head."
643. If chickens go to roost early, the weather next day will be good; if late, it will be bad.
644. If chickens are roosting high, the following day will bring clear weather; if low, stormy weather.
645. If high roosts in winter are sought by chickens, colder weather is near.
646. Much cackling among hens but no eggs denotes a rain or a storm.
647. Broody hens in January foretell a hot dry summer.
648. If chickens moult in August, prophesy a hard winter; if in October, an open winter.
649. If the moulting of chickens starts in the front of their bodies, the first half of winter will be cold; if at the rear of their bodies, the second half
of winter will be cold.
650. Heavy feathers on chickens indicate heavy weather during the winter.
651. If in the autumn the lining of a chicken gizzard is removed with difficulty, a severe winter may be prophesied; if with ease, a mild winter.
652. If at anytime during the year a chicken gizzard is easy to clean, good weather will follow; if difficult, bad weather.
653. If you can see through the breastbone of a freshly killed chicken, it signifies clear weather; if you cannot, foul weather.
654. If in the autumn the soft end of a young chicken's breastbone is dark, look for a cold winter; the darker the bone, the colder the winter.
655. "If a cock goes crowing to bed,
It will rise with a watery head."
656. A rooster crowing between roosting-time and midnight presages rain; but, within this period, commonly expressed are various times:
between seven and eight, around eight, near nine, about ten, and at midnight.
657. In winter the weather becomes colder after a rooster has crowed about nine o'clock at night.
658. The crowing of a rooster about four o'clock in the morning is a storm token.
659. The crowing of a rooster before noon indicates a change of weather say some, but others say a rooster crowing anytime in the middle of the
day indicates a change of weather.
660. "If a rooster crows in the morning,
 14

It is a sailor's warning;
If he crows at night,
It is a sailor's delight."
661. Irrespective of the weather today, a rooster crowing before sunset tells you the weather tomorrow will be the same.
662. A rain during which a rooster crows never lasts long.
663. After a rooster crows on a rainy morning, a fair afternoon can be expected.
664. Prepare for a long dry spell after a rooster crows while it is raining.
665. If a rooster crows on a rainy night, look for good weather next day; if on a clear night, wet weather.
666. If a rooster crows while on the ground, it is a sign of foul weather; if while off the ground, nice weather.
667. If a rooster crows early in the morning while sitting upon a fence, it will rain before breakfast; anytime that day according to some.
668. If a rooster anytime during the day jumps up on a fence or gatepost and crows, a rain is indicated.
669. You are warned of rain by a rooster crowing on the roof of your house.
669a. If a rooster in February stands on a cow-manure pile and crows, the weather will change within twenty-four hours.
670. If a duck flaps its wings continually, rain is in the air.
671. An exceedingly loud quacking among ducks is a forecast of rain.
672. Unquiet geese portend rain.
673. "I was staying at a woman's house about thirty years ago and the geese roosted under the house. About twelve o'clock one night, after we
were asleep, all the geese went to hollering and making such a noise I said, 'What is wrong?' She said, 'Oh, nothing, we are just going to have a
big storm. When the geese take on like that after night at twelve o'clock, sure sign of
a big storm.' And we did get it in the morning."
674. If geese raise up and flap their wings while swimming, a rain will arrive soon.
675. If a goose after it has dusted itself gets up and flaps its wings, a rain is not far away.
676. Inspect your geese after they have gone to roost and the direction toward which their heads are pointed will be the quarter of the wind next
day.
677. If the breastbone of a November goose is thick, expect a thick winter; if thin, a thin winter.
678. If in autumn a goose has a white breastbone, we will have a mild winter; if a dark breastbone, a cold winter.
679. If you find a long breastbone in an autumnal goose, a long winter is denoted; if a short breastbone, a short winter.

Guinea - Peacock - Pigeon - Turkey (680-692)

680. To have guineas cry endlessly is a presage of rain.
681. Guineas crying in the afternoon signify rain.
682. If while standing on a post a guinea endlessly cries poor trash, a rain is foretold.
683. A peacock always struts just before a rain.
684. The cry of a peacock portends rain.
685. If peacocks run about in confusion while crying, rain may be forecasted.
686. Late in the winter an extraordinary amount of crying by peacocks shows that cold weather has ended.
687. Pigeons returning slowly to their loft are an indication of rain.
688. If pigeons fly high, it foretells fair weather; if low, falling weather.
689. There will be a change of weather after pigeons become fitful and coo without ceasing.
690. You will always see turkeys hopping up and down before a rain.
691. If turkeys roost in the top of a tree, good weather is betokened; if on the lower limbs, a change of weather.
692. If turkeys in winter climb to the highest perch, it will be cold; if they stop in the middle of the roost, not very cold; and if they remain on the
ground, not cold at all.

Bat - Bear - Beaver - Cat - Cow - Dog (693-752)

693. Bats searching for a refuge are a portent of rain.
694. A loud and ceaseless squeaking among bats while they search for a refuge (an indoor refuge particularly) warns you of rain.
695. If bats are flitting high, wet weather soon follows; if low, dry weather.
696. Bears in autumn provide against a cold winter by storing up more than the customary amount of food.
697. Beavers in autumn build a large lodge for a cold winter or a small lodge for a mild winter.
698. A cat basking in a February sun will hug the stove in March.
699. The rolling of a cat outdoors in the sun is a sign of rain.
700. A cat lying on its back is rain omen.
701. A cat that sleeps with its head low is presaging a rain.
702. If a sleeping cat lies in front of a fire and has its nose turned upward, the weather will become colder.
703. If a cat sits with its back or tail to the fire, colder weather is signified.
704. One interpretation of sneezing by a cat is a rain; an ordinary rain say some, a misty rain say others.
705. Another interpretation of sneezing by a cat is a fog followed by rain.
706. It is an omen of rain, when a cat sneezes while its head rests on the floor.
707. To have a cat sneeze and then wipe behind its ears means rain.
708. If a cat washes about the ears, or back of the ears, or above the ears, rain may be predicted.
709. If a cat washes its entire face, look for rain.
710. If a cat washes its face, rain will come from the direction towards which the paw moves.
711. If a cat washes itself, fair weather either will appear soon or continue.
712. If a cat washes itself in snow, that snow will vanish within twenty- four hours.
713. If a cat while washing itself licks upwards, clear weather is at hand; if downwards, rainy weather.
714. If a cat licks against the fur instead of with the fur, it betokens bad weather.
715. If a cat is sitting in the sun and licking the bottom of a front paw, there will be rain before dark.
716. If a cat scrubs its bottom along the floor, it will soon storm.
717. As soon as you see the hair of a cat bristling without cause, take precautions for a bad windstorm.
 15

718. High winds are indicated, after a cat becoming frisky dashes about wildly or climbs trees.
719. If a cat chews grass, a rain approaches; the earlier in the day the chewing, the sooner the rain. According to some: if the grass is chewed
before noon, the rain will arrive during the night.
720. If near a river you observe a cat moving her kittens to higher ground, it denotes high water.
721. Rain always falls soon after a cat gets into the house.
722. A cat and dog getting along well together is a storm warning.
723. Considerable lowing among cattle forecasts rain.
724. If a cow kicks backwards while being milked in the morning, rain may be expected.
725. "When a cow tries to scratch her ear,
It's the sign that rain is very near."
726. The significance of a cow thumping her ribs with her tail is rain.
727. If a cow raises her tail over her back and runs, a storm within twenty-four hours is indicated. They say this belief came from the Indians,
who had an identical belief about buffaloes.
728. Calves romping about in a playful mood mean a change of weather.
729. Falling weather is imminent when cattle become capricious and fight each other.
730. If cows sniff, or stretch out their necks and sniff, or raise their heads and look up into the air, a storm is brewing.
731. When you see cattle sniffing the air and crowding together with their heads away from the wind, expect a storm.
732. An unexpected returning of cows from the pasture portends a rainstorm in summer or a snowstorm in winter.
733. If cows refuse to go to the pasture when they are loosed in the morning, it signifies rain; before noon according to some, before night
according to others.
734. Cows lying down in the barnyard or pasture during the morning foretell rain before night.
735. The huddling of cows --- when first let out to graze, say some; at any time during the day, say others --- is an indication of a storm.
736. A cold winter is revealed by cattle staying close together in the autumn.
737. Cows remaining near the stable in November warn you of a hard winter.
738. Dogs shedding their hair in autumn is a sign of an open winter.
739. Watch for rain, if you can smell a dog's skin.
740. "I know one morning our neighbor was fussing. I said, 'You can put your wash out by eleven o'clock --- if it is raining and a dog washes
itself before seven, it will clear by eleven --- for our dog was washing hisself this morning before seven o'clock.' And when eleven o'clock came
she was hanging up her wash."
741. If you see a dog eating grass, it will rain soon.
742. If a dog while eating grass changes his position frequently, rain is in the air.
743. A dog chewing or chasing his tail presages rain.
744. It is going to rain, if a dog sits on his tail.
745. Stepping on a dog's tail will cause a rain.
746. Rain is denoted by a dog rolling on his back.
747. After a dog rolling on the ground has turned over three times, there will be a storm.
748. If a dog lies on his back with feet up in the air, prepare for stormy weather; moreover, the storm will come from the direction toward which
his nose points.
749. A dog that becomes sportive and darts about all day is foretelling a windstorm.
749a. To see a dog lying in a draught is a sign of warmer weather.
750. If a dog howls while company is leaving your house, it indicates a windstorm.
751. If a dog howls and looks down to the ground, we will have a rain.
752. If a dog howls at the moon in summer, a rain is foretold; if in winter, a snow.

Ground Hog (Woodchuck) - Hog - Horse and Mule (753-777)

753. If a ground-hog sees his shadow on February 2, spring is at a distance; four weeks, or six weeks, or eight weeks; if he does not see his
shadow, spring is very near. The four-week period is rare .
754. If a ground-hog sees his shadow on February 2, seven weeks of rain are foreshadowed.
755. If a ground-hog sees his shadow on February 2, it foreshadows rain for the seven following Sundays.
756. If a ground-hog lays aside little food in the autumn, a mild winter may be prophesied; if much food, a cold winter.
757. After hogs run here and there squealing, look for a change of weather.
758. Look for falling weather after hogs rush about holding cornstalks or sticks or straw in their mouths.
759. If hogs in autumn pick up dried weeds and shake them, look for a stormy winter.
760. Look for the approach of winter after hogs in autumn pull hay or straw from a stack and begin making beds.
761. Hogs in autumn constantly looking to the north signify the nearness of winter.
762. If you slaughter hogs early in the autumn and the lungs are clear, you are warned of a light winter; if the lungs are streaked, a hard winter.
763. If hogs are slaughtered in autumn and the small part of the milt lies toward the head of the carcass, it is the sign of an open winter; if the
large part of the milt lies toward the head, a severe winter. At times one hears this belief differently expressed: if the milt of hogs slaughtered in
autumn ends in a blunt point, it means a cold winter; if the milt tapers to a point, a warm winter. Milt is usually called melt and rarely spleen.
764 If hogs are slaughtered in early winter and the small part of the milt lies toward the head, the worst part of winter is to come; if the large part
of the milt lies toward the head, the worst part of winter is over.
765. After horses have stretched out their necks and sniffed the air, you may predict a rain.
766. A horse rolling on the ground foretells a change of weather or a storm.
767. A mule rolling on the ground at mid-day foretells a storm before night.
768. Horses become fidgety just before a windstorm.
769. Horses are unusually frolicsome for several days preceding a storm.
770. If horses or mules gallop about playfully for some days, cold weather is approaching.
771. Horses running with their backs to the wind denote a storm.
772. Horses staying close together in a corner of the pasture or under a tree with their backs to the wind denote rain --- often before night.
 16

773. If in summer a mule refuses to eat or drink, and stands looking over the barnyard or pasture gate with his head toward the house, a drought
may be expected.
774. To hear more clearly than usual the tread of horse hooves on the road is a warning of rain.
775. If horses in the stable are sweating and switching their tails, a rain is at hand.
776. The hair of horses becomes curly and rough just before a rain.
777. If in late winter horses begin to shed their hair, spring will arrive early; if they do not shed any hair, spring will be delayed.

Mouse - Mole - Muskrat - Rabbit - Raccoon and Opossum (778-794)

778. An exceptional scampering about by mice will be followed by rain.
779. It is a token of a cold winter when field mice store a large quantity of corn in their burrows.
780. If the mound of a mole-run is higher than usual, the animal is burrowing deeper to escape dry weather.
781. If a mole burrows deeply and therefore casts up a high mound, an early autumn is forecasted.
782. A mole coming to the top of the ground in winter discloses an early spring.
783. You will never see a muskrat cutting corn stalks and carrying them underground, unless a hard winter is coming.
784. As soon as the muskrat starts to build its house, cold weather is on its way.
785. Built by the muskrat in autumn a small house reveals a mild winter and a large one a bitter winter.
786. "We are going to have deep snows this winter because all along the rivers and creeks the muskrats are building their houses two stories high;
and that is a sure sign of a lot of deep snows for winter, if the muskrat build
their houses high."
787. If a muskrat nest is deep in the ground, expect a harsh winter; if near the surface of the ground, an open winter.
788. If muskrats build houses in shallow water, it betokens a warm winter; if in deep water, a cold winter.
789. A muskrat building away from the water denotes a flood. Some say the water will rise just up to the entrance of the house and no further.
790. If while on a hunt during the winter you find rabbits in the open fields, warmer weather is signified; if in brush piles only, colder weather.
791. If your dogs chase out of a brush pile a rabbit which circles round and finally returns to the same hiding-place, the weather is turning colder.
792. Thin raccoons in autumn indicate a mild winter and fat ones a hard winter.
793. "My grandpa after the first snow would always go out to see if he could find 'coon or 'possum footprints, so he would know if we were going
to have lots of snow and a cold winter. You can always tell by the first snow, if we will have a hard winter. After it snows, go out and see if you
can find 'coon or 'possum footprints: if you find them, we will not have much snow or cold weather; if you don't find any prints, look for a good
cold winter. "
794. The first raccoon tracks show that winter has ended.

Sheep - Skunk (Polecat) - Squirrel - Weasel (795-807)

795. Sheep crowd together near a fence before a storm.
796. Sheep leaving the pasture and seeking the fold foretell a storm.
797. If sheep wool is heavy, predict a severe winter; if light, a mild winter. This is also said about the heaviness or lightness of all animal fur.
798. After sheep turn their backs to the wind, a cold spell may be predicted.
799. A skunk odor in the air is a rain omen.
800. A skunk nest deep in the ground forecasts a harsh winter with deep snows.
801. If squirrels are active or chase each other up and down trees, it warns you of unsettled weather; if they are inactive, settled weather.
802. The gathering of nuts by squirrels is followed by bad weather.
803. As a rule squirrels hoard nuts in the autumn, but you will see them also hoarding grain before a hard winter.
804. If the squirrel has hoarded a small quantity of nuts, there will be an open winter; if a large quantity, a bitter winter.
805. If squirrels bury their nuts deep in the ground, a cold winter is presaged; if under the fallen leaves or near the surface of the ground, a warm
winter.
805a. "I know we will have a very cold January and February this year because the squirrels built their nests real large and very deep this fall.
When they build small ones and not deep, sign of a warm January and February.
806. Baby squirrels found in open nests during the latter part of February betoken an early spring.
807. The cry of the weasel will bring rain.

Human: Bone - Ear - Feet - Hair - Head - Nose - Stomach (808-821)

808. "I can always tell when it's going to rain; I always feel lazy the day before."
809. Broken bones ache before a rain.
810. You can foretell a rain by the joints or bones of your body becoming stiff or paining. The same thing is said of rheumatic pains. "When I
was a boy, a German teacher (in a Quincy parochial school) asked, 'Where do we get the rains?' A boy got up and said, 'From grandma's bones
because every time grandma's bones ache, it rains'."
811. A ringing in your ear is a rain sign.
812. When your feet hurt, it will rain soon.
813. Painful corns mean rain or a thunderstorm.
814. An itching on the sole of your foot signifies rain in summer and snow in winter.
815. If your heel itches, rain is not far away.
816. If frostbitten feet itch, snow may be expected.
817. If in winter your toes are burning, a snowstorm is approaching.
818. "Curls that kink and cords that bind,
Sign of rain and heavy wind."
819. There will be a change of weather after your head has itched.
820. Your nose itching three times within an hour is an indication of rain within twenty-four hours.
821. An uneasy stomach always tells you of an advancing storm.

Chimney - Door - Floor - Gate - Window (822-829)

 17

822. A singing chimney is warning you of a change in the weather.

823. If the wind sweeps down the chimney, cold weather will soon follow.
824. A door sticking to the jamb means rain.
825. As soon as an oiled floor begins to sweat, you will know that a rain is imminent.
826. If a gate opens and slams incessantly, cold weather is denoted.
827. Rattling windows are a token of a change in the weather.
828. If windows stick to the frames, rain may be forecasted.
829. Moisture on the windows at dawn indicates cold weather in winter and fair weather in summer.

Carpet - Camphor Bottle - Chair - Clothesline (830-833)

830. The carpet on the floor has a dampish feeling before a rain.
831. Prepare for stormy weather after a camphor bottle grows cloudy or the camphor rises in the bottle.
832. Chairs creaking louder than usual signify rain.
833. A clothesline becoming taut foretells rain.

Glassware - Lamp or Lantern - Kettle - Tobacco - Pipe (834-837)

834. The sweating of glassware --- a water pitcher in particular --- is a presage of rain.
835. If a lamp or a lantern has an unceasing flicker or sputter, it denotes rain in summer and snow in winter.
836. By the sweating of a teakettle you are warned of rain.
837. You may expect rain, if one or more of the following things happens while you are smoking: your pipe smelling stronger than usual,
wheezing, becoming hot and sticky, and drawing badly.

Iron Objects - Washcloth or Sponge - Waterpipe (838-840)

838. The stove or any iron object rusting overnight during fair weather portends rain.
839. If a wash rag or a sponge does not dry out rapidly after it has been used, rain is in the air.
840. If water pipes start to sweat, a rain is betokened.

Fire - Smoke - Soot (841-852)

841. A fire failing to burn presages a change of weather.
842. If during the summer a wood fire simmers, it will rain; if during the winter a wood fire flutters or sighs, it will turn colder.
843. What a fire may do before a snow is variously described: crackles, sizzles and spits; coals or embers pop out of the fireplace or stove; and
the stove itself cracks.
844. Firelight reflected on the woodwork of a room is a warning of cold weather.
845. A change of weather is indicated, if the stovelid turns red immediately after a fire has been started.
846. If on lifting up a stovelid the soot on the bottom burns off, look for rain in summer and snow in winter.
847. If soot drops to the ground or back down the chimney, rain is coming in summer and snow in winter.
848. If smoke rises into the air, we will have clear weather; if it falls and clings to the ground, rain in summer and snow in winter.
849. Chimney smoke clinging to the ground in the morning brings a storm before night.
850. Smoke going down a stream will be followed by rain.
851. Fair weather will continue or come, if smoke pours in white clouds from a railroad engine.
852. To have smoke puff from a stovepipe into the room is a forecast of snow.

Food - Cooking - Eating - Drinking (853-866)

853. If you eat in a water-closet, rain will soon appear.
854. If all the food at the table is consumed or none of it is wasted, the weather next day will be fair.
855. To take the last piece of bread on the plate is an omen of rain.
856. A person dropping a piece of buttered bread that falls upside down on the floor is a sign of rain.
857. If coffee bubbles cling to the side of the cup instead of floating at the center, rain is at hand.
858. Milk or cream souring in the night means a thunderstorm next day.
859. If you drop a fork, then a spoon, and the latter lies across the former, it is going to storm.
860. If a knife is dropped, then a fork, and they lie crossing each other, a storm may be expected.
861. Either to spill salt at the table or to drop it on the ground betokens rain.
862. Salt becoming damp and lumpy in the saltcellar is a sign of rain.
863. Sparks of fire on the bottom of the teakettle denote rain.
864. A singing teakettle will warn you of rain.
865. Teakettle water evaporates quicker than usual just before a rain.
866. If food dries quickly while being cooked, beans and potatoes especially, a rain is impending.

Burning Brush - Shutting and Opening Gate (867-868)

867. It will rain after you burn brush.
868. To keep shutting and opening a gate will bring rain.

Flying Kite - Moving Day - Picnic - Preventing Rain (869-873)

869. If you start to fly a kite and it soars straight up into the air at once, the weather will remain clear; but if the kite flies to one side or goes into a
tailspin, the weather will soon change.
870. Moving-day is always a rainy day.
871. Never plan a picnic until the very day you want it; in this way you can keep rain away.
872. Preparation for rain scares it away.
873. A rain is scared away or stopped by turning upside down all buckets and similar receptacles in the yard.
 18

Singing in Bath - Stopping Swing - Telephone - Umbrella (874-878)

874. To sing in your bathroom is an indication of rain.
875. Stop your swing with your feet and there will be rain soon.
876. The replacing of a telephone receiver upside down on its hook signifies rain.
877. Watch for rain after somebody opens an umbrella in the house.
878. Carry an umbrella on a cloudy day and you will scare rain away.

Kicking up Rug - Shoes Squeaking - Person Falling (879-881)

879. If in walking about the house you accidentally kick up a carpet or a rug several times, a rain is foretold.
880. If your shoes squeak as you walk, a storm is approaching.
881. If a person falls down while walking, it means a storm; a large storm, if the person is large; a small storm, if the person is small.

Women on Street - Baby Carriage - Washing and Cleaning (882-887)

882. If you see many women walking on the street, rain is on its way.
883. If you see many women pushing baby-buggies, a rain may be predicted.
884. Clothes not taking starch on washing-day is a portent of rain.
885. It always rains after windows have been washed.
886. Do not wash windows on moving-day; it will surely rain.
887. As soon as you have finished washing and polishing your automobile a rain will arrive.

Fireworks - ammunition - Battle during War (888-889)

888. July 4 is always rainy, because so much ammunition and fireworks is shot off in the air.
889. A battle in wartimes always creates a thunderstorm.

PROTECTION AGAINST LIGHTNING (890-907)

890. The safest place to be during a storm is near a spot once struck by lightning; it never strikes the same thing twice. One exception, however,
proves the rule: if any object has been hit twice, mineral will be found there just beneath the surface of the ground.
891. To protect your home against lightning, make an apron on Sunday and just before a storm hang it against the outside of the house.
892. A home may be protected during a storm by throwing an ax out into the yard; this supposedly cuts the storm in half so that it will pass on
each side of the house. Sometimes, and also to divide the storm in a similar manner, the head of an ax is struck down into the ground and left
there.
893. You will not be struck by lightning, if during a storm you wear your belt twisted.
894. If you burn blessed candles while it is storming, your house will be safer.
895. Protect your house during a storm by burning palm branches blessed on Palm Sunday.
896. A piece of blessed palm burned in the stove on Palm Sunday protects your house all year against lightning.
897. Your house can be protected against lightning, if you throw your scissors out into the yard during a storm.
898. As a protection against lightning, during a storm a spade may be thrown out into the yard.
899. Wear your suspenders twisted during a storm and lightning will not strike you.
900. "A woman would always take a stick of wood, when she would see a storm coming, and stick this stick of wood in the fire and let it get to
burning, then take this burning stick out in the yard and hold it up over her head, and swing it around three times to make the storm go around."
901. The person who counts ten between a flash of lightning and a peal of thunder will never be hit.
902. If you count as fast as possible between a flash of lightning and a peal of thunder, the final number will indicate how many miles distant the
bolt struck.
903. "Fourteen years ago a section-boss was fixing a railroad track down near Pearl, Illinois, and it started to storming. He started to running up
and down the track cursing his men and the rain, because his men could not get the track done. And the lightning struck him stone dead. This is
so, for I was living with my mother there because my husband was out of work. The Lord killed him [the section-boss] because he cursed all the
time. And this is another story that happened the year I was living with my mother at Pearl, Illinois, and this is so. There was an old man, that
lived on the Illinois River, got mad because his son went out in the rain. He was so mad that he went out in the rain, cursing the rain and storm,
and said, 'Rain on me for a while.' While he was standing out in the rain, cursing the lightning, it hit some tree close by and it knocked him down.
He was so mad he got up and curse and said, 'Knock me down again.' The lightning hit close again and did knock him down again. This time he
didn't get up for a long time, and
when he did get up, said he would never curse God or the lightning again, and was a better man."
904. If a man sits on a fence and curses, he will be struck by lightning.
905. "My aunt always would put an egg, that was layed on Easter, in the top of the house on a rafter, little end pointing east, so the lightning
would not strike the house."
906. "I remember when I was a little girl I went to a Low-Dutchman's house and he had a horseshoe on a rope hanging from all four corners of
his house. I wanted to know what they were for. And he said, 'My father back in Germany did that to keep the lightning from striking the house
and that is why I am doing it'."
907. "This is an old saying --- I am eighty-six year' old and was born in this house and lived here all my life --- I have heard my father say, and
seen him do it, if a storm: go out to the rail fence, take off a rail and turn it up, to turn the storm away."

INFLUENCE OF WEATHER ON CROPS (908-948)

908. If the weather on New Year's Day is so mild that a turtledove coos, you may expect a good harvest that year.
909. If the weather is fair on the night of January 1, it reveals the coming year as one of abundance.
910. If water drips from the eaves of a house on New Year's Day, an excellent crop year is indicated.
911. Rain and sunshine together in February means a bountiful harvest for the year.
912. A thick coating of ice on the trees in February is a sign of a large fruit crop.
 19

913. Sleet in February is followed by a fine apple crop.

914. A fertile year is foretold by violent north winds in February.
915. If the ground-hog sees its shadow on February 2, the fruit that year will not be wormy.
916. Sunshine on February 2 fills the barns and cellars.
917. Do not expect any peaches during the year in which thunder is heard on February 12.
918. If it thunders both in February and March, crops will be abundant --- especially fruit crops.
919. Thunder and lightning in March denote much fruit and plenty of grain.
920. Early thunderstorms bring wonderful crops.
921. "Winter's thunder,
Summer's wonder."
922. If there is thunder and lightning before leaves appear on the trees, old and young will be hungry.
923. Ice remaining long on the trees in winter is an indication of a good fruit year.
924. A wet spring; a well-stocked cellar.
925. A Good Friday rain is worthless.
926. If you can wet a handkerchief with rain on Easter, look for a fine crop year.
927. There will not be any grapes the year it rains on Easter.
928. March winds and April rains bestow great blessings in May according to some, for the year according to others.
929. A wet cold April will fill the wine kegs in the cellar.
930. Cellars are filled and cattle fattened by a cold wet April.
931. A wet April; a heavy wheat crop.
932. Rain on May 1 ruins blackberries.
933. The name blackberry winter is given to cold weather in May, because it makes a good blackberry crop.
934. They say blackberry frost when blackberries are first in full bloom, because there will be either no more frost or not enough frost to kill.
935. A farmer can rely upon a cool dark May giving him full crops.
936. A cold wet June practically spoils the whole year.
937. On June 2 a rain signifies a poor crop of blackberries.
938. A dry June, much corn; a wet June, no corn at all.
939. Grapes are ruined by rain on July 4.
939a. "If walnuts fall faster than squirrels can store them away, look for a big wheat crop next year."
940. An excellent crop year, corn in particular, will follow a November thunder.
941. December sleet foretells a splendid crop of peaches.
942. If the first snow falls on soft ground, we will have a small harvest; if on hard ground, a large harvest.
943. Heavy snows in winter signify a heavy crop of wheat.
944. Snow on Christmas indicates fruit in profusion.
945. Look for a good crop year, if Christmas comes during the increase of the moon.
946. If the wind blows from the south on Christmas, there will be fine peaches that year.
947. A great quantity of ice between Christmas and New Year's Day is a sign of an abundant crop of fruit.
948. If on New Year's Eve the wind shakes fruit-tree branches well, there will be much fruit that year; if the branches are not shaken, no fruit that
year.

PLANTS (949-1329)

FARM AND GARDEN RULES (949-966)

949. If you spread manure over the ground during the light of the moon, it will either dry up and blow away or fail to decompose; if daring the
dark of the moon, it will sink down into the soil and decompose.
950. Put manure on the ground in March daring the dark of the moon and the soil will be enriched.
951. Manure can be made a more effective fertilizer by spreading it on the ground before eleven o'clock in the morning, letting it lie six days, and
covering it with leaves on the seventh day.
952. Never thank anyone for a plant or seed; neither plant nor seed will thrive.
953. You will not be successful with plant slips unless you steal them.
954. The plant from which a person steals slips will soon die.
955. "Every spring when we were not sure if we could plant anything, my husband would go to the woods to look for the whiteoak trees: if in
buds, he would go home and plant; and if not, he would wait until he would see buds. We often went out to South Park when we didn't want to go
to the country."
956. An unfavorable time for planting anything is the thirty-first of the month.
957. Plant seed as soon as the soil has been prepared or you will not have much success with them.
958. To make anything grow, spit into the hole that has been dug for it.
959. A man said his wife's grandmother had a green hand; everything she planted would grow.
960. "I call it a real example of superstition and set it down as such, and as one I have often met, that people believe in the planting hand. Some
persons are supposed to have a mystic gift like second sight, the power to make things grow."
961. Anything planted in the Name of God will flourish.
962. Many years ago during pioneer days a settler near what is now a small town in the county planted his seed by saying God bless the seed.
That year he did not get any crop. Next year a man living near him planted seed and said God damn the seed. And the neighbor reaped a large
harvest.
963. Everything planted by a pregnant woman does well.
964. The person who leaves an unfinished row when planting will be unsuccessful with whatever has been planted.
965. It is unlucky to gather anything out of the garden after dark.
966. The sign of the knee (knees = Capricornus) is a bad time for gathering a crop.
 20

CLOVER - GRASS - WEEDS (967-1011)

967. Clover sown on the dark of the moon will produce a heavy crop; on the light of the moon, a scanty crop.
968. If you sow clover during the light of the moon, there will be no crop the second year or thereafter.
969. The best time for sowing clover is a no-moon day --- the twenty-four hour period between the changes of the moon.
970. A farmer who sows the seed in the sign of Cancer will obtain clover able to withstand the coldest winter.
971. If you pick a four-leafed clover, another will grow in its place.
972. For most persons, the picking of a four-leafed clover means good luck; for a few, bad.
"Thirty years ago my son-in-law and I were walking through the grape arbor, and looking down we found seven four-leafed clovers. We picked
them; my son-in-law taking four home and I three. This was Sunday afternoon. On Monday afternoon my son-in-law went fishing with three
other men and they all got drowned in the river. The following Tuesday my husband died. So I think four-leafed clovers very unlucky.
"They say a four-leaf clover brings you good luck. I don't believe it does. Several mornings ago I was on my way to work, I found three four -
leaf clover on my way. I had worked at this place four years. I was very glad finding the four-leaf clover, told my girl friend would have some
luck soon. The good luck I had when I got to work I was layed off, so I don't think four-leaf clover are lucky any more."
973. "Blessed is the eye that seeth a four-leafed clover,
And cursed is the hand that plucketh it."
974. To search for a four-leafed clover is unlucky; you must find it by chance to be lucky.
975. If you tell anybody about your finding a four-leafed clover, you will lose your luck.
976. Always pluck a four-leafed clover and keep it pressed in a book for luck.
977. Let the finder of a four-leafed clover press it in a Bible and good luck will follow.
978. Good luck can be had by plucking a four-leafed clover and keeping it over the door.
979. A person finding a four-leafed clover must wear it to be lucky.
980. To be lucky with a four-leafed clover, it mast be worn in your shoe; the left say some, the right say others.
981. Your four-leafed-clover luck lasts only so long as the clover remains in your shoe.
982. Never pull off a four-leafed clover in May; it will bring misfortune.
983. A four-leafed clover gathered on the first of May brings you good luck, provided you do not lose the leaf.
984. Whoever finds a four-leafed clover will soon find something else.
985. The finding of a four-leafed clover is the sign of receiving or inheriting money.
986. If you wear a four-leafed clover in your shoe, money will come to you.
987. Either the discovery or the plucking of a five-leafed clover causes bad luck.
988. To avoid bad luck after a five-leafed clover is discovered, the leaf must be pulled off and thrown away.
989. As an avoidance of bad luck caused by discovering a five-leafed clover, you must pull off the leaf and throw it over your left shoulder.
990. Bad luck that comes from a five-leafed clover can be avoided by giving the leaf away; but the recipient of your gift becomes lucky.
991. You become lucky by pulling off a five-leafed clover, provided you give it to another person, who in turn will have good luck after the leaf
is given to someone else; but misfortune will overtake the final receiver of the gift.
992. The person who discovers or picks a five-leafed clover will soon be disappointed.
993. Prepare for a journey after you discover a five-leafed clover.
994. Do not preserve a five-leafed clover; it denotes sickness.
995. A six-leafed clover is twice as lucky as a four-leafed clover.
996. The meaning of a six-leafed clover is money soon.
997. "Years ago they would say the grass would get a better stand, if you would sow your seeds on a windy day."
998. To forestall weeds and to secure the grassiest lawn or meadow possible, the seed should be sown during the light of the moon.
999. Whoever mows grass on the light of the moon will soon be mowing it again, for grass is best mowed on the dark of the moon.
1000. Choose the dark of the moon under the sign of Leo as the proper time to mow grass so that it will not grow so fast.
1001. If in each hand you hold a seed-bearing grass stall, then place the seedy heads so that they cross inside your mouth, and jerk the stalks
outwards between your clinched teeth, the number of seed left on the stalks will tell you the time of day. As a matter of fact, this rite was
primarily a practical joke played by older children against their younger companions; the purpose being to leave a large quantity of seed in the
victim's mouth.
1002. The person who finds a four-bladed piece of grass will soon find something of value.
1003. If weeds are cut during the dark of the moon, they will not come up again.
1004. The sign of the heart (Leo) is the best time to get rid of weeds.
1005. You can kill weeds by cutting them on May 21, 22 and 23.
1006. Weeds cut during the first three days of June stop growing.
1007. To destroy thistles, cut them on June 27.
1008. A farmer who cuts weeds on the first day of dog days will not be bothered by them again that season.
1009. It causes bad luck to let weeds grow near your house.
1010. Jimson weeds in the yard are lucky.
1011. Always pick up a piece of nettle or branch from any thorny plant pointing toward you; it will bring you good luck.

FLOWERS (1012-1082)

1012. As a general principle, flowers, especially house plants, are planted in the morning; the earlier, the better. But sometimes, flowers having
tubers, such as dahlias and tulips, are planted in the afternoon; the later, the better.
1013. Pansies to be beautiful and to grow tall should be set out or the seed should be sown in the morning at six o'clock and thereafter always
watered at that time.
1014. It is said of flowers planted in the sign of the Twins (Gemini): all of them will bloom, the blossoms will be more beautiful, a greater
number of the seed will sprout, and the plants will thrive twice as well. Further, when this sign is called fingers --- either a part of or a substitute
for the sign arms (Gemini) --- flowers of a vining variety will have longer vines.
1015. You can obtain excellent results by planting vines in the sign of Cancer.
 21

1016. Flowers planted in the sign of the bowels (Virgo) will "run all over the garden like loose bowels" according to some; but according to
others, flowers planted in this sign will "be like locked bowels and not open up." Also, when this sign is called flower girl (Virgo), flowers are
planted for plenty of blossoms.
1017. Anything kept as a winter plant should be planted in the sign of the thigh (Sagittarius); it will keep better.
1018. Tuberous flowers do well, if planted during the sign of the lady with a jug in her hand (Aquarius); but occasionally this sign, when called
Waterman, is considered a bad planting-time for all flowers --- the tubers become water-logged and rot before germinating.
1019. A gardener obtains large beautiful flowers, always in bloom and laden with blossoms, by planting them during the increase of the moon;
flowering-plants being transplanted and vines also set out at this time. Conversely, flowers planted while the moon decreases either will not do so
well or will fail to flower; and planted at this time, climbing vines will not grow at all.
1020. If you plant flowers during the full moon, expect magnificent blossoms and double the usual quantity.
1021. To be certain that your flower slips will develop good roots, the plants must be slipped in the dark of the moon.
1022. Do not set out climbing vines when the horns of the moon are turned downward; the plants will never grow.
1023. Splendid flowers can be had by planting them during the light of the moon in the sign of the fingers --- either a part of or a substitute for the
sign arms (Gemini).
1024. Sweet peas planted on St. Patrick's Day grow better say some, have lovelier blossoms say others, and emit more fragrance say still others.
1025. Plant sweet peas on St. Patrick's Day before sunrise and you will always have Success with them.
1026. Flowers planted on the first of May bloom twice as well.
1027. "I always do this to get pretty flowers and plenty of bloom; plant them on the first day of May before sunup."
1028. Glorious roses are procured by setting out the plants on May 25.
1029. Always plant dahlias on the last week of May late in the afternoon when the moon is dark to be successful with them.
1030. Be sure your flowers are planted during May on the light of the moon in the sign of the Twins (Gemini) to make them luxuriant.
1031. From flowers planted on Green Thursday (Maundy Thursday) all kinds of colors may be expected.
1032. Good Friday is a suitable planting-time for sweet peas.
1033. Roses planted on the last day of June will always bloom the following June.
1034. Never plant flowers on Sunday; you will be unsuccessful with them.
1035. If your birthday occurs during the planting-season, it will be the best time to plant flowers.
1036. No flower planted by a menstruating woman will ever amount to much.
1037. If somebody gives you a flower slip, plant it while thinking of a dead person and it will flourish.
1038. Five pennies buried in the pot containing a house plant make the flower bloom profusely.
1039. To have flourishing ferns, always water them from the bottom upwards and never from the top downwards.
1040. Petunias will flower abundantly, if the seed are planted in the early morning and the plants always watered at this time.
1041. Gorgeous ferns may be raised by sprinkling them with the water in which a menstrual cloth has been washed.
1042. The water rinsed from the first diaper of a newborn baby is good for watering flowers.
1043. "I had a hop vine. Every year one side would be just full of hops and the other side of the fence would be bare. Someone told me about the
red string, so I tied a red string around the side that didn't have any hops and left the string on, and the next year my hop vine was full on both
sides."
1044. Shake flower plants while there is a rainbow and when they bloom the blossoms will be speckled with different colors.
1045. If in the spring someone gives you a flowering plant and you plant it and it blooms that season, you will have good luck.
1046. Spring flowers that bloom again in the fall foretell a sorrowful winter. Similarly, a bridal-wreath bush flowering out of season is an omen
of misfortune.
1047. May flowers taken into the house cause bad luck.
1048. It is considered lucky to keep a living plant in your bedroom at night.
1049. All flowers should be removed from the bedroom at night, for they are unhealthy.
1050. Some patients object to flowers, particularly cut ones, in the sickroom; flowers remind them of a funeral.
1051. Years ago the use of autumnal leaves for decoration in the house was supposed to be unlucky. In recent years they have sometimes been
considered lucky.
1052. Nine autumnal leaves kept under your bed makes you lucky all winter.
1053. It is unlucky to keep cut flowers or autumnal leaves in the house after they have wilted or faded.
1054. Never keep Christmas "greens" or a Christmas tree after New Year's Day; bad luck may be expected.
1055. Yellow flowers in your room will bring you misfortune.
1056. The person who is given a bouquet of yellow flowers will soon receive unexpected money.
1057. If a buttercup held beneath your chin casts a reflection against the skin, you are fond of butter.
1058. Buds on a Christmas cactus should never be counted; they will soon fall off and the plant will not bloom.
1059. If in the autumn a daisy blooms in your yard, you will move into another house in the spring.
1060. If in the autumn a dandelion blooms in your yard, you will take a long journey in the spring.
1061. If you blow a dandelion seed-ball with one strong breath, the number of seed left tells you the time of day.
1062. To tell the time of day, a person blows a dandelion seed-ball three times and counts the seed that remain.
1063. A child when playing out of calling-range can by blowing a dandelion seed-ball discover whether or not he should return home: if all the
seed fall off, his mother wants him immediately; if some of the seed stay on, play may be continued.
1064. After you have blown against a dandelion seed-ball, watch the direction in which the seed fly and they will show you where to seek your
fortune.
1065. If you tickle anyone's chin with a dandelion and he laughs, he likes butter; if he does not laugh, he dislikes butter.
1066. If you hold a dandelion under someone's chin and can see a yellow reflection upon the skin, that person has a taste for butter.
1067. If you rub a dandelion against the bottom of your chin and yellow adheres to the skin, you like butter.
1068. The person who accepts the gift of a fern will never settle down in life.
1069. It is unlucky to have ivy growing in the house.
1070. Carry a piece of life-everlasting (live-forever) for a long and healthy life.
1071. If lilac blossoms are few, it means a poor-crop year; if many, a good-crop year.
1072. Either to reset a live-forever vine or to have one on your property is unlucky.
1073. Morning-glories are lucky when grown over your kitchen window or anywhere against the house.
 22

1074. "My mother would never let a piece of myrtle (a plant commonly grown in cemeteries) grow in her yard. One day I brought a piece home
and she threw it over the fence; said it would bring trouble and sickness to our house."
1075. If in the country a wild rosebush springs up outside the door, the family living at that house will soon be rich.
1076. "Mrs. E. has a plant, that someone gave her thirty-nine years ago for good luck, called the sea onion, and it has little onions that come out
on the sides of it. She gave me one little onion for every member of our family this morning and told me to plant them, that we would all have
good luck, for it was good luck to have that plant in your house. "
1077. Always keep sunflowers in your garden for luck.
1078. Sunflowers in your yard are healthy.
1079. A tuberose, sometimes thought to bloom only once in seven years, is an unlucky flower; some thinking the blossom has the waxy
appearance of death; others, that it emits an odor of death.
1080. Pick the first violet of spring, keep it in your pocketbook, and you will be lucky.
1081. Never let anyone give you a piece of wandering Jew vine; bad luck will come to your house.
1082. "A depression flower [so called because it was in vogue about 1932 during the Great Depression as an inexpensive table ornament] is a
lump of coal in a dish, with salt over it, and bluing and mercury; and in no time you will have pretty blue flowers from the bluing, pink flowers
from the mercury, and white flowers from the salt. Some people have very pretty dishes. They were
all the go last year."

VEGETABLES (1083-1208)
Time of Day for Planting (1083-1093)
1083. To make the plants thrive, seed for crops maturing aboveground --- beans, peas, and similar vegetables --- should be planted during the
morning so that they will rise out of the ground with the rising sun; seed for crops maturing below ground --- beets, carrots, and similar
vegetables --- should be planted during the afternoon so that they will sink down into the ground just like the sun sinks after passing the meridian.
1084. Commoner than the preceding belief is the rule that all vegetables must be planted during the morning --- "My mother always said they
would grow with the day, if planted in the morning; if you planted in the afternoon, they would go down with the night."
1085. Some say vegetables planted in the morning mature sooner than those planted in the afternoon. It is generally said these crops will come
two weeks earlier; beans and peas usually being specified.
1086. The quality of the crops sometimes depends upon the time of day when the seed are planted: turnips sown in the afternoon will be bitter,
but turnips sown in the morning will be sweet and more palatable.
1087. For crops likely to be molested by bugs --- cucumbers, melons and potatoes --- the best planting-time is before sunrise.
1088. You can protect vegetables against bugs by planting the seed after sunset.
1089. "I have been a farmer in early days and know this is so, for I did it: plant your potatoes before sunup and they will all be the same size;
plant them any other time and they will be all sizes."
1090. To plant beans before nine o'clock in the morning makes them tender when cooked.
1091. Various times during the morning, in addition to those already mentioned, are thought to be suitable for planting vegetables: between nine
and twelve, between eleven and twelve, and exactly at noon.
1092. Plant turnips in the evening about six o'clock and they will not be tough or stringy.
1093. Never work your potatoes until after sundown and you will always have a good crop.

Planting by the Zodiac (1094-1125)

1094. Vegetables ripening aboveground --- beans, peas, tomatoes, and the like --- should be planted when the sign of the Zodiac is going up, to
make the plants bushy instead of growing to stalk and root; vegetables ripening underground --- beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, and the like ---
should be planted when the sign of the Zodiac is going down, to prevent these tuber- bearing plants from growing to tops, and to keep onion and
potato sets in the ground.
1095. Every vegetable planted in the sign of the head (Aries) grows to stalk say some, but others say you can obtain large onions with small tops
by planting the sets at this time.
1096. Never plant any vegetable in the sign of the Twins (Gemini); you will get two small vegetables instead of a large one. Cabbage planted at
this time grows double-headed. The only exception to this rule is when you want small-sized cucumbers for pickles.
1097. Several reasons are given for the choice of the sign Twins (Gemini) as an excellent planting-time for vegetables: you will secure two
yieldings, you will secure two for the one you would have had had you planted at a different time, and you will secure two for each blossom.
1098. If you plant the seed in the sign of the arm (Gemini), you will gather as many cucumbers to a vine as you have fingers on your hand.
Conversely, cucumbers planted in any other sign will run to bloom and not amount to anything.
1099. If you plant the seed while the sign is descending from the arm (Gemini) towards the fingers --- here, the lower part of the sign arms --- you
will pick more beans from each vine than you can hold in your fingers. This planting of beans in the down-sign violates the rule given in 1094,
but the purpose here is to procure more beans by keeping the bushes near the ground instead of letting them grow to tops.
1100. Seed planted in the sign of the arm (Gemini) will produce vegetables as long as your arm. Beans and cucumbers are generally selected for
examples.
1101. You will not dig one smooth potato from a patch that was set out in the sign of the Twins (Gemini).
1102. As a good instance of how the astronomical designations for the signs of the Zodiac and their anatomical equivalents do not always
correspond in symbolism, we have the sign Cancer: when this sign is called breast, it has nourishment and thus becomes a fine planting-time for
beans, cucumbers, and peas; but when this sign is called Cancer, an uncontrollable element enters which makes these vegetables run wild and
grow to vines only.
1103. Beans planted in the sign of the Crab (Cancer) move backwards in a circle like a crab and do not come up. A rare name for this sign is
crawfish.
1104. "One time my husband wanted to plant a gallon of onion sets. I said, 'Don't plant them now, the sign is in the Crab [Cancer] and you will
not be able to keep your onions in the ground; they will crawl out all the time.' He said, 'Hell! I am not planting my onions in the Crab, I am
planting in the ground,' and did. After a few days, every morning when he went out to see his onions, they were out of the ground. One morning
he said, 'I will give you fifty cents, if you can keep those onions in the ground.' I took the fifty cents. I didn't tell him, but after he went to work I
pull up every onion and planted them, for it was the right sign; and they stayed in the ground --- didn't have any more trouble with them crawling
out of the ground."
 23

1105. Since the crab lives in water, Cancer is a moist sign and therefore an excellent planting-time to make vegetables withstand a drought.
1106. Cucumbers planted in the sign of the Crab (Cancer) will not be bothered by bugs.
1107. Any vegetable planted in the sign of the heart (Leo) will grow well according to some, but according to others it will rot before maturing.
In particular, this is a bad planting-time for cabbage.
1108. Bugs will not disturb the vines of potatoes set out in the sign of the heart (Leo) .
1109. If the seed are planted in the sign of the bloom, flower, flowers, flower girl, lady with a branch, lady holding a branch, lady holding a
flower --- all of these meaning the sign Virgo --- plants such as beans and peas will grow to flowers, and plants like kohl-rabi and turnips will
grow to seed instead of heading; but, when this sign is called bowels (Virgo), potatoes will yield a large crop.
1110. Beans planted in the sign of the flower-girl (Virgo) will bear until frost.
1111. The sign of the Virgin (Virgo) is an unfavorable sign for transplanting vegetables such as cabbage and tomatoes.
1112. Cabbage and tomatoes are often planted or transplanted in the sign of the Scales (Libra) for size.
1113. The Scorpion (Scorpio) is a moist sign and consequently a favorable time say some for planting any vegetable likely to be damaged by
drought; but others say, when this sign is called groins, more than half of the seed will rot.
1114. Select the sign of the thigh (Sagittarius) for planting beans and cucumbers. This sign, when called Bowman, is a fitting time to plant
potatoes.
1115. Radishes are planted in the sign of the thigh (Sagittarius) to make them solid.
1116. You can secure large radishes by planting the seed in the sign of the thigh (Sagittarius) as it is going down.
1117. The knee (Capricornus) is a splendid planting-sign say some, but others say seed planted at this time will rot.
I1118. If you plant beans in the sign of the Goat (Capricornus), they will be so hard and tough that you cannot cook them.
1119. Carrots, parsnips, and the long radish, planted in the sign of the leg or legs (Aquarius) will be long and smooth. Potatoes are also set out at
this time for size and firmness.
1120. Do not plant seed in the sign of the Waterman (Aquarius), for they will decay and never come up.
1121. The best time to plant crops which grow underground --- beets, carrots, onions, and potatoes --- is the sign of the feet (Pisces).
1122. Beans and peas are sometimes planted in the sign of the feet (Pisces) to keep the bushes low and hence to obtain more beans and peas.
1123. In planting potatoes the sign of the feet (Pisces) should be avoided; the matured potatoes will be covered with excrescences like toes.
1124. Plant beans in the sign of the Fish (Pisces) for long nice pods.
1125. Always hill cucumbers or set out potatoes in the sign of the Fishes (Pisces), because that is a watery sign and thus the vines will neither wilt
nor dry out.
1126. Vegetables that ripen aboveground should be planted in the light of the moon; vegetables that ripen belowground should be planted in the
dark of the moon.

Planting in the Moon (1126-1135)

1127. Lettuce is planted during the dark of the moon to keep the plants from running to seed.
1128. Potatoes are planted during the light of the moon for clear or smooth skins.
1129. If you want seed to grow quickly, plant them while the moon is rising.
1130. The first day of the new moon is the best time for planting all vegetables.
1131. Set out cabbage when the moon is half full say some, one third full say others.
1132. Seed planted when the moon is full will not do well believe some, but others believe seed planted at this time will give you vines full of
beans or peas with full pods.
1133. The light of the moon and the sign of the Twins (Gemini) is the best time for planting beans, peas, and tomatoes; they will bear until frost
according to some. Cabbage and tomato plants should be transplanted at this time.
1134. If you plant the sets in the dark of the moon and the sign of the thigh (Sagittarius), you will get smooth firm potatoes; if you plant the sets
in the light of the moon and the sign of the thigh, you will get flowers and no potatoes.
1135. The seed for all root crops do well when planted during the dark of the moon and in a sign from the lower part of the body.

Planting according to Wind (1136)

1136. Be sure the seed is planted while the wind is blowing and your carrots will root well.

Planting at Blossom-Time (1137-1139)

1137. Apple-blossom time is the proper date for planting beans, melons and pumpkins.
1138. Cucumbers should be planted while cherry trees are blooming.
1139. When peach trees are in bloom is the time to plant beets, carrots and tomatoes.

Special Planting Days (1140-1168)

1140. Plant cabbage on Friday in the new moon and it will not be harmed by frost.
1141. A good crop of potatoes can be obtained by planting the sets on the last two days of the month regardless of the weather.
1142. The seventeenth and eighteenth of the month are potato-planting days. This is also the time for transplanting sweet potatoes.
1143. One of the best times to plant potatoes is election-day in the spring.
1144. Although it is said all vegetable seed may be planted on Good Friday, beans and potatoes are specially named.
1145. St. Patrick's Day is a favorite day for planting peas and potatoes, and for transplanting plants raised in a cold-frame.
1146. Onions do well when planted on the twenty-first of March.
1147. Lettuce should be planted on the fourth of April according to some, the fifth of April according to others.
1148. Potatoes grow well when planted on the tenth of April; as some say, one hundred days from the first of January.
1149. If cucumbers are hilled on the first three days of May, they will bear themselves to death.
1150. To be successful with cucumbers or watermelons, plant them on the first of May before the sun rises.
1151. On the first of May before sunrise plant cucumbers or watermelons while wearing your nightclothes and the vines will not be attacked by
bugs.
1152. "I always did this to have large melons: on the first day of May put a washtub over your head before sunup, then go plant watermelon
seeds; your melons will grow as large as that tub."
 24

1153. "An old colored woman, who was a girl during the Civil War, told me this: if you want to have good gourds, take gourd seeds on the first
day of March, put the seeds in a rag, then put the rag in an old shoe, then put the old shoe in an old stump and leave it there. On the first day of
May plant the seeds before sunup and you will have fine gourds."
1154. "My father always did this: plant watermelons on Sunday in May and hoe them every Sunday; you will have fine melons."
1155. She said, "Always plant potatoes on the eleventh day of May and you will have swell potatoes; will keep well."
1156. Late potatoes ought to be planted in the last dark moon of June.
1157. You will never fail with beans planted during the sign of the Twins (Gemini) in June.
1158. Cucumbers hilled on the first Sunday in June will not be buggy.
1159. A gardener secures long cucumbers by planting them on June 21 --- the longest day of the year.
1160. If you plant cucumbers on the longest day of the year (June 21), they will not be infested by insects.
1161. Sow turnips on the fourth of July, wet or dry.
1162. July 15 is the time to plant winter carrots.
1163. Turnips should be sown on the twenty-fifth of July, wet or dry.
1164. St. Lawrence Day (August 10) is chosen as a planting-time to make turnips either large or sweet.
1165. The sowing of turnips should be completed before August 20.
1166. Wet or dry, August 25 is a turnip-planting time.
1167. Autumn turnips will be sweet and keep all winter; if the seed are sown in August, wet or dry.
1168. Insects will not infest cabbage hoed during dog days.

Sex and Planting (1169-1170)

1169. Let a man plant onions, potatoes, turnips ---anything maturing underground --- and they will grow twice as large as those planted by a
woman.
1170. Large radishes are grown, if as you drop each seed you call out the name of some woman with fat legs.

Temper and Planter (1171-1173)

1171. Only a person with a violent temper can raise peppers.
1172. To make peppers hot, the seed must be planted while you are angry.
1173. "I knew this to happen more than once: never plant onions if you have a temper, for they will be so hot you can't eat them."

Planting Rhymes (1174-1177)

1174. "Plant squash in May,
They run away;
Plant squash in June,
There will be plenty soon."
1175. "Plant pumpkin seeds in May,
And they will all run away;
Plant pumpkin seeds in June,
And they will come soon."
1176. "Plant pumpkin seeds on the first day of June,
And you will have pumpkins soon."
1177. "Plant cucumbers on the sixth of July;
You will have cucumbers, wet or dry."

Planting Incantations (1178-1186)

1178. "A woman I know, when she plants potatoes, always said In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to every potato, so she would get
a big crop."
1179. If you fail to plant your potatoes on St. Patrick's Day, set them out on Good Friday, saying as you drop each cutting Praise be to St. Patrick,
and they will ripen as quickly as had they been planted at the earlier date.
1180. You must say while planting parsnips As long as my arm and as thick as my wrist.
1181. While sowing radish seed you must say As long as my arm and as thick as my leg.
1182. "My mother always said, when she was planting radish seed, with each seed would say As long as my arm and as thick as my thigh, and
she never failed in having nice ones."
1183. This couplet may be repeated when turnips are sown:
"As round as my head and as big as my thigh,
And one for the neighbor that lives nearby."
1184. To get large cabbage, you must say while dropping each seed As round as my head and as big as my butt.
1185. "In planting lettuce I always say Three seeds for the birds and three for myself."
1186. "When I plant lettuce I always say Some for my neighbor, some for the bugs, and some for me and I always have plenty."

Miscellaneous Beliefs (1187-1208)

1187. All vegetables do better, if gourds are planted in the garden.
1188. "An old saying of my mother's was: only fools could raise good gourds."
1189. If you plant onions and tomatoes in the same garden, both will do badly say some; but say others, if you plant an onion and then a tomato in
the same row, or have alternate rows of onions and tomatoes, the latter will do well.
1190. Similar to the preceding belief, commoner, and usually as a jest, they say onions and potatoes should be planted alternately in rows; the
onions will get into the eyes of the potatoes, make them cry, and thus provide continual moisture.
1191. Scatter ashes over your garden on Ash Wednesday and bugs will not molest your vegetables or flowers. But the following practice is
unusual: 'My husband has done this for years on Ash Wednesday, puts ashes all around our house, and we never had a bug. This year he forgot
and we are sure getting water-bugs. My husband said the other day he bet he would not forget to put the ashes around the house next Ash
Wednesday."
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1192. "I always do this every morning after my plants are up, to keep the bugs off: get a bucket of cow manure, put water over it, then take a
maple switch with leaves on, dip down in this bucket, and sprinkle over your plants every morning."
1193. Pour water over egg shells in a jar, let this stand for three days, and then sprinkle it over vegetable and flower plants as a germicide.
1194. Years ago it was thought that whipping potato-bugs off potato vines would make them stay away.
1195. Also years ago a few potato-bugs were put in a bottle, hung up in the chimney, and then a fire was started; this made it so hot for the other
bugs remaining in the patch that they had to leave.
1196. By planting three nasturtium seed in each hill of cucumbers you keep bugs away from the vines.
1197. A great many potato-bugs on the vines indicates a large number of potatoes.
1198. Two expressions are heard about the consequences from sowing mustard seed in your garden: either you will experience more trouble that
year than you have ever had in your life, or, before summer ends you will shed more tears than you eat greens.
1199. Carry an onion in your pocket for luck.
1200. It is unlucky to transplant parsley.
1201. The transplanting of parsnips brings misfortune, so always throw away the plants thinned from a row.
1202. "I remember when I was living up in the North Bottom below Ursa. A man found a little potato up where the bloom should be. If you find a
potato up where the bloom is, it is very bad luck. It is very seldom you find one, and they are just a small potato --- size of a marble. You must
never pick that potato; for if you do, you will have seven years bad luck. I said, 'Don't pick that potato; nothing but bad luck.' He went and picked
it. And he had nothing but bad luck for seven years. He started in to losing his stock, his grain went bad, just everything went wrong after he
picked that potato. Even lost his farm before the seven years was up. My
mother said never to touch one, if you saw one."
1203. A small potato may be carried in the pocket for luck.
1204. "It's an old saying of my mother: never keep a pumpkin in your bedroom overnight; very bad luck."
1205. "My grandmother would not let anyone reset sage; said it was very bad luck. It was all right if it came up from the seed, but never reset
plants after up."
1206. If sage must be planted in your garden, you can prevent bad luck by planting the seed somewhere else and transplanting the plants.
1207. Your best horse will die the first year you attempt to raise sage.
1208. Never give sage plants to anybody; you and that person will soon quarrel.

CORN -OATS -WHEAT (1209-1249)

1209. Corn planted during the increase of the moon grows quicker and yields more than corn planted during the decrease of the moon.
1210. Choose the dark of the moon as a planting-time for corn and it will have a better chance of surviving a drought.
1211. Plant corn on a dark moon to make the ears grow near the bottom of the stalk where they will be within reach and easily picked. Sometimes
corn is planted at this time for large ears.
1212. "My husband always planted his corn in the sign of the arm (Gemini); you will get more corn and larger ears."
1213. Planted in the sign of the Twins (Gemini) on a light moon, corn bears ten bushels more to the acre.
1214. If you plant corn in the sign of the Crab (Cancer), the seed will whirl around and around like a crab and never sprout.
1215. You will gather no corn from seed planted in the sign of the Virgin (Virgo); it grows to blades and tassels.
1216. The sign of the Scorpion (Scorpio) is a good time for planting corn.
1217. Tall stalks with full ears are obtained by planting corn in the sign of the thigh (Sagittarius).
1218. March 26 or 27 is a favorable planting-time for corn.
1219. Never plant corn during the first three days of May; the seed will be unproductive.
1220. "Out here about ten miles from Quincy a farmer was in town [Ursa] and they were talking about the weather and if time to plant corn. He
wanted to plant his corn but didn't know if the sign was right. While talking, a woman came in with eggs and heard them talking and said, 'I will
tell you a good sign to plant corn. You go home, take down your pants, sit your ass down on the ground for five minutes, then get up, and if you
don't take cold next day, it is time to plant your corn."
1221. "An Indian sign of my fathers was to plant your corn when the lightning- bugs come, for a good crop. I never plant my corn until I see a
lightning-bug. This is Sunday, July 6. I saw my first lightning-bug this morning, so I will plant my corn Monday. It is a little late, but I know I
will have a good corn crop."
1222. It is time to plant corn when you hear the first call of one of the following birds: dove, thrush and whippoorwill.
1223. The arrival of the woodpecker is a signal for planting corn.
1223a. "Another good Indian sign, I always watch for them [wrens], is to plant your garden when the first wren comes, to have a good garden."
This is also a corn-planting time.
1223b. As soon as dogwood trees are in bloom you may plant your corn.
1224. Told to the early settlers by the Indians, perhaps the commonest sign for planting corn was, and still is, the time when the leaves of certain
trees reached the size of a squirrel's ear. In the river bottoms, along the banks of creeks, on the bluffs, and through the hilly sections of the county,
these trees were the elm, hickory and white oak; but over the prairie, the tree was the osage orange.
1225. "An old Indian man years ago told my grandfather that whenever the elm-tree leaves got the size of the squirrel's foot, it was time to plant
corn, that the Indians went by that sign." This was also said of hickory leaves.
1226. Some farmers plant corn in rows north and south; other farmers plant corn in rows east and west.
1227. Seed for corn must be planted in the proportion of one male grain to two female grains, which are taken respectively from male and female
ears: the former ear tapers to a point at the top or growing end, the latter ear has both ends blunt.
1228. "When my mother would plant corn she would always say Here is some for the worms, some for the neighbors, and some for myself, and
she would always have a plenty."
1229. Use the following couplet while planting corn:
"One for the blackbird, one for the crow;
One for the mole and two to grow."
1230. While planting corn you may recite One for the cutworm, one for the birds, one for the rats, one for the thief, and one for myself.
1231. A man who planted corn on the shares always dropped two grains for the partner, one for himself, and three for the mice and rats.
1232. "In planting corn or wheat, I say:
'One for the cutworm,
 26

One for the crow;

Two to plant,
And two to grow'."
1233. This rhyme may be recited as you plant corn:
"Two for the crow,
Two to rot,
And two to grow."
1233a. "I always take four grains of corn and drop them in a hole and say:
'One for the squirrel,
One for the crow,
One for the earth,
One for to grow'."
1234. "My aunt would always plant corn and she would say Three for the hill, four for the crow, and two for the cutworm. The cutworm thinks he
has plenty when he takes two, the crow thinks he has had the hill when he takes three, and that leaves four to the planter." These nine grains, three
threes, are sometimes divided equally.
1235. After planting the first row of corn, name it for some good-natured person and you will have a heavy crop.
1236. "Mr. P. told me, when he was a boy his father would always make him take the cobs from the corn they were planting and throw them over
in a field to rot. If you would burn the cobs, your corn would burn up in the summer when it was growing."
1237. There is no corn-growing weather until after Whitsunday.
1238. "Whenever the black-locust trees are full of blossom you will have a good corn, wheat and oats crop that year. That is an old Indian sign
and I always go by them --- my father did."
1239. If while husking you find a blue-spotted ear of corn (sometimes known as Sally corn), you will be lucky.
1240. A farmer sowing oats in the light of the moon reaps long full grain.
1241. Sow oats in mud, wheat in dust, both in the light of the moon, and you will reap a good crop.
1242. Much oats will be reaped from seed sown on March 27,28, and 29.
1243. Oats sown after April 10 grows to straw.
1244. "My father every year always looked for the [letter] W on the lower leaves of the growing oats. He found one before the American and
Spanish [Spanish-American] War and one before the[(First] World War."
1245. Drill in your wheat north and south when the sign of the Zodiac is up, to harvest an excellent crop. Wheat drilled this direction withstands
cold weather better say some; but others prescribe east and west so that the sun cannot shine along the rows, thus melting the snow.
1246. Wheat should be sown during the increase of the moon.
1247. Farmers sometimes sow wheat when the crocus blooms.
1248. In sowing wheat by hand years ago some farmers would say Here's five for the rabbits, five for the moles and mice, five for the birds, and
the rest for myself.
1249. A small nut crop means a small wheat crop and a large nut crop means a large wheat crop. Acorns, butternuts or hickory-nuts are usually
named.

TREES -SHRUBBERY - VINES (1250-1329)

1250. To be successful with trees, plant or transplant them in the light of the moon. This general rule is occasionally contradicted by choosing the
dark of the moon for the planting-time; and with fruit trees, these contradictions are sometimes combined as follows: the light of the moon
produces more fruit, the dark of the moon better fruit.
1251. If fruit trees are set out when the moon is full, they will always produce a full crop.
1252. Set out fruit trees in the evening under a new moon and you will have success with them.
1253. Fruit produced by trees planted in the autumn during the sign of the weight (Libra) is large and smooth.
1254. Pears from trees planted in the sign of the Fish or Fishes (Pisces) are long, smooth and nice to peel.
1255. Cherry trees do well when planted in March on the light of the moon.
1256. May 25 is a good time for setting out fruit trees.
1257. Never plant a tree where another stood; it will not thrive.
1258. A tree or bush will prosper, if during the planting you name it after some prosperous person.
1259. "My-uncle planted two fruit trees and he named one for my brother and one for me [a woman]; and the one he named after me didn't grow
at all, and the one after my brother you could just see it grow. If you plant fruit trees, name them after a man instead of a woman and they will
grow twice as fast."
1260. Some people think a tree grows better, if into the hole dug for the planting you bury one of the following articles: a bone, an old bucket, an
old shoe, a potato, and a large white stone.
1261. "Mr. K. told me a man on his block had a cherry tree and it would always bloom, but he would not get any cherries. He told him to hang
the tree full of old bottles. He did. And that year he got two crates of fine cherries."
1262. "I had an old yellow plum tree, it would bloom all the time but would not bear. One day a lady came to our house and said, 'Hang all the
old buckets you can find on that tree and it will bear fruit.' We got all the old buckets we could find and hung on the tree, and we had all the
plums we could take care of after that."
1263. Hang elder leaves on fruit trees to keep insects from injuring the fruit. Elder leaves are also scattered over cabbage plants for the same
purpose.
1264. "We had a blue plum tree for ten years and it never had a plum on it. It would just bloom all the time. One day my grandson Rex came to
see me and he was playing out in the yard, and he took a hatchet and hacked into the tree. My son said, 'Why Rex, why did you do that? for you
will kill grandma's tree.' And the next year that tree was full of the blue plums."
1265. "My plum tree didn't have any fruit on for years, and this year I put a horseshoe in the tree and I have so many plums I have to give them
away."
1266. "I had a pear tree that bloom every year and never had a pear on it, so someone told me to drive nails in it, but not to drive them straight
around, just to drive one here and there and a little higher, never right around. I did this in the fall, and the next year the tree was full of pears."
1267. A nail driven into the north side of the trunk revives a dying tree.
 27

1268. If a fruit tree is unproductive, during the autumn drive three rusty nails into the trunk near the ground and you will get a crop next year.
1269. After setting out a fruit tree, urinate against the trunk every day to make it fruitful. As a substitute for this, and more convenient for a
woman, the chamber pot may be emptied around the tree each morning.
1270. "My father did this to his pear tree that didn't bear, and that year he got three bushels of pears: if a tree don't bear, slice the bark down all
around and it will bear the next year, for fruit trees get bark-bound sometimes."
1271. Fruit trees are made more productive by scattering ashes about them on Ash Wednesday.
1272. On Ash Wednesday break a twig from each tree and an abundant crop of fruit will be harvested that year.
1273. To make fruit trees prolific bearers, they must be shaken on Good Friday.
1274. Good Friday is the proper date for spraying fruit trees.
1275. If you prune fruit trees in the light of the moon, they will not die; if in the dark of the moon, they will bleed to death. These beliefs are
sometimes reversed.
1276. By pruning trees on a full moon they will be laden with fruit.
1277. Grapevines pruned just before the full moon and in the sign of Cancer will not be bothered by birds or worms.
1278. Each year pick the first blossom on the tree and you will get a large crop of fruit.
1279. "One year I was at my uncle's and the cherry trees were white with bloom. I said, 'You will have a lot of fruit.' My uncle said, 'We will not
have any cherries because they are blooming in the dark of the moon; no good, they will fall off.' And he didn't get many cherries that year."
1280. A tree blooming twice in the same season will die that year.
1281. A tree blooming twice in the same season means much sickness that fall.
1282. Occasionally a tree that blooms twice in the same season is considered a sign of bad luck; which, however, can be avoided by picking off
the blossoms.
1283. If you estimate or count the unmatured fruit on a tree, it will drop off before ripening.
1284. "My husband in the spring always put old horseshoes in the fruit trees; it will make the fruit hang on the trees."
1285. You can prevent apples from falling off the tree by driving a nail into the trunk.
1286. Five nails driven into the trunk prevent the fruit from falling off the tree.
1287. "My father did this when fruit was dropping off: drive those old- fashion square iron nails in the tree to hold the fruit on the tree. Never use
wire nails; it must be the old iron nails."
1288. Good maple sugar will not be secured unless you tap the tree in January during the light of the moon.
1289. Harvested in the light of the moon, fruit keeps well say some; but others say the dark of the moon is the better time for harvesting fruit to
make it keep. Similarly, if one harvests fruit during the full moon, it will stay full --- not wither or rot.
1290. Apples falling in the light of the moon are bruised more than those falling in the dark of the moon.
1291. Soft rot attacks apples that fall in the light of the moon; dry rot attacks apples that fall in the dark of the moon.
1292. Never allow a pregnant woman to shake a fruit tree at harvest-time; it will be barren next year.
1293. A woman who touches a fruit tree while in her courses will kill it.
1294. It brings good luck to plant a cedar tree in your yard and have it live.
1295. Do not plant a cedar tree where it can cast a shadow on your house, for you will be unlucky.
1296. Anyone who plants an oak tree in the yard will have good luck.
1297. Persimmon trees near the house are unlucky according to some, lucky according to others.
1298. Poplar trees in the yard bring trouble.
1299. Nothing but misfortune can be expected from planting a weeping willow tree in your yard.
1300. Timber or brush is best killed when Cut in the dark of the moon; the killing being done by girdling the tree or driving nails into the trunk.
Likewise, if you girdle a tree on the dark of the moon, it will die from there down; if on the light of the moon, it will die from there up and sprout
again at the roots. This is the usual principle, but some say you will be more successful by cutting trees in the light of the moon.
1301. An Ember day is the best time to kill brush, shrubbery, and trees.
1302. You can kill a tree by driving a spike into it on the first of May.
1303. Hedge, shrubbery, sprouts, and trees die when cut during the first three days of June.
1304. Trees felled on June 18 or 19 do not sprout again.
1305. The longest day of the year, June 21, is the best time for felling trees.
1306. Always fell trees on one of the following days in June: 21, 22, or 23.
1307. To keep sprouts from sprouting again, grub them out in June during the dark of the moon.
1308. A hedge should be grubbed out on the first day of July.
1309. The sign of the heart (Leo) in July is an excellent time for felling trees.
1310. Brush or trees cut from the seventh to the fourteenth of August will die; the thirteenth often being considered the most suitable of these
days.
1311. Almost everything --- brush, osage orange especially, shrubbery, sprouts, and timber --- dies when cut in the dark of the moon during
August.
1312. White-oak posts chopped during August in the dark of the moon are supposed to last twice as long.
1313. Cut on the full moon in August, brush does not sprout again.
1314. Briers, shrubbery, and trees are easily killed in the sign of the heart (Leo) during August; further, the stumps will rot within a year.
1315. Timber hewn in August lasts longer, because sap still remains in the wood.
1316. If you hew hickory during the autumn in the dark of the moon, worms will not bore into the wood.
1317. Hewing trees while the sap rises will make the wood wormy.
1318. My father always cut his trees for posts and pickets in October so they would season good, and cut his trees in November for wood to burn
--- said it would hold fire better. Never cut trees for wood to burn in the spring, for the sap is going up and the wood will burn right away. "
1319. It is unlucky to cut down a cedar tree.
1320. Lightning strikes the locust more often than any other tree according to some, the walnut according to others; the oak coming next.
1321. Do not burn cedar wood, for you will have bad luck.
1322. To burn grapevine prunings is unlucky.
1323. Never burn sassafras wood --- some say inside the house, others say anywhere --- bad luck will befall you.
1324. "I will not burn any cutting off of a tree, bush or vine. I always put them in some corner of the yard and let them rot, for I think it is bad
luck to burn them."
 28

1325. "My father will not burn a fruit limb in the stove for anything; sure sign of some disappointment."
1326. "Wind in the west,
Brush will burn best;
Wind in the south,
Brush will burn out."
1327. Long pine needles are a sign of a heavy berry and fruit crop.
1328. "My brother always carries a buckeye in his pocket to get money."
1329. "I always carry three buckeyes in my pocket to always have money. My grandfather did this through the Civil War, my mother did this, and
I am carrying three buckeyes too."

ANIMALS (1330-2582)

SMALL FORMS OF AIR AND LAND LIFE (1330-1529)

Insect - Ant -Bedbug - Bee - Butterfly (1330-1379)
1330. If the sun shines during the first spring rain, there will be "lots and lots of bugs" that year.
1331. The person who kills an ant or steps on an ant mound will be unlucky.
1332. Ants inside the house mean good luck.
1333. If ants build a nest near your door, you may expect good luck.
1334. If all at once a great many ants approach or invade your house, bad luck is indicated.
1335. A family never comes to want while there are ants on the property.
1336. If you keep an open bottle of ammonia on the floor in the center of the house for three days, at the end of that time all bedbugs will be
gone.
1337. To make up a warm or unaired bed in the morning brings bedbugs.
1338. Always clean your bed on St. Patrick's Day and it will not have bedbugs that year.
1339. "When I was young I always cleaned my house on Ash Wednesday so I would not be bothered with bedbugs and it worked fine."
1340. The bed a person cleans in the dark of the moon never has bedbugs.
1341. As a remedy against bedbugs, gather fern leaves in June and throw them under the bed.
1342. Fern leaves gathered during the last two days of June and put under the bed drives away bedbugs.
1343. Boil horse-hoof scrapings and use this liquid in washing a bed infested by bedbugs.
1344. One rids a house of bedbugs by catching three and turning them loose in a new house that is being built.
1345. An effective germicidal wash for bedbugs is made, if you urinate into a bucket and let the urine stand seven days before using it.
1346. It is unlucky to see more bees enter than leave the hive.
1347. Bees will abandon the hive before any family misfortune.
1348. You can prevent bees from swarming by putting urine in the hive. The same thing may also be done to keep a swarm of bees home after it
has been hived.
1349. You can prevent bees from swarming by shaking a cow-bell over the hive.
1350. You can prevent bees from swarming by using a mirror to reflect the sun into the hive.
1351. "If bees swarm in May,
They're worth a ton of hay."
1352. "A swarm of bees in May,
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June,
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July,
Is not worth a fly."
1353. Unless bees swarm during the dark of the moon, you will have a difficult time in hiving them.
1354. Noises such as ringing a bell, shooting a gun, shouting, and beating on tin pans will make bees land while swarming.
1355. After a swarm of bees flies over your head, you may look for good luck.
1356. A swarm of bees flying over your head between sunset and sunrise is unlucky.
1357. To have a strange swarm of bees settle on your farm or garden is lucky; and particularly so, when they rest upon the house or enter any
crevice of it; and luckier yet, if you can hive them.
1358. Money will come to the person upon whose farm or garden a strange swarm of bees settles.
1359. Never move bees from their hive to another one except on Friday; you will be unfortunate.
1360. Bees carried across water will die.
1361. If a honey bee or a bumblebee flies into your house, good luck may be expected; but if you kill the bee, bad luck. Always let the bee remain
a few minutes before chasing it out; or better still, let the bee fly away voluntarily. However, some consider a bee in the house unlucky; but to be
so, it must get in through a door.
1362. If a bee flies into your house and you let it stay, you will soon receive money.
1363. Bumblees buzzing about you are bringing you money.
1364. Whoever while picking flowers is pestered by bees will soon get money.
1365. After a bee has buzzed about your head three times, you may expect money.
1366. A bee flying into the house indicates a visit from a stranger.
1367. If a bumblebee stays at your door a long time and persists on entering, someone you have not seen for a great while will soon visit you.
1368. Good news is brought by a bee attempting to enter your house.
1369. Hasty news follows a bee that comes into your house and buzzes around.
1370. It is an omen of good news when a bumblebee pesters you.
1371. If you are standing and a bee suddenly begins to buzz about you, it denotes news: if the bee is yellow, good news; if the bee is dark, bad
news --- the darker the bee, the worse the news.
1372. To kill a butterfly is unlucky; very unlucky, if it is killed by pulling off the wings.
1373. When a butterfly rests on your shoulder, it is a token of good luck.
 29

1374. "Just last week a butterfly came to my door and kept flying up and down the door outside, and that day I got company from out of town;
inside the door would be company from in town."
1375. A butterfly that enters the house and lights on you foretells a visitor.
1376. After a butterfly gets into your house, you will be visited by a woman.
1377. The significance of a butterfly getting into your house is a visit from a stranger.
1378. If the first butterfly seen in the spring is white, you will be healthy and happy that year; if yellow, unhealthy and unhappy.
1379. If in the morning you see a white butterfly, you will soon go to a wedding; if a black butterfly, to a funeral.
1380. To kill a caterpillar (by stepping on it say some) causes bad luck.

Caterpillar - Centipede - Cricket - Doodle Bug (1380-1404)

1381. The person who sees a fever-worm (a pale-yellow caterpillar) will be unfortunate, but this misfortune can be averted by spitting three
times.
382. As a method for obtaining good luck, keep a caterpillar confined until it has changed into a butterfly.
1383. The killing of a thousand-legger (centipede) brings good luck, provided you kill it with the palm of your hand.
1384. The chirping of crickets is always a good sign; some say they are telling you of future success.
1385. Some say only a cricket that chirps after you have gone to bed makes you fortunate.
1386. It is an indication of good luck whenever a cricket enters your house.
1387. "My grandmother said it was lucky to have crickets in the house; but if they move around, some bad luck will come."
1388. Let a person on finding crickets in the house put one of them under the front doorstep for luck.
1389. Crickets getting into or singing in the house signify money or prosperity.
1390. A cricket heard in the room after you have gone to bed signifies company.
1391. If a cricket chirps near or in a house, the occupants will soon move.
1392. Sickness is foretold when a cricket suddenly stops calling and leaves the house.
1393. Never kill a cricket; it will make you very unlucky.
1394. "I always sweep the crickets out; never kill them, for the others will come and eat up your woolen clothes."
1395. The person who kills a cricket will have his clothes eaten by the mate of the dead cricket. Similarly, the cricket killer will always find two
holes eaten in his clothes; one for the dead cricket and the other for the living avenger.
1396. If their owner kills a cricket, cows will give bloody milk.
1397. "I am seventy-five years old and this is an old saying of my grandmother: if you kill a cricket, your teeth will all rot out."
1398. A doodle bug (larva of a dragonfly) will obey you, if you recite:
"Doodle bug, doodle bug,
Come out of your hole;
Your house is on fire,
And your children are burning up."
1399. You can force a doodle bug out of its hole by repeating:
"Doodle, doodle, doodle,
Your mother and grand-daddy are dead."
1400. To bring a doodle bug out of its hole, pronounce this rhyme:
"Doodle bug, doodle bug, stick out your horns,
And I will give you ten bushels of corn."
1401. If a person speaks this couplet, a doodle bug will show itself:
"Doodle bug, doodle bug, come out of your hole;
If you don't, I'll beat you as black as a mole."
1402. Stoop down over a doodle bug's hole and say until the bug appears:
"Doodle up, Johnnie Brown, doodle up,
Johnnie Brown, doodle up, Johnnie Brown."
Then, after the bug has appeared, if you want it to return into its hole, these words must be said:
"Doodle bug, doodle bug, go down;
Go down, Johnnie Brown, go down."
1403. As a device for making a doodle bug leave its hole, the following incantation may be used:
"Doodle up, doodle up, doodle up. "
The bug will again conceal itself, if the incantation is changed to:
"Doodle down, doodle down, doodle down."
1404. "When I was a boy, I would get down on the ground and whistle and whistle down one of these doodle bug's holes in the ground, and they
would crawl out to see what I wanted."

Dragon fly - Flea - Fly - Grasshopper - Katydid (1405-1424)

1405. "My father said never to kill a snake feeder (usually called snake doctor, i.e. a dragon fly); if you did, something bad would happen to you."
1406. A flea found on your hand is the sign of a letter.
1407. Flies about your door are lucky.
1408. If you have no flies about the house and all at once a large number of them appear, misfortune may be expected.
1409. Years ago it was sometimes said that you committed a sin or became unlucky by killing a house fly, but modern knowledge about the fly as
a germ carrier, has made this belief obsolete.
1410. It is lucky to have a live fly in the house at Christmas; but the person who kills this fly, sometimes called a Christmas fly, will be very
unlucky.
1411. A live fly found in the house on New Year's Day means good luck all year.
1412. One fly killed brings ten flies to its funeral.
1413. Kill the first fly seen in the spring and you will soon go on a long journey.
1414. Where flies go (especially when they gather near a door), money always follows.
1415. Money is denoted by flies staying in the house all winter.
 30

1416. Good news will be heard after a fly (usually a large one) buzzes about and pesters you. Such a fly is occasionally known as a news fly.
1417. If a fly keeps lighting on your nose, someone wants to see you.
1418. A horsefly buzzing three times round your head betokens good news.
1419. Somebody (often a stranger) desires to meet or to talk with the person whose face is persistently annoyed by a fly.
1420. If flies keep flying against your house, you may look for visitors.
1421. A grasshopper spits a brown juice called tobacco juice when you hold the insect and repeat this rhyme:
"Spit tobacco juice,
And I'll turn you loose."
1422. To make a grasshopper spit brown juice, put the insect on the back of your hand and say If you don't spit tobacco, I will cut your head off.
1423. Expect good news after you see a large number of grasshoppers near your door.
1424. Do not kill a katydid; you will have bad luck.

Lady Bug - Lightning Bug (Firefly) - Locust (1425-1435)

1425. A lady-bug will leave you, if you say:
"Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Flyaway home;
Your house is on fire,
Your children will burn."
1426. Use this incantation and a lady-bug will depart:
"Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Fly away home;
Your house is on fire,
Your children are alone."
1427. Drive away a lady-bug by reciting:
"Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Fly away home;
Your house is on fire,
Your children are burning;
All except little Ann,
And she crawled under the marble stone."
1428. After you have recited the following words, a lady-bug will flyaway:
"Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Your house is burning,
And your children are crying."
1429. Bad luck will come to the person who kills a lady-bug.
1430. To have a lightning-bug enter the house indicates visitors.
1431. The meaning of a large number of lightning-bugs near your house is company.
1432. "A man had a bucket of locusts up in the Relief Office [for the poor of Quincy] this week and said we are going to have war, because every
locust had a letter W on its wings, and that is a sure sign of war." For the benefit of the "believer," this saying, No.1380 of the first edition of this
book, was collected about 1934.
1433. The letters W W on the wings of a locust mean war and want.
1434. If locusts have the letter P on their wings, it is an indication of peace.
1435. A locust bearing the letters P P on its wings signifies peace and plenty.

Lice - Moth - Snail - Spider (1436-1522)

1436. Be careful about getting sand in your hair; lice will generate on your head.
1437. To rid yourself of lice, take one of them into the graveyard and shoot it and the others will leave.
1438. Place in a coffin three lice from your head and the corpse will carry away the others.
1439. Moths flying near cream or milk turn it sour.
1440. This rhyme is sometimes spoken to a snail:
"Snail, snail, come out of your hole,
Or I'll beat you as black as [a piece of] coal."
1441. A snail will draw in its head, if you repeat this couplet:
"Snail, snail, put in your head,
Or else I'll beat you till you're dead."
1442. Speak these words and a snail will stick out its head:
"Snail, snail, poke out your horn,
And I will give you a barrel of corn."
1443. You will always be lucky in a house where snails stay near the door or down in the cellar.
1444. If you drop salt on a snail, it will melt into a green spot.
1445. On the first of May a snail caught by the horns and thrown over your shoulder gives you good luck all year.
1446. Sweep your house in the dark of the moon and spiders will not enter it.
1447. When a woman sees a spider weaving a web, it shows that a new dress is being woven for her.
1448. A spider killed while crawling on a woman's arm brings her a new dress.
1449. If a woman finds a spider on her dress, a new dress may be expected.
1450. A person seeing a spider run down its web in the afternoon will soon travel.
1451. If a spider crawls towards you in the morning, it is a sign of a quarrel that day.
1452. No matter what a spider is doing, seen at night it is a sign of peace.
1453. To see a spider spinning its web in the morning makes you successful in business or any undertaking that day.
1454. Anyone killing a spider on a bed will soon be sick in that bed.
 31

1455. Never kill a spider; your pride or self-esteem will be killed.

1456. By killing a spider some say you slay an enemy; others say you slay a friend. It is also said you will never conquer your enemies.
1457. If you walk into or through a spider web, you will soon meet a friend.
1458. As a general rule, anytime a spider crawls towards you, it denotes company. However, some say the spider must crawl towards you in the
morning, others say in the evening.
1459. If a spider spins before your face or swings down on its thread in front of you, look for a visitor; a welcome one say some. It is also said
you will greet a bosom friend unexpectedly.
1460. If a spider drops on its thread in front of you and stays down, it means a visit from a relative who will stay a long time.
1461. If a spider comes down on its thread in front of you, a person of the opposite sex having hair the color of the spider will call on you.
1462. The significance of a spider getting on you is a guest. Some say this guest will be an old friend.
1463. If you see a spider crawling on your bed, a stranger is coming; but if you kill the spider, the stranger will not come.
1464. If you see a spider crawling on a bed, a stranger will soon sleep in that bed.
1465. A spider that crawls up the door is a token of an approaching stranger.
1466. A spider beginning to weave a web in the doorway betokens a welcome caller.
1467. If you find a spider crawling on or hanging over your table (while you are eating, say some), it foretells that someone (a stranger say some)
will share the next meal with you.
1468. The person who sees a spider making its web in a window will soon entertain guests.
1469. If a spider weaves down in front of you, somebody wants to speak to you.
1470. To have a spider drop down in front of you and then climb up its thread is a warning of a disappointment.
1471. After a spider crawls on you, good news will be received. The spider must not be killed.
1472. A spider seen at noon indicates good news; provided you do not kill the spider.
1473. The usual interpretation for a spider dropping down in front of you is good news. However, it is also said: if a spider drops down in front of
you and climbs up its thread, you will hear good news; but if the spider continues downward to the floor and does not climb up its thread, you
will hear bad news.
1474. A spider dropping down in front of you is an omen of a letter; but if you kill the spider, you will not get the letter. It is also said you will
not get the letter unless the spider climbs up its thread.
1475. Some say a spider must drop down in front of you three times to bring a letter.
1476. If you are in bed and a spider lets itself down from the ceiling directly above you, it signifies a letter. Similarly, a spider hanging over your
head or spinning a web overhead, no matter what your posture, is the sign of a letter; a large one say some.
1477. If a spider runs over the floor and you do not kill it, expect a letter.
1478. You can obtain a letter by killing a spider in the palm of your hand. Some require that this must be a spider caught while spinning its web
downwards.
1479. Another method for obtaining a letter is to catch a spider and burn it.
1480. The meaning of a spider on your window is a letter.
1481. A person walking through a spider web soon gets a letter.
1482. If a spider runs over your head, a letter will soon arrive; from the direction in which the spider was running, add some.
1483. The person on to whose shoulder a spider lowers itself will soon receive a letter.
1484. If a black spider crawls on you, a black-haired person will send you a letter.
1485. If a spider swings down in front of you, a letter will come from a person whose hair is the color of the spider.
1486. If a spider swings down in front of you and remains down, a letter will come from a man; if the spider returns up its thread, from a woman.
1487. If a spider (usually a small one) comes down in front of you, or spins its web towards you, or hangs over your head; you will acquire
money --- soon, or within three days, or in a letter.
1488. A small red spider is called a money spider. To see one of them brings you money; provided you do not harm the spider say some.
1489. To find any kind of spider on your clothes is an indication of money.
1490. You can secure money by catching a spider and keeping it alive in your pocketbook. However, some say you must catch a spider on you;
others say a spider spinning its web. It is usually said you will have money only so long
as the spider lives.
1491 Never capture a spider running away from you; you will be unlucky in money matters.
1492. "I will not kill a spider I find alive on Friday. I always put it in a piece of paper [white paper is usually prescribed] and put it in my pocket
so I will get money before the day is over."
1493. If you step on a spider, someone will soon give you money.
1494. As a general rule, it is unlucky to kill a spider; hence the following rhyme:
"If you wish to thrive,
Leave the spider alive. "
or
"If you wish to live and thrive,
Let the spider walk alive."
or
"If you want to live and strive,
Let the spider go alive."
or
"If you wish to live and strive,
Let the spider run alive. "
1495. Only a spider killed in the house or one found on your person causes bad luck say some.
1496. The killing of a black spider or a baby spider is particularly unlucky.
1497. Some say you may kill a spider anytime during the day without causing bad luck.
1498. In spite of the four preceding beliefs, it is occasionally considered lucky to kill a spider; provided, according to some, it is killed in the
morning.
1499. Three different times of the day are thought to be exceptionally unlucky for killing a spider: some say in the morning; others say during the
afternoon; and still others say at night.
 32

1500. "If you see a spider in the morning,

It is a warning."
1501. "If you see a spider in the morn,
It'll bring you sorrow and harm;
If you see a spider at night,
It will bring you joy and delight."
1502. A spider seen at noon is lucky say some; unlucky say others.
1503. If a spider approaches you in the morning, it denotes good luck say some; sorrow say others.
1504. The person who sees a spider spinning its web in the morning will be lucky.
1505. If a spider spins a web from the ceiling in the morning, good luck is signified; if in the afternoon or at night, bad luck.
1506. To awake in the morning and discover that a spider has spun a web in your room during the night is lucky.
1507. It is unlucky to have a spider spin its web across your kitchen door.
1508. A person passing through a spider web will be lucky say some; unlucky say others.
1509. If a person sweeps down a spider web in the house, good luck may be expected say some; bad luck say others.
1510. "I will never disturb a spider web; I think it very bad luck, for the spider web was what saved Jesus's life."
1511. Wait until the spider has left its web and then you may sweep it away without incurring bad luck.
1512. A spider coming down on its web before you is generally considered lucky, but sometimes this is considered unlucky.
1513. If a small spider hangs down in front of you, it means good luck; the smaller the spider, the better the luck.
1514. A brown spider suspended before your face is a token of good luck.
1515. If a white spider falls down in front of you, look for good luck; if a black spider, bad luck.
1516. If a spider (a black one in particular) falls down in front of you and then goes up its thread, you will be lucky. Nevertheless, some say this
is unlucky.
1517. Never walk under a spider that is falling down; you will have bad luck. Always drive the spider up its thread before walking under it.
1518. A spider on you or on your clothes foretells good luck.
1519. As a method for securing luck: catch a black spider, wrap it up in a piece of brown paper, lay this package on the left side of your breast
against the skin, and let it remain there until the spider dies. Some say the spider must be caught while it is crawling on you or dropping down in
front of you.
1520. A live spider wrapped in a piece of paper and put under the inner sole of your right shoe gives you good luck; provided the spider is still
living after the third day.
1521. Worn in either shoe a spider dead or alive makes you lucky.
1522. An old Negro woman who years ago worked as charwoman in the former red-light district on lower Broadway said, "A sporting woman
always puts a spider in her right stocking, if she finds one, for good luck that day." Notwithstanding, some say the left stocking may be used.

Tumblebug - Wasp - Worm (1523-1529)

1523. "My grandfather said it was bad luck to see a tumblebug crawling in the rain."
1524. Bad luck is caused by killing a wasp.
1525. A wasp flying into the house is a good omen.
1526. It is lucky to have wasps build a nest in a window, on the porch, or under the eaves of your house.
1527. In years past when sidewalks were constructed of brick, the innumerable earthworms that crawled up through the spaces between the bricks
after a heavy spring-rain were frequently thought to have fallen from the sky.
1528. If a fishing-worm is cut in half, each part will crawl away and become a whole worm.
1529. After you see the first worm in the spring, you will take a long trip; the longer the worm, the longer the trip.
AQUATIC ANIMAL LIFE (1530-1543)
Sea Shell - Oyster - Crayfish (1530-1536)
1530. Hold a sea shell to your ear and you can hear the sea roaring.
1531. Oysters are not good to eat except during a month that has the letter R in its name.
1532. By keeping a piece of oyster shell in your pocketbook, luck and money can be had.
1533. A crawfish pinching one of your toes will not let loose until it thunders.
1534. Anybody finding a crawfish with one claw will be lucky.
1535. It is lucky to find a crawfish having one large claw and one small claw.
1536. There are two precious stones in the head of a crawfish; one may be carried for luck.

Fish - Gold fish - Minnow - Perch (1537-1543)

1537. Fish sometimes fall from the sky during a rain.
1538. "I had a friend that didn't believe this: never to put uneven goldfish in a bowl, for the odd one will always die. So she put five goldfish in a
bowl and it was no time until one died, leaving only the four."
1539. Goldfish in the house are lucky say some; unlucky say others.
1540. "If you have goldfish in your house, you will be ailing all the time until you get them out."
1541. Always buy your goldfish, for accepting them as a gift will cause you bad luck.
1542. Minnows come by spontaneous generation. The old argument, one formerly submitted as an infallible proof of this belief, asserted that a
creek will dry up completely during a drought and yet minnows always reappear immediately after the first rain.
1543. Two bones from the head of a white perch, one lying just behind each eye, are considered lucky; unusually lucky when worn by a
fisherman.

FROG - TOAD - LIZARD - SNAKE - TURTLE (1544-1617)

1544. During a rainstorm frogs sometimes drop from the sky.

1545. If in the spring you see a toad before seeing a snake, you will be lazy all year; if you see a snake before seeing a toad, you will be lively all
year.
1546. The croaking of frogs at midnight on a battlefield will be followed by a battle within three days.
 33

1547. A frog killed is the sign of a new enemy made.

1548. The farmer who kills a frog or toad may expect bloody milk from his cows.
1549. After you have killed a frog or toad, your cows will give buttermilk.
1550. To kill or step on a toad makes your cows go dry.
1551. Never kill a toad; your house will catch fire.
1552. Whoever kills a toad will stump his toe and stumble; before the end of the day say some, before midnight say others.
1553. If you kill a frog, you will soon lose your best friend; by death say some.
1554. By killing a frog or toad you make yourself unlucky.
1555. You can become lucky by carrying either the jawbone or breastbone of a tree toad.
1556. "I always do this every spring for luck; spit on the first toad you see."
1557. "We used to have our yard full of bullfrogs and we had all kind of luck; now we have no bullfrogs and we have nothing but bad luck."
1558. A toad may be kept in your cellar for luck.
1559. If you kill a lizard (salamander) that lives at a spring, the spring will dry up.
1560. Snakes can be created by letting horsehair remain in water; each hair eventually will become a snake. Rain water and tail hair are usually
prescribed. Hair from a grey horse makes this transformation gradually, but hair from a black horse is completely transformed at the end of nine
days.
1561. The first thunder of the year awakens snakes.
1562. March thunder wakes up snakes; they appear in April.
1563. During a dry year you will see "lots and lots" of snakes.
1564. If you cut up a joint-snake, the pieces will unite and the snake will crawl away.
1565. A hoop-snake, having raised its tail and curved it forwards until the tip can be grasped by the mouth to form a circle, often rolls like a hoop
along the ground; but usually the snake prefers to roll down a hill. In the latter case, if the tail strikes a tree, the tree will die. Some call this reptile
a horned-snake because the end of its tail, a sort of stinger, is pointed and hard like a horn.
1566. Very rare is the coachwhip --- a snake that chases a person and whips him.
1567. There is a long, slim, bluish snake with glassy eyes, which is called a milk-snake because it sucks a cow. A cow will become so attached to
this snake that she will hold back her milk at night. Similarly, most snakes seem to be fond of sucking cows, especially the common blacksnake:
"We sure did have a time with the blacksnakes when we were on the farm. The cows do like the snakes to suck them; would rather have a snake
any day than a calf to suck."
1568. A woman had a cow and sold milk to customers in the neighborhood. One day a little girl came to report that her mother would no longer
buy the milk because it was bloody. So the owner, who had been unaware of this trouble, tested separately each of the cow's tits and discovered
two of them giving bloody milk; and blood in the milk, unless the cow is bewitched, always shows that a cow has been sucked by a snake.
Eventually, she had to have the cow killed, for the animal is never any good after a snake has been sucking her.
1569. Sore tits in a cow often come from having been bitten by a snake that has sucked them.
1570. Never kill a snake that has been sucking a cow; the cow will go dry.
1571. "My aunt lived over in the Bottom. She had a little baby about three years old. It was not very strong and every day she would put it out in
the yard in the sun to play. One day this child came in the house saying, 'Pritly, pritly' — the child could not say, 'pretty'. And the mother looked
and screamed at the same time, for a snake was following the child in the house. The child had a piece of bread in her hand and the snake was just
ready to take a bite, when her mother slap the child's hand and grab her up, afraid the snake would bite the child. She called to her husband to
come and kill the snake; told him it was eating the child's bread. The husband pick the snake up and threw it out the door without killing it. My
aunt said, 'Why didn't you kill it? ' He said, 'Do you want your child to die? If I had of killed the snake, we would of lost our child; for it is a very
old saying, if a snake eat anything you have and you kill the snake, you will die'."
1572. If you find a snake drinking milk from a cup out of which some of the milk was previously drunk by a child, always let the snake escape;
for if the snake is killed, the child will not live long.
1573. After a snake has drunk milk from a cup out of which a child was drinking milk, let the child take another drink of the same milk. This
will make the child a snake charmer.
1574. "My daughter was very fond of snakes. When she was a little girl she would catch every snake she would see and put them in bottles. She
would play with them all the time just like a girl would with her dolls. We were always afraid she would be bitten by a snake, because we could
not keep her from picking up every snake she saw. Her father told her he would whip her if he found her with another snake. One day he took all
of her snakes and killed them. When she came home, all of her snakes was gone out of the bottles. She came to me crying and wanted to know
what happened to her snakes. I told her ask her father. Her father told her he had killed them. She said, '0h, father, you didn't kill little Jodie?'
That was her pet snake. 'I did, I killed every one, and I don't want to catch you with any more or I will hide you.' But we could not keep her away
from snakes. Time went on and she started again picking up snakes. This time the hoopsnake. She would hold them up over her head, holding a
hoop over her head. She even went to the county fair with a hoopsnake, holding it up over her head. She showed snakes in shows. I always
thought after that, that when my daughter was a little girl a snake must of charmed her, for she always liked snakes and was never bitten by one."
1575. A snake charms its victim before striking.
1576. Rattlesnakes will always shake their rattles three times to warn you before they attack.
1577. A rattlesnake will never strike a small child.
1578. If a child plays with a snake and you kill the snake, the child will soon die.
1579. Gourds grown in the garden will rid your property of snakes; they do not like the smell of this vegetable.
1580. To protect yourself against snakes at night when camping, lay a braid of horsehair (from the horse's tail say some) or a rope on the ground
so that it circles you completely. Snakes cannot cross over either article.
1581. "Years ago I lived in a house down in the Bottoms where the place was just full of rattlesnakes. You could never go out in the yard
unless you would see snakes everywhere. I had several small children and was afraid they would get in the house, so I took old rubber and shoes
and put them all around the house and set them on fire to let them burn up, because where old shoes and rubber burn, a snake will never cross
over the ground. And we didn't have any to get in the house."
1582. If you kill the first snake you see in the spring and burn it in your yard, all the snakes on your farm will leave .
1583. The snake-doctor (dragon fly) warns a snake when danger is near.
1584. A snake will swallow her young in times of danger, and when the danger has passed, the small snakes will crawl out of the mother's
belly. This is said to be especially true of black snakes.
1585. If a snake is killed during the mating season, its mate will come to the body; before sunset say some, before noon next day say others.
 34

1586. The last part of a snake to die is its tail.

1587. A snake never dies until sunset.
1588. "Years ago I was working for a man for seven long years and we got along fine until one day his brother and wife came to see him. Several
days after they were there I went out the front door and a big black snake was lying across the path. I said to his brother, 'Will you kill that snake
for me?' And he did. I lost my job that week. If I had of killed that snake I would of conquered my enemies and got to stay, but the brother and
wife got to stay over me letting him kill the snake."
1589. Do not kill a snake that runs away from you; it is some enemy running away and you will have good luck by letting matters rest as they
are.
1590. You can conquer your enemies by killing a snake and burying it near your door before sunset.
1591. The person who kills a snake in May will subdue his enemies for twelve months.
1592. To kill the first snake of the season is to overcome your worst enemy say some, but others say this act overcomes all your enemies that
year. Occasionally, to fail in killing the first snake means your friends will turn against you.
1593. If the first snake you see in the spring is dead, either you have no enemies or someone else has killed your enemies for you.
1594. If a person kills the first snake of the season, it brings good luck all year; if a person does not kill the first snake of the season, it brings bad
luck all year. Both the positive and negative aspects of this belief have been modernized: if your automobile runs over the first snake of
the season, you will be lucky all year; if the snake does not die after your automobile has run over it, get out at once and kill the snake to
prevent being unlucky all year.
1595. A snake seen while crawling is unlucky; a snake seen at rest is lucky.
1596. If you see a snake at rest and it is curled up, one of your best friends is an enemy.
1597. Three snakes killed on the same day by the same person give him good luck.
1598. The killing of a snake is a cause of sorrow.
1599. If a snake crosses your path, bad luck may be expected. The contrary is sometimes believed.
1600. "Whenever my grandma would have a snake to cross her path, she would always turn and look at the sun to keep from having bad luck."
1601. Before crossing over snake tracks in the dust of a road, always draw a cross on them for luck.
1602. It is unlucky to see a large blacksnake.
1603. "One day I went somewhere and I saw five snakes. When I got home I told my mother-in-law and she said, 'Oh, I am so sorry, for that is
trouble
in the family.' And it was no time until my husband and I separated."
1604. After you have met a snake, you will meet an ill-tongued person.
1605. If a snake gets into the house, an enemy is trying to harm you.
1606. A snake getting into a tent on the battle grounds denotes the approach of enemies.
1607. Never pick up a skin cast by a snake in early spring; you would be picking up a lot of trouble.
1608. You may catch a rattlesnake (the older, the better), remove its rattles, and carry them in a small bag on your body to ward off all forms of
bad luck. Sometimes these rattles are carried in a pocket or pocketbook for luck.
1609. Rattlesnake rattles kept in a violin make the instrument easier to play say some; better toned say others.
1610. Do not chase a blacksnake out of your yard or away from your farm or kill it; you will have good luck so long as the snake stays.
1611. Beware of being bitten by a turtle; it will hold on until sunset.
1612. If a turtle bites you, it will not let go until there is thunder.
1613. Turtles when killed will live until the sun goes down.
1614. It is unlucky to kill a turtle which you yourself do not intend to eat.
1615. "An old saying of my grandfather was to always try to catch a turtle after sundown, for it would bring you luck."
1616. Good luck comes from keeping a turtle in your garden.
1617. Keep a turtle bone in your pocket for luck.

BIRDS (1618-1771)
Birds - Blackbird - Bluebird - Blue Jay - Canary (1618-1660)
1618. To rob a bird nest causes bad luck.
1619. The person who captures a wild bird and keeps it caged will be unfortunate.
1620. You can capture a bird by putting salt on its tail.
1621. It is lucky to put salt on the tail of a bird.
1622. Always accept the gift of a bird; happiness will follow.
1623. If you leave home on business and a bird crosses your path from right to left, you will meet with success at the end of your journey.
1624. To have a bird circle around you is a fortunate omen.
1625. A number of birds circling above your head means good luck for you or your family.
1626. If a bird flying overhead drops dung on you and you do not become angry, good luck may be expected.
1627. That article of your clothing on which a bird lets dung fall without arousing your anger will last twice as long.
1628. "One day I was out in the yard and a bird over me dropped something on my thumb; I took a long journey, I went South."
1629. If a bird flaps its wings three times while passing above you, some kind of separation is foretold.
1630. Birds wheeling over the house denote visitors.
1631. To know the name of the first bird heard in the spring makes a person lucky all year.
1632. If a chirping bird approaches you, look for good luck.
1633. Some say a bird singing near your front door indicates good luck; others say, bad luck.
1634. A bird fluttering against a window is considered an unlucky sign by some and a lucky sign by others. The former belief is the usual one.
1635. After a bird flutters against your window, you will receive news; good according to some, bad according to others. The latter is sometimes
called hasty or speedy news.
1636. The significance of a bird sitting in your window is a letter.
1637. Trouble accompanies a bird entering the house; especially, if it enters through a door.
1638. Coming into the house through a door or window and going out the same door or window, a bird leaves good luck behind.
1639. The first person seeing a bird that has entered the house through a window will soon encounter bad luck.
 35

1640. If a bird flies into the house through a window raised from the bottom, the token is one of bad luck; but if the bird flies into the house
through a window lowered from the top, the token is one of good news.
1641. Hasty news will be received after a bird has flown into and out of a house.
1642. There will be an argument after a bird gets into the house.
1643. Sickness will come to that house into which a bird flies and rests on the bed.
1644. Two birds fighting are a portent of bad news.
1645. If the first two birds you see in the spring are trying to mate, you will have good luck all year.
1646. If on finding a dead bird you take off one of the wings and hang it over the door, you will be lucky so long as the wing hangs there.
1647. The foot of a bird may be carried in your pocketbook for luck.
1648. A blackbird crossing your path signifies bad luck before you reach your destination.
1649. The house near which blackbirds are flocking together will soon have a quarrel.
1650. As a protection against blackbirds eating your cherries, kill one of the birds and nail it to the cherry tree; but for protecting your corn, the
dead bird must be nailed to a board and displayed in the cornfield.
1651. The first person in his community to see the first bluebird of the season will be lucky.
1652. If you meet a bluebird, someone you are not expecting will soon be met.
1653. A bluebird singing near your house is bringing you happiness.
1654. Blue jays are never seen on Friday, because on this day each bird carries a grain of sand to the devil.
1655. A blue jay in your yard is an indication of good luck.
1656. To discover whether a canary can or cannot sing, tie a gold ring to a string and hold this over the bird: if it is a singer, the ring will swing
back and forth; if it is not a singer, the ring will remain still.
1657. A canary poking its beak through the bars of the cage is a sign of company.
1658. If a strange canary flies into the house, it betokens good luck.
1659. "A friend of Mrs. X. saw a canary in the yard and she didn't know whether she wanted to catch it or not, because she said it was bad luck
to catch a stray canary. It was a very beautiful one. And Mrs. X. said if she didn't catch it, she would. So Mrs. X's friend caught the canary and
put it in a cage. And the next day the rack around the room, which held all of her china plates, fell and broke all of the dishes. And the lady said,
'See, I told you I would have bad luck'!"
1660. The wishbone from a canary may be worn for luck.

Cedar Waxwing - Crow - Dove - Eagle - Hawk (1661-1687)

1661. Cedar waxwings stopping in your yard as they fly to or from the South are an omen of good luck.
1662. A crow can be taught to talk, if you split its tongue.
1663. "Did you know that crows hold court? Well, they do. I have often watched them holding court on a sand bar. The crows always have
guards; one crow will sit about one-hundred yards off each way. And if one of those guards fail to warn the other bunch of crows of any danger
they see, and let someone come up on them without giving the warning, the other crows hold court
on the sand and always kill the guard or guards that did not warn them of danger. This is so, for I have lived on the river all my life."
1664. It is unlucky to hear the call of the rain crow.
1665. A crow roost near the house brings bad luck.
1666. Omens from the number of crows in sight are as follows:
"One's unlucky, two's lucky,
Three is health, four is wealth,
Five is sickness, and six is death."
1667. If on your journey a crow flies across the path, bad luck will soon overtake you.
1668. By killing a crow and nailing it to a door you give yourself good luck.
1669. If you find an empty turtledove nest, the meaning is losses; if you find eggs in the nest, sickness; and if you find young birds in the nest, a
birth in the family.
1670. The call of the first turtledove means as follows: if it is in front of you, a long journey that year; if to your left, sickness throughout
the year; if to your right, prosperity all year; and if behind you, a death before the end of the year.
1671. Omens from the call of the first turtledove are interpreted according to your posture at the time of hearing: if you are standing, health or
prosperity all year; if you are sitting, sickness throughout the year; and if you are lying down, a death before the end of the year.
1672. If the first turtledove calls while you are going up a hill, you will go uphill all year; but if it calls while you are going down a hill, you
will go downhill all year. Sometimes this omen refers to success or failure in business during the year, and when it does, there is added: if you are
going on level ground, your business will remain the same that year.
1673. As soon as you hear the first dove cooing, go to the tree where it is, walk round the tree three times, and the direction toward which the
head of the bird points will be the direction you should travel that year for luck.
1674. The direction in which you hear the call of the first dove is the direction towards which you will soon travel or make your longest
journey during the year.
1675. The direction in which you hear the call of a dove in the morning is the direction towards which you will travel before five o'clock that
afternoon.
1676. A white dove flying above your head foretells good luck.
1677. After a dove flies over your house, sad news will be heard.
1678. Good news is brought by a white dove flying against your window.
1679. The person to whose house a dove comes will soon have a new friend.
1680. If a white dove roosts on or in a building owned by you, it denotes good luck or peace.
1681 If a turtledove lights on your porch or house, bad luck is signified.
1682. Misfortune comes from killing a dove.
1683. According to some the killing of a dove is a sin, because this bird was the first to discover land during the Biblical flood.
1684. The shooting of an American eagle causes bad luck.
1685. It is lucky to find an eagle feather.
1686. To have a hawk fly over your head is lucky.
 36

1687. "Years ago I knew a man that thought he was going to lose his place [farm], and he got a hawk and nailed it up by the feet against the door
and he never lost his place."

Kingfisher - Martin - Owl - Parrot - Phoebe (1688-1723)

1688. A kingfisher near the house is a lucky token.
1689. If a martin builds a nest in your chimney, you will have good luck.
1690. Do not destroy a martin nest; bad luck will befall you.
1691. "Out on north Thirty-sixth Street years ago a German was plowing out in the field, did not go in to supper. An old owl that was sitting in a
tree was hollering, 'Make another round, make another round' --- he thought the man at the house was hollering for him to keep on plowing. So
when it got dark the farmer went out to see why the man did not come to supper. He said, 'You kept hollering for me to make another round, and I
did.' Then they found out that an old owl in the tree was doing the hollering."
1692. The person who imitates the hooting of an owl or mocks an owl by imitation will be unlucky.
1693. At night the hooting of an owl portends bad luck.
1694. To hear an owl just at daybreak is lucky.
1695. A distinction is occasionally made between an owl hoot meaning a change of weather and an owl hoot meaning misfortune; the former
being cheerful, the latter mournful.
1696. If one hears an owl hooting in the night and another owl answering it, trouble may be expected.
1697. If an owl is heard hooting exactly at midnight, think of three dead relatives and you will have good luck.
1698. If an owl hoots while sitting on a fence, look for bad luck.
1699. An owl hooting on your house is an unlucky omen.
1700. An owl hooting on your house is a lucky omen, provided the bird is looking to the south.
1701. It is unfortunate to hear a screech owl while you are on a journey.
1702. If an owl hoots at midnight, a member of your family will meet with an accident.
1703. "Just this spring over on Bay Island an old owl got over my house and holler once real hard --- if an owl holler over your house, sign
someone will steal from you: if the owl holler only once, one person will steal; if he holler two times, two persons will steal from you --- and, the
next day I came to Quincy, a man stole my lumber. And I found my lumber, because this owl had told me one person did the stealing."
1704. If during the night you hear an owl hoot three times near your house, somebody will steal something from you within three days.
1705. To stop the hooting of an owl, turn your apron wrongside out.
1706. To stop the hooting of an owl, tie a knot in your apron string.
1707. To stop the hooting of an owl, drop a hatpin into the chimney of a lighted lamp.
1708. To stop the hooting of an owl, a brass kettle may be turned upside down.
1709. To stop the hooting of an owl, pull the pockets of your trousers inside out.
1710. To stop the hooting of an owl, heat a poker in the fire and leave it there.
1711. To stop the hooting of an owl, burn some salt on the stove.
1712. To stop the hooting of an owl, knot a corner of the bedsheet. Some say this knot must be tied in the left corner of the sheet.
1713. To stop the hooting of an owl, make a knot in your shirt tail.
1714. To stop the hooting of an owl, take off your left shoe and set it upside down.
1715. To stop the hooting of an owl, take off both your shoes and set them upside down.
1716. To stop the hooting of an owl, take off both your shoes and cross one over the other.
1717. To stop the hooting of an owl, heat a shovel in the fire and leave it there or hold it out the door.
1718. "I remember when I was a little girl, grandfather would say, 'I am going out in the woods to see if I can see an old owl so I will have good
luck.' If you see an owl in the daytime, will bring good; if you see an owl at night, that's bad luck."
1719. An owl seen during the day is a warning of sickness.
1720. Never scare an owl away from your house or farm; bad luck will be the result.
1721. The shooting of an owl is unlucky.
1722. For some a parrot is unlucky, for others it is lucky; but the recent disease psitticosis seems now to have upset this balance in favor of the
bad-luck interpretation.
1723. If a pewee (phoebe) comes and calls only once near your house, trouble is approaching.

Quail - Redbird - Robin - Sparrow - Swallow (1724-1758)

1724. According to some the song of the quail is Bob white, bob white; according to others it is Wheat ripe, wheat ripe.
1725. The first redbird seen in the spring brings you good luck.
1726. It is lucky to see a redbird at anytime.
1727. It is lucky to see a redbird and bluebird together.
1728. To have a redbird fly across your path is unlucky.
1729. A person hearing a redbird in the morning will be lucky all day.
1730. If a redbird sings in your yard, you may expect good luck.
1731. A redbird hovering about the back door (anywhere near the house say some) foretells trouble.
1732. "We had a neighbor out in the North End. One morning a redbird came out and just kept picking on the window. I said, 'Look out for
trouble!' And her son got in trouble the same day and went to jail."
1733. The day you see a redbird in your yard you will be disappointed.
1734. The person who sees a redbird will soon get a surprise.
1735. The first redbird coming to your house will be followed by company before the end of the month.
1736. A redbird that sings near your door is a token of company.
1737. If while on a journey you meet a redbird, you will meet someone you are not expecting.
1738. If you see a redbird in your yard, unexpected company will come to your house.
1739. A redbird singing on your porch three mornings in succession indicates the approach of a stranger.
1740. A person whose path is crossed by a redbird will receive a letter.
1741. As soon as you see a redbird, throw it three kisses and you will get a letter.
1742. If a redbird flies round your house, you will hear good news.
 37

1743. A redbird flying into your house signifies that your house is going to burn.
1744. A robin seen in the morning is a sign of a visitor that day.
1745. To hear a robin singing before you get up in the morning means good luck all day.
1746. On seeing a robin you may stamp it for luck. Some say you will be unlucky unless every robin is stamped.
1747. Always feed the first robin for luck.
1748. Never kill a robin; bad luck will follow.
1749. Robins building a nest near your house bring good luck. It is also said a robin nest is lucky only when built on some part of your house.
1750. If a robin nest has three eggs and these are hatched, the parents will destroy one fledgling by pushing it out of the nest for they invariably
raise only two birds.
1751. A large flock of sparrows met on the road is an omen of good luck.
1752. If you see a great number of sparrows crowding together in an excited manner on the road, there will be an accident.
1753. By keeping the breastbone of a sparrow in your pocket you will never be without money.
1754. "Just before my grandmother took sick a sparrow got into the house, and she had a long sick spell and almost died."
1755. Swallows carry bedbugs and bring them into the house through the chimney.
1756. Do not kill a swallow; it will make you unlucky.
1757. Lightning does not strike a house that has a swallow nest in the chimney.
1758. "Just before the Wiley Post and Will Rogers accident I saw two chimney swallows flying into one another. I said, 'You will hear of an
accident' --- for if you see two chimney swallows flying into one another, sign of an airplane accident. It was only a few minutes until we heard of
the Post accident."

Turkey Buzzard - Whippoorwill - Woodpecker - Wren (1759-1771)

1759. If a turkey buzzard flies over your barn, some of your cattle will die.
1760. The person who happens to be holding something in his hand when he hears the first whippoorwill will have trouble that year: if the object
is small, a little trouble; if the object is large, a lot of trouble.
1761. If you are standing when the call of the first whippoorwill is heard, you will be healthy all year; if lying down, sick all year.
1762. "Every spring I carry a piece of money, if only a dime, so when I hear the first whippoorwill I can put my hand on that money so I will
have money all year."
1763. Pat your pocketbook while listening to the first whippoorwill and that year you will secure money.
1764. As soon as you hear the first whippoorwill you should shake the pocket that holds your purse, saying Money, money, money, and you will
not be without money during the year.
1765. To obtain money throughout the year, look into your purse on hearing the first whippoorwill.
1766. A whippoorwill sitting on the roof of a house portends a financial loss for the family living there.
1767. Woodpeckers near your house are a lucky omen.
1768. If a woodpecker taps on a tree near your house, a visitor will soon tap at your door.
1769. A woodpecker tapping on your house is a sign of sickness.
1770. Bad luck comes to those who kill a woodpecker.
1771. The killing of a wren is unlucky.

CHICKEN -HEN -EGGS -ROOSTER (1772-1975)

1772. Hit a hen on the back and she will lay an egg.
1773. A hen never lays eggs near a potato patch.
1774. Eggs are not laid by hens on a windy day.
1775. "If I find a very small egg in the nest I never take it out of the nest until it rots, for I think it very bad luck and would not take it out
for anything. My mother always called them the witch egg and would not move them."
1776. The last egg of a hen before she stops laying for the season is very small. To preserve or eat this egg will make you unlucky. It should
be broken at once.
1777. As soon as a small egg is found in a nest, pick it up, step outside the henhouse, throw the egg over your left shoulder, and your hens will
not lay any more small eggs that year.
1778. It is unlucky to find a small egg. To avert this misfortune: lift up the egg in your left hand, step outside, stand with your back to the
henhouse, and toss the egg across your left shoulder so that it will go over the henhouse. You must not watch where the egg goes or search for it.
1779. The finding of a soft-shelled egg brings bad luck. This misfortune can be averted by throwing the egg over the henhouse or over your own
house.
1780. "My grandmother said if you find a small egg in the henhouse, find the hen and kill her to keep bad luck out of the house. "
1781. Never beat an egg on the day it is laid; you will have bad luck.
1782. To gather eggs after dark is unlucky.
1783. Eggs carried into or out of the house after dark cause bad luck.
1784. Always keep your eggs in a tub and take them to town in the same tub for luck in selling them.
1785. Count eggs on Sunday and you will be unlucky.
1786. A hen will not eat her own eggs, if you burn the shells after using them.
1787. If you boil the first egg a pullet lays, she will not set that year.
1788. To prevent a broody hen from setting: tie a red string around her leg, tail, or neck.
1789. You can stop a hen from brooding by tucking her head under a wing and ducking her three times into a tub of water.
1790. To secure good setting-eggs, choose those laid by hens hatched in the new moon.
1791. Do not set the first nine eggs a hen lays, for they are no good.
1792. The person who sets an egg with a double yolk will fail in raising chickens that year.
1793. An egg with two yokes will hatch a twin chicken, but it will live only a few days.
1794. If you set a mature egg found in a killed hen, the chick will have feathers lying in the opposite direction from those of normal chickens.
 38

1795. Setting-eggs kept near a lard jar will not hatch.

1796. Setting-eggs kept near salt will not hatch.
1797. Write someone's name on each egg of a setting and every egg will hatch.
1798. Write the name of a prosperous person on each egg of a setting and every egg will hatch.
1799. If you carry eggs in your apron to the nest, they will not hatch.
1800. A hen set in an old hat will hatch every egg.
1801. If you count your chickens before they hatch, you will be unsuccessful with the eggs.
1802. Never set a hen on an even number of eggs; you will not be successful with them.
1803. Use thirteen eggs to a setting for luck.
1804. A hen set on thirteen eggs does not raise half of her chicks.
1805. Fifteen eggs to a setting will hatch well.
1806. If a hen is setting in a barn and the barn door slams, the eggs will spoil.
1807. A woman who formerly lived near Marblehead said she could not raise chickens there because the blasting at the lime-kiln quarries always
spoiled the eggs.
1808. If it thunders during the incubation, every egg will be ruined.
1809. "I have a friend up at Clayton that never set a hen unless she put some dirt in the nest before the straw so the thunder will not shake up the
eggs."
1810. Protect setting eggs against thunder by putting a flat piece of iron or a handful of nails under the straw of the nest.
1811. An empty jug near the nest protects setting-eggs against thunder; the thunder will enter the jug and not jar the eggs.
1812. Eggs carried across water will never hatch. Some say this is true because the hen will desert a nest containing water-crossed eggs; others
say these eggs will not hatch even when put under another hen.
1813. "If you have to cross water to set your chicken eggs, always reach down and get a handful of sand just before you start over the water and
put that sand over your eggs in whatever you are carrying them in and they will hatch well. If you don't do this, they won't hatch, taking them
over water. If you are crossing water with geese eggs, reach down and get a handful of sand and put that sand in the nest under the geese eggs to
make them hatch. My mother years ago, if she went to set chicken eggs or geese eggs and had to go across a stream of water like a little branch: if
she had chicken eggs, she would reach down and get a handful of sand and put it over her eggs; if she was carrying geese eggs, she would put the
sand in the nest with the eggs to have a good hatch."
1814. Eggs taken through a running stream will hatch, provided you spit on each egg before crossing the water.
1815. Select the sign of the breast (Cancer) as the time to set hens.
1816. If a hen is set in the sign of the guts (Virgo), more eggs will spoil than hatch.
1817. "I have lived on a farm for years and know this is so: never set a hen when the sign is in the bowels (Virgo); for if you do, they will have
bowel trouble all the time."
1818. Chickens hatched in the sign of the bowels (Virgo) will die from diarrhea; white diarrhea say some.
1819. "I have always found the best time to set a hen was when the sign was in the thigh (Sagittarius), to have good healthy chickens."
1820. The sign of the feet (Pisces) is a good time for setting hens.
1821. If you set a hen in the light of the moon, all the eggs will hatch; if in the dark of the moon, most of the eggs will rot.
1822. If you set a hen in the light of the moon, the chicks will grow with the moon and become strong chickens; if in the dark of the moon, the
chicks will grow weaker with the moon and become sickly chickens.
1823. If you set a hen in the dark of the moon, half of the chicks hatched will be deformed.
1824. Set a hen at sunrise in the light of the moon and all the eggs will hatch.
1825. If you set a hen to hatch in the light of the moon, more of the eggs will be hatched.
1826. If you set a hen to hatch in the light of the moon, the chicks will be healthy and grow quickly; but chicks hatched in the dark of the moon
will not thrive.
1827. If you set a hen to hatch in the light of the moon, the chicks will never squall.
1828. A hen set to hatch in the full of the moon will have a nestful of chicks.
1829. If you set a hen in the morning, you will have good luck with the eggs; if in the afternoon, bad luck.
1830. If you set a hen as early as possible in the morning, the chicks will be stronger.
1831. Eggs set in the morning will hatch several days sooner than eggs set in the afternoon.
1832. The best time to set a hen for a good hatch is exactly at noon.
1833. Chickens hatched from eggs set in the afternoon will sleep all the time.
1834. Always set a hen at five o'clock in the afternoon for best results.
1835. Every egg of a setting will hatch, if they are set after sundown.
1836. Chicks hatched from eggs set after sundown will not weep.
1837. Eggs set on a cloudy day never hatch.
1838. Do not set eggs on a windy day; the chickens hatched will heap all the time.
1839. "Never set a hen when the wind is in the east, for the eggs will not hatch. Someone told me this and I thought I would try, and only got one
chicken out of all the eggs."
1840. If a hen is set during an east wind, the chicks will not do well say some; they will stand about chirping all the time say others.
1841. Eggs set while the wind is in the south say some, or in the southeast say others, will hatch three days sooner.
1842. "My grandmother would wait a week before she would set a hen, unless the wind was in the northwest. She said, if you set your hens when
the wind is in the northwest, they will not holler."
1843. The first brooding hen of the season should be set on Monday for luck in raising chickens that year.
1844. All broody hens throughout the season should be set on Monday for luck.
1845. Set a hen on Friday and she will bring you crosses to bear.
1846. Some say a hen set on Sunday will hatch few eggs; others say she will hatch all the eggs.
1847. A hen set on Sunday during a north wind hatches all the eggs.
1848. To procure chickens of different colors, set the eggs on Sunday morning as the congregation leaves church; the various colors in the
clothing of the church-goers produces this result.
1849. Chickens of various colors are procured by setting the eggs on Ash Wednesday.
 39

1850. "I had a friend that always set eggs that were laid on Holy Thursday [here the Roman Catholic meaning, Thursday in Holy Week; not the
Anglican meaning, Ascension Day] --- you will have fine chickens and every egg will hatch ---and they were so fine she always got more money
for them."
1851. Eggs set on Good Friday produce varicolored chickens.
1852. If you set eggs laid on Good Friday, the chickens will be healthy and pretty.
1853. You will get speckled chickens from eggs set on Easter.
1854. A setting of eggs laid on Easter will hatch speckled chickens say some or chickens of different colors say others.
1855. To have a good hatch of chickens, set the eggs on the sixth or seventh of any month.
1856. Game cocks hatched in March when Mars is ruling will be better fighters.
1857. June-hatched chickens sleep all the time.
1858. If chickens are hatched in June during the dark of the moon, they will kill themselves by sleeping; therefore, as a counteractant, set the eggs
to hatch during the light of the moon.
1859. Chickens hatching from eggs laid and set in June will die.
1860. An autumn-hatched hen will lay every day; a spring-hatched hen will lay only on alternate days.
1861. If you want to know whether you will raise pullets or roosters during the year, watch to see who enters your house first on New Year's Day:
if a woman, your chickens will be pullets; if a man, roosters.
1862. To ascertain whether eggs will hatch roosters or hens, tie a gold ring on a string and hold it above one egg at a time: if the ring swings back
and forth over the egg, it will be a rooster; if the ring remains still, a hen.
1863. Candle an egg: if the air space is on the side, it will hatch a hen; if on the top, a rooster.
1864. Boil an egg hard and cut it open: if the yolk is dark yellow, a rooster would have been hatched; if light yellow, a pullet.
1865. An egg with a dark-colored shell will hatch a rooster; an egg with a light-colored shell will hatch a pullet.
1866. The shape of an egg determines its sex: long eggs hatch roosters, short eggs hatch pullets; flat eggs hatch roosters, round eggs hatch pullets;
slim eggs hatch roosters, fat eggs hatch pullets; and pointed eggs hatch roosters stumpy or blunt eggs hatch pullets.
1867. The size of an egg determines its sex: large eggs hatch roosters, small eggs hatch pullets.
1868. Pullets come from the first half of the eggs laid by a hen; roosters come from the second half.
1869. Morning-laid eggs hatch roosters; afternoon-laid eggs hatch pullets.
1870. Eggs laid early in the morning hatch roosters; eggs laid during the rest of the day hatch pullets.
1871. To secure pullets, write a different female name on each egg of the setting; to secure roosters, a different male name.
1872. If you touch setting-eggs with your bare hands while handling them, especially when they are taken out to the nest, you will get roosters.
To avoid this and to make certain of securing pullets, always wear gloves.
1873. If you place the eggs under a setting-hen with your right hand, you may expect roosters; if with your left hand, pullets.
1874. You can have pullets from setting-eggs by carrying them in your apron to the nest.
1875. Gather the eggs in a basket and leave them there until they are set and they will hatch pullets.
1876. Eggs collected in a box and left there until setting-time hatch roosters.
1877. "I used to get so many roosters when I would set my hens, never any pullets. A woman said, 'How do you carry your eggs out?' I said,
'Always in a bucket, because it is easy.' She said, 'Try carrying them out in a pan and see if you don't get pullets.' So I did. And after that I got
more pullets."
1878. Roosters will hatch from setting-eggs that are carried in a man's hat to the nest.
1879. If a person carries the eggs in a man's straw hat to the nest and sets them during the first quarter of the moon, pullets will be hatched.
1880. "I always carry my eggs out in the strainer to set them to get pullets."
1881. Hens should be set in the dark of the moon for pullets and in the light of the moon for roosters.
1882. Pullets are hatched from eggs set before sunrise; roosters are hatched from eggs set before sundown.
1883. You can obtain pullets by setting the eggs any time during daylight.
1884. A hen must be set in the morning before eleven o'clock to get pullets.
1885. It is a general belief that pullets will be hatched from eggs set in the morning and roosters from eggs set in the afternoon; but some believe
the contrary, that roosters come from a morning setting and pullets from an afternoon setting.
1886. Chickens hatched early in the morning are roosters.
1887. Never set eggs on Sunday; you will raise roosters.
1888. If while on her nest the head of a setting-hen faces east, the eggs will hatch pullets; if north, roosters.
1889. To learn whether little chickens will be roosters or pullets, hold each of them up by the feet, letting the head hang down: if it is a rooster, he
will bend his head upwards until it meets his feet; but if it is a pullet, she will lie absolutely still.
1890. A woman bought five chickens, four of which soon died, and the remaining one became sick. She went to the henhouse and said Now God
never put any sickness on anything; everything is perfect. Within several days the chicken was well.
1891. To have chickens free from disease, feed them corn that has been soaked in urine.
1892. For white diarrhea among chickens, drop a piece of iron into their drinking water and also let them eat corn saturated with urine.
1893. As a cure for or a prevention of gap (the gapes), sink a turtle shell level with the ground in the chicken yard and let chicks drink water from
it.
1894. There will not be any lice or mites on your chickens, if you clean the henhouse on Ash Wednesday.
1895. If you scatter ashes in the henhouse on Ash Wednesday before sunrise, your chickens will never have any lice.
1896. Dust your henhouse with ashes on Green Thursday (Maundy Thursday) and the chickens will not get any lice that year.
1897. Ashes scattered in the henhouse on Good Friday protect chickens against lice and rats.
1898. Chickens will not catch lice the year during which you sprinkle ashes in the henhouse on the first of March.
1899. If a hawk is flying about, throw a horseshoe into the fire and leave it there until hot; the bird's claws will become so clinched that it will be
unable to capture your chickens.
1900. Put one horseshoe in the fire and another under the doorstep so that hawks will not molest your chickens.
1901. A round rock put in a fire will draw up a hawk's claws so that it cannot seize your chickens. This is the general rule, but a rock of any shape
may be used.
1902. Sprinkle salt over the tail of a chick when it is from three to five days old and neither hawk nor anything else will capture it.
1903. A turkey buzzard flying down among your chickens will give them colic.
1904. If your rooster is whipped by a neighbor's rooster, your chickens will not thrive.
 40

1905. To make a rooster game and a good fighter: cut off the tips of his ears, comb and wattles, and then let him eat these pieces.
1906. To keep chickens home after you have bought them: cut off their tail feathers and burn them so that they are not blown away by the wind;
for if the wind blows them away, your chickens will fly away too.
1907. Newly purchased chickens will stay home, if you clip off their tail feathers and burn them, rub the chickens against the chimney, turning
them over three times while so doing, and turn them loose.
1908. You can make your chickens stay home by cutting off their tail feathers and throwing them back into the chicken yard.
1909. Black chickens have a coarser meat than that of other chickens.
1910. If a chicken dies and you do not bury it outside your own yard, the other chickens will die.
1911. It is very unlucky to kill a chicken by wringing its neck. Always chop off the head.
1912. A chicken dying in your hand causes bad luck: if you wring off the head, do not let the head die in your hand; if you chop off the head, do
not let the body die in your hand. Incidentally, it is unlucky to let any kind of animal die in your hand.
1913. If you are out driving and kill a chicken by running over it, go back and turn the body over and your automobile will not run over another
chicken.
1914. If you pick a rooster, burn the feathers for luck.
1915. "I was drying chicken feathers one day about ten year ago, and a woman came along and said, 'What are you doing with all those feathers
hanging on the fence?' I had a sack on several of the posts. I said, 'Oh, drying them to make some pillows that I need, been saving them for a long
time. 'Don't you know if you put chicken feathers in your bedtick or pillows, you will have the devil in your house? for the devil is in chicken
feathers.' I didn't do a thing but burn up all my nice feathers I had been saving so long for my pillows, for I didn't want the devil in our house."
For bewitched feathers, see Witch wreath in Index.
1916. The person who can throw a feather over a house will find money on the other side of that house.
1917. If a feather flies into your house, a fool will soon visit you.
1918. A wishbone may be hung in one of the following places for luck: over a door, over the kitchen door, and in the clothes closet.
1919. Lay a wishbone over your door on New Year's Day and the first person to enter the house will be your friend that year.
1920. Whoever in pulling a wishbone gets the larger part should put it over the kitchen door for luck.
1921. "Another old saying: if you can break a wishbone with someone and get the largest part, put it in your mailbox and you will soon get some
good news in the mail. I did this last week and got a letter with a big check in I was not looking for."
1922. To ward off bad luck, keep a black frizzly chicken in your yard.
1923. Never feed chickens after dark; you will be unlucky.
1924. If chickens gather quickly for their corn and eat it rapidly, their owner will have good luck; but if they gather slowly and show no interest
in eating, their own will have bad luck.
1925. To have a stray chicken come to your home is lucky.
1926. It is unlucky to have a rooster walk into and out of the house.
1927. If a grey chicken scratches under your window, bad luck may be expected.
1928. A chicken crossing your path makes you unlucky, but this misfortune can be prevented by returning home and counting ten before you start
out again.
1929. To hear a general cackling among hens is an unlucky omen.
1930. A crowing hen brings bad luck unless you kill her immediately.
1931. "If a chicken crows early in the morning, kill her right away and you will not have bad luck. We had a hen that just kept crowing early one
morning. My mother said we should kill her and my father said, 'Oh, let her live. There is nothing to that old saying.' And we didn't kill her. It
was not a week until my father had a stroke, and we had nothing but trouble for years. My mother said if another hen would ever crow again early
in the morning it would not live."
1932. A hen jumping up on a fence and crowing means bad luck.
1933. If a chicken enters a bedroom, there will be an increase in the family.
1934. An increase in the family is also foretold by a chicken that flies up and sits in the window.
1935. A hen flying into the house through an open window portends sickness in the family.
1936. Many chickens on your porch; much company soon.
1937. Two hens in a fight signify two women coming to your house: if the hens are old, the visitors will be old.
1938. A fight between two roosters indicates a visit from a man; occasionally, a visit from two men.
1939. If a hen and rooster fight, a man and woman will come.
1940. Never mock a crowing rooster; you will be unlucky.
1941. It is unfortunate to have a rooster crow near your door.
1942. A rooster crowing on your doorstep on Sunday will cause bad luck in the family, but you can cancel this bad luck by killing the rooster at
once. Some say the rooster must crow on Sunday morning.
1943. After a rooster goes crowing to roost, you may look for some family misfortune.
1944. Except during the Christmas season, it is a bad sign to have a rooster crow at night --- especially before midnight.
1945. To have a rooster crow before daybreak denotes hasty news.
1946. If a rooster crows at noon, hasty news will be received.
1947. A rooster crowing in the afternoon is an omen of hasty news.
1948. After a rooster has crowed at dusk, you will receive unexpected news; before midnight say some, before daybreak say others.
1949. To hear a rooster crow between seven and eight o'clock at night foretells hasty news.
1950. When a rooster crows before midnight, bad news may be expected.
1951. A rooster that comes to the house and looks in without crowing is a token of good news.
1952. If about dusk a rooster crows three times at your door, unexpected news is denoted.
1953. The crowing of a rooster three times at your door betokens a letter.
1954. The significance of a rooster crowing three times on your doorstep is news or a letter from a distant relative.
1955. If a rooster crows three times and looks at you each time, you will get a letter from a friend.
1956. The person who hears a rooster crowing in the evening will soon have a stranger knock at the door.
1957. An early-morning crowing by a rooster is a sign of company that day; before breakfast say some, before supper say others, and before
bedtime say a few.
1958. To have a rooster crow on the porch signifies company. Some say the rooster must crow on the front porch.
 41

1959. If a rooster walks to the porch and crows three times, you may expect company.
1960. If a rooster stands on the front porch and crows while looking toward the house, someone is coming; if he crows while looking away from
the house, someone within is going away.
1961. If a rooster stands at the door and crows while looking into the house, there will be an increase in the family; if he crows while looking out
the door, there will be a decrease in the family.
1962. A rooster crowing before your door is a warning of company. Some say the crowing must occur before the front door.
1963. A person whose rooster crows at the door in the morning will have company before the day is gone.
1964. The door at which a rooster crows three times will soon be knocked on by a visitor.
1965. The crowing of a rooster at the front door will bring a welcome guest.
1966. If a rooster crows at your door, a stranger will call upon you.
1967. "I can comb my hair and get ready for company, when my rooster comes and stands [without crowing] in the door."
1968. If a rooster enters the house and begins to crow while you are taking him out, company will arrive that day.
1969. The interpretation for a rooster crowing in your back yard is a male caller.
1970. A rooster that jumps up on a fence and crows is announcing company.
1971. If a rooster sits on a fence and crows while looking toward the house, look for a welcome visitor; if he crows while looking away from the
house, an unwelcome visitor.
1972. Just before or at midnight the crowing of a rooster presages a fire.
1973. The household near which a rooster crows at night will have sickness before morning.
1974. Your rooster failing to crow in the morning is a portent of sickness in the family.
1975. Do not leave home the day upon which your rooster fails to crow before daybreak; great danger lies ahead of you and maybe death.

DUCK - GOOSE - GUINEA - PEACOCK - PIGEON - TURKEY (1976-2001)

1976. If you set a duck in the light of the moon, all eggs will hatch at one time and easily; but if in the dark of the moon, the eggs will hatch
at different times and you will have to help each duckling out of its shell.
1977. Thunder while a duck is setting spoils all the eggs.
1978. Sunday thunder will spoil a setting of goose eggs.
1979. A setting of goose eggs is spoiled by Tuesday thunder.
1980. The year in which there is thunder in February will be a bad year for setting goose eggs.
1981. Goose or duck eggs set on the ground will not be harmed by thunder.
1982. To prevent lightning and thunder from harming goose eggs, lay iron around the nest. Similarly, an iron hoop is sometimes laid so that it
surrounds a turkey nest.
1983. Several horseshoes put in a goose nest make it easier for goslings to break out of the eggs.
1984. If you pick geese in the light of the moon, you will get a large amount of feathers; if in the dark of the moon, a small amount.
1985. More feathers are secured by picking geese in the moonlight.
1986. Geese should be picked while the moon is changing from light to dark, as a prevention of bleeding.
1987. Some say it is lucky to pass a flock of geese on the road, but others say this is unlucky.
1988. One must be careful when killing a guinea: if the guinea becomes angry or excited before you kill it, the meat will be black and tough; but
if you sneak into the roost at night, catch the guinea unawares and immediately wring its head, the meat will be white and tender.
1989. It is said the cry of a guinea is sometimes Poor trash, poor trash.
1990. The crying of a peacock at night is unlucky.
1991. "I knew a lady that bought a rug with a big peacock in the corner of the rug. After she had it down, one of the neighbor ladies went in to see
it and said, 'Oh! you have a peacock in your rug. Didn't you know that would bring you very bad luck? any kind of peacock in the house, or even
its feathers.' It was not a week until the lady with the new rug's husband hung himself. After the funeral, the lady put this new rug on a barnfire
(bonfire) and burnt it up, to keep from having any more trouble."
1992. Peacock feathers in the house are unlucky say most people; lucky say a few.
1993. "My mother did this years ago and we never had a fly: hang peacock feathers in the room, will keep out flies."
1994. If the first pigeon eggs of the season hatch, you will be successful all year in raising pigeons.
1995. To have a white pigeon fly over you is lucky. The same thing is sometimes said of a pigeon having any white feathers, no matter how few.
1996. A strange pigeon coming to your house means good luck; provided you do not give the pigeon away or kill it. Some say this pigeon must
be white.
1997. If a white pigeon comes to your house, it indicates good news; and if the pigeon sits in your window, this good news will be unexpected.
1998. The significance of a pigeon flying into the house is misfortune.
1999. If a strange pigeon flies into the house, it is an omen of sickness.
2000. Turkeys with short claws have tender meat; turkeys with long claws have tough meat.
2001. The wishbone of either a turkey or a goose may be hung over the door for money.

WILD ANIMALS (2002-2061)

Bat - Guinea Pig - Mice - Rabbit - Raccoon (2002-2044)
2002. If a bat gets into your hair, the animal will not let go until it thunders.
2003. If a bat gets into a woman's hair, her hair must be cut off to get rid of the animal.
2004. A bat getting into your hair makes you bald.
2005. A bat getting into your hair and wetting on it makes you bald.
2006. It is unlucky to have a bat get into your hair.
2007. Bats are full of bedbugs; therefore a bat flying into the house brings in bedbugs.
2008. To have a bat fly into the house is a sign of bad luck.
2009. The house into which a bat flies after dark will be without one of its occupants on the following night.
2010. A bat hovering near your house signifies a misfortune.
2011. The killing of a bat will cause trouble.
 42

2012. Pick up a guinea pig by the tail and its eyes will drop out. This may be classed with those beliefs, or practical jokes, of childhood like
the one about putting salt on a bird's tail to catch it --- the guinea pig has no tail.
2013. Mice coming out and playing in the room foretell company.
2014. The person who while on a journey sees mice will meet with danger before reaching his destination.
2015. "I always try to have my rabbits have young the first month of the year to have good luck with rabbits all year."
2016. Rabbits have young every month except February.
2017. Never bring a live rabbit into the house; it is very unlucky.
2018. You can catch a rabbit by putting salt on its tail.
2019. If you kill the first rabbit found in your garden and bury one of its feet, your garden will not be bothered by rabbits that year.
2020. A rabbit killed after sundown will make you unfortunate.
2021. By killing the first rabbit seen in winter you become lucky.
2022. The person who kills the first rabbit seen in the fall and carries one of its paws will be lucky all year.
2023. Some say a rabbit foot carried by you is not lucky unless you yourself have killed the animal and cut off the foot.
2024. For the foot of a rabbit to be lucky, the animal must be killed in the light of the moon.
2025. The left hind foot of a rabbit caught or shot at midnight in a graveyard is lucky.
2026. "An old man told me this at bingo: you can have good luck by carrying the left-front foot of a rabbit caught by a Negro after midnight in a
Negro cemetery."
2027. Do not wear or keep a rabbit foot someone gives you, for you will be unlucky.
2028. If someone loses a rabbit foot and you find it, the luck is twice as strong; you add that person's luck to your own.
2029. Although there are contradictions about which foot of a rabbit should be worn for luck, the left hind foot is generally prescribed.
2030. Sometimes a rabbit foot is used as a watch-charm for luck.
2031. A rabbit foot may be kept about the neck for luck: on a chain, ribbon, string; attached to a necklace; or in a small bag. It is occasionally
combined with other charms.
2032. "I have a friend that has nothing but good luck, and she carries a rabbit foot in her left pocket all the time."
2033. The left hip-pocket is supposed to be a lucky place for a man to carry a rabbit foot.
2034. If you think you are going to get into trouble, rub a rabbit foot over your head three times while making a wish to avert the misfortune and
then return the foot to your pocket.
2035. "I always keep a rabbit foot over the front and back door for luck."
2036. Always carry a rabbit foot in your pocketbook and you will never be without money.
2037. Most people say a rabbit crossing your path is unlucky, but a few say it is lucky.
2038. To avoid bad luck after a rabbit crosses your path, go home and begin your journey again.
2039. After a rabbit has crossed your path, bad luck can be avoided by spitting.
2040. A rabbit crossing your path from right to left is unlucky, unless you immediately jerk a hair out of your head.
2041. If a rabbit crosses your path, it denotes a disappointment.
2042. The person whose path is crossed by a rabbit will hear unpleasant news.
2043. Running across your path a rabbit warns you of an accident.
2044. A raccoon can live all winter by sucking its paws.

Rat -Skunk - Squirrel - Flying Squirrel (2045-2061)

2045. To get rid of rats, catch one of them and turn it loose after doing one of the following things: singe the hair, burn the bottoms of its feet,
paint the animal, and tie a tin can to the tail.
2046. A rat on finding a crock of milk will skim the cream with its tail and then lick the tail clean.
2047. The person who sees a white rat will have good luck.
2048. A great increase in the number of rats foretells a war.
2049. If you see rats leaving a building, it will soon burn.
2050. It is unlucky to find that rats have eaten holes in your clothes.
2051. If you are about to undertake any kind of new work and discover rats
have been gnawing your clothing, give up the undertaking for you will not succeed with it.
2052. Holes gnawed into your clothes by rats means you will soon move from that house.
2053. You should not mend any article of your clothing gnawed by a rat, for this would bring you bad luck; but you may wear the clothing after
someone else has mended it.
2054. "My mother would not wear a thing or let any of her children wear anything a rat made a hole in, for it is very unlucky to wear anything
patched after a rat has cut a hole in it. She would always take them out and burn them up to keep from having bad luck."
2055. To have a skunk cross your path is lucky.
2056. Some say a squirrel crossing your path is lucky, others say it is unlucky.
2057. If a squirrel crosses your path when you are making a business trip, you will be successful with that business.
2058. "I have a friend that comes to my house that lives out in the country. He told me he catches three squirrels every fall and spring. He keeps
three tails tied together; keeps three in his house and three in his car to keep away accidents. He said, 'I always feel safe when I start out in my
car, if the three squirrel tails are in the car.' I know this is so, for he showed me the three tails tied together in his car."
2059. Wear three teeth from a squirrel killed in the light of the moon and you will never have an accident.
2060. It is unlucky to skin a squirrel and tack the hide up anywhere.
2061. "About fifty years ago my brother and I went over to Missouri to see my grandma. She was living on a farm. My grandma was worrying
about losing some of her farm, and my mother went over to talk about it. We were there about two days when --- we were all down in the woods
looking for flowers — my brother happen to look up and said, 'Oh, look at the flying-squirrels up in the tree!' and started to throwing at them, just
like a boy. My grandma was looking up, with her mouth open, and a big squirrel fell right down in [against] her mouth and another on her head.
We were all scared to death, but my grandma said, 'That is very good luck. I will not lose my farm now.' And she didn't."

CATS (2062-2219)
 43

2062. The first cat in the world was born while it lightened, and thus marked by lightning became its conductor; therefore, a cat not only draws
lightning, but also is the only animal that will go outside during a storm.
2063. Cats born in May are unlucky.
2064. Every cat has a worm in the tip of its tail; unless you chop off this tip, the animal will have fits. The same thing is believed of dogs.
2065. There is a general belief that a cat will suck the breath of a person asleep, of a baby in particular, and cause death. May-born cats are the
most frequent offenders.
2066. As soon as a kitten is born, let a woman tie round one of its front paws a long hair from her head and the animal will become a good
mouser.
2067. You can break a cat from the habit of catching birds by burning a match and rubbing the charred wood three times over the animal's nose.
2068. "We had a neighbor that was not feeling well; she was not in bed, only she was not at all well. One night several cats started to fighting in
her back yard. She said to her husband, 'Go out and pick up a brick with your left hand and throw at those cats, I don't want to get down in bed
with a sick spell.' They say cats fighting in your yard will bring sickness to your house, and if you will take a brick in your left hand and throw it
at them, will break the spell. Well, her husband went out and picked up a brick in his left hand and threw at those cats, and they never heard
another sound out of those cats, and the woman didn't get sick."
2069. Two cats fighting in front of your house is a sign of company.
2070. If a cat fixes its whiskers, company may be expected.
2071. A cat licking its fur upwards means a visitor.
2072. After a cat has cleaned its face in the house, someone will soon visit you.
2073. If a cat washes its face, especially in or before a doorway, somebody is coming to your house; and this person will arrive from the direction
towards which the cat looks, either while washing or after it has finished.
2074. The direction in which a cat's tail is pointing as it cleans its face will be the quarter whence you may look for the arrival of guests.
2075. A person at whom a cat glances while cleaning its face will soon be visited by someone.
2076. The person whose cat licks its face in the house may expect a stranger.
Some say the stranger will not come, unless the cat does this before breakfast.
2077. To have a cat lick itself over one ear indicates visitors: if the right ear, their visit will be short; if the left ear, their visit will be
long.
2078. The significance of a cat sliding on the floor is company; they will appear in the direction towards which the cat slid.
2078a. If a cat walks to the door and then lies down in the center of the room with all four feet up in the air, you will have company from out of
town that day.
2079. If a cat sneezes, you will soon entertain callers; and there will be as many callers as the number of times the animal sneezed.
2080. The sneezing of a cat in the house is unlucky.
2081. It is unlucky to see a cat eating grass.
2082. To be scratched by a cat causes a disappointment.
2083. If a cat approaches in an amicable manner, you have a friendly disposition; but if the animal raises its fur, you have an unfriendly
disposition. They say the same thing about a dog.
2084. The person who knows how to establish an immediate friendship with strange cats will always be lucky.
2085. Sleep with a cat and you will have bad luck.
2086. Two cats that lie on the same chair and purr are bringing good luck to the house.
2087. Never let a cat look into a mirror; trouble will soon follow.
2088. "My mother would always run a cat out of the house, if it started to sitting down in the middle of the kitchen floor and looking up and
mewing and making her tail wiggle; sure sign of bad luck."
2089. By stroking the tail of a strange black cat seven times a person becomes lucky.
2090. To step on a cat's tail is unlucky.
2091. Remove a two-inch piece from the tip of a black cat's tail, dry it, and keep this in your left shoe for luck.
2092. One who carries a bone from the left side of a black cat will be lucky.
2093. You may stand in a graveyard and whirl a dead cat round your head three times for luck. Some say this must be done at night.
2094. If you meet a black cat and call it, and the animal comes to you, good luck will be yours.
2095. A black cat found on the road should be kept for luck.
2096. If you meet a black cat coming towards you, good luck is indicated; if going away from you, bad luck.
2097. If a black cat crosses your path from left to right, it signifies good luck; if from right to left, bad luck.
2098. When a black cat runs straight ahead of you as you are walking down a road, notice the direction in which the animal finally leaves the
road: if it veers to the left, you will have bad luck; but if to the right, good luck.
2099. If a black cat starts to cross your path and at the halfway point turns back, bad luck may be expected; but if the animal after some hesitation
continues across your path, good luck.
2100. A black cat crossing your path and then retracing its steps in front of you is a fortunate omen.
2101. The person whose path is crossed by a black cat will be unlucky.
2102. To have a black cat run across your path is a token of seven years of bad luck.
2103. A Friday-born person is not made unlucky by a black cat crossing his path; on the contrary, some say he is made lucky.
2104. As soon as you reach home after a black cat has crossed your path, burn some coffee to avoid bad luck.
2105. Count nine when a black cat goes across your path and the bad luck will be averted.
2106. "I always count ten to keep bad luck away, if I meet a black cat."
2107. "It's an old saying, if a black cat crosses your path, curse it three times while going over. Judge X. [a former Quincy official], when a black
cat ran in front of him, always said [being a prominent church member and having a reputation for piety] Darn you three times."
2108. Say Go to hell three times when a black cat crosses your path and you will not be unlucky.
2109. "I was walking with a woman and a black cat ran in front of us. She
turned and went around the block to keep from having bad luck."
2110. As a prevention of bad luck when a black cat runs across your path, you must return home and begin your trip over again.
2111. "Three years ago a woman was going to my mother's house, and after she started a black cat ran across in front of her. She went back home
and sit down for one-half hour, and then went to my mother's house; said if you do this, you will not have any bad luck."
 44

2112. "I have heard my grandfather say, if a black cat crosses in front of you, stop and wait until the tracks get good and cold before you go over,
to keep from crossing. I myself don't care how cold they get, I would not cross over unless someone else went first."
2113. If a black cat runs in front of you, wait until someone else comes along and then cross the cat's path with that person. Some say this cancels
the bad luck for both of you, others say yours only.
2114. "I know a woman in Marceline that when a black cat runs in front of her she will wait until a man comes along before she will go on. And
if you are a man, wait until a woman comes along."
2115. "When I see a black cat I always turn my back on it until the cat crosses, to keep from having bad luck."
2116. Ward off bad luck, when a cat runs in front of you, by walking backwards until you no longer see the cat.
2117. Any kind of cat crossing your path will cause bad luck, but you can counteract this by walking backwards all the way to your destination
without speaking.
2118. "If a black cat crosses the road, I always turn right around and walk backwards until I get way over the place where the cat passed."
2119. "I always walk backward three steps whenever a black cat runs in front of me."
2120. After a black cat has passed in front of you, make a cross on the ground, move backwards three steps, whirl around on your heel, then
continue your journey, and you will not be unlucky.
2121. The person who walks backwards five steps averts bad luck when a black cat crosses the path.
2122. If a black cat crosses your path, spit and rub your foot through it, then walk backwards five steps, and bad luck will not come to you.
2123. "I always do this if I meet a black cat: step backward six steps, you will break the bad-luck spell."
2124. "Whenever I see a black cat I always turn and walk [backwards] about six steps, then spit and rub my foot through it, to break the jinks."
2125. By walking backwards seven steps, when a black cat crosses your path, bad luck can be avoided.
2126. "My son-in-law if driving and sees a black cat run across the road, he will stop and wait until someone else passes across the road, then he
will go back, back his car about seven steps, before he will cross over the place where the cat went."
2127. To prevent bad luck, go backwards nine steps when your path is crossed by a black cat.
2128. As a method for warding off bad luck caused by a black cat crossing your path, take nine steps backwards over the animal's track.
2129. On having a black cat cross your path, take nine steps backwards, spitting at each step, and bad luck will be kept away.
2130. Ten steps taken backwards wards off bad luck, if a black cat crosses your path.
2131. "Whenever I go with a certain man in a car and a black cat runs across the road, he always backs his car back ten rods to keep from having
bad luck."
2132. To rid yourself of bad luck when a black cat has run in front of you, take ten steps backwards and turn around on your heel.
2133. A black cat running across your path does not cause bad luck, if you whirl around, walk backwards ten steps, and then spit.
2134. Bad luck caused when a black cat crosses your path can be counteracted by walking backwards ten steps and whirling around three times.
2135. The person who takes twelve steps backwards after a black cat has run across the path will not be unlucky.
2136. "If I meet a black cat, I always walk backward thirteen steps to keep from having bad luck. "
2137. "My son-in-law is afraid of a black cat. When he sees one, he will turn and turn around like crazy, to break the spell, until the cat is out of
sight."
2138. If a black cat has crossed your path, turning around three times protects you against bad luck.
2139. One who turns around three times and spits when a black cat crosses the path will not encounter bad luck.
2140. In averting bad luck after a black cat goes across your path, whirl around three times and spit on the ground at each whirling. This is said to
be particularly effective against a black cat met on Halloween.
2141. To spit when a black cat runs in front of you is a bad-luck counteractant.
2142. "I always spit on my finger, if we meet a black cat, and throw the spit out the car window, to throw bad luck away."
2143. Whoever spits on or over his two front fingers (the index and middle finger of either hand, usually the right; or, sometimes both index
fingers) when a black cat crosses his path will not be unlucky.
2144. "I never pass a black cat unless I spit three times at the cat to keep from having bad luck. "
2145. "Whenever my son meets a black cat he goes and sits right down and spits ten times to keep bad luck away."
2146. Always spit until the black cat that has crossed your path can no longer be seen and bad luck will not overtake you.
2147. When a black cat passes across your path, bad luck can be prevented by removing your hat and spitting into it.
2148. "I know a Negro man, if he meets a black cat, he will take off his hat, spit in it nine times, then put it back on his head, to keep bad luck
away."
2149. Spit on your shoes as a bad-luck preventive when a black cat crosses your path.
2150. If a black cat crosses your path, you can protect yourself against bad luck by lying on the ground and rubbing your nose in the dust or mud.
2151. Three crosses made on the ground with your left foot breaks a bad-luck spell caused by a black cat crossing your path.
2152. "I have a very good friend that thinks any kind of a cat to walk in front of you is very bad luck. If she just sees a cat on the street, she will
turn around three times and make the sign of the cross each time. I believe she would die, if a cat would run in front of her."
2153. As a protection against bad luck caused by a black cat passing in front of you, chase the animal back across your path.
2154. "If a black cat runs in front of me, I always try to pick it up and throw it over my left shoulder to keep from having bad luck."
2155. The person who catches and keeps the black cat crossing his path will have good luck instead of bad luck.
2156. Catch the black cat that crosses your path and kiss it; this will drive bad luck away and bring you good luck.
2157. "My brother was at the hospital, very sick, not expected to live. My father was on his way to see brother, and a block before he got to the
hospital a black cat run in front of him. He said, 'You damn black cat! I am going to kill you, I am not going to let my son die over a black cat.'
He said he started after the cat, running around the block and up an alley, but he killed the cat. Then he went to the hospital and found my brother
better. He always said he knew my brother would of died if he hadn't of killed the black cat."
2158. The person who looks up to the sky while crossing over the place where a black cat crossed the road will not be unlucky.
2159. If a black cat crosses your path and you find a coin before reaching your destination, you will not have bad luck.
2160. A black cat crossing the path of an automobile means an accident or a wreck before the journey ends: "Several years ago while driving, I
had intended going north on Twelfth Street for the then so-called five-mile drive. Halfway out a black cat crossed directly in front of the car. I
immediately turned back to Locust Street and then up to Twenty-fourth Street, intending to take that road to get to my destination. Again, about
halfway there, another black cat crossed my path. Again I turned around, retraced my way back to Locust, went west to Fifth Street, then north on
Fifth Street to again connect with the five-mile turn. Halfway there, a black cat with a white belly crossed directly in front of me. My [girl] friend
said, 'You will go ahead this time and quit your superstition or I'll never again be seen with you.' I did. I worried all the way. Got there. Back
again safely in town. But on my way home, one-and-a-half blocks from my home, I was hit square in the middle of my Hudson roadster by a
 45

drunken dentist of Quincy. Wrecked my car. Set my companion clear across the street with a torn chest and minor bruises. Completely wrecked
the dentist's car. And to cap the climax, when I took same into court, the dentist had some witness swear he was not drunk or been drinking. This
other witness, who had to be fished out the wreck, was so drunk he could not stand up; and the judge dismissed the case. Neither got nothing. But
I got black cat experience. And how!"
2161. To have a black cat cross your path after midnight is the sign of an accident.
2162. If you start out in an automobile and a black cat crosses the road, expect an accident unless you return home and sit down before starting
out again.
2163. A journey during which a black cat goes across your path will end in a disappointment.
2164. After a black cat has crossed your path in the daytime, sickness may be expected.
2165. A black-and-white cat crossing your path is lucky say some, but others say merely seeing such a cat is unlucky.
2166. The person whose path is crossed by a grey cat will be lucky.
2167. A grey cat running across your path is followed by sorrow.
2168. If a white cat crosses your path, you will have good luck say some or bad luck say others.
2169. A white cat met late at night makes you lucky.
2170. Never let a white cat pass in front of you; there will be sickness in your family.
2171. "I knew an engineer that took his train out one morning and four white cats ran across the track, and a white cat running in front of you is
the sign of a wreck, and before he got to the end of his run the train ran off the track and killed several people."
2172. The bad luck caused by a yellow cat crossing your path can be avoided by turning around and walking backwards all the way to your
destination.
2173. If a cat follows you, good luck is following you.
2174. If a black cat follows you in daytime, it means good luck; if at night, bad luck.
2175. The person who is followed by a cat will soon get money.
2176. Some say a cat following you home indicates good luck, but others say bad luck.
2177. A cat that follows you home will bring good luck, provided you do not chase the animal away.
2178. To meet a black cat at your door is fortunate; a white cat, unfortunate.
2179. If on leaving home your cat follows you, you will be unlucky unless you make it go back.
2180. One may steal a cat and take it home for luck.
2181. It is unlucky to let anyone give you a cat.
2182. The person who gives you a cat secretly hates you.
2183. "I was at a dance one night on Halloween night and they were playing pass the black cat, and they passed the cat around, or tried to, and no
one would take the cat, for some people say it is very bad luck to take a cat handed you, so they put the cat out the window for luck."
2184. "My father kept a black cat on his farm all the time for luck, and if anything would happen to it, he would look around until he found
another black cat without a white hair. He thought it very good luck to have a black cat on the place." Black cats without one white hair are
supposed to be rare.
2185. A cat straying to your house brings good luck, provided you keep it; but driving the cat away will bring bad luck. On the contrary: "Never
let a cat come to your house; it is very bad luck. I was working at a sporting house years ago and they would not let a cat light on the place; said it
was very bad luck." This belief is sometimes given as follows: a strange cat prowling about your door is bringing you bad luck.
2186. If a black cat strays to your house and you keep it, the animal will make you lucky; the blacker the cat, the better the luck; but if the cat
ever leaves, bad luck may be expected.
2187. "If a little black kitten come to you, good luck. You know it's an old saying: the younger the kitten, the better the luck. My brother
had diphtheria bad, two different doctors gave him up, they were looking for him to die every minute, when all at once a little black kitten came
to the house, they didn't know where it came from, but my brother started to getting better right after the kitten came, and got well."
2188. If a black cat comes to your house on New Year's Eve at midnight and you happen to open the door and the animal walks in, you will have
good luck all year.
2189. If a white cat comes to your house (and mews at the door say some) and stays and is not driven away, you will be lucky. Sometimes a white
cat coming to your house is considered unlucky.
2190. The significance of a white cat straying to your house is unwelcome company.
2191. It is lucky to have a cat of three colors come to your house.
2192. After a yellow cat has strayed to your house, you may expect money.
2193. To have a neighbor's cat run through your yard early on Monday morning makes you lucky all week.
2194. If a stray cat climbs into your house through a window, bad luck may be expected.
2195. A girl finding a strange cat in her bedroom at night will be lucky.
2196. The woman who finds a strange black cat in her bedroom at night will soon receive money.
2197. Either see that your black cat is in the house before dark or make it stay outside all night, for to let a black cat into the house after dark
causes bad luck.
2198. To keep a new cat from deserting you, bring the animal home blind- folded and immediately throw it on to the middle of the bed.
2199. Rub butter or grease on the four paws of a cat and after the animal has licked this off it will never leave home. Some say the two front
paws.
2200. As a method for keeping a cat home, smear butter or grease over all four paws and hold the animal in front of a mirror.
2201. If you stick the forepaws of a cat into cream and then, after the animal licks this off, let it drink the rest of the cream, the cat will not desert
you.
2202. You can make a cat stay home by greasing all four paws and laying a piece of stale bread under a doorstep over which the animal must
walk.
2203. After you clip some hair from the tail of a cat and nail this on or under the doorstep, the animal will not wander away. Some say you must
bury the hair under the doorstep.
2204. Hair clipped from a cat's tail and buried under a rock by the kitchen door keeps the animal home.
2205. A person makes a cat remain at home by measuring its tail with a string and putting this under the front door.
2206. Some say stray cats are kept home by letting them look into a mirror; but others say cats always run away from home after looking into a
mirror.
2207. A cat never leaves home after it has looked into a mirror three times.
 46

2208. Chimney soot is rubbed on the paws of a cat as a prevention against the animal leaving home.
2209. You will not have any trouble in retaining a new cat, if on first getting the animal you chase it around the legs of the kitchen table.
2210. In ridding yourself of a cat, always remember that the animal has many lives; nine according to some, seven according to others.
2211. If you carry a cat away in a sack and drop it, the animal will always find its way home on the ninth day.
2212. To be sure that a cat will not return after you have taken it away, grease its paws with butter before you release the animal.
2213. A cat carried downstream never returns home.
2214. Whoever takes a cat across water will have bad luck.
2215. To lose a cat by killing it causes trouble.
2216. It is very unfortunate to drown a cat, especially a kitten --- because the animal's ghost will haunt you, say some --- but this evil can be
avoided, if you use your left hand when throwing the animal into the water.
2217. Misfortune follows the shooting of a cat; it must be killed by other means.
2218. "Never kill a cat; if you do, you will surely have seven long years of bad luck, hardships and sorrow, even if you never had it before. We
killed a cat just after we were married and we had nothing but bad luck and sorrow the first seven years of our married life. I would not let anyone
kill a cat at our place now for anything."
2219. To kill a cat gives you bad luck for nine years.

DOGS (2220-2319)

2220. Never cut off a pup's tail; always bite the tail off and the wound will not become sore or infected.
2221. As a remedy for bowel trouble in a dog, feed the animal horse-hoof scrapings.
2222. To cure fits in a dog, draw blood from its tail.
2223. A dog that chases its tail has worms.
2224. Dogs with dewclaws ("a vestigial digit ... the inner digit of a dog's fore foot") never go mad.
2225. They say dogs are more likely to go mad in dog days than at any other time.
2226. A dog licking the blood of a dead man will go mad.
2227. If you take a picture of your dog, the animal will soon die.
2228. A dog that sees himself in a looking-glass will not live long.
2229. A dog that sees himself in a looking-glass will always be mean.
2230. You can make a dog savage by feeding him gunpowder.
2231. If you see a dog doing his business, he will not be able to complete the task so long as you have your fingers crossed.
2232. If you see a dog doing his business, he will not be able to complete the task so long as you grasp tightly the index finger of the right hand in
the palm of the left hand.
2233. If you see a dog doing his business, he will not be able to complete the task so long as you keep one finger interlocked with the finger of
someone else.
2234. A dog that groans and whines in his sleep is dreaming.
2235. A dog that stretches himself while asleep is dreaming.
2236. "I was at my sister's one afternoon and a dog was asleep, groaning, and I said, 'Why don't you put a cloth over its head to see what you will
dream?' So she picked up the baby's diaper and put over the dog's head, and that night she dreamt she was a big dog fighting a little dog."
2237. Lay a hat over the head of a sleeping dog and that night you will have his dreams.
2238. Pull a whisker from the lip of a sleeping dog, put it under your pillow, and that night you will dream what the dog dreamed. This can also
be done to a cat.
2239. Dogs that look up into the air while howling never amount to anything.
2240. If a dog howls while looking up into the air, there will be a fire.
2241. A strange dog howling near your house at bed-time means trouble in the family. This is sometimes said of your own dog.
2242. It is unlucky to have a dog howl three times near your house and then stop.
2243. Do not look out the window when you hear a dog howling at midnight; it will bring you bad luck.
2244. The howling of a dog at night indicates bad news.
2245. The family whose dog howls at night can expect sickness.
2246. A howling dog is an omen of a fight in the neighborhood.
2247. Look between the dog's ears when he howls and you will see why he is howling.
2248. To stop the howling of a dog, throw your bootjack out the window.
2249. To stop the howling of a dog, take off your left shoe and lay it upside down on the floor. Some say you must use the right shoe.
2250. To stop the howling of a dog, take off both shoes and lay them upside down on the floor.
2251. To stop the howling of a dog: take off both shoes, lay them upside down on the floor, interchange the shoes --- putting the left where the
right was and the right where the left was --- and then stand on the upturned shoes.
2252. To stop the howling of a dog, take off your left shoe and spit on the sole.
2253. To stop the howling of a dog; take off either shoe, spit on it, and put the shoe on again.
2254. If a dog barks for a long time, someone will soon come to your house.
2255. A strange dog coming to your door and barking is an indication of company; an unknown visitor say some.
2256. The dog that swallows the heart of a weasel will never bark again.
2257. Small dogs rarely bark but usually bite; large dogs usually bark but rarely bite.
2258. If you cut off and bury the tail of a dog that has bitten you, he will neither bite nor bark again.
2259. As a protection against being bitten by a dog, wear a piece of bacon in your shoe.
2260. To keep a dog from biting you, rub a piece of bacon in your armpit and throw him the meat.
2261. If you rub one side of a piece of meat in your armpit and the other side on the sole of your bare foot and feed it to a dog, the animal will not
bite you.
2262. You can protect yourself against a charging dog by tipping your hat to him.
2263. A dog with his tail over his back is friendly; a dog with his tail between his legs is dangerous.
2264. Never step or jump over a dog; it causes you bad luck.
2265. A dog crossing your path brings you bad luck.
 47

2266. A large strange dog met at the beginning of your journey is lucky.
2267. If you meet a friendly dog on the road, you will have good luck; but if the dog growls, bad luck.
2268. The person who meets a black dog will be unlucky. This bad luck can
be averted by returning home.
2269. A white dog seen early in the morning denotes good news from a friend far away.
2270. If you see a dog wiping his behind on the sidewalk, somebody is saying nasty things about you.
2271. If a dog runs between a woman's legs, her husband will soon beat her up.
2272. Two dogs fighting on the street signify a quarrel before night.
2273. Some say it is lucky to have a stray dog follow you home; others say it is unlucky.
2274. Some say it is lucky to have a stray dog come to your house, provided the animal remains; others say it is unlucky, unless you chase the
animal away.
2275. If a strange but friendly dog comes to your house and you feed it, you will soon hear good news.
2276. A strange dog running through your house is an unlucky portent.
2277. If a dog is dissatisfied with the house into which you have recently moved, let him smell some hair cut from the end of his tail and he will
stay.
2278. To keep a dog from leaving, cut some hair from his tail and mix it with something he eats.
2279. Your dog will not leave you, if you cut several hairs from the tip of his tail and bury them under the doorstep. This may also be done to
keep a stray dog that comes to your house.
2280. As a method for stealing a dog: cut some hairs from his tail, tie about them a black string, bury this under your doorstep, and the animal
will soon come to your house.
2281. "I remember well, when I was a girl, an old dog came to our farm. My father didn't want it, he kept running it off, and we children wanted
to keep it. So someone said if you cut some of its hair off the end of its tail and spit on it, then bury under the door, it would not leave. So we
thought we would do this so father could not run the dog away, for we wanted it. But we didn't tell him. So we cut the poor dog's tail off, spit on
it and put it under the doorstep, and the dog would not leave. My father tried and tried to run the dog off, but he would not go, when one day he
said, 'I will fix that dog,' and did.' He took it out on the hill and shot it. I cried many a day after that, for I always thought if I had not of cut its tail
off and spit on it and put under the door to make it stay, maybe the dog would have left and got a good home."
2282. A new dog will not leave, if you cut some hairs from the end of his tail, spit on them, bury them under your doorstep, and then spit into the
first food you give him.
2283. If you bore a hole into your doorstep and stuff into it a few hairs from your dog's head and tail, he will never stray from home.
2284. To make a dog stay home, clip some hair from his tail and bury it under a rock.
2285. To make a dog stay home, clip some hair from the end of his tail and bury it under a white rock near the door.
2286. Take some hair from the tail and forehead of your dog, bury it in a can, and the animal will not run away from home.
2287. You can make a stray dog follow you or keep your own dog home by wearing in your shoe some hair from the end of the animal's tail. This
may also be done to a cat.
2288. Always feed a new dog out of one of your old shoes and he will never leave you.
2289. If you wear in your shoe any kind of food (usually a piece of bacon or a pork rind) and give it to a stray dog, the animal will follow you
home and stay.
2290. If you wear a meat rind in your left shoe for three days and feed it to a dog, he will not leave home.
2291. Let a dog eat some scrapings from your heel or the soles of your dirty feet and he will stay home. This may also be done to a cat.
2292. Any article of food warmed in your armpit and fed to a dog will make the animal stay home. This may also be done to a cat.
2293. A dog can be kept home by letting him eat a piece of meat that has been wiped between your sweaty legs.
2294. Dogs fed a boiled dish rag never run away from home.
2295. If you sit down at the table and scrape the corner to your right and give these scrapings to your dog or cat, the animal will never stray from
home.
2296. If you scrape three corners of the table and give these scrapings to your dog or cat, the animal will never stray from home.
2297. Spit into a dog's mouth and he will not run away.
2298. On first bringing a new dog into your house, wipe the dirt from his feet with a clean cloth, bury the cloth under your front doorstep, and the
dog will not leave.
2299. A dog will not wander away, if you make him look into a mirror.
2300. If your dog runs away and you catch him, sprinkle salt on his tail and he will not run away again.
2301. Scratch a dog where he is unable to scratch himself and he will not run away.
2302. To prevent a dog from leaving home, measure the length of his tail with a stick of an equal length and drive the entire stick down into the
ground at your door.
2303. If with a piece of string you measure a dog from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, break the string so that its length equals the
measurement made, cut off the bushy part of his tail, wrap the measuring string about this hair and bury it under your front doorstep, the animal
will not desert you.
2304. You can bring a lost dog home by whistling three times through the keyhole of an outside door of your house.
2305. A dog's ears turned inside out are a token of company.
2306. After a dog has looked into a mirror, bad luck may be expected.
2307. To have a dog chew a rug is a sign of company.
2308. If a dog lies in the doorway and refuses to move, it means sickness in the house.
2309. If a dog lies in the doorway with his head outside and his body inside the house, someone will leave the family; if with his head inside and
his body outside the house, someone will come into the family.
2310. A dog running to the door again and again is an omen of company.
2311. If a dog rolls on the floor, you may expect company; and some add, the direction in which his tail points while rolling will be the direction
from which the company will arrive.
2312. If a dog rolls on the floor and gets up and shakes himself, you will have company from the direction he faces.
2313. If your dog rolls sunwise, good luck or success is denoted for the family.
2314. It is unlucky to have a dog crawl under the chair on which you are sitting.
2315. A dog that moans while crawling on his belly is a portent of trouble.
 48

2316. The whining of a dog beneath your window portends a misfortune.

2317. If you kill a dog, you will have bad luck; for an indefinite period, seven years, or fourteen years; and if the dog happens to be a bitch with
pups, bad luck the rest of your life.
2318. The person whose dog gets killed should give the next dog the same name for luck. The same thing is said about a cat.
2319. Never bury a dead dog in your yard; it will cause you trouble.

FARM STOCK IN GENERAL (2320-2339)

2320. "My husband always put his stock out on a pasture, he wanted to fatten, three days before full moon, so they will always be full and never
hungry.
We lived on a farm right out from Liberty and that's how we fattened our stock, like cows, hogs or horses."
2321. Scatter ashes in the barn after cleaning it on Ash Wednesday and your stock will not be bothered by lice that year.
2322. To rid your stock of lice, let the animals stand out in the first rain of June.
2323. Your live stock will be healthy, if the stable is covered with cobwebs.
2324. "I had a lot of bad luck with my stock so I got some new mules. And when I put them in the barn I made three crosses over the door, saying
Father, Son and Holy Ghost three times, and had excellent luck with my mules."
2325. "My brother had a barn full of stock and they were all sick. My sister heard him talking about getting a new horse one day, so when he
started for the horse, she didn't tell him, but she got a file and went to the barn and made three crosses in the doorsill where that horse would go
under, and that horse was never sick."
2326. "When we lived out on the farm, my father had lots of horses and cattle, and he always kept a goat running with his stock and we never had
any diseases."
2327. The dunging of a stable after dark is unlucky for the stock.
2328. Always dung the stable between Christmas and New Year's Day so that the stock will not be molested by witches during the year.
2329. You can have healthy cattle by sprinkling your urine in the barn once a week.
2330. If occasionally you sprinkle your urine in the stable, the stock tied there will not break loose.
2331. Never enter a stable during a storm; animals draw lightning. This is why stables are frequently struck by lightning, so they say.
2332. "I know this is so, for one Christmas Eve years ago, when I was living on a farm, I invited some people to my house that did not believe
that animals prayed at midnight on Christmas Eve. And just at twelve o'clock all the horses, cows, pigs, and sheep on the place came up in the
barn lot and got down on their knees and looked up in the sky. They were praying. And those people
believed that animals pray after that."
2333. If you visit the cow shed on New Year's Eve at midnight, you will find the cows on their knees in prayer.
2334. Animals can talk to spirits on Christmas Eve at midnight.
2335. Speak to animals at midnight on New Year's Eve and they will understand you.
2336. The person who helps an animal in misery will be lucky.
2337. Cruelty to an animal brings bad luck.
2338. "When going along the road, everything I see dead I spit to keep away bad luck; like if I see a dead animal, chicken, snake, anything that is
dead." Some add, no matter where you see the dead animal; others require that you spit over your finger or through your fingers.
2339. Do not refuse a reasonable offer for an animal; something will surely happen to it.

STOCK BREEDING (2340-2354)

2340. If the female is covered by the male during the first half of her heat, she will have females; if during the last half, males.
2341. If animals are mated in the light of the moon, the result will be females; if in the dark of the moon, males.
2342. Some say the best time for mating animals to get good stock is the dark of the moon.
2343. The result from mating animals during a full moon is always male.
2344. An early-morning pairing of animals produces females; an afternoon or evening pairing, males.
2345. Small males will sire females; large males will sire males.
2346. The sex of an animal always differs from the sex of the one preceding it; therefore, after the birth of a female, let the mother skip one heat
so that the heat following this omission will yield another female.
2347. The next calf will always be a female, if the afterbirth from the preceding one is buried under an apple tree.
2348. A cow that fails to eat her afterbirth never calves again.
2349. If you burn the afterbirth of a cow or destroy in any way except by burying it, the calf will not live.
2350. As many times as the boar opens and closes his mouth while serving a sow determines the number of pigs in her litter.
2351. Twins and triplets among animals are the result of two or three coverings respectively.
2352. To obtain a spotted colt from a solidly colored mare, lay a wet cloth over that part of her body where the birthmark on the offspring is
desired, and do this just before she accepts the stallion; and conversely, if the mare has any kind of mark, eliminate it in her colt by covering this
with a wet cloth after the stallion's service. Additional spots require extra cloths.
2353. "I knew a man that all of his horses were black, and he put a piece of elder stick twelve inches long in their drinking water, and when his
colts come they were black and white. Very pretty!"
2354. "My father always did this and he never lost a colt: if you have a mare that is going to have a colt, just at nine o'clock in the beginning of
the light of the moon take her out and walk her around; do this for three months before the beginning of each light moon, and the mare will have
an easy time."

SHEEP (2355-2360)

2355. If sheep are sheared on the increase of the moon, the wool will be better and stronger.
2356. Shear your sheep after the first cold rain in May to get more wool.
2357. You can secure a larger amount of wool by shearing your sheep on May 24, 25, or 27.
2358. When a lamb is killed accidentally, cut out and bury the heart in your yard for luck.
 49

2359. It is lucky to meet a flock of sheep.

2360. The person who passes through a flock of sheep on the road will have bad luck.

HOGS (2361-2399)

2361. If you seed a hog as the moon increases, the wound will swell; but if as the moon decreases, it will not swell.
2362. Never bore a hog in the sign of the head (Aries); the animal will not live.
2363. A hog altered in the sign of the heart (Leo) will die.
2364. The sign of the bowels (Virgo) is a bad time for fixing a hog; you will kill the animal.
2365. The person who marks a hog in the sign of the secrets, privates, private parts, or sex organ --- all of these meaning Scorpio --- kills the
animal; however, this sign is occasionally considered the best time for marking. Steers and geldings are usually made in this sign.
2366. Below the waist (below Virgo? Libra ? Scorpio? ) is the proper sign during which to cut a hog.
2367. Hogs should be castrated when the sign is between the knee (Capricornus) and the ankle (just above Pisces). This is occasionally the time
for castrating colts.
2368. Always unsex a hog in the sign of the feet (Pisces), for this keeps the swelling down and drives the fever out through the animal's feet.
2369. Wean a hog in the sign of Leo and it will squeal all the time.
2370. By weaning pigs on the full moon you make them thrive.
2371. Pigs can see the wind.
2372. You will be able to see the wind, if you suck the tit of a sow with pigs.
2373. If you see a sway-backed hog, you will know that some child sat upon it when the animal was small.
2374. A hog cannot swim; the front legs are so short they will cut the animal's throat.
2375. "Years ago when I was about fourteen, a man out here by Clayton said to me, 'If you can lift one of those pigs out of the pen without
squealing, I will give it to you.' 'Do you mean that?' 'Sure!' He didn't know I was part Indian and that is their old saying: 'If you lift a pig out of a
pen by the tail, it will not squeal.' And I lifted the pig right up over the pen by the tail and it didn't squeal. I got the pig and we fatten it. In the
fall, mother bought me a new dress and some other things with the money."
2376. If the tail of a pig curls up, the animal is healthy.
2377. Healthy pigs carry their tails bent to the right side.
2378. Hogs that eat chickens will never grow fat, no matter how much you feed them.
2379. To break a hog from the habit of eating chickens, kill a crow and throw it into the pen.
2380. "If your hogs have cholera, put chamber lye in the slop. When we were small, our folks would make us wet in the chamber all the time and
put all of that chamber lye in the slop barrel to make the hogs healthy."
2381. Worms in hogs can be killed by pouring human urine into the slop.
2382. Butcher hogs in the sign of the head (Aries) and you will secure good meat.
2383. If hogs are killed when the sign is between the head (Aries) and legs (Aquarius), the meat will shrink and have a bad taste.
2384. "When you see bacon all curling up when frying it, the hog was stuck wrong when in killing. If you want bacon to stay smooth and not
curl, stick in the heart (Leo); if you stick in the shoulder (Cancer?), it will all curl up. And the same way in boiling bacon: if stuck in the shoulder,
it will all swindle away."
2385. For good meat, hogs should be butchered in the sign of neck (Taurus) during the increase of the moon.
2386. Most believers say the raw meat from a hog slaughtered on the light of the moon becomes withered or flabby, or when in the skillet it curls
up and turns to grease; but some say the raw meat fills out with the fulling moon, or swells when in the skillet. In other words, the dark of the
moon is the best time for slaughtering hogs.
2387. Most believers say meat from a hog slaughtered in the dark of the moon will not shrivel, but some say it will waste away with the wasting
moon --- turn to lard.
2388. Meat from a hog slaughtered during the full moon will not dry out when raw or shrink when in the skillet because the bones are filled with
marrow.
2389. Good meat is obtained by butchering a female hog in the light of the moon and a male hog in the dark of the moon.
2390. "My father was one of those old Germans and he always salted his meat in the dark of the moon so it would keep; said in the light of the
moon it would spoil."
2391. The meat of a red hog turns strong sooner than the meat of a black or white hog.
2392. Do not whirl a broom around on its handle; all your hogs will die.
2393. Farmers who have hairy arms are good hog-raisers.
2394. A farmer with a hairy chest will be successful in raising hogs.
2395. To meet a drove of hogs on the road is unlucky.
2396. If a person going somewhere to sell something meets a drove of hogs, he will be unsuccessful in selling it.
2397. A hog met while you are taking a long journey brings bad luck.
2398. The gift of a pig to anyone causes you bad luck, unless you accept a piece of money in exchange.
2399. It is lucky to be given a pig.

COWS (2400-2478)

2400. A calf weaned in the sign of the head (Aries) will bawl incessantly. Similarly, a colt weaned in this sign will be fretful.
2401. Between the signs of the top of the head (the highest point of Aries) and the shoulder (Cancer?) is a good time to wean a calf.
2402. A suitable weaning-time for calves is while the sign of the shoulder (Cancer?) goes down.
2403. The farmer who weans a calf during the sign of the heart (Leo) will make it, the cow, or both, fret. The same thing is said of a colt and
mare.
2404. Always wean a calf or a colt before the up-sign reaches the heart (Leo) and you will not have any trouble with the animal.
2405. Neither calf nor cow will moo for each other, if the owner separates them in the sign of the thigh (Sagittarius). Mare and colt should be
separated at this time.
2406. Wean a calf in the sign of the knee (Capricornus) and the animal will thrive.
2407. If you wean a calf while the sign is below the knee (Capricornus), it prevents the cow from mooing.
 50

2408. A calf taken from the cow during the sign of the feet (Pisces) is never missed by the cow. Take a colt from the mare at this time.
2409. Some say the weaning of a calf or colt should begin anytime during the dark of the moon; others say the light of the moon.
2410. Just before the moon becomes new is considered an excellent time to begin the weaning of a calf or colt.
2411. To prevent fretting or to get large animals, calves or colts must be weaned on the third day before full moon.
2412. Any of the three days preceding a full moon is a proper time to begin the weaning of calves or colts.
2413. Calf or colt secluded from the cow or mare on the full moon will not lose weight.
2414. A cow deprived of her calf on Sunday never bawls.
2415. Deprive a cow of her calf on Sunday morning as the moon waxes and you will not be bothered with either animal.
2416. The best time for weaning late calves is the first five days in September.
2417. On selling a calf you must clip two inches from the end of its tail so that the cow will not bawl.
2418. A cow frets at the purchase of her calf, unless you cut off the calf's tail tip and lay this on the cow's back.
2419. Immediately before the sale of a calf, tack a piece of its tail to the barn door as a precaution against bawling by the cow.
2420. A farmer said he wanted to buy a calf years ago, but the owner refused to sell unless the animal was removed backwards from its mother.
So the cow and calf were placed in the stable, and the buyer, holding the calf by the tail, pulled it away backwards from the mother until neither
cow nor calf could see each other.
2421. Cows do not bawl, if after their calves are sold you load the latter backwards into the wagon that is to carry them away.
2422. Do not name a newborn calf; the animal will die.
2423. Twin calves of the same sex should be kept for luck, but those of a different sex should be sold or killed.
2424. Always feed a cow's milk to the hogs on the first three days after she has calved. On the contrary, this first milk, called beestings, is
sometimes said to be "full of fever" and poisonous for all animals except calves.
2425. The first time a cow is ever milked, some of the milk should be squirted to the ground for luck; the last time a cow is milked before she
goes dry, some of the milked should be squirted to the ground for luck.
2426. If a cow is milked and any of the milk accidentally falls on to the ground, it dries her up; therefore, in drying up a cow intentionally, squirt
some of the milk to the ground four or five times.
2427. A cow that is not milked at the same time each day will go dry.
2428. Unless you wash your hands after milking a cow, you will turn her dry.
2429. Cows can be dried up by milking them for the last time on Sunday.
2430. Let the final milking of a cow be on Sunday (some specify Sunday morning) so that she will calf during daylight.
2431. Milk a cow for the last time on Friday morning and she will calf in the daytime.
2432. If the afterbirth is eaten by the cow, do not expect much milk until the birth of her next calf.
2433. Cream from a cow that eats her afterbirth does not churn into butter.
2434. Whenever a cow begins to lose her milk, give her some of it each morning before she is fed and the milk will soon return.
2435. If a man milks a heifer for the first time, she will never kick backwards when milked.
2436. "We had an old red-and-white cow and she would always step over the milk bucket when we were milking, and nothing but milkweeds
would grow on that spot."
2437. It is unlucky to pour milk over the bail of the milk bucket.
2438. Lightning and thunder sours milk.
2439. "If a cow gets its tail cut and the sun shines in her rear end, it will give sour milk."
2440. To prevent bloody milk in a cow, steal a dirty dish rag and rub it over her bag and bury the rag.
2441. You can cure a cow that gives bloody milk by milking her through your wedding ring.
2442. Bloody milk will be given by a cow that steps on a toad.
2443. Persons with warts on their hands must not milk a cow, for it makes the milk bloody.
2444. If the full moon is avoided as a starting-time for fall or winter feeding, and if the cows are turned out in the dark of the moon to begin their
spring or summer pasturage, the milk will not taste like the food they eat.
2445. As a remedy for clogged mammary ducts in a cow's bag (an ailment called caked bag), grease the bag with strong butter at each
milking-time on three successive days.
2446. "I knew a man that had a cow and she got a caked bag, and he put cow manure all over her bag and it help her."
2447. Milk fever (a caked bag) in a cow is cured by letting her chew on a dirty dish rag.
2448. To cure milk fever in a cow, a woman must lift up her dress and wipe the bag with her petticoat.
2449. "Our cow had a calf and its bag was just full of fever, so all I did was to turn my petticoat over my right hand and rub her bag three times,
and she got well right away." This will also cure the feverish bag of a mare.
2450. "Our cow had a caked breast years ago. We were all down by the cow when a neighbor man said to my mother, 'Come over here behind the
barn.' She went with him. When she got there he said, 'Take off that apron, rub it over your cow's breast, then bury the apron right away; the
dirtier the apron, the better.' She did. And next morning the cow was all right."
2451. If you pick up a rock (a white one say some), rub over a cow's caked bag that side of the rock which touched the ground, replace the rock as
you found it, the ailment will be cured.
2452. Water from the tub in which a blacksmith cools hot iron is a good wash for the sore udders of a cow.
2453. "My mother had a cow about seventy years ago with a bad caked bag. She took sow bugs, some corn meal, and mashed them all up
together and made a poultice of it; brought the cow right out."
2454. "Our cow's bag was just full of warts; mother said it was hard to milk her. So she tied a knot in a string for every wart, then bury it under a
board without looking at the board any more, and the cow lost her warts."
2455. If a cow licks herself frequently, she is healthy; if infrequently, unhealthy or actually sick.
2456. In curing a costive cow, cut a bar of soap into five pieces, boil them in a pint of milk, and administer the same dose twice say some but
thrice say others.
2457. As a treatment for loose bowels in a calf, tie a leather thong around its tail as near as possible to the rump.
2458. Feed a greasy dish rag to a cow and she will recover her lost cud. This feeding is usually done by wrapping the rag around a stick and
forcing the rag down her throat. As soon as she recovers her cud, she will spit out the false one. The cud is merely a portion of food brought up
into the mouth from the first stomach in order to be chewed a second time, but some of the old-time farmers thought the cud was an organ of the
cow's digestive system, something that looked like a small sack. And old farmer said he once found a dried cud that a cow had lost.
 51

2459. "We had an old red cow. She lost her cud. We thought she was going to die. We made her a cud out of an old dish rag, lard, bacon rind,
salt, and some soot out of the cookstove, and she got all right."
2460. Indigestion in a cow is cured by feeding her a stolen dish rag.
2461. To bring back a cow's lost cud, make her swallow a menstrual cloth.
2462. Pink-eye in a cow will disappear after you have rubbed her bag with some of her milk.
2463. If a cow has eaten too much and is swollen up --- an ailment frequently called founders or flounders (founder) --- she can be cured by
feeding her some of your finger-nail scrapings on a piece of bread.
2464. Tie up a shovelful of human soil in a rag and stuff it inside the mouth of a cow that has bloated up from eating too much white clover. This
will make the gas leave her stomach and she will become well.
2465. Salt is placed in each ear of a cow to rid her of indigestion.
2466. You treat hollow horn in a cow by boring a hole with a gimmet just behind the hair at the roots of both horns to draw blood. Unless this is
done, the disease, or rather the worm causing it, will enter the brain and kill her.
2467. To free a cow from hollow horn, cut a gash in her tail, fill the wound with salt (salt and pepper say some), and sew it up.
2468. Wolf or hollow tail or wolf tail, a cow disease in which the tail begins to rot, is said to be caused by a yellow worm, with a big head,
about three-fourths of an inch long. This parasite gradually works its way up the tail, through the body, and into the brain, thus killing the animal.
The symptoms of the disease are an aenemic cow and a tail hanging limp "like a dish rag." One of three treatments may be used: cut the end of
the tail until it bleeds; split the tail at the tip; and make a hole four inches from the tip of the tail, filling it with soot or salt and pepper.
2469. "Our calf got cut real bad and was bleeding. We did everything we could, when an old Swedish man that was working on a farm next to us
said, 'Tie a wire around its tail real hard.' We did, and the calf stopped bleeding."
2470. If you butcher beef in the dark of the moon, the blood will turn black and darken the meat; if in the light of the moon, the blood will
not turn black and darken the meat.
2471. The flesh of a cow killed when excited or angry becomes tough.
2472. You will never kill an excited or angry cow with the first shot.
2473. If you kill a cow in heat and use her hide for making shoes, your feet will burn all the time. This burning was rather common in days when
socks were not always worn, and the leather of the old hand-made shoes, unlined with cloth as they are today, caused a greater friction against the
bare feet. A few drops of whiskey in each shoe eased the pain, so they say. A Civil-War veteran said the soldiers generally used this device.
Another device, when these old-fashioned shoes became stiff, was to fill them with navy beans and water overnight; the swelling beans were
supposed to soften the shoes.
2474. "I let my fire go out once in the winter and my only cow died that week."
2475. "Years ago I worked for a Southern lady and she said if you took the hoe through the house, you would lose your cow before the year is
out."
2476. Always bury a dead cow under a mulberry tree to keep any of the others from dying.
2477. If a cow starts to chase you, fold your thumbs over the palms of your hands and close your fists tightly so that she will not harm you.
2478. The significance of a cow getting into the house is bad luck.

HORSES AND MULES (2479-2582)

2479. In the sign of the feet (Pisces) during the dark of the moon is the time to wean a colt.
2480. "A man had a fine horse. He said he would give anyone twenty dollars that would stop the horse from bleeding. My sister counted fifty
backwards and got the twenty dollars for saving his horse."
2481. Profuse bleeding in a horse is stopped by boring a hole into a tree, putting in it some of the blood, and plugging up the hole with a wooden
peg.
2482. If a horse cuts himself on a barbed-wire fence, a piece of bacon should be rubbed over the wire to heal the wound.
2483. As a remedy for checking the flow of blood from a cut on a horse, apply a mixture of cobwebs and soot.
2484. Bind cow manure on the wound when a horse gets scratched on a barbed- wire fence.
2485. To check the bleeding of a wound caused by the horse gashing himself on a barbed-wire fence, burn some scrapings from his hoof and use
as a poultice.
2486. Mud taken from a place where cattle stand is a good ointment for wire-fence cuts on horses.
2487. "Several months ago a horse went by my house and the horse stepped on a nail. I ran out and helped the man take the nail out, took it right
in the house, and put it in the fire. The man was so thankful; said it would save the horse."
2488. If a horse steps on a nail, lockjaw can be averted by hanging the nail over the barn door.
2489. The nail that a horse runs into his foot must be driven high up into the wall of your house, to guard against lameness.
2490. A horse will neither go lame nor get blood poisoning, provided you pull out the nail that he has stepped on and drive it into a piece of wood
or an old rotten log.
2491. Blood poisoning attacks a horse that steps on a nail, unless you remove the nail immediately and stick it into lard.
2492. The wound caused by a horse stepping on a nail will not become infected, if the nail is removed and carried in your pocket.
2493. As a treatment for lockjaw in a horse, stuff a menstrual cloth up under his lip.
2494. Loose bowels in a colt is cured by tying a string tightly around its tail as near as possible to the rump.
2495. "My horse had a bad carbuncle on its back, and I made a poultice of the cow droppings and put on, and it broke it right up."
2496. Tea made from chicken dung (the white part only say some) is administered to horses with colic.
2497. "We had a horse down in the Bottom that would get the colic every now and then, and that was all my father done, was: to get a black
chicken, kill it and feed the entrails of the chicken to the horse, and it would get well right away."
2498. If a horse has colic, say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as you walk under his belly, and, without straightening up or
turning around, retrace your steps backwards to the same words, then stand up for the Amen, and the disease will be gone.
2499. The warm water in which a menstrual cloth has been soaked is given to horses with colic.
2500. For colic in a horse, let him drink some brine off a salted mackerel.
2501. "My father years ago had a blacksmith shop out in the country, and the farmers would come for miles and get a jug of that slack water
when their horses would have the colic."
2502. To break a horse from cribbing, rub his jaws with a bone every day at sunset.
2503. Distemper is cured by burning chicken feathers and letting the horse inhale the smoke.
 52

2504. "When you kill your hogs, always save the toe-nails and hairs around the feet of the hog; put them in a sack to dry. If your horse gets the
distemper, put some of this on some coals and let the horses smell it, will cure him of distemper."
2505. Treat distemper in a horse by feeding him a hornet nest.
2506. If a hornet nest is burned and the horse inhales the fumes, he will lose his distemper.
2507. As a remedy for distemper, burn old shoes and make the horse breathe in the smoke.
2508. The washing of a horse's fislow (fistula) every morning with a greasy dish rag cures it.
2509. Founder in a horse is treated by giving him some pubic hair taken from three different persons.
2510. If a horse has founder, tie him in a pond during the day so that he stands with mud and water up to his knees. Do this for seven days and all
inflammation will leave his feet.
2511. You rid a horse of heaves by mixing some saltpetre with his oats in the dark of the moon.
2512. A broken-winded horse (a horse with heaves) becomes well, if given water in which a blacksmith cools hot iron.
2513. Rain on the first of May kills lice on a horse.
2514. To free the leg of a horse from a ringbone, drill or punch a hole through each end of a flat strip of lead so that these two holes can be
threaded with a piece of copper wire; then, having bent the leaden bandage over the ringbone, fasten it there by wrapping the wire three times
around the horse's leg.
2515. "If a horse has a bad bad sore, take jimson-weed leaves and put them in a can, then urinate on them, then apply that to the sore, will heal it.
My husband kept a can of the jimson-weed leaves in the barn all the time to apply on any sore a horse would get."
2516. Pulverize some white dung from a chicken and sprinkle this powder into the sore eyes of a horse.
2517. Liniment for a horse's sore shoulder is prepared by filling a bottle half-full of piss ants (large black ants), covering them with alcohol,
adding rain-water, and letting the liquid stand seven days in the hot sun.
2518. An opossum skin should be placed under the collar of a horse that has a sore shoulder or neck.
2519. In ridding a horse of sweeny, tie a live frog or toad (some say it must be split open) on his withers.
2520. "If a horse has sweeny, take a hair out of the horse's tail, then bore a hole in a young tree that grows real fast, put the hair in that hole; and
as soon as the bark grows over that hole, the sweeny will be gone. That is an old remedy of my uncle. He had a lot of horses and this is what he
did for sweeny."
2521. "If a horse has a swollen joint, take and put worms in a bottle and let stand in the sun until they turn to oil, then rub that oil on the
swollen part, rubbing down so the soreness will go in the ground."
2522. Remove a wart from a horse by rubbing it with an old bone while you say, In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and then bury
the bone.
2523. Warts are removed from a horse, if they are rubbed with an ointment made by soaking potato bugs in coal oil.
2524. If you see a horse rolling on the ground, count the number of times he rolls over completely from side to side and estimate his value at
one- hundred dollars for each roll. Some say the same thing about a mule; further, that a mule, failing to turn over, is worth less than fifty dollars.
2525. To discover the age of a horse: jerk a hair from his mane, on this tie a gold or a wedding ring, hold it so that the ring, when suspended in
a glass partly filled with water, can swing freely, and as many times as the ring strikes against the glass will reveal the number of his years.
Sometimes a hair from the tail is substituted for that of the mane.
2526. Horse buyers should heed this advice:
"One white foot, buy him,
If two, try him,
If three, wait and see,
If four, let him be. "
2527. This advice is given to a horse buyer:
"If it has one white foot, buy him.
If two white feet, try him.
If three white feet, look for trouble.
And if four white feet do not buy him."
2528. Do not buy a horse without considering this advice:
"If he has one white foot, buy him,
If two, try him,
Three, deny him,
Four white feet and a white nose,
Take off his hide and throw it to the crows."
2529. Let the person buying a horse consider this advice:
"One white foot, buy the horse.
Two white feet, give it to your wife.
Three white feet, look it over close.
Four white feet, feed it to the crows."
2530. A horse with one white foot is always weak in it; and if he goes lame, it will be that foot.
2531. "If a horse has a left-hind white foot, he is very tricky; can learn to do anything, like opening a gate."
2532. One white foot in a horse is lucky, but three white feet are luckier.
2533. Horses having four white feet bring good luck.
2534. Never purchase a horse that shows the white of his eyes; you will not be able to do anything with him.
2535. It is unlucky for the seller of a horse to watch him led away from the stabIe.
2536. The person who sells a horse that is going far away should back him into the wagon so that the animal will not lose weight on the journey.
2537. If you are asked to name a horse, you will become lucky by naming the animal.
2538. Do not change the name of a horse; the animal will soon die.
2539. Keep a black cat near horses for luck.
2540. Sixteen years of bad luck follow the killing of a mule.
2541. Whoever walks under the head of a horse will be unlucky.
2542. To have horses turn back towards the pasture when driving them home means sickness in the family.
2543. Never use a piece of new harness when breaking in a young horse; if you do, the animal will be fretful and difficult to train.
 53

2544. The rider who puts his hand up on the right ear of the horse before mounting him is never thrown.
2545. "A man told me that whenever he didn't do this he always had bad luck: if a man is getting ready to drive a team, after he hitches up and is
ready to start, let him go to the horse's head and pat them so he will have good luck that day."
2546. "I have tried this and they always go on: if a horse balks, tie some of the hair out of its tail to the singletree and he will move on.
2547. You can make a balky horse go forward by picking up some dirt from the road and putting it in his ear or mouth.
2548. "It is very bad luck to drive a team of horses all-a-way around your own house was one of my grandfather's sayings."
2549. To drive or ride a white horse through muddy water is very unlucky.
2550. Some say it is lucky to see or to meet a white horse; others say it is unlucky.
2551. Cross your fingers to avoid bad luck when you pass a white horse.
2552. The person who sees a white horse can avert bad luck by holding up the index and middle fingers of his right hand and spitting between
them.
2553. On seeing a white horse, you may spit over your left little finger for luck.
2554. Anyone seeing a white horse may spit at it two times for luck.
2555 You become lucky by stamping a white horse.
2556 If you meet a white horse, say Zip and it will cause you good luck.
2557 Those who meet a white horse will be lucky, provided they say Lippety, lippety, white horse, when you have good luck, bring it to me.
2558 Always spit over your little finger when you meet a white horse and say:
"White horse, white horse, ding-a-ling-a-ling;
Wherever I go, I will find something "
2559. "I always did this when a girl. If you see a white horse say, Lookey! Lookey! White horse! Wet your finger and stamp it in the palm of
your hand three times. Do this every time you see a white horse until you get one-hundred horses and you will find something nice."
2560. Each time you stamp a white horse you add a year to your life.
2561. To see a white horse means you will get a buggy ride.
2562. A person who on his way to transact some business meets a white horse will be successful.
2563. Two white horses met on the road are an omen of good luck.
2564. Hold your fingers crossed while passing two white horses and receive money.
2565. Three white horses met on the same day make you lucky.
2566. It is lucky for a red-headed woman to meet a white horse.
2567. A red-haired woman should always drive a white horse for luck.
2568. If you meet a white horse, you will soon see a red-haired woman; and contrariwise, if you meet a red-haired woman, you will soon see a
white horse.
2569. If you meet a white horse, you will not only soon see a red-haired woman but also soon have good luck.
2570. If you meet a red-haired woman and fail to see a white horse before reaching home, bad luck may be expected.
2571. If you meet a red-haired woman and fail to see a white horse, you will have an accident that day.
2572. To meet a white horse and a red-haired girl at the same moment is a lucky token.
2573. You will meet a red-haired girl after you have met three white horses.
2574. The traveler who meets a white mule will soon meet a red-haired Negro.
2575. Look over your left shoulder when you pass a white horse and you will see the devil.
2576. After you have met a grey horse you will receive a letter.
2577. Good luck comes from stamping a grey horse.
2578. A white mule should be stamped ten times for luck.
2579. Stamp one-hundred-and-fifty grey mules for luck.
2580. The person counting one-hundred-and-fifty mules soon finds something.
2581. If a person stamps one-hundred white horses and then a white mule money will be found the morning after the white mule was stamped.
2582. Persons passing a drove of horses on the road will be lucky.

BIRTH AND INFANCY (2583-3533)

WHO WILL HAVE A BABY (2583-2623)

2583. The first married woman to see a recently born baby will have the next child.
2584. "I have heard my grandmother say, if a woman goes to see a new baby for the first time, she must never hold that baby in her arms, for if
she does she will soon have a baby. It is all right to hold it the second time, but never the first unless she wants one too."
2585. The woman who holds a new baby before it is three weeks old will soon get one.
2586. As a matter of precaution when entering the room of a new mother for the first time, a woman visitor should make the sign of the cross to
keep from having a baby.
2587. The first house at which a mother stops when taking her baby out for the first time will be the next place to have a baby.
2588. "I was living upstairs and a woman that was living downstairs had been married over five years and didn't have any children and wanted
one. When my baby came she wanted me to put it on her bed first. So the first time I took it out I carried it up in the attic so my child would have
luck all through life, then carried it downstairs and put it on her bed. I told her I took it up to the attic first so my baby wouldn't have bad luck
through life. Well, the truth is she had a baby before the year was out."
2589. Some say the preceding rite --- laying a baby on a bed to bring another child — will be ineffective, unless this is done before the infant is
christened.
2590. If a mother lays her baby on a bed and the baby wets that bed, she may expect another child soon.
2591. A mother while visiting should not lay her baby on a table (the center of the table say some); she will give that house a baby.
2592. A baby throwing up milk is a sign the mother is pregnant.
2593. A woman who is nursing a baby can discover whether she has become preganant again: if she boils some of her milk and it curdles,
pregnancy has begun.
2594. If a mother keeps a baby's first clothes, she will never have another child.
2595. If outgrown baby clothes are given away, the mother will soon need them again.
2596. If a baby dies and its clothes are given away, the mother will soon be pregnant.
 54

2597. If a mother leaves a diaper where she has been visiting with her baby, there will soon be a birth at that house; hence the sayings: "Don't
leave a diaper here", when the hostess does not desire a child, and "Somebody left a diaper", after a child has been born. Some say the diaper
must be soiled, others say it must be left under a bed.
2598. Not so common as the preceding belief is the one that the mother who leaves a diaper in the house where she is visiting with her baby will
soon return for it; need it for another baby.
2599. One of the two women who make a bed together will have a baby before the end of the year.
2600. A wife sleeping with her head to the south will soon become pregnant.
2601. A husband and wife who let someone sleep between them will soon have a baby.
2602. A husband laying his pants on the bed or hanging them on a bedpost will make his wife pregnant. Some say this is true only when done
habitually.
2603. Some say a husband putting his pants on the foot of the bed will give his wife a baby, others say the head of the bed.
2604. It is an omen of a baby soon for the woman who lays her coat or hat on a strange bed.
2605. "Grandmother said if a woman goes to a house and puts her hat and coat on the bed where a newborn baby is lying, she will soon have a
baby."
2606. When a bird flies into a house (through a window say some), it signifies a birth in the family before the end of the year.
2607. If a woman nursing a baby drops her broom and steps over it, she may look for a new baby soon. Some say this omen may be true of a
woman who is not nursing a baby.
2608. "An old saying of my grandmother's was: if you drop your dirty dish rag, you will soon hear of a birth."
2609. To burn bean soup indicates someone in the family is pregnant.
2610. "When I was young, whenever my bread or cake cracked open in the middle, I always was in a family way. It never failed." Some say the
cracking open is not necessary; a raising-up more than usual in the center is sufficient.
2611. A birth in the house is foretold by a dog that looks down to the ground while howling.
2612. If you see a frog early in the spring before frogs are supposed to appear, there will soon be a birth in your family.
2613. The itching of a woman's loins is an indication of a birth.
2614. "If there are three women sitting in a room and all three are menstruating, it is the sign that one of them will be pregnant before the year is
out. I was sitting in a room with two ladies and all three of us were menstruating. I laughed and said, 'It won't be me being pregnant, for I
have been married eighteen years and have no children.' They had the laugh on me, for before the year was out I was pregnant and the only child I
have was born."
2615. To find a baby's pacifier means an approaching birth in the family.
2616. "Every time whenever I forget and walk around the house with one shoe on and one off I always get a baby."
2617. "If you drop a spoon,
Sign of a new baby soon."
2618. After sugar has been spilled in the house, a birth in the family may be expected.
2619. A bright star denotes an approaching birth.
2620. A shooting star shows a birth has just occurred.
2621. The woman who sees a falling star will soon have a baby.
2622. If while standing you see a star fall and it falls to your right, a birth is signified; if to your left, a death.
2623. The man who begins to sit on a stool all the time will soon become a father.

NUMBER OF CHILDREN YOU WILL HAVE (2624-2639)

2624. The number of knots or lumps on the navel cord of the first baby reveals how many children will be born to the mother.
2625. "They say when a baby just starts to walk, the amount of steps it just takes is the amount of children you will have, unless they stumble
before they take the first step, then there will be no more children in the family. I have a baby six months old and I am praying it will stumble
before it takes its first step to keep from having any more."
2626. "This June I was down in Marblehead on Sunday. All the girls at the house were eating the first apple in June and counting the seeds to
see how many children they would have."
2627. If a woman while walking through the woods finds a bird nest, the number of eggs in the nest will indicate how many children to expect.
Some say this must occur on the woman's first walk through the woods after her marriage.
2628. If a woman on a trip to the country counts the bridges she crosses,
that will be the number of her children. According to some this will be true
only of the woman's first journey into the country after her marriage.
2629. Blow a dandelion seed-ball and the number of seed left will denote
how many children you are going to have.
2630. The woman who is always getting the sides of her dress wet will raise a large family.
2631. Marry on the increase of the moon and your family will be large; the more the moon increases after your marriage, the larger your family.
2632. The poorer the man, the larger his family.
2633. A girl can discover how many children she will have by drinking tea and throwing away the leaves; after three days the number of leaves
found will be the number of her children.
2634. It is unlucky to have an uneven number of children.
2635. Count the veins branching out from the main vein in your wrist and that will be the number of children you are going to have.
2636. Let a bride on her wedding-night throw a piece of wedding-cake outdoors and next morning watch how many birds eat the cake; the
number of birds will be the number of her children.
2637. The number of dresses a bride wears on her wedding-day will be the number of her children.
2638. To learn the number of your future children, tie a wedding ring to a string and lower it into a glass tumbler and ask, "How many children
shall I have?" The ring will answer by swinging to and fro against the sides of the glass, and each distinct strike will mean one child.
2639. How many wrinkles you have in your forehead, so many will be your children. Some say you must frown and count the wrinkles.

TWINS AND TRIPLETS (2640-2660)

 55

2640. There are twins in every third generation of the family.

2641. A girl who is twin to a boy never has any children.
2642. If the bride and groom attend a motion picture show during the three days following their marriage, they will soon have twins.
2643. Brides going to the theatre on the day they are married will conceive twins within three days.
2644. To swim on her bridal day will give the bride twins.
2645. "When I was first married I went swimming in the first three months I was pregnant. An old Irish woman told me to keep out of the water;
said if you go swimming the first three months when you are pregnant, you will have twins. I laugh and said, 'That's only an old saying,' and went
in. I got the twins."
2646. A red streak running down the middle of a woman's stomach during pregnancy is a token of twins.
2647. If a man and his wife couple twice at the time of conception, twins will be produced; if three times, triplets.
2648. Women who become pregnant during the sign of the Twins give birth to twins.
2649. "About fifty-five years ago there were four girls walking through an orchard and they found a twin apple, and they cut it in four pieces and
each girl eat her piece. And as time went on, each one of those girls had twins." The eating of a twin berry, fruit, nut or vegetable is said to result
in twins; usually only for one person.
2650. The discovery of a twin ear of corn by a woman while shucking foretells twins at her next delivery.
2651. A woman who cracks an egg and finds two yolks will soon be the mother of twins.
2652. "My mother would never let me eat an egg with two yolks; said I would have twins if I did."
2653. If a woman while going along a country road sees two billy goats, she can by naming each goat soon have twins.
2654. The first week after marriage a woman should never go to her mother-in-law's house; such a visit will bring twins.
2655. They say a woman who visits a house where there are newborn twins and picks them up will be married in less than a year.
2656. "I knew a woman right over here near Fifteen and Jefferson that had a baby with a bump on its head, and she took her baby to twin girls
and let each one blow their breath over the bump twice backward and forward, and it went away. This is an old remedy that came over from
Germany."
2657. Some say Sunday-born twins will always be lucky, others say they cause good luck in the family.
2658. It is lucky to meet twins; particularly so for a colored person who meets white twins, and especially when they are a boy and girl.
2659. An unusual number of twins born in a community is a sign of war.
2660. Triplets met anywhere are a good omen.

DETERMINANTS OF SEX (2661-2720)

2661. Boys are had more frequently by youthful than by elderly parents.
2662. A woman whose right ovary has been removed will bear females; left ovary, males.
2663. The majority of a woman's children will be opposite in sex to the majority of her mother's children.
2664. Girls who were the first-born in their families may look for a son as the first child.
2665. First and last child always belong to the same sex.
2666. If a newborn baby has creases of an equal length behind its knees, the next child will have the same sex; if unequal, a different sex.
2667. To find wrinkles on the upper part of a newborn baby's body means the opposite sex for the child that follows.
2668. If the first word spoken by a baby is ma or mama, expect a girl as the following child; if da, dada, pa or papa, a boy.
2669. If at the time of copulation a wife is sexually stronger than her husband, a daughter will be born; if the husband, a son.
2670. If in coitus the wife's passion surpasses her husband's, a boy will be conceived; if the husband's passion surpasses his wife's, a girl.
Sometimes these interpretations are reversed.
2671. If during sexual union a woman lies on top of a man, she will give birth to a boy; if beneath a man, a girl.
2672. If after insemination a woman rests on her right side, she will beget a female; if on her left side, a male.
2673. If a woman conceives at the beginning of menstruation, a girl may be expected; if at the end, a boy. These meanings are occasionally
interchangeable.
2674. If conception comes near the beginning of the non-menstrual period, a girl has been procreated; if toward the end, a boy. At times some say
a boy for the former, a girl for the latter.
2675. If a woman is impregnated from the third to the fifth day following her courses, it denotes the birth of a boy; if after the seventh day, a girl.
Some say from the second to the sixth day for a girl and after the twelfth day for a boy.
2676. If pregnancy begins in the light of the moon, the birth of a girl is indicated; if in the dark of the moon, a boy.
2677. If a woman is inseminated during the full moon, a son has been begotten.
2678. If during pregnancy a woman is weak, a girl is on the way; if strong, a boy.
2679. If morning sickness occurs throughout the entire period of gestation, it signifies the birth of a girl; if morning sickness is absent or
occasional, a boy. The word vomiting is frequently substituted for morning sickness.
2680. If pains are felt by a pregnant woman on her left side, a boy is coming. Left side meaning boy is unusual. See 2687.
2681. If a pregnant woman has pains in her back, the birth of a girl is signified.
2682. If labor pains are prolonged, the woman will be delivered of a girl.
2683. If the abdomen of a pregnant woman fills out first, she will be brought to bed with a girl; if the hips, a boy.
2684. If the embryo is carried high (often described as in the hips, thighs or waist), it foretells the birth of a girl; if low (often described as in the
stomach), a boy.
2685. If a woman carries the embryo all-the-way-round, the birth of a girl is denoted.
2686. If the abdominal region during pregnancy is large, prepare for a boy; if small, a girl. The opposites are also believed.
2687. If while in a family way a woman is large on the right side, she will procreate a boy; if on the left side, a girl.
2688. If a pregnant woman is large in front, it is the sign of a girl; if in the back, a boy.
2689. If the head of the embryo lies beneath a woman's heart, she is bearing a boy; if beneath the side opposite the heart, a girl.
2690. If the stomach during pregnancy is shaped to a point, the woman will have a girl. Some say a boy, but in this case the stomach is said to
come down to a point.
2691. If a woman carrying a baby feels considerable movement within, the child is going to be a boy; if little movement, a girl.
2692. If the heartbeat of an embryo is fast, it indicates the birth of a girl, if slow, a boy. The reverse is also given; 120-130 times per second for a
male, 140-150 times for a female.
 56

2693. If the embryo kicks on the right side, a boy is kicking; if on the left side, a girl.
2694. If the baby is going to arrive about the time expected or a little sooner, the sex of the child will be female; if later, male.
2695. If during pregnancy a woman has light-colored nipples, a girl may be expected; if dark-colored, a boy.
2696. To secure a son, an expectant mother should do a lot of smoking.
2697. An expectant mother can obtain a son by eating a lot of baking-soda or a daughter by drinking a lot of milk.
2698. A pregnant woman who drinks a lot of water will give birth to a son.
2699. If a pregnant woman makes baby clothes and buttons them up, she will beget a boy; if they are left unbuttoned, a girl.
2700. As a device for procuring a female child, the woman after she removes her dress at night should kick it under the bed.
2701. If a wife lays her dress on the footboard of the bed at night, she may expect a girl; if on the headboard, a boy.
2702. If a husband spreads his pants over the footboard of the bed at night, he will father a girl; if over the headboard, a boy
2703. If a son is desired, a woman should sleep under a red and white blanket; if a daughter, under a blue and white blanket.
2704. If a husband sleeps at the left side of his wife, she will get a girl; if at the right side, a boy.
2705. You can change the sex of the next child by turning the bed around.
2706. "I knew a woman that had four boys, and a man told her husband if he would put an axe under the bed, the next child would be a girl."
2707. "I knew a woman back in Kentucky that her husband always kept the axe under the bed, and they had five boys. She said she didn't want
any more boys and for him to keep the axe from under the bed. So she went and put the sidesaddle under the bed, and kept it there so if they had
any more children they would be girls. And they had two more children and they were both girls."
2708. The sex of their first child will be that of the first person met by the bride and groom on leaving the place where the wedding ceremony
occurred.
2709. A woman's first child will be a boy, provided she always names the last bridge crossed when going anywhere. Some say a male name must
be used.
2710. The woman who sees a newborn calf on her first trip to the country after her marriage will have a boy as her first child.
2711. If a cake being baked by a pregnant woman pops open into a large crack, the birth of a girl is foretold.
2712. The first time she makes coffee after her marriage a woman may make a wish for a boy or girl and the wish will come true.
2713. A woman meeting a load of hay soon after her marriage may name it and her first child will be a boy.
2714. To determine the sex of her first child, a woman may cut out the round bone from the first round steak she buys after her marriage, tie a
string to the bone, name it a boy or a girl, and throw the bone away.
2715. If a boy is wanted, a wish to that effect may be made by the pregnant wife while looking at her husband; if a girl, by the husband while
looking at his wife.
2716. About a month before the birth of her baby a woman's breasts will secrete a watery milk, a drop of which may be dropped into a glass of
water as a method for divining the sex of the unborn child: if the milk settles at the bottom of the glass, a girl will be born; if it remains near the
surface of the water, a boy.
2717. To discover whether a woman with child will have a girl or boy, write the Christian names of the parents to be and also the name of the
month during which conception occurred; then count the letters in these words and divide the amount by seven: if the quotient is an even number,
the baby will be a girl; if uneven, a boy.
2718. A woman can divine the sex of her next child by repeating the months in rotation and naming them alternately boy or girl. Beginning with
the last child's birth-month and calling it boy or girl according to the sex of that child, she must continue this succession of month-names and
alternation of sexes until the month is reached on which she expects the following child. The sex given to that month will reveal the sex of the
expected child.
2719. As a method for discovering the sex of an unborn child, the expectant mother should lie flat on her back and hold over the abdomen a
motionless pencil suspended from a string. Gradually this will begin to move: if it describes a circle, she may expect a girl; if it swings back and
forth, a boy. A plain gold ring may be used instead of the pencil.
2720. To find out the sex of her unborn child, a pregnant woman may lay a wishbone over the door; if a man enters first, the baby will be a boy;
if a woman, a girl. Some say the visitor must not be related to the woman, others say the woman must first pull the wishbone with another person
and put the larger piece over the door.

BIRTHMARK (2721-2886)

Cause of Birthmark (2721-2837)

2721. "I went to school, when a girl, with a girl that marked her girl with a big red apple right on the cheek and it spoiled her looks. They lived
out here on a farm near Clayton and she wanted apples. They had just one apple on a tree that was bearing for the first time. She went out to the
orchard to get the apple. She got it, but before she could eat it she accidentally drop it on the ground and a hog that was in the orchard pick it up
before she could. In the excitement trying to get the apple away from the hog she must of touch her face, for when her girl came she had a big red
apple on her face."
2722. "I knew a woman that lived next to my mother. She was pregnant. Her little sister came over eating a green apple. This woman wanted it so
bad she cried over it. When her girl came it cried every time she saw a green apple. Even if you gave her an apple she would cry until the apple
was out of sight."
2723. "My mother was pregnant and they were making sorghum at our house years ago. The man that would bring the cane was a one-arm man
and every time the man would bring a load my mother would say to my two brothers, 'Help that poor man unload the cane, I feel so sorry for him
with only one arm.' And when my new brother came he had only one hand."
2724. "I know a boy that is only nine years old, that goes to the same school my children do, that has only one hand over his mother getting
scared over a peddler at the door one morning. She went to the door and a peddler was standing there with one arm. This woman screamed and
grabbed her arm. And when her boy came it didn't have any hand, only a stump like the peddler."
2725. "I have heard my mother tell about a farm hand, that worked for a man out here in the country years ago, that had his hand off, and he had
an iron hand with the fingers over so he could hold on to things he worked with. And when the woman at the house's baby came, its fingers were
all drawn in just like the iron hand, and they never did get the fingers to come open like they should."
2726. "About twenty-five years ago there was a carnival in Camp Point for a week. They had a pet bear that would walk around on one foot and
carry a cup for you to put money in the cup, and do all kind of tricks. My mother was like everyone else, she would follow that bear around and
try to mock him, walking on one foot and holding her hand on the bottom of her other foot, not knowing anything was wrong; and when I came, I
had a perfect bear on the bottom of my foot and it is still there. I will show you. Another thing my mother did at the same time was to go
 57

downtown in Camp Point and stand in front of a window and look at a big doll. She would stand there for an hour and admire that big doll with
flaxen hair. And when I was born I had flaxen hair just like that doll in the window, and black eyes, and the bear on my foot too. My mother
didn't want to have a thing to do with me at first, she was afraid of me, said I looked so funny."
2727. "Years ago I lived in the country and we could not get what I wanted. I wanted beefsteak all the time and could not get it. I was
always putting my hands on my forehead. And when my boy came he had a red spot on his forehead the shape of my hand and it was red just like
beefsteak, and another piece of the steak behind his ear. "
2728. "My mother was pregnant and one day she wanted beefsteak. When my father went to town, he was very fond of liver, so he got a little.
My mother did not like liver. So when he came home, just to fool her, he threw the liver at her and said, 'Here's your steak.' She open the package
and said, 'Oh, my God! Frank, I wanted steak and this is liver,' and the same time threw her hand on her stomach. And when her daughter came it
had two slices of liver on her stomach."
2729. "My mother was pregnant and she wanted blackberries and she did not get them. And when my brother was born he had a bunch of
blackberries on his forehead. They were red, but every time he gets angry they are real black."
2730. "We lived near a sawmill and I would often send my boy to get water from a spring that was near the sawmill. He would stop sometimes
and play around in the sawdust piles. One day I sent him after water. I was not feeling good. He had to stop this time. And after [wards] he told
me he was turning over and over in the sawdust pile when he got some big splinters in his face and the men at the sawmill took them out. He
came home with the water, crying, and blood was running down his face. I scream and threw my hand over my face, for I thought he had got cut
at the sawmill, seeing the blood. And when my other boy came his face looked like blood running down it, for I marked him."
2730a. "My oldest boy was working at the sawmill and one day he came home with the blood all running down his face. He had got hurt bad. I
threw my hands down and said to the old colored woman that was standing there, 'My God! wash that boy, I can't,' and fainted. When my other
boy came he fainted every time he saw blood. "
2731. "I was always helping my husband. Almost every night his nose would bleed and I would get up and help him. I was wanting strawberries
all the time, could not get enough of them. And when my boy came he had a strawberry on his knee, and red spots all around his neck --- that was
blood spots from seeing so much blood."
2731a. "My husband's nose was bleeding all the time and I would always have to help him. One night it was bleeding real bad. I got up and got
water for him, trying to help him, for we thought he would bleed to death. I got so sick to my stomach after I helped him, I went and laid down
with my hand to the back of my neck. And when my daughter was born you would see the fingerprints of my hand on the back of her neck and
spots of blood at each finger end."
2732. "When mother was carrying me her brother was out in the woods and got shot through the head. They were bringing him to the house. His
head was all bloody. Mother got so frighten that she grabbed her wrist. And when I was born it looked like someone had shot me through the
hand. This was a piece of blood on my wrist. When I was three weeks old mother had the doctor take the birthmark off. You see this scar here on
my wrist? Well, that is where the birthmark was."
2733. "We were living out in the country and my husband was building a fence around the garden when he almost cut his foot off. We called the
doctor and he dressed it. Then he wanted to know if I could take care of it. I said, 'Oh, God, no!' running my hand through my hair at the same
time. And when my boy came he had a scar about a half inch wide on his head and about a inch long just where I had run my hands through my
hair. It looked like a cut. And hair will never grow on it. He is around thirty now and the scar is still there and no hair. "
2734. "My brother got his foot cut bad one day and my mother kept wringing her hands and crying while my father was trying to wrap his foot
up. All she talk about all night was his foot was almost off, and she kept this wringing her hands and twisting them up, that when my next brother
came his hands were off at the wrist."
2735. "I was pregnant and I went down in the cellar to get some fruit, and we had a lot of old boards lying on the joists. I reached up and hit my
head real hard on these boards, and it hurt so bad I put my hands to the back of my head and came back upstairs. When my boy came he had
brown stripes on his neck that looked like boards."
2736. "One day I went to a lady's house and she was making light bread. It smelled so good. I was just crazy for a piece. I didn't care for any, but
all the time I was sitting there I was wishing I could steal a piece of that bread. I just could not get it off my mind. When my son was born he
would try and steal warm light bread all the time. Everywhere I took him he would steal some, if only a few bits. I could not break him of taking
bread until he got large enough to make him know he was stealing. "
2737. "About forty years ago a woman was in a family way. She lived next door to my sister. This woman had so many beautiful cactus in her
yard. She would go out in the yard and fool with them all the time. Everyone told her if she didn't stay away from her cactus she would mark her
baby, but it seem like she just could not stay away from them, her mind was on them all the time. The neighbors said she just lived among them.
And when her baby came it had three things on its head, one on top of the other, look just like cactus. The child didn't live long. One of those
round things busted and the child died."
2738. "They say you can't be marked, but I have a birthmark on the right side of my face as you can see and some of the cake on my arm. I was
marked with a piece of cake just seventy-nine year ago next month. My mother was visiting at a friend's house and she saw a nice piece of cake
on one of those old crinkle tin pans. My mother said she sure wanted it, because she could not make good cake and this woman did. Just as
mother was going to ask her for the cake a neighbor came in and she didn't want to ask, thought she would ask after the other woman went home.
They sit there and talked, mother wanting the cake all the time. Before the other woman went a child came home from school, picked up the piece
of cake and started to eating, crumpling the cake all up into small pieces, the cake falling on the floor and everywhere. Mother was just sick. She
always said those white pieces you see on my arm was the pieces that child was crumpling up, and this round place on my face was the tin pan
that had the slice of cake in. Another strange thing about it --- I have never liked cake to eat and I am seventy-nine next birthday."
2739. "I didn't know I was in a family way. I went to see a woman friend that had a bad cancer on her breast. She let me see it. I worried over it
all the time. And when my baby came it had four sores on its head and three on her back. I will show them to you. I took her to the doctor to see
if he could cut them out, and he said, 'Let them alone until we see what comes of them.' I am afraid they are cancers, that I marked my baby, for I
know you can."
2739a. "My daughter went to see a woman that had a cancer on her breast. She didn't know anything was wrong with her and when the woman
said, 'Do you want to see my breast?' she looked at it; said it was awful to look at. After she got home she started to worrying about it, just could
not keep it off her mind; then, when she found out something was wrong with her, she worried a lot more. When her daughter came she had a big
spot on her breast, one on the chest, and one on the back of her head. One of Quincy's best doctors told her it was a cancer mark, and never to try
and take it off, for if she did she would get a cancer in its place. That all came from my daughter looking at that woman's cancer breast."
2740. "About forty-five years ago I was pregnant and I had a pet cat I thought a great deal of. A strange cat came along and the two cats got into a
fight, and the strange cat was getting the best of my cat, so I went out to try and stop the fight, and the strange cat scratch my arm and I grab
my arm because it hurt. And when my boy came he had a perfect cat on his arm, and as he grew the cat grew, and he still has it on his arm."
 58

2741. "We had a lot of rats in our house and we were always putting out a trap to get them. We also had a large yellow cat. One day I was sitting
in the room where the rat trap was setting, I was making some baby clothes as I was expecting a baby, and a big rat got in the trap. Our yellow cat
jump after the rat and got his foot caught in the trap. It scared me so, seeing the cat in the trap, that I threw my hand down over my leg. And my
baby was marked with a cat leg and foot on the side of its leg. You could see the toes and nails very plain, and even the yellow hair like the cat,
on the baby's leg. It looked just like our yellow cat. "
2742. "When I was carrying this little girl you see here I asked a doctor if you could mark a child, I had heard so much about it, and he said
no, there was nothing to that old saying. I was lying on the bed one day and a cat jump through the window right on my stomach. I grabbed my
two hands together. And when this little girl you see here came, she is only four years old, on her left-hand she had no fingers. They are like cat
paws. [The hand was deformed] It was from that cat jumping on me and scaring me almost to death. Doctors don't know everything."
2743. "Mother said that years ago there were so many caterpillars, every time she would step out of the house she would step on a big caterpillar,
so when I came I had a caterpillar on my hip, old brown one. "
2744. "Years ago my sister was pregnant and she wanted cherries all the time. She didn't have any cherry trees on her farm and, knowing we had
a tree, sent her husband over to get her some. When he got to my house I was making cherry pies. My cherries were about gone and all I had were
in the pies, so he didn't say anything about the cherries. We eat the pies up for dinner and after dinner he told me, but it was too late then for they
were gone. He went home and told how good the pies were, and of course she cried and took on. And when her girl came she had a bunch of
cherries on her stomach. "
2745. "A woman was pregnant and she went out in the yard, and she was always reaching for cherries. They were so high on the tree she could
not get them often. So when her boy came he had a small cherry tree on the back of his neck. In the winter that tree would be dark brown; in the
springtime and in cherry-time, red."
2746. "I know the woman well. About twenty-five years ago a woman near Clayton went out to kill a chicken. She tried wringing its head off,
but didn't make a good job of it. The chicken kept flopping and flopping against her arm. In some way she put the chicken against her wrist and
pull the head off with her other hand. When her girl came it didn't have a hand. The arm came down to a point at the wrist. And when a baby she
would flop that arm all the time like a chicken. She is a big woman now and still can't keep that arm still."
2747. "One day I was picking a chicken for dinner. Everything made me sick, I just didn't feel good. When I open the gizzard everything in that
gizzard squirted all over my face and neck, but when my little girl came she had a gizzard on her neck just where everyone could see it."
2748. "Thirty-five years ago a woman went to a circus and a clown come up from the back and hit her on the shoulder. It scared her so. But she
knew she was in the family way, so she threw her hands down on her legs, for she didn't want to mark her child's face. And when her girl came
she had all colors on her leg — red, blue and yellow, just like the clown had on. This girl never went without stockings because it looked so
funny, all those colors on her leg."
2749. "My sister had a monkey face on her right leg just as plain as you ever saw. Mother went over one day to see a woman and she had a
coconut on the table. Mother just sit there and looked at that face [the eyes] on the coconut, all the time wishing she would give her a piece, but
she didn't and mother would not ask her for any. And so when my sister came she had the monkey face on her right leg."
2750. "My sister was pregnant and her other sister took sick very sudden and died. She just kept holding on to the coffin and taking on so hard
that she marked her boy. Every time he gets a little sick you can see a coffin very plain on his forehead. It is a birthmark over her worrying over
seeing her sister in the coffin."
2751. "I marked my little baby when my father died. When I was looking in the coffin I took on so. But I kept my hands behind me all the time.
I didn't want to marked my baby but I did. When my boy came it had a place on the back that look just like a coffin. It was cut open and about
three inches long, just the shape of a coffin. He only lived a month."
2752. "About fifty-one years ago out here near Liberty a woman was helping gather-corn in the cornfield. She happen to get some of that mother
[smut, a fungus] of the corn on her neck. I guess you know mother is that old black stuff on the corn. It worried her and she kept rubbing her neck
all the time. And when her baby girl came it had this black all around its neck, and it is still on her neck, looked just like the mother on corn."
2753. "Years ago we lived in a pasture like. There was a mean Jersey cow in that pasture that everyone was afraid of. My oldest boy was sitting
in a little rocking-chair out in front of the house when I saw that mean cow coming toward the child. It scared me. I ran out and picked up the
chair and child and started back in the house, just got the big door shut when that cow came right against the door. I got so scared because the
cow butted its head against the door, thought the cow was coming right in the house. When my boy came he had a cow head on his forehead,
horns and all. Whenever he would get real mad you could see plainly the horns on the head, the eyes, ears and nose of this cow. He's dead now.
Three years after, one of my children were born with a cow head on his forehead. We were living at another place. My husband and I were
walking through the pasture, going over to get the cows to milk, and I not seeing a cow lying down, just as I got to it, it jump up and
almost scared me to death. So again I threw my hands up. And when my second son came he had a cow's head on his forehead, but didn't have
the horns and eyes, nose and ears, like the other boy — just the shape of a cow head."
2754. "About sixty years ago my grandfather's sister was pregnant. She was out in the yard and a big white dog came along and put his feet upon
her shoulders. It was just trying to play. She just screamed and screamed and threw up her hands over her head. And when her girl came she had a
streak of white hair across her head, and the rest of her hair was black. And that streak of white hair stayed with her until she died."
2755. "I know a woman that went a-visiting and they had a bad bulldog at the place. And when she started in the yard this dog grabbed her and
she threw up her hands over her face, afraid the dog would get in her face. When her daughter was born she had only a little ridge where her nose
was to be --- no nose at all."
2756. "My aunt's dog bit her oldest child and she went to whip it. The dog went under the house. She pulled it out by its ear from under the house
and the dog got away from her. She was so mad over the dog biting the girl and getting away so she could not whip it, that when her little girl was
born she had a dog ear. It flops over just like a dog's ear. They done everything to straighten the ear and nothing would do any good. She is
fourteen years old now and still has the flopping ear like a dog."
2757. "About thirty years ago we were going to town and we had a pet dog. He was following the buggy and got a bur in his foot. He kept
holding his foot up to us to take the bur out and in some way the buggy ran over the dog and kill him. I screamed and took on so, that when my
girl came she would just act like a dog whenever she would get angry. We were afraid of her, for she would draw her fingers in so that they
would look like dog's feet, and fight just like a dog."
2758. "Just three weeks before my boy was born my husband shot a dog. The dog didn't die. It went under the house and cried all night. I
didn't know he was going to do it, and it worried me over him trying to kill the pet dog, that when my boy came he whine all the time like a dog
for three weeks day and night. I was sure glad he didn't try to shoot the dog sooner or he would of whine like a dog all his life."
2759. "Years ago I was working on a boat down on the Bay and one morning I started down the running-board to get a bucket of water out of the
Bay, and when I got to almost the end of the plank I saw a dog on one side and a snake on the other side. The dog was trying to get the snake, and
as I just got to the end of the board, the dog got the snake and was killing it. It scared me so, the dog and snake fighting, that I screamed and must
 59

of put my hand on my neck, because when my baby girl came it had a running-board on the side of her neck, running up and down, and a little
snake on one side and a dog on the other."
2760. "My niece was giving strong medicine to her mother-in-law who was very sick. She happen to drop some of the brown medicine on her
dress. The dress was a new one, the first time it was on. It just made her sick because she tried and tried to get it out and it would not come out. It
left a big brown spot. She worried so over the brown spot in her new dress that when her baby girl came she had a brown spot around one of her
eyes."
2761. "I had a little boy and when I would hold him he would bite at my ear all the time. I would fuss at him and slap him, but he would keep
on biting at my ear. And when my little girl came she had a piece of her ear bit out, and the piece is still out."
2762. "My husband had erysipelas bad and my sister came to see me, not knowing anything was wrong, and watched me taking care of him.
When her baby came its feet and legs were covered with red spots. She was very thankful it was on the feet and legs and not on the face, for she
had mark her baby from watching me."
2763. "My husband years ago was a railroad man. We lived in a small town in Wisconsin. It was a railroad center in those days. The three men
that all worked on the same train all lived on the same block. Every night when they came home from work each one would bring a sack of coal
home on their back from the engine [coal] car, so they didn't have to buy coal. My husband drank some, only he had not been drunk since we
married. I was like lots of girls in those days, I married him to reform him, but it didn't work. Well, what I wanted to tell you --- I was in a family
way, and one afternoon about four o'clock I heard the train whistle for the roundhouse and go on up in the yards. Knowing he would be home a
little after four, I put my sewing up and started supper. Supper was ready and he didn't come. It was late in the fall and it was getting dark, and
still he didn't come. I waited until about six- thirty, then I ate. While eating, I thought I heard something outside or in the cellar saying, 'O my
God! can't you help me?' 'O God, help me!' I didn't know if I was hearing things or not, I was so nervous by this time. In a few minutes I heard
something say again, '0 my God! up there, can't you hear me?' By that time I was getting so scared. I never will forget that night. I slipped over
and locked the back door, and went to the front door and called the man upstairs to come down. I believed a man was in my cellar. Maybe
you think I was not surprised when the man took his lantern and found my own husband in the cellar. He had brought the sack of coal home with
him like he always did, but he was so drunk that when the coal went in the cellar he went in with it and had been down there over two hours. He
was a sight! When they pick him up, he had black hair and it was standing straight up, and all I could see was his eyes and hair, for his face was
so dirty lying in that coal pile. When they got him on his feet he grab my shoulder and held on for dear life. I was so scared, for all I could see
was his large eyes and black hair. His eyes looked like saucers to me at that time. When my baby girl came she had very large eyes, so large that
it spoiled her looks; and on her shoulder, a big spot of black hair. I have always been glad that the mark was where it didn't show, for that drunk
spell sure marked her. The doctors say you can't mark a child, but I know you can; and doctors don't know it all, if they do study."
2764. "My aunt while carrying her baby had a brother that stayed at her house who had snakes in his boots and fits from drinking. One night he
drank too much. He went upstairs and jump out of the window and killed hisself. My aunt fainted. She was almost dead from fright. When her
baby was born he was speechless. He never spoke a word, could not feed hisself, nor move his limbs. He lived to be seventeen years old. He
never grew any larger than a six-year-old child. When he died they had to bury him on his side in the casket, could not get him straighten out."
2765. "A woman was pregnant about twenty years ago. She was my neighbor. Their house got on fire and was burning down. The woman threw
her hand over her face and said, 'My God! we are ruin, everything will be gone.' When her girl came her face was all red, just looked like a blaze
all the time."
2766. "Once there was a woman who was playing an organ in Quincy and she jarred the lamp and it exploded and started to burn. She threw her
hands up to her face. And when the baby came one whole side of her face looked like it was burnt."
2767. "My mother about forty years ago was pregnant. They were living in the country at the time. They were cooking and eating out in a tent,
for they were rebuilding something on the kitchen and it was in the summer. One day while she was getting dinner and she happen to look up,
and the top of the tent was on fire. She screamed and said, 'Oh, my God! the tent is on fire, and the same time threw her hands down on her knee.
When her boy came its leg from the knee down was all red, and he even had red hair. He was the only child out of eight in the family that had red
hair."
2768. "Mrs. M. just before the birth of one of her numerous children was excited by the catching fire of some wood she had placed to dry in
the kitchen oven. She burned and blackened her hand in dragging the wood from the oven and in her excitement pressed the injured hand to her
face. When her child was born it had the black imprint of a hand on its face. It died in infancy and Mrs. M. in telling the story to Walter many
years later expressed relief that it had died."
2769. "One day I was cleaning fish. No one was there to help me. When I started I thought the fish was dead, but it flopped and scared me. I must
of grabbed my stomach, for when my daughter came she had fish scales all over the front of her stomach. They were so natural that it looked like
you could scale her stomach and they would come off."
2770. "My mother lived out in the country and couldn't get everything she wanted. One day she wanted buffalo fish and couldn't get it. When my
sister came she had a big buffalo fish across her breast, scales and all. This may sound funny, but some days the scales were so plain that if you
would rub the fish, the scales would drop off."
2771. "We always lived in the country when I was a girl. And we had a neighbor that lived a few miles away, my mother knew her well. This
woman was in a family way and one day she lost her ducks and she went down to the creek that run through their farm to see if she could find her
ducks. As she was standing on the bank looking up and down the creek, a big frog, that was on an old log, she didn't see, jump in the creek right
in front of her. At the moment it almost scared her to death. She throw her hands over her face and screamed so, that it brought someone to the
creek, thinking she fell in. My mother told me this, for it was before my time. I am eighty. Well, when her boy came, he had frog eyes and
squinted them all the time. Years went by and that boy got stuck on me, as we all still lived on the same farms. He was a fine boy, but I would
never go with him because everyone called him frog eyes."
2772. "My cousin's wife was pregnant and her husband picked up a big frog one day and just for fun he threw the frog in her lap. It scared her
so, that when her baby was born it had a frog head and webs between its fingers and toes just like a frog. But the child didn't live."
2773. "I knew a woman that was pregnant, and not thinking, she watched her husband dress some frogs. You know how they just jump all the
time [the frogs were dead, but muscular action continues for some time]. When her little girl came its legs and arms were crooked like a frog.
They would jump all the time. The child only live to be a year old. It was a very good thing."
2774. "Years ago my mother was pregnant with me. And her brother had been to town and had bought his intended a fur piece and muff. When
he came in the door he just threw the fur piece at mother and it went around her neck. It frighten her so, that she fainted. And when I came I could
not stand for anyone to touch my neck, I would just scream. And today I am an old woman and I cannot stand anyone to touch my neck, being
marked over that fur piece."
2775. "Years ago I marked my baby with four things. I wanted to make some ginger bread for my husband. He was very fond of it. I thought I
would have some for his supper, as he was plowing hard out in the field, and my ginger bread was a failure. It worried me all night, and my
 60

husband fussed because I wanted the stuff. So when my baby came it had a piece of ginger bread in the corner of his eye from me crying and
wiping my eyes. Another thing he had was a piece of brown on his cheek with hair on it from me getting scared at a rat jumping down in the
pantry when I open the door. Another thing he had some strawberries on his back cheek [buttock] from me wanting berries and my husband
would not get them. I will tell you, my husband was mean to me when [I was] that way and would not let me have what I wanted. Another thing
that happen, we all went fishing one day. I wanted fish. We didn't catch a one. A little boy on the bank close to us had a nice string of sunfish. I
wanted my husband to buy several but he would not, so when the boy came he had a sunfish on his stomach. So my boy has the four birthmarks.
Doctors say there is nothing to this. Only doctors don't know everything. I know it is so. You can mark your child."
2776. "Out here in Melrose [township] a woman was picking [live] geese [for feathers]. She was about two months in a family way. She was
holding the geese by the feet and they kept kicking her all the time and hitting her stomach. When her girl came she had a goose foot for a hand
[webbed fingers?]. And everywhere this girl went when older they called her the goose-foot girl. This is so, for I knew the girl and I saw this. I
was only ten year old but I remember it."
2777. "About twelve years ago my mother died. She had long beautiful white hair. She would never have her hair cut when living, she didn't
believe in it. When she died they wanted to cut her hair and each take a lock to remember her by. My husband said they should not cut it, as long
as she had never had it cut in life, let her take it to the grave. There were four children and they went and cut her hair anyway. They didn't listen
to my husband. They had the four long pieces. They braided it together and each one of the children took a piece but me --- not that I didn't want
it, but my husband would not let me have it. I cried and cried over the hair, because I was like the rest of my sisters and brother, I wanted to keep
my piece. When my little girl came she had black hair and one streak of white hair. I didn't know what to make of it, for it was so funny looking.
My husband said, 'Don't you know what that is? You marked our baby when you cried and took on so when I would not let you have the white
hair when your mother died.' My little girl is going on twelve now and the white streak is leaving. You can only see it at times."
2778. "I knew a woman that cried all the time because her husband run with another woman. This woman was pregnant and she would sit for
hours with her hands over her face all the time when crying. When her baby girl came, whenever it would cry, you could see the fingerprints of
her mother's hand over her face where her mother had marked her. Some people don't believe you can mark a child, but I do; for this is so, for it is
right in our own family."
2779. "About sixty years ago my mother went out to feed the hogs and an old sow that was nursing her pigs got after my mother and she ran to
the house. She must have put her hand on her ear, for when my brother came he had a tit on the end of his ear."
2780. "Once there was a woman who was pregnant and she was watching some people kill hogs. One of the hogs didn't die right away and it
came toward her rolling its eyes. She thought it was terrible, so she throw her hands up to her eyes. Right away she knew she shouldn't have done
it. And when her baby was born it rolled its eyes just like the hog had done."
2781. "A woman was pregnant and one day they were killing hogs on the farm and she went out to help. When they killed one hog all the blood
went over this woman. She screamed and tried to get the blood off. And when her girl came it had big dark spots all over her body and face, and
the spots even had on them like hog hair."
2782. "In the year of 1884 a woman was taking the fat off the entrails of a dead hog that had just been killed. She was standing with her back to
the slaughtering pen. Her husband not knowing she was there fired at another hog and it let out a loud squeal. This woman screamed and threw
her hands over her face. Her husband said, 'My God, are you there! ' When their child was born it had a hog face. It was just pitiful. The woman
almost lost her mind when she saw her baby. When the child was about a month old they took it to Jacksonville [Illinois] to the hospital and it
died that night."
2783. "A woman was pregnant and she went down in the country to visit her sister for a few days. They had a very cripple pig. This woman was
out in the barn lot and saw this pig. She said, 'oh, look at that pig!' She would talk of nothing but that pig. They tried to get her to talk about
other things, but the pig seem to worry her. When her boy was born it was a cripple. It could never walk. The boy lived to be seventeen years old,
then died. Its nose looked like a hog nose."
2784. "I knew a girl that her mother and sister were not on good terms. She [the mother] went to see her one day and she [the mother's sister]
didn't ask her to eat. Everything was on the table. She had a nice ham bone on the table. She did want some so bad. All the way home it mortified
her. She would have given anything for a slice of that ham. Her sister was so nasty. When her child was born it had a ham bone from her elbow to
the wrist. At the wrist it was just a stump, no fingers. It was colored like a smoked ham. She could pick beans, sew, crochet, just do anything with
that stump. That girl was so proud of that arm she would even roll her sleeves up so people could see it."
2785. "Eighty years ago a woman was wanting pork sausage all the time and could not get enough of it. One day she put her hand upon the top of
her head when she was wanting pork sausage. And her baby boy, when it was born, he had a round place on the top of his head just like a
[hand-patted] pork sausage and the same color. It was a birthmark. The hair would never grow on it. And he died just last year at the age of eighty
years old with the birthmark just like when he was born."
2786. "A woman I know went out to the barn to feed the horses and one of the horses raised up on its hind legs and pawed and pawed at her with
its front legs so, that it frighten her. And her baby it was born with hands and feet like horse feet, with hoofs on them. Even had a horse head. The
child didn't live. It died at birth."
2787. "I know a case where a woman marked her baby about fifty-five year ago near Parson. She was out in the barn lot when a mule kicked at
her and frighten her almost to death. About five month after that she had a miscarriage. The doctor said he was glad, because the baby looked like
a mule and would of been awful if it had of lived." 2788. "One day a woman that was pregnant was out in the yard. She did not see the family
horse, but he came up and put his head on her shoulder. And the woman screamed and said, 'Oh, God!' and at the same time put her hand on her
shoulder. And when the baby came it had a square place on its shoulder of horsehair."
2789. "I know a child that was marked from his mother getting scared over a white horse running away. She was in the buggy and pregnant. She
must of put her hand on her head, for when her boy came he had a streak of white hair right through the middle of his head. This is so, for he is
my nephew."
2790. "A woman was pregnant and she was always putting her hands through the horse's mane, she just could not keep her hands out of his mane.
Someone told her she had better stop or she would mark her child, but she kept on playing with the mane. When her baby came it had coarse hair.
And the child whenever it got near a person would be running its hands through your hair. It could not keep its hands out of hair."
2791. "A woman went to a circus and she got stuck on a spotted pony. She just kept petting it all the time and talking about it. She could not get
it off her mind. And when her little girl came she had a big white spot on her head; and as the hair grew, this spot was white and the rest of the
hair was black."
2792. "About thirty years ago a woman was ironing and she drop her iron on the floor. Her little girl was crawling under the table and this
woman screamed and grabbed her wrist, thinking the iron had hit the little girl. And when her boy baby came its hand was off at the wrist. This
boy lived on State Street and just died lately."
 61

2793. "I was visiting out in the country when pregnant and all I heard was lambs crying. When my boy came he cried like a lamb all the time
until he got large."
2794. "I wanted lettuce and didn't get it. Oh, I wanted it so bad! When my little girl came she had a lettuce leaf on her leg. In the spring it is green
like lettuce, in the fall it is brown."
2795. "My mother went into the cellar when pregnant and step on a lizard [newt or salamander]. Of course it scared her and she throwed her
hands on her backside. And when my sister came she had a lizzard on her backside. Mother was glad it was there than her face."
2796. "My sister was at the hospital one day. Her little boy had lockjaw. She stood by and watch them give him a shot in the arm. She was three
months gone. And when her other boy came it had a purple mark on its arm about the same place where his brother had his shot. "
2797. "My mother-in-law years ago was ironing and two Negro men came down the road. They came to the door and wanted a drink. She was
scared to death because she was alone. She was pregnant. And all the time she was talking to them she held one hand over the other, thinking it
would hide her condition. She told the men to go to the well and help themself. She watched the two men until they were out of sight, never
taking her hand off of the other. And when her little girl came it had two dark figures on its wrist just where she had held onto it when she was so
scared. You could see them plain. "
2798. "My aunt was pregnant and one day the children came home from school with their faces all red. They had been playing with pokeberries
and had them all over their faces. My aunt thought they were hurt and got scared and screamed and put her hand over her face. And when her
baby girl came its whole side of its face was red like blood."
2799. "One day I wanted potatoes so bad. I didn't raise any, but I knew an old woman down the road we called Aunt Kate that had raised a lot of
fine potatoes. I knew my mother owed her some flour, so I said, 'Let me take it back, I will stay for dinner' --- because she always did ask you to
stay when you went there --- thinking I would get potatoes, for I was just crazy for some. When I got there she took me out to the smokehouse
and showed me all her fine potatoes. She did have a lot of large potatoes. While we were looking at the potatoes she said, 'I don't have to get
dinner today, the men-folks are away for the day.' I was just sick because I was going to stay. It just looked like everything was against me. Then
she empty the flour out. I started up the road mad. I called her every name I could think. I was so mad I kept hitting myself all the way home with
the bucket. When I got home I broke down and cried and told mother about the potatoes. 'I will go right back and get some.' And she did. Aunt
Kate hated it real bad, said, 'Why didn't she ask me? I would of gave her all she wanted. I didn't know she wanted any. Mother brought them
back, but I didn't want them then. You have to get them when you want them to keep from marking your child. When my girl came she had
potatoes right where I kept hitting myself with the bucket."
2800. "I have a little girl that has a potato pancake on her leg and she is about nine year old, and every year it gets larger. You see, when I
was pregnant I was frying potato pancakes one morning and some of the grease popped on my leg. Not thinking, I grabbed my leg. And when she
came she had a small brown potato right where I grabbed when the hot grease went on it."
2801. "A woman was sitting on the doorstep reading a book when a little pet rabbit run over her book. Not knowing the rabbit was near, she
threw up her hands and must of let them fall on her side, for when her boy came he had a rabbit on his thigh. He comes to our house now and you
can see the rabbit plain."
2802. "I knew a woman about seventeen years ago that went to see a woman and she asked her if she had any red raspberries put up, that she
wanted some real bad and didn't put up any herself. This woman said, 'I will give you a jar when you start home,' and did. Just as this woman was
getting in the buggy she dropped the jar and it broke all to pieces. She holler and said, 'Oh, I have lost my berries!' and at the same time grab her
thigh just above her knee. When her girl came she had red raspberries all over her thigh and knee, and in berry-time they are red. They look so
bad that this girl could not wear silk stockings because they would show through."
2803. "A woman out here in Burton years ago was pregnant and she wanted raspberries. She went to see a neighbor and she was making
raspberry pies. This woman said, 'I have been wanting raspberries so bad.' And this woman said, 'When you go home I will give you a pie for
your supper.' And she did. The woman took the pie home and put it in the pantry and went out to hoeing her garden. When she came in to fix
supper, the pie was gone. The old man had come in from the field and seeing the pie eat it all up. She started to crying and threw her hand back of
her neck. And when her baby came he had a bunch of raspberries on his neck."
2804. "My mother knew a woman that went one day to get some potatoes out of a sack and as she put her hand in the sack a rat ran out. It scared
her almost to death. She must of threw her hands behind her, for when her girl came she had a rat right on her behind."
2805. "I knew a woman that was carrying a baby right here in Quincy. She saw a big rat in her basement. She grabbed her neck. When her baby
girl came she had a big rat around her neck with the hair on. This girl always had to wear a high collar all the time because it was so plain."
2806. "My sister-in-law's mother was sitting watching them kill a rat one day. She was sitting holding her hand over her left eye, not knowing
anything was wrong. And when her girl came she had hair all around her left eye, grey just like a rat, even the eyelid had it on. This woman is
thirty years old and her eye looks like you skinned a rat and put the skin over her face, it looks so natural."
2807. "I know a woman here in Quincy that was ironing one morning and a rat ran around the room, she was just three months pregnant, and she
grabbed her wrist and screamed. And when her baby came it only had one hand. The hand was off just where she grabbed it. When they let her
see the baby she said 'Oh! I know just when this happen.' The woman lives down on Third Street."
2808. "My father did this just for fun. My mother was pregnant with me, was sitting, sewing, and my father came in from the barn with a big rat
that must of had babies. Knowing my mother was afraid of rats, and not thinking, he threw the rat in my mother's lap, the breast of the rat up.
Mother screamed and threw both of her hands over her breasts. She was just sick, so scared. When I was born I had two small rat breasts, one
under each of my own breasts, just about the size of a quarter, and with a small nipple. And another thing --- when I have a baby there is milk in
the rat breasts too. I have had four children, and every time I have milk in all four breasts. You don't look like you believe me. Well, I will lay this
baby down and show you." [My sister Minnie, who collected this story, adds a comment] "Well, she did --- took down her dress and showed the
two rat breasts, one under each of her own breasts. They were dark brown and just about the size of a quarter as she had said. And she even
milked some of the milk out of the rat breasts."
2809. "Twenty-five years ago I was working for a woman and she got frighten over everything. One day a circus came to town and she wanted to
go. I said, 'I would not go if I were you, for you know you are not well and you may see something you will be sorry for.' And she did. She went
to the circus and as she passed the rhinoceros wagon he open his mouth wide and it frighten her so she fainted. And when her boy came every
time he open his mouth he looked like the rhinoceros. She was just sick and worry all the time about her boy's mouth, and said she would never
go anywhere again if in a family way, for her boy's mouth was awful to look at."
2810. "About fifty years ago I rented a house from a woman in Hannibal, Missouri. That woman went to the circus all the time and she was
pregnant. One day she got very scared at the seals. When her daughter came, she had hands and feet like a seal --- would walk around on her toes,
holding her hands up just like a seal. She was still living the last I heard of her several years ago."
2811. "My aunt went out in the yard one evening after dark to bring in some clothes she had left out on the line. As she passed the smoke house
something hit her in the face. Of course she threw her hands up to her head, for she didn't know what had hit her, and saw a big black skunk
 62

hanging on the line. As you know, they have a white streak down their back. The men had been out hunting that day and got home about dusk
and hung the skunk on the line. When her girl came she had a white streak of hair right through the middle of her hair and it stayed with her."
2812. "I know a woman that marked her child. She was out getting greens for dinner one morning and happen to run on a snake while picking.
She just started to pick a bunch of greens when a big snake went by her. She drop the greens and grabbed her arm. When her daughter came she
had a snake on the arm on the inside. The head was near the hand and the snake went up her arm, the tail right up to the shoulder. She always
wore long sleeves, but sometimes the children at school would see it and ask her how the snake got there. My own daughter asked her one day
how the snake got there and she got a good whipping from me for asking her."
2813. "About fifty-five years ago my mother had a friend living out in the country. This woman was three months pregnant and she always
milked the cows. One morning after her husband went to the field to work she went out to milk the family cow. When she got to the barn the cow
was standing there trembling with it eyes all bulge out. She looked and saw a large blacksnake all wrapped around the cow's back legs sucking
the cow. They kept a cow horn in the barn to blow, to call the men in. The woman pick up the cow horn and blew real hard, and her husband
came running. When she saw him she threw the horn down and threw her hands up around her neck and said, 'Oh, my God! a snake!' and fainted.
Her husband took her to the house, then killed the snake. And when her girl came it had a snake around its neck with the head on one cheek
and the tail on the other cheek. When they let the mother see the baby and the snake she would not have a thing to do with the baby. She would
not even let it nurse. Even when they would talk about it, it would make her sick, because as the child grew the snake grew. They fed the little girl
but it only lived to be about five months old. Some of the neighbors thought they starved it so it would die."
2814. "One spring day a woman was taking her husband his lunch, he was working in a lumber camp, and she had to cross over some timber. A
blacksnake crossed the path right in front of her. She threw her hands up and she must of touched her face, because when her little girl came it
had a blacksnake across her eyes; and in the spring when snakes go to crawling it always showed very plain, for it happen in the spring."
2815. "I knew a woman that was helping pitch hay with her husband and she picked up a big snake on her fork. She screamed and threw her
hands around her head. And when her baby girl came it had a snake wrapped around its head. After the hair came out you could not see it plain,
only on the forehead where the skin would shed every year when snakes shed their skin."
2816. "Years ago I was pregnant and one day I was crawling over a fence out in the country and I put my hand in a snake nest. There was a big
one and some little ones. I screamed and threw my hands on my breast at the same time. And when my daughter came she had a big snake and
some little snakes around the big one on her breast."
2817. "About seventy years ago a woman was pregnant and she was out picking roses, and a big snake was in the bushes and she put her hand on
the snake. She screamed and threw her hand on her breast, and when her baby came she had a rose and a snake on her breast. And every spring
when snakes shed their skin, the skin would peel off of the snake on this woman's body just like a snake. In time this woman married, but she
would never nurse any of her babies because she didn't want anyone to see this big rose and snake. She died just lately."
2818. "Mother was taking water to my father in the field one day and as she was going across a oats field she saw a big blacksnake all coil up.
She almost step on it. She threw her hand up to her face. It made her sick. And when my sister came one side of her face was light like mother's,
the other side black like the snake."
2819. "A woman was walking down the country road. She met a snake. She step over it. The snake raised up and struck at her. When her child
came it had a snake head, long and narrow. It showed so plain that the mother cried every time she looked at the child. The child only lived
several months and the mother was very happy when it died."
2820. "A friend of mine at Hannibal [Missouri] went berry picking and one day she got afraid of a big snake. It made her real sick. This is so.
When her little girl came it never had any bones. I lived there until the child was four, then moved to Quincy. It crawl on the floor just like a
snake. It was pitiful seeing that child crawling like a snake. I can't tell if the child lived or died, for I lost all traces of the family after we moved
here, but I do know up to four it was just like a snake."
2821. "A woman living down here in the South Bottom of Quincy one day was ironing when she look down and saw a big snake crawling toward
her in the kitchen. This woman took her hot iron when the snake got real near and reached down and sit it right on the snake's back and killed it.
When her boy came he had snake eyes."
2822. "Two snakes were fighting one day, just going over and over, and one of them got killed. A woman came along pregnant and saw the two
snakes fighting. And she had twins and they would fight all the time. And at last they both died."
2823. "My mother-in-law was picking blackberries and saw a snake. She got so scared that she fell in the blackberry patch over the vines. When
her son came he had a vine over his head with two blackberries on. When it was black-berry-time the leaves would be green and the berry
black."
2824. "My mother was mark with a squirrel, by a squirrel jumping upon mother's shoulder when she was out in the yard. The squirrel was a pet
but it scared my mother. And if I do say it myself, my mother eats just like a squirrel by picking everything up in small pieces. Everyone, that
sees her eat, speaks about it."
2825. "My sister got very frightened in a 'lectric storm and threw her hands up over her face. And she has a boy that is twelve years old. And
every time there is a 'lectric storm you can see the prints of her hand on his face."
2826. "My uncle's wife was watching the St. Louis cyclone go down the river about twenty year ago, that real bad one. It scared her so, that she
threw up her hands, hitting the back of her neck. When her son came he had big dark cloud all over his neck — looked like his neck's always
dirty --- over her seeing those black clouds go down the river and scaring her. The boy has never been able to get them off."
2827. "Mother went to see a woman one day that was canning strawberries. She had a big dish of the red berries sitting on the table. My mother
said all the time she was sitting there she was wishing the woman would give her some. But I guess the woman was too busy to think about it, for
they were very good friends. My mother could of asked for some, but she didn't; and when my brother came he had a perfect dish of strawberries
on the back of his neck. And in strawberry-time the berries were red. This woman afterward said she was sorry she didn't think and give mother a
dish of berries."
2828. "My mother wanted strawberries all the time and could not get them, and one day she threw her hands over her head; and when I came I
had a big strawberry on the top of my head, and I can never get enough strawberries, and in strawberry-time that strawberry on my head itches all
the time."
2829. "I knew two sisters that wanted the same strawberry. They both reached for it at the same time, and because the one could not get it,
she smashed it all up; and the other sister put her hand over her other hand and said, 'Oh! I wanted that berry so bad, and you smashed it up.' And
when her boy came he had two fingers all red that looked like strawberries smashed all over his two fingers."
2830. "I know a woman that her husband was driving a threshing machine and he run over a sand bank, and it cave in on him and he cut his toes
off on his left foot. He was very sick for a long time and his wife took all the care of his foot. And when her little girl came she had no toes on her
left foot and never did."
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2831. "I was living out here in a little hut in a small town. I wanted tomatoes. When my husband came home I sent him to the little store to get
a can of tomatoes, for they did not carry fresh ones. When he got to the store he did like all men do in a small town, sit down on a box to talk and
forgot all about me sitting home alone. After he didn't come back I started to crying and rubbing my face. When they closed the store and he did
come home he didn't have the tomatoes. He had forgot he even went for them. Then I cried the rest of the night to think that he would treat me
that way. When my son came he had a streak of red down over his face. When it is tomato-time his face is all red like tomatoes. My boy was
marked for life just because my husband wanted to sit on an old box and talk and forgot my tomatoes. "
2832. "About forty-five years ago a woman, that was pregnant and living up near Rock Creek Station on the Bottom road, saw her little girl
playing on the railroad track and the train coming. Someone got her off just as the train went by. The woman got so frighten that she threw her
hands down in front of her and screamed, and when her baby came it had its bladder on the outside. They took it to all the doctors here but no one
could do anything for her. But this girl lived to be forty-two years old and died only three years ago."
2833. "We lived down in the Bottom, and when my father would go plowing, my mother would go down to the Fabby [Fabius] and fish all day.
The snakes and turtles were always around her. She was always fussing because the turtles were getting her bait off the lines and the snakes were
crawling around. She was fighting snakes and turtles all the time. And when her twin girls came, one had a turtle on her back and the other girl a
snake right up over her eye. She wears her hair down low so people can't see it."
2834. "My cousin and I were walking down the road one morning when we almost stepped on one of those snapping turtles. My cousin made it
mad and the turtle started after me. I ran for I was afraid. I must of grabbed my wrist. My cousin got a rock and killed it. She smashed its head
and the blood was all running around. When my boy came he had a natural turtle on his wrist, and you could see drops of blood on his fingers.
That was the blood I saw running from the turtle head."
2835. "My mother was halfway gone in a family way and she started out the kitchen door, and my father not seeing her threw a basin of wash
water out the door and it went all over her head. It almost scared her to death. And when my brother was born he was born with a water head.
And he died from it."
2836. "I knew a man that half of his face was red. His father was drinking, came home half-drunk and started to drinking wine again. He got
angry over something and threw the glass of wine in his wife's face. She threw up her hands over her face to keep the wine out of her eyes. And
when her son came you could just see where that wine splatter on his face. It was a dark red like wine."
2837. "About sixty-eight years ago Dr. X's mother was pregnant. She was looking out the window with a stick under the window, like they did in
those days, and in some way the stick fell out and the window came down on her neck, for she had her head out the window. When her son was
born, who is the doctor now, he has a mark across his neck just where the window hit his mother on the neck."

Prevention of Birthmarks (2838-2849)

2838. A child can be marked only during the first three months of pregnancy, because the embryo is well formed at the end of the third month
and beyond any outside influence.
2839. The marking of children occurs after the fourth month of gestation.
2840. A pregnant woman marks her baby within the last three months.
2841. It is easier to mark a seven-month child than one of nine months.
2842. An expectant mother who burns herself should immediately bite a hole through her apron or dress to prevent a birthmark.
2843. If a woman during the first three months of pregnancy gazes upon a dead person, her child will look like a corpse.
2844. Unless women in a family way touch the corpse when they attend a funeral, their children will be marked.
2845. "I knew a woman that was pregnant and every time she went downtown she had to pass the cripple. He was always sitting on the corner of
Seventh and Hampshire. And she gave him a coin every time, for she told people she knew she would not mark her child if she done this. And
she didn't. She had a beautiful child."
2846. A pregnant woman who becomes frightened and throws her hands on some part of her body will not mark the child, provided she stops for
a moment and thinks about what she is doing before she removes her hands.
2847. If something frightens a pregnant woman, she can avoid the marking of her child by crossing herself and saying In the Name of the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost.
2848. After the first three months of pregnancy a woman must never steal anything she craves, for she will make her unborn child a thief.
2849. Women in a family way can have any kind of child they want by constantly thinking of and wishing for the desired qualities.

Removal of Birthmarks (2850-2886)

2850. One of the common causes of birthmarks, as seen in the preceding sub-section, Causes of Birthmarks, is the pregnant woman's unfulfilled
desire for some article of food. Ordinarily this results in a disfiguration resembling the desired food. Sometimes, however, the baby
is psychically, not physically marked; the unfulfilled desire being transferred from mother to child. The only indication that this has happened is a
continual smacking of lips and sticking out of tongue by the baby. This belief, compared to the physical birthmark, is becoming rare; but
formerly, when a newborn child constantly smacked lips and stuck out tongue, it was customary to interrogate the mother to discover the article
of food she wanted. This was then fed to the child (see 3331) and the psychic birthmark disappeared.
2851. It is unlucky to remove a birthmark.
2852. To make a birthmark vanish, smear some of the afterbirth over it. Some say the afterbirth must be turned inside out and applied.
2853. Afterbirth should be rubbed on a birthmark and buried. The latter will fade away as the former decays. In this belief, and those following,
there are two different opinions concerning burial of afterbirth: some say you must bury by itself that portion which was used, others say you
must reunite this portion with the whole before burying it.
2854. If a child is marked at birth, carry it into a dark room and wipe the disfiguration with afterbirth and then hide the latter in the ground.
The rotting of the afterbirth takes away the birthmark.
2855. "I will tell you a thing my mother did. When my babies came she would always look them over good to see if they had a birthmark on them
before the afterbirth got cold. If a mark, she would rub the afterbirth over it three times while warm, then bury it to take the birthmark off. She
would never bury the afterbirth until she was sure that the baby didn't have any marks on it."
2856. "When a child is born, if you see a birthmark, take the afterbirth and rub over the mark three times, saying God's Name three times, and
bury the afterbirth deep so nothing can touch it; and when it rots, the mark will go away. Years ago I was a midwife, and this is so."
2857. Stroke a birthmark thrice with some afterbirth while reciting Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. Let this dry on the birthmark for
three days before you wash it off. Put the rest of the afterbirth in the ground; and when that becomes rotten, the birthmark will be gone.
2858. The removal of a birthmark is accomplished by rubbing it with a piece of bacon and burying the bacon.
 64

2859. "My mother knew a woman that was pregnant years ago. They were living out in the country a few miles from Quincy and this woman
wanted beefsteak all the time. Every time her husband would go to town he would forget it. One day she told him not to forget it, and he did.
When she saw he did not have it, she started to crying and threw her hands on her back. When her baby girl came it had a big piece of raw
beefsteak on its back. It looked so bad she wanted the doctor to take it off. He said, 'You cannot take off a birthmark.' One day an old German
woman stopped at her house and they were talking, and she let her see the birthmark. The old German woman said, 'Don't worry about that, I will
take it off for you the first time I go to town.' When this old woman went in town she got a piece of beefsteak that had just been killed, took it out
and put it on this girl's back and let it stay for three days, then took the steak off and buried it. And it was no time until the birthmark disappear,
just like the beefsteak in the ground rottening away."
2860. "I knew a woman that had a little girl with a big bunch of cherries on, and that was all she done, was to get a bunch of cherries and rub
over the birthmark, saying in the Three Highest Names, and it went away."
2861. "I was down to St. Louis [Missouri] about fifteen years ago and a woman had a new baby and its face was all red on one side. The mother
asked the doctor what it was and he said, 'Oh, I'll just drop some medicine on. Its face will be all right in a day or so.' He didn't want to tell her
it was a birthmark. But when it didn't come off, she found out it was. One day an old German woman came in and said, 'I will tell you what to do
to get the birthmark off' --- and told her to get a black chicken with a very red comb and to kill this chicken, and while still hot put the blood on
the mark; but the blood must all come out of the comb, and let stay on thirty-six hours. She did. And the child's birthmark went away."
2862. Pass the hand of a dying man over your birthmark and the birthmark will depart with the life leaving his body.
2863. "A child had a big red cherry on its head. It was a birthmark. A woman told this child's mother to take her little girl to the first dead
man she could and take his finger and rub over the little girl's birthmark. The mother would not take her, so the woman said, 'I will take her.' And
the next man that died around there, this woman took the little girl and took the dead man's finger and rubbed over this cherry, and in no time the
birth- mark went away."
2864. A male will lose a birthmark, if the hand of a dead female is passed over it; a female, if the hand of a dead male.
2865. A girl should visit the corpse of a boy and move his hand over her birthmark as she says What I have, take with you; In the Name of the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. A boy with a birthmark does this at the corpse of a girl.
2866. "Years ago I had a niece that had a big cherry on the side of her face. It was a birthmark. And her mother took her to a corpse and let
that child rub that birthmark three times over the dead, and it went away."
2867. "My niece was in the family way. One day she was standing out in the street by the garden wagon buying some vegetables. The man had
some nice raspberries but my niece didn't have the money to buy them. She said she stood there rubbing her hand over her forehead wishing for
the berries but didn't get them. When her baby girl came she had three big dark raspberries on her forehead, you could see them plain. One day
after that in several months an old woman died in the neighborhood, and her daughter told my niece to bring her baby over and she would let her
take it, in the room by herself, as no one can be in there when you are doing it. So my niece took the dead woman's hand and rubbed it three times
over the raspberries saying the Three Highest Names. In four months the raspberries were gone and never came back because they went with the
dead."
2868. "I knew of a child years ago that was born near Payson with a very bad birthmark on her face. Her mother was just sick when she saw it,
said it would spoil her child's face for life. One day before the mother got out of bed an old German woman came in to see the child. She was
visiting here, she was from Pennsylvania. She said, 'Don't let your child keep that birthmark. Have your family doctor to tell you of the first
stillborn child he has and to take you and your baby to it. Then you take the hand of that stillborn child and rub over your baby's mark, will take it
away.' She told her doctor what the old woman from Pennsylvania told her. He said, 'I will let you know of the first one I have so you can try.' It
was several months before the doctor had a stillborn child, but he took this woman and she did just as the old woman told her. And the mark
started to going away and in a year's time it was gone all together."
2869. "Mother said when I was little I had a birthmark, a big red spot, where she got scared from fire. If you have a birthmark and can find
someone that has a new baby that died at childbirth and has no father — I mean that will not claim it --- go to that baby and rub its dead hand
over your birthmark, and when that hand rots, your birthmark will be gone. A girl in our neighborhood had a baby to die at birth that didn't have a
father to claim it, and she took that baby's hand and rubbed over my birthmark and I soon lost my birthmark."
2870. "My aunt's little girl out here at Burton years ago had a bad birthmark on her arm. When her mother's sister died she took her girl to her
sister, let her rub her arm back and forth over her aunt's arm so she would take the mark to the grave with her; and did, for the girl's mark went
away." [This is the belief that a birthmark must be rubbed on a corresponding part of the corpse.]
2871. A birthmark goes away, if a person wipes it with a dish rag and lays the rag in a coffin so that it will be buried with the corpse.
2872. To free yourself from a birthmark, swab it with a dish rag and lay the latter in a coffin that contains a corpse. Do this as you say O Lord,
take with Thee what harmeth Thee not, but harmeth me.
2873. As a method for losing a birthmark: go to the cemetery before sunrise, find a human bone, and rub this upwards three times over your
birthmark while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
2874. "My daughter had a strawberry on her face. An old colored woman told me if you have a birthmark to go to a cemetery, steal a piece of
cedar off a tree on a grave or one that is growing near a grave, rub the piece of cedar over your birthmark, and the birthmark will soon disappear.
We tried it and my daughter's strawberry left."
2875. A duck foot wiped on a birthmark removes it.
2876. Any birthmark in the shape of fruit is taken off by smearing it with fruit of the same appearance. Use fruit gathered before sunrise, and as
long as necessary repeat this rite each year.
2877. "I know a man that had a perfect strawberry on his face, at strawberry- time it was so perfect you could see those little dark dots in the red.
Someone told him about the milkweed stem. If you have a birthmark, take a milkweed stem and go around the mark nine times saying the Three
Highest Names each time. He did it in the spring, went around his strawberry the nine times. And when strawberries came in, his strawberry on
his face didn't show up. He lost it for good."
2878. A woman loses a birthmark, if she rubs it each month with her monthly cloth.
2879. "One day I open the cupboard and a mouse jump out. It scared me and I put my hand over my face, and when my baby girl came she had a
mouse on her face with the tail right down her nose. Someone had told me about the blood when you first menstruate after a baby is born, and
wash the mark with it; and I tried it and it sure worked, took all the birthmark off of her face."
2880. Let the mother lick the birthmark of her baby on the first three mornings after its birth and the birthmark will leave.
2881. A birthmark licked by the mother's tongue for nine mornings soon fades away. This rite also takes off a fire-mark or temper-mark --- a
red mark or streak across the face sometimes found at birth.
2882. To get rid of a birthmark on her baby, a mother can spit on her wedding ring and rub it over the birthmark once daily for ten days. But
she must start doing this before the child is ten days old.
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2883. "Two or three months before Mrs. X's boy was born, a garden truck man came up the alley and he had some ripe tomatoes. Mrs. X. spoke
to him about the tomatoes, saying how fine they were, and he joking, said, 'They are too rich for your blood, they are bad for you.' Mrs X. thought
he was serious. She rubbed her hand over her forehead and cried because she couldn't have any. Her boy was born with a tomato on his forehead.
It was raised up. And when tomatoes were ripe it would get real red. Then someone told her to take the first tomatoes of the year and rub over the
birthmark to remove it. She did this for seven years and the birthmark went away and never did come back. Another thing about that boy; he
could never get enough tomatoes to eat. He was just crazy about them. He used to steal my tomatoes all the time out of the garden."
2884. A child covered completely by a caul at birth never has a birthmark; but if a child born partially covered by a caul has a birthmark, this can
be removed by rubbing it with the caul.
2885. Sometimes a mother will have a broom-mark --- a dark mark shaped like a broom, said to be caused by the strain of carrying the baby. To
take this off, she may wipe it with the child's first wet diaper.
2886. The brown spot or spots occasionally seen on the mother's face after childbirth is taken off by washing it every morning with the baby's
diaper.

CONTRACEPTIVES -ABORTION -MISCARRIAGE (2887-2913)

2887. "My mother said it was an old saying: if you put the afterbirth of a child in an old well, you will never have another child."
2888. If a woman does not want any more children, she should walk over the place where the afterbirth of her last child was buried.
2889. A bag of asafetida worn about a woman's neck will prevent conception.
2890. To effect a miscarriage, take a tablespoonful of bluing each morning for nine days.
2891. As a protection against having children, eat the dried lining of chicken gizzards.
2892. A woman who at the beginning of menstruation sleeps with her menstrual cloth under her pillow for three nights will not conceive.
2893. Gunpowder taken in broken doses for three mornings induces menstruation and prevents conception, but the woman must continually think
about the desired result all this time.
2894. During pregnancy an abortion can be caused by rubbing gunpowder on the breasts every night.
2895. A pregnant woman can cause an abortion, if she goes near a horse.
2896. To bring about a miscarriage, a pregnant woman can walk under the neck of a mare exactly at noon for five days without touching the
mare's neck. See 2927-2930.
2897. Women marrying in the decrease of the moon never become mothers.
2898. Let a pregnant woman drink rusty-nail water for nine days without drinking anything else and she will miscarry.
2899. If nine rusty nails are soaked in whiskey and senna tea and this liquid is drunk, it will make a pregnant woman abort.
2900. "I know a woman that was seven months gone and she took this and she sure lost it. Take ten cents worth of prickly ash, ten cents worth of
senna leaves, one tablespoonful of store tea, and make a tea of each one. Then put in a stone jar with a pint of whiskey and nine rusty nails. Let
stand for nine days, then give a tablespoonful every two hours until they start to flow." A similar remedy is to put nine rusty nails and six
tablespoonfuls of Epsom salts in a half-pint of vinegar and let stand for nine days.
2901. "They say if you want a mishap, take three dry onions, cut each in half, then put in a slop jar, pour boiling water over them, sit on this jar
with your feet in boiling water, will do the work."
2902. "My friend did this: if you want to miscarry, rub around your navel with quinine and turpentine in morning and night for several days."
2903. The wife who makes her husband just before intercourse take off his pants, lay them on the floor and walk on them, will not get caught.
2904. As a device against pregnancy, let the bride on the nuptial night cut the buckle of the bridegroom's pants, sew it to her nightgown, and
never remove it from that first nightgown.
2905. Pregnancy can be averted by the woman who every night just before going to bed takes off her engagement ring, puts it on the opposite
hand, and turns the ring away from her several times.
2906. A woman keeping her shoes upside down under the bed at night will never be in a family way.
2907. If a woman sleeps on the left side of a man, she will not be caught so easily as when sleeping on the right side.
2908. To have a snake enter the house makes a pregnant woman lose her child.
2909. Women can protect themselves against pregnancy by wearing a woolen string round the waist.
2910. A tooth pulled during pregnancy is a cause of miscarriage.
2911. If a woman washes her hands in the same water a man uses, she will soon find herself pregnant.
2912. Every night just before going to bed a woman can soak her feet in hot water to guard against conception.
2913. "I have a friend that every time she gets that way her husband picks her up by the feet and swings her around three times to make her lose
it, because they don't want children." The swinging around may; the three times is magic.

GESTATION (2914-2951)

2914. Babies come from the cabbage patch.

2915. The doctor delivers children in his medicine kit.
2916. Storks bring infants.
2917. A hollow-tree stump is the place where a baby can be found.
2918. Women with child are always lucky.
2919. A pregnant woman who sees an accident should not touch her temples; the child will die.
2920. If during pregnancy a woman looks at a lot of blood, her baby will be sickly.
2921. Never while in a family way look at a corpse; your child will be pale and without color.
2922. "I would not crawl under a bed if pregnant; the child will be born without any hair."
2923. "Seven years ago we were living out here near Liberty. I was young and didn't know anything about not going under a barbed-wire fence. I
was with my father-in-law and when I got out of the wagon and crawled under the fence, my father-in-law liked to died right there because I did
this. 'What's the matter with you! Do you want to lose your baby?' Sure enough, when my baby came it was choke to death. [Some say this
misfortune could have been averted had she crawled back under the fence] That learn me a lesson. I have three children now and I would not
crawl under a fence for anything. "
 66

2924. "When I was pregnant, every time I went out I had to stoop to go under the clothesline; and when my baby came, the-navel cord was all
around its neck and we didn't think we could save him, [some say she could have avoided this trouble by walking backwards under the
clothesline], we thought he would choke to death."
2925. "My granddaughter, that is just twenty-two years old now, has no hand just because her mother stoop so much in working, when carrying
her, that the cord got around the baby's arm several times and kept the hand from growing. A woman should never stoop in carrying a child. So
my granddaughter was born without a hand that lives on a farm up the road."
2926. If during pregnancy a woman stretches her hands above the head — in hanging out clothes, while sleeping, or for any purpose whatsoever
--- the umbilical cord will become twisted above the child's neck and strangle it to death.
2927. If a woman in a family way crawls under a mare's belly, she will carry her child overtime; usually eleven months, the same period a mare
carries a colt.
2928. "I knew a woman that was carrying a baby and she walked under her mare's head every few days to hitch her to the buggy and she carried
her baby eleven months." Some say the mare must be in foal. See 2896.
2929. "A woman one time was carrying a baby. It was way past time, around ten months. She didn't know what was wrong, so she went to a
German midwife and she didn't know what was wrong. So the midwife said, 'Do you remember if you ever went under a horse's head or not?'
And the woman thought and said she believe she did. The midwife said, 'Go home and walk back under that horse's head, the other way than you
walked before.' And the woman did. And just as soon as she got under that horse's head she started with pains. And the baby came before she got
into the house."
2930. If a woman with child steps over a rope to which a horse is tied, her gestation will be prolonged to the twelfth month.
2931. "I know three different people that fell downstairs when pregnant and their babies had a hairlip."
2932. A pregnant woman should never eat fruit from the second crop borne by the tree the same season; her baby will be cross all its life.
2933. You can secure a fat baby by giving the baby to a fat person before it is born.
2934. The woman who licks the pots and pans during pregnancy will have a fat baby.
2935. A permanent wave during pregnancy will not take.
2936. It is unlucky to curl your hair with a hot iron during pregnancy.
2937. At the beginning of pregnancy throw out into the yard the hair from your comb to give your baby blue eyes.
2938. If the hair of a pregnant woman keeps knotting when combed and she becomes angry or curses, the baby will have the same temper as its
mother showed while combing her hair. Some say this is true only of a first pregnancy.
2939. "I know my baby will be healthy because it hiccough all the time before it was born."
2940. If during pregnancy the child kicks too hard, let the father put his hand on the place where the motion occurs and it will stop.
2941. "My sister-in-law never had a louse, but every time she got in a family way she would be lousy until the baby was born, then they left."
2942. Do not stand in front of a mirror and observe your figure during pregnancy; it is unlucky.
2943. An expectant mother who has her picture taken may expect bad luck. Some say she will have a hard time at delivery.
2944. Morning sickness does not attack the wife who is loved by her husband and who is going to have a welcome baby.
2945. If a woman is well during pregnancy, the child will not have any hair at birth; if sick, it will --- the sicker the mother, the more the baby's
hair.
2946. The woman who has heartburn frequently during pregnancy will give birth to a child with a lot of hair. Some say long hair.
2947. Someone sneezing at a birth is a lucky sign for the baby. Some say the infant will live and grow up into a healthy child.
2948. The effect of pregnancy upon the mother's teeth is variously described: the mother loses a tooth for each child; the woman who has a tooth
filled during pregnancy will lose the filling immediately following the birth of her child; and the expectant mother having all her teeth pulled will
kill her child.
2949. An unborn child can be made lucky by the expectant mother making someone's wedding clothes.
2950. Bad luck may be expected by the woman who gains weight during pregnancy.
2951. To be weighed while pregnant is unlucky. Some say this causes a miscarriage.

DELIVERY (2952-3050)

Labor Pains - Afterbirth - Caul - Naval Cord (2952-3037)

LABOR PAINS
2952. The author's mother used to tell about a case of what may be called psychic or pseudo couvade. This happened when she was a young
woman in the early years of the 1870 decade. The husband not only had morning sickness and other ailments peculiar to a pregnant woman, but
also suffered such acute pains during his wife's delivery that he almost died. Although the wife's gestation and parturition were quite normal, she,
being fearful she might kill her husband, would never have another child.
2953. A pregnant woman by crawling over the husband can transfer her future labor pains to him.
2954. Just before delivery tie a string as tightly as possible beneath either knee of the expectant mother and her husband will get the labor pains.
Some say the woman herself must do the tying.
2955. "I know a woman that was having labor pains bad when another woman that was expecting went to see her. If two women are in a family
way and are expecting about the same time, never let one go to see the other; for if you do, the one that goes will take the other's labor pains away
from her. And this woman that went to see the other woman took her pains right away from her went right home and had her baby. The other
woman suffer for three days before her baby came, over the other woman taking her pains."
2956. "I was in a room one time and the woman was having such a hard time, and I had never had a baby, and they told me to leave so to make it
more easy for the woman and the baby would come."
2957. A woman whose husband has broad shoulders may expect a hard time at childbirth.
2958. If during pregnancy a woman dreams of a difficult delivery, it will be easy; if of an easy delivery, it will be difficult.
2959. Labor pains are always more severe at the birth of the second child.
2960. "If a woman has children, the child she suffers the most with at delivery will think the most of her when he gets older and will always
stick by her while the others will turn her down."
2961. "I started to getting sick labor pains at one o'clock at night with my boy and he always starts to getting sick whenever he becomes sick at
one o'clock at night."
2962. To cut or to cut in half the labor pains, usually the afterpains, set under the bed an ax so that the blade points upward. Various
and contradictory things are said about this implement: some say the ax must be old, others say the newest one possible; a dull edge is preferred
 67

by some, a sharp edge by others; sometimes the ax is laid at the foot of the bed, at other times anywhere; and according to some you must not tell
the woman about the ax, according to others it does not matter. If you do not have an ax, a hatchet may be substituted. An ax beneath the bed also
stops a hemorrhage caused by a miscarriage.
2963. When the child is slow in coming and the labor pains are severe, open a Bible at some passage describing birth throes and put the opened
book across the woman's stomach.
2964. A hemorrhage during delivery can be checked with a poultice of fresh cow manure.
2965. Boil nine eggs and nine onions and let a woman in confinement drink this water for an easy delivery.
2966. You can rid a woman in childbirth of excessive pain by bathing her feet in hot ginger-water and rubbing downwards from her knees so that
the pain will go out through the feet.
2967. "The woman who told me this is expecting a baby next month and thinks she will try it: to bring a baby quicker, put a small bunch of goat
hair in the womb."
2968. If a woman is having a hard time with birth pains, let her husband lay his right hand on her stomach to ease them.
2969. As a method for procuring an easy delivery, hang a man's hat on the bedpost of the birth bed.
2970. "I was so sick and they could not find the ax or razor, so I told them to put the butcher knife under the bed --- anything with a sharp point
would cut the pain --- and it sure did help." Some say the knife must be stuck into the floor beneath the bed.
2971. "My friend, she lost her baby at five months just carrying a big dish pan across the floor full of water. She started to flowing. They could
not stop her. She was getting very weak when an old colored woman came along and told her about the mullein leaves green or dry, that it would
stop the flow. They got some and put them on her stomach, fresh every day for three days, and the third day she was able to sit up."
2972. A baby that refuses to come can be brought at once and the labor pains will stop, if the woman drinks tea made from bark scraped
downwards off a young peach tree.
2973. "About fifteen years ago a real poor woman was having a baby in the South End [of Quincy] and the doctor could not get the child to turn.
A neighbor woman came in and said, 'What is wrong, doctor?' He told her he could not get the child to turn. She said, 'Wait a minute', and went
out in the yard. She came back with a peach stick, held it over the woman [arched] by the two ends; and when the peach switch started to turn, the
baby started to turn and came. This is so, for I was right there in the house."
2974. Afterpains can be stopped by putting a razor under the woman's bed or under the sheet. Sometimes the razor is put sharp edge upward at the
foot of the bed. This also prevents pains with the afterbirth.
2975. "I have heard my mother say years ago when a woman was sick with a child they would put those large white lime rocks under the bed to
help with the pains. I am eighty-two, so you see this is old."
2976. A cross-cut saw laid in the bed stops afterpains.
2977. "I know a woman that was having such bad afterpains after her baby was born and they give her the soot to eat off of the stovelid and it
stop her pain." Sometimes a tea is made of the soot.
2978. "This is very old. Take the sow bugs, dry them, make a powder of them, and take just before childbirth. A teaspoonful will stop all pains.
If you want to drink the tea, make it out of the raw bugs and drink just before childbirth and you will not have any pains."
2979. A bucket of water set under the bed helps a woman with her afterpains.
2980. Babies come easier on a rainy day than on a clear day.
2981. To free a woman from afterpains, drop three wood embers into a cup of water and let her drink the water.

AFTERBIRTH
2982. Afterbirth dropped on the floor gives the child weak kidneys; makes him a bed-wetter say some.
2983. If a boy's afterbirth drops on the floor, he will not live to be twenty-one; if a girl's, she will not live to be eighteen.
2984. Always bury the afterbirth immediately so that everything else will pass clean from the woman.
2985. Afterpains are prevented by burying the afterbirth.
2986. If the afterbirth is buried, the woman will get out of bed strong; if it is burned, weak. Some say the woman will regain her strength as the
afterbirth rots in the ground.
2987. Put the afterbirth in the ground under the eaves of the house where water can drip on it; this will make the mother's back strong.
2988. The mother will die unless someone buries the afterbirth.
2~39. You can give the mother luck by burning the afterbirth.
2990. Never bury the afterbirth where a person or an animal can walk over it; the mother will have serious trouble.
2991. If a dog scratches up the buried afterbirth, the mother will die.
Some say this does not cause death, but brings bad luck to the mother.
2992. Rats getting hold of the buried afterbirth make the mother weak until her next child is born.
2993. A rat biting or eating the buried afterbirth causes womb trouble for the mother.
2994. If the buried afterbirth is scratched up by a cat or a dog, the baby will die before the end of the year. In this belief and the three preceding,
the danger can be averted by laying a large rock over the afterbirth.
2995. A baby whose afterbirth is buried does not live long.
2996. If the afterbirth is buried, the baby will be healthy and intelligent; if it is burned, unhealthy and unintelligent.
2997. Do not take up the ashes of afterbirth burned in a stove until the ninth day; otherwise you will lose both mother and baby.
2998. Salt the afterbirth before burning it in the stove and leave the ashes there for nine days, so that the mother and baby will thrive.
2999. "I know of two people that burnt up in death, and their mothers' afterbirth was burnt instead of being buried. They say if your afterbirth is
burned, you will die by burning."

CAUL
3000. A child born with a caul, usually called a veil and sometimes a bundle, will always be lucky. But some say this good luck will last only
as long as the caul is preserved; therefore a caul thrown away, lost or stolen, makes the child unlucky.
3001. To be born with a caul is fortunate, provided it is always kept in a Bible.
3002. If there is a caul at birth, keep it sewed up in the child's clothes for luck.
3003. Always be sure at the death of a person, who has preserved the caul with which he was born, that it is put in the coffin, for as long as the
caul remains out of the coffin, the rest of the family will have bad luck.
3004. Babies born with a caul always become important or great.
3005. Caul-born babies are always intelligent.
 68

3006. The child born with a caul is always high-tempered, but you can control any display of temper by saving the caul and rubbing it over the
child's head.
3007. Girls born with a caul never have any children.
3008. Children with a caul at birth do not live long.
3009. Use care in removing a caul from a baby; to tear it will bring misfortune to the child.
3010. In whatever manner a caul is destroyed, that will be the manner of the person's death: if it is burned, the person will die by burning;
if buried, by suffocation; and if washed away, by drowning.
3011. Anyone who carries a caul will not drown.
3012. A caul carried in your pocket when going to war protects you against bullets.
3013. Persons born with a veil are endowed with the power of healing.
3014. Your future health can be discovered by looking at your preserved caul: if it is dry, you will continue healthy; if it is moist, you will
become ill.
3015. "I have a friend that has her girl's veil. If you keep it, you can always tell when [the child is] far away from you, if well or sick — if the veil
is clear, they are well; if the veil is cloudy, they are sick. One day she looked at it and the veil was very dark and cloudy. That day she got word
her daughter was very sick. In a few days she looked again and it was not so dark, and she got word her daughter was getting better. And when
she was well again, the veil was clear."
3016. The person born with a caul is gifted with second sight and the power of seeing ghosts; the person not born with a caul will never see
ghosts.
3017. A seven-month baby wrapped in a bundle at birth can hear warnings and see into the future.
3018. You can discover the future by going into a dark room and looking through the caul with which you were born.
3019. At the end of the first year let the baby born with a caul look through it and the child will become a fortune-teller.
3020. "I was born with a veil and my mother kept it, and on my ninth birthday and on the hour I was born on, my mother buried the veil under my
window, and that is why I can see things and take a spell off if anyone bewitched you."
3021. If your caul at birth was covered by a web — "a coarse piece of netting" --- you have a greater power of second sight than the person born
with only a caul.
3022. Those who were born with a caul and two webs instead of one web as described in the preceding belief can always talk to ghosts.
3023. "I was born with two veils and everything I dream comes true, for anything you dream will always come true when you are born with two
veils."

NAVEL CORD
3024. Never cut a navel cord too short; the baby will wet all the time.
3025. If you lay the cut navel cord down or accidentally drop it on the floor, the baby will be a bed-wetter. To avoid this you should burn up the
navel cord as soon as it is removed. Also take the same precaution when the navel-cord stump heals and comes off, and the baby will not wet the
bed after it is a year old.
3026. As soon as the navel-cord stump heals but before it can fall off, remove the stump, put it in a greased rag, and, while saying the Three
Highest Names, drop this package into the stove so that it will burn up immediately; the baby will never have trouble with its kidneys or get a
sore navel. Some say this also makes the child lucky.
3027. The first time a baby is dressed the navel-cord stump should be turned up and bound in place; the child will never wet the bed or have
bladder trouble.
3028. "Whenever you take the navel cord off a baby, if you will drop it down through its legs, they will pee down; if you pull it up to throw
away, they will pee up all the time and over theirself."
3029. "I had twins about two years ago and didn't know this and burnt both navel cords. My grandma said, 'Didn't you know that you will lose
your baby, if you burn the navel cord?' And I lost one of the twins and the other is not very well. I am afraid I will lose it."
3030. "When you take the navel cord off a baby, don't let it change hands or don't lay it down. Put it right in the fire; for if you lay it down
or change it from one hand to another, it will make the baby's navel sore. When my baby was born, my mother carried the baby right to the stove
before she took the navel off, so she could drop it right in the stove. And the baby was not sick with its navel."
3031. "The doctor don't know this, but I am an old nurse and I always do this. When you dress a baby's navel cord for the first time, and every
time until it drops off, always point the end of the cord toward the baby's heart. It will be stronger and keep the child from getting a rupture."
3032. They say a navel becomes sore or is ruptured by the baby crying too much, but applications of goose droppings mixed with lard will cure
the ailment.
3033. A powdered mud-dauber nest is applied to a baby's ruptured navel as a remedy. 3034. Application of soot will heal a baby's ruptured navel.
3035. To cure a baby's ruptured navel, bind over it one of the following coins: a penny, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter. Sometimes a large raisin is
flattened on the coin and laid to the rupture. A lead shot beaten flat may be used instead of a coin.
3036. "My mother years ago lived by an old Indian woman and when her first baby was born she told her to do this and she would have a good
baby, that the Indian women did this to have good babies. When you wash and dress a baby for the first time, take the navel cord and point it so it
will point to the left breast [the heart? as in 3031] and you will have a good baby — it will never cry."
3037. The future occupation of your baby can be determined by putting its navel cord in a bag and dropping it in a place connected with the
desired occupation: if you want to make the child a preacher, drop the navel cord in a church; if a teacher, in a school; and if a doctor, in a
doctor's office.

Premature Birth - Stillborn (3038 - 3040)

PREMATURE BIRTH
3038. A premature baby always sleeps out its time; that is, it will sleep until what would have been the end of the normal nine months of
gestation.
3039. Seven-month babies or babies born before the seventh month will never live.

STILLBORN
3040. "I remember this. I am over eighty. I was only a girl but I went to school with the children. It was out about where Liberty is now on Mill
Creek. A woman friend of my mother lost five children at birth. She had just lost one when an old gypsy fortune-teller was going through
the country telling fortunes and stop at her house. She told her she had lost all her children and if she would give her a dollar, she would tell her
 69

what to do to keep from losing any more. So the woman gave her the money. And the old gypsy told her, just before her next one came, to have
some holy water by the bed and to baptize it as soon as born In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 'And if the first one is a girl, call it
Eve; if a boy, call it Adam. And if you have the third child, which I know you will, call it Noah. And they will all live. After the third, you can
name it what you want.' This is so, for I went to school with the children; and all her children lived after that, for she did just what the gypsy told
her to do."

Posthumous Child - Seventh Son (3041-3050)

POSTHUMOUS CHILD
3041. To be born after your father's death gives you the power of healing.
3042. Almost every disease and sometimes deformity can be cured by a posthumous child breathing against the patient's face.
3043. The power to heal by rubbing or the laying on of hands is possessed by some persons posthumously born.
3044. Posthumous children are always clever.
3045. A posthumous child is always lucky.

SEVENTH SON
3046. The birth of a seventh son brings good luck to the family. This and the following beliefs always mean the last of seven consecutive sons.
3047. It is lucky to be the seventh son of the seventh son. This belief has been extended to include the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter.
3048. A seventh child of a seventh child always becomes brilliant and famous.
3049. The power of healing is possessed by the seventh son of the seventh son. He is specially gifted in stopping the flow of blood. 3050. Future
events can be foretold by the seventh son of the seventh son.

DIRECTIONS FOR CONFINEMENT (3051-3067)

3051. Do not permit a mother to see her baby on the first day of its birth; she will never love it.
3052. If a mother nurses a baby for the first time at her right breast, it will be right-handed; if at the left breast, left-handed.
3053. To be strong after childbirth, the mother should remain in bed until six o'clock on the ninth day.
3054. The featherbed of a confined woman should not be turned over before she gets up to walk; she will never recover.
3055. Wait until the ninth day before turning over the feather bed or mattress on which a birth took place; otherwise the child will die.
3056. A woman in confinement will have a backset, if her bed is turned around.
3057. "My grandmother was a midwife and she never let one of her patients lay with their heads to the east while giving birth to a baby; said it
was sign one or the other would die, if the mother lay with her head to the east."
3058. Mother and newborn baby should lie with heads to the north and feet to the south so that their blood will flow smoothly.
3059. Never sweep under the bed of a confined woman; either she or her baby will die.
3060. The person who sweeps under the bed of a mother and newborn child will make the latter cross.
3061. Women whose clothes are changed before the ninth day of confinement will not live.
3062. It is unlucky for a woman to have her hair combed during confinement.
3063. To comb the hair of a confined woman before the end of the third day will give her a fever.
3064. A woman combing her hair before the seventh day of confinement will not survive the tenth day.
3065. "My mother did this and she had eight children and never had a setback. On the morning when she gets up from confinement, if a woman
will walk all around the house, going in the same door she went out, she will never have to go back to bed — I mean she will not have a setback.
I heard her say one time she walked all around the house in deep snow. "
3066. If ashes are removed from the fireplace during the first nine days of a woman's lying-in, she will suffer from a relapse.
3067. A cat left in the house during a childbirth is unlucky for the baby.

TIME OF BIRTH (3068-3107)

3068. A person's life is influenced by the planet or star under which he was born.
3069. The sign of the zodiac under which you were born will always be a lucky time for you to begin a business venture.
3070. Anyone born in the sign of the fish (fishes=Pisces) "will be crazy about water" — very fond of aquatic sports.
3071. It is fortunate to be born just before a new moon.
3072. Babies born during the light of the moon start well in growth and health.
3073. If a child is born in the light of the moon, it will become tall; if in the dark of the moon, short.
3074. Children born in the light of the moon are more intelligent than those born in the dark of the moon.
3075. To be born during a snowstorm is a sign of a short life.
3076. If birth occurs on a stormy night, the baby will be cross and nervous.
3077. Persons born on a stormy day are always quarrelsome.
3078. Born in a thunderstorm; born to be killed by lightning.
3079. Those who were born on a hot day are always passionate.
3080. The child will be born at the same time during the day as its begetting was effected.
3081. "My daughter was born at nine o'clock and she died at nine o'clock. They say the hour you are born at, you will die at."
3082. You can never bewitch a person born between two lights --- between dawn and dark. Such a person also possesses the power of seeing into
the future.
3083. If you were born at an even hour, you will be successful in everything; if at an uneven hour, unsuccessful.
3084. The day of the week on which you were born will always be lucky for anything you attempt to do.
3085. "Monday's child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is a child of woe.
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
Saturday's child must work for its living.
 70

Sunday's child will never know want."

or
"Monday's bairn is fair of face.
Tuesday's bairn is full of grace.
Wednesday's bairn has far to go.
Thursday's bairn is full of woe.
Friday's bairn is loving and giving.
Saturday's bairn works hard for a living.
But a child born on the Sabbath day,
Is lucky and bonny, wise and gay."
or
"Monday's child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is loving and giving.
Thursday's child must work for a living.
Friday's child is full of woe.
Saturday's child has far to go.
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is blythe and bonny and good and gay."
3085a.
"Wednesday's child is merry and glad.
Thursday's child is sour and sad."
3086. Friday-born persons have bad tempers.
3087. Saturday is an unlucky day on which to be born.
3088. It is lucky to be born on Sunday.
3089. Sunday children become rich before they die.
3090. People born on Sunday do not like to work.
3091. A person born on Sunday is capable in the management of animals.
3092. Born on Sunday; born to be hanged.
3093. Whoever is born on Sunday during a rain will have a rainy life.
3094. Christmas Day is a lucky time for a birth.
3095. Your birth occurring on Christmas Day gives you the power to understand the speech of animals.
3096. A baby born on Christmas Day is gifted with the power to see spirits.
3097. Spirits can be seen by the person who was born on Good Friday.
3098. Good Friday as the time of your birth makes you lucky in life.
3099. If two members of a family are born in the same month --- whether the same year or different years --- they will always be unlucky.
3100. "My cousin was born on the thirteenth of the month and she is unlucky in everything."
3101. "My brother was born on the thirteenth and he will not work on that day. He thinks it very bad luck."
3102. A child born on the thirteenth day of a month will not reach old age.
3103. On whatever day of the month you were born, that will be the day of the month on which you will die.
3104. They say children born during the winter months are smarter than those born during the summer months.
3105. More important people were born in February than in any other month.
3106. Because August is a hot month, a person born at that time will be hot-headed.
3107. Wartime babies are always restless and never satisfied.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BABIES (3108-3137)

3108. The first and last child of a family are always unlucky.
3109. A girl is born lying on her back; a boy is born lying on his belly.
3110. "I was born with my feet first and that is why I can see things all the time."
3111. Babies who are purple at birth will always be healthy.
3112. Blue baby is the name given to the child born blue. It is always very intelligent but never lives long.
3113. "My boy was a blue baby. I was scared to death. I thought I had marked it and it would be like that all its life. But they told me to try the
milk out of the milkweed and I did. Take the milk out of the milkweed and rub over your baby until it disappears. My baby got all right. An old
Negro man told me to use the milkweed."
3114. If a child is red at birth, its complexion will be fair; if white, its complexion will be dark.
3115. Colored babies are born white, but as soon as the air strikes them they begin to turn black.
3116. It is lucky for a white person to see a tiny colored baby; luckier still, if it can be kissed.
3117. A crease between the lobe of a baby's ear and cheek indicates the child will become a criminal.
3118. All babies are born with blue eyes.
3119. A baby born with a lot of hair will always be prosperous.
3120. Some say a baby born with a lot of hair will have trouble in life, others say it will have little trouble in life.
3121. Children born with a lot of hair will live to be very old.
3122. A baby whose hair does not fall out almost immediately after birth will soon die.
3123. If a baby born with a lot of hair does not lose it at once, the child will never have nice hair.
3124. Hair of a fine texture means the baby will not live long.
3125. According to some, a baby whose hair is long will be long-lived; according to others, it will be short-lived --- unless the hair falls out.
3126. If a baby is born with hands closed, it will be closehanded in life; if with hands open, openhanded.
3127. The woman who wipes her mouth with a dish rag will give her next child a hairlip.
 71

3128. The blue vein sometimes seen across the nose of a newborn baby is occasionally called lid of a coffin and concerning it one hears the
following rhyme: "A blue vein across the nose, Never live to wear your wedding clothes."
3129. A baby born with a tooth will never be well.
3130. Babies born with a tooth will die before the end of the year. The same thing is said of two or more teeth at birth.
3131. "I was born with two teeth and I am along in years and I have been lucky in everything I do, for they say a child born with two teeth
will always be lucky."
3132. Children of late marriages are unhealthy and short-lived.
3133. If a husband and wife are happily married, they will have good-looking children; if they quarrel all the time, ugly children.
3134. "Ugly babies make pretty ladies, Pretty babies make ugly ladies."
3135. "Ugly in the cradle, beautiful in the saddle."
3136. If a girl resembles her father, she will be lucky; if her mother, unlucky. If a boy resembles his mother, he will be lucky; if his
father, unlucky.
3137. The daughters of a left-handed father will be left-handed, and the sons of a left-handed mother will be left-handed.

CARE OF INFANT (3138-3352)

Layette - Cradle - Moving Baby about House (3138-3210)
LAYETTE
3138. Never give a shower for your baby before it is born; you will have bad luck.
3139. "Several weeks ago I was at a house where a young woman was expecting a baby soon and someone had sent her a beautiful hood --- cost
about a dollar and fifty cents. While she was standing there looking at it, a neighbor came in and said, 'Don't you know that is very bad luck to
receive a hood before the child is born? The only thing you can do to take the jinx off is to burn the hood.' I left. I don't know if the woman burn
the hood or not, but they had the stovelid off, and the last thing I heard the young woman say, 'Oh, I don't want to burn it, it is so pretty.'"
3140. If you make or purchase a hood for your expected baby, the child will not live long.
3141. Prospective parents who buy something for a baby's feet preceding birth will soon lose the child.
3142. A woman making anything for her unborn child must not sew on Friday; the baby will not long survive its birth.
3143. It is unlucky for an expectant mother to show baby clothes before the child arrives.
3144. A layette acquired for an expected baby must not be tried on another baby; it will cause bad luck --- some say to the former, others say to
the latter.
3145. The first newborn baby you wash will bring you good luck.
3146. To lay a baby on an ironing board is unlucky.
3147. A baby laid on a table before it is a year old will have bad luck. Some say this misfortune can be averted by laying the baby's stockings
under the table.
3148. Do not put a baby on a table; it will not grow very fast.
3149. If before a newborn baby is dressed you lay it on a table, the child will soon die.
3150. Wait an hour before dressing a newborn baby and it will never be cross.
3151. Always keep a newborn baby wrapped in a piece of cloth for the first six weeks; if you dress the child, it will not reach maturity.
3152. You can make a baby right-handed by always laying it down on its right side for the first year. Some confine this belief to the first time
the baby is dressed.
3153. To make a newborn baby right-handed, the first time you dress it put its right arm in the sleeve first.
3154. "I always put my baby's clothes on over its feet instead of over its head until it was a year old, to keep it from having bad luck." This belief
is sometimes confined to a baby's first dressing.
3155. The mother who puts a baby's dress on over its head before it can sit up alone will have a cross baby.
3156. To put a baby's dress on over its head during the first year will hinder growth.
3157. If you put a baby's dress on over its head, the baby will not outlive the first year.
3158. The first time you dress your baby put the clothes on feetfirst and take them off headfirst so that the rope will slip off easily --- the
child will not die by hanging.
3159. Pull off a baby's clothes over its feet and the baby will become a jailbird.
3160. In dressing a baby for the first time, put a girl's dress on over her head so that she will always keep her dress down; and a boy's dress on
over his feet so that he will always keep his pants buttoned.
3161. After you wash a baby, put the undershirt on wrong side out and the baby will not be cross.
3162. A baby whose dress is hung upside down on the clothesline will be cross.
3163. The first dress worn by a baby must be new for luck.
3164. If a baby is sick during the first year and you buy it any new clothes, the child will not recover.
3165. Babies whose dresses are shortened do not grow to be very tall.
3166. The baby who wears a dead baby's clothes will soon die.
3167. You will be lucky the first time you put a diaper on a baby.
3168. To be the first one to put the first diaper on a newborn baby is lucky.
3169. Before the first diaper is put on a newborn baby, fold up the diaper, sit on it for a few minutes, and you will
give good luck to the child.
3170. Let the first diaper used on a baby be a new one for luck.
3171. If the first diaper used is an old one, the baby will became a thief.
3172. Never change a diaper that has been put upside down on a baby; the child will die within a week.
3173. You can make a baby lucky by burning its first diaper.
3174. A baby whose first diaper is burned will never be chafed.
3175. "I was visiting my father and I went and put the remains out of the diaper in the fire, and he said my baby's bottom would burn."
3176. Some say the mother who burns her child's first diaper makes it constipated, others say this prevents constipation --- provided a job
has been done in the diaper.
3177. Do not iron diapers; you will make the baby cross.
3178. A baby can be made beautiful by washing its face every day with the wet diaper. This must be done as long as diapers are worn.
 72

3179. To give the mother a clear complexion, rub her face each morning for nine days with the baby's wet diaper --- beginning with the first one.
3180. If someone not the father or mother gives a pair of stockings to a newborn baby, it means good luck for the baby.
3181. It is lucky for you to give someone's baby the first pair of shoes it wears.
3182. Never let anyone give your baby a pair of shoes; its hair will stop growing.
3183. If the first time stockings are worn the right is put on before the left, the baby will be right-handed; if the left before the right, left-handed.
3184. A baby's socks kept in its shoes overnight will make the baby cross next day.
3185. Preserve a baby's first pair of stockings or shoes for luck.
3186. A baby whose shoes are thrown away will die before the end of the year.
3187. During the first year it is very unlucky to put someone's hat on a baby's head. Some say a black hat.
3188. Beads should never be worn by a male baby; he will die by hanging.
3189. A male baby wearing a necklace will never be able to swim.
3190. The baby boy who wears earrings will never be a musician.
3191. Dress the baby in its best clothes on the first three Sundays of its life so that it will always wear them well and appear stylish.
3192. To find anything belonging to a baby is lucky.
3193. Bad luck will come to the child whose baby carriage is sold.

CRADLE
3194. If a person rocks the baby's empty cradle, the baby will have bad luck.
3195. To rock an empty cradle will make the baby cross.
3196. A baby whose empty cradle is rocked will not sleep well.
3197. The rocking of an empty cradle will be followed by the baby's early death. Some say before the year is out.
3198. Always keep a horseshoe in the baby's cradle to bring it good luck.
3199. Never use a rocking-chair as a cradle before the baby is a year old; the child will soon die. Some say you must never sit in a
rocking-chair while holding a baby or lay it down in a rocking-chair even for a moment.

MOVING BABY ABOUT HOUSE

3200. Do not take a baby from the room in which it was born until after the tenth day; the child will die before the end of the year.
3201. It is lucky to carry a baby upstairs before you carry it downstairs.
3202. "When Mrs. R's son was born the grandmother carried him up a ladder into the garret of the one-storied house to make sure that he would
rise in the world. I remember that the nurse who attended the mother of our prominent citizen Mr. K. insisted on performing the same ceremony,
which was in that case made easier by the existence of stairs."
3203. A baby before it is three days old should be taken up the stairs for a long life.
3204. To make a baby long-lived, the person who serves as midwife should carry upstairs and then downstairs a thimbleful of the water used in
washing the baby.
3205. If the water with which a newborn baby has been washed is taken upstairs and thrown out the highest window, the child will be
high-minded; if it is thrown out the lowest window or door, low-minded.
3206. By running up and down the stairs with a baby you will make it spry.
3207. Let a baby see a sunrise before it sees a sunset and it will have a long life.
3208. To hand a baby through a window is unlucky.
3209. "They say that if you pass a baby through a window over to another window to a neighbor, it is bad luck for the baby.”
3210. A baby handed through a window before it is a year old will become a thief.

Baby Taken on Visit - Visit to Baby (3211-3244)

BABY TAKEN ON A VISIT
3211. A baby will acquire the disposition of the person who first carries it out of the house.
3212. If you want your baby to be like someone whose character and ability you like, take the baby to that person's house the first time it is taken
out and lay it on the bed. A boy must be laid on a man's bed and a girl on a woman's bed.
3213. A mother taking her baby out of the house for the first time should put it on a strange bed for luck.
3214. "I knew a woman that had a daughter, she was crazy to get married. They had a friend that had a new baby and they told her to bring the
baby there first. If a newborn baby wets on someone's bed the first time it is taken out of its own house, the person that sleeps in that bed will
soon get married. They had two beds in the same room like people did years ago, the mother slept in one and the girl in the other. The old woman
didn't want to get married again. Some way by mistake the baby got on the wrong bed, got on the one the old lady slept in. When the girl saw it
she put the baby on her bed, but it didn't do any good for the baby had already wet on her mother's bed. The daughter was sure angry about it. It
was not long after that the old woman picked up with an old man and did marry. And the girl never married. This is so, for I knew both people
and they did live right here in Quincy."
3215. The first time a mother takes her baby to another house she should eat as much as possible while there, for to go away hungry will make the
child a glutton in life.
3216. Never take a baby to a funeral before it is a year old; it means bad luck and sometimes another death.
3217. A child in its first year taken across a river on a boat will soon die.
3218. If you let rain fall on a baby's head before it is a year old, the baby will not live long.
3219. Rain falling on a baby's head before it is a year old will give the baby freckles.
3220. "When I was a boy I had so many freckles, and people use to say to me, 'I guess your mother let bran blow on you before you were a year
old'."

VISIT TO A BABY
3221. "I never go to see a new baby until the mother is out of bed, for I think it very unlucky."
3222. A baby visited by a menstruating woman will have bad luck.
3223. "I weigh 250 pounds now. My mother told me the reason I did, and all the rest of the family are small, that it's an old saying that you will
be the same size when you grow up as the one that looked at you first after you are born, not counting the family, that the first woman that looked
at me weighed 300 pounds. So I will be her size. "
 73

3224. To wear gloves when entering the room of a newborn baby is unlucky.
3225. If you visit a newborn baby and hear it crying, wait until the crying stops before going into the room or you will give bad luck to the child.
3226. Always when calling on a woman in confinement sit down before you look at the baby or the child will be unlucky.
3227. Whoever goes to see a newborn baby and finds it a red-head will soon receive good news.
3228. The first person kissing a newborn baby will obtain good luck.
3229. On your first visit to a newborn baby kiss it for luck.
3230. It is unlucky to kiss a baby on the mouth.
3231. The first time you visit a newborn baby the bottoms of its feet may be kissed for luck.
3232. Several things are said about wishing and kissing a newborn baby when you see it for the first time: make a wish and then kiss, wish while
kissing, or wish after the baby has been kissed. Usually you must not speak a word from the time you enter the house until the rite is completed.
3233. A wish may be made while pinching a newborn baby visited for the first time.
3234. When you visit a baby for the first time, bow to the door as you enter the house, hold the baby's hand while wishing, and the baby will
be lucky and you will get your wish. But this must be done without speaking.
3235. Never visit a baby for the first time unless you take it something to eat; if you do this, the child will always have food.
3236. Years ago it was almost a general custom among Germans in Quincy to bake a coffee-cake and eat it with the family who had a new baby
so that the child would become wealthy.
3237. If a coin is laid in a baby's hand at birth or later by someone visiting the baby for the first time, it will never be without money.
3238. "My mother always did this. She never went to see a new baby unless she put a dollar in its hand and squeeze her hand over the baby's hand
with the dollar to give them both luck. " Any silver coin can be used.
3239. Hold a fresh egg in front of a baby visited by you for the first time and the child will be lucky.
3240. Tie a pink string round the little finger of a baby on your first visit to see it and the child will be lucky.
3241. Either a visitor on first seeing a new baby or someone present at the birth may put a silver spoon in the baby's hand to make it rich.
3242. A baby's first present, whether given to it at birth or later by someone on a first visit, should be a bar of soap and a wash rag. This will keep
the baby clean through life.
3243. The first present a baby receives should come from its mother for luck.
3244. After you have seen a new baby for the first time, be sure to turn around three times just before leaving the house so that the child
will accumulate wealth.

To Give Baby Curly Hair - Haircut for Baby (3245-3261)

TO GIVE BABY CURLY HAIR
3245. Formerly, a woman could secure curly hair for her unborn child by eating old-fashioned stick candy which was striped with a spiral like a
barber's pole; at present, this symbolical resemblance between curly hair and a stripe curling up a stick of candy has been forgotten and any kind
of candy may be eaten.
3246. If a prospective mother cuts off several of her curls and buries them in the ground, the baby will have curly hair.
3247. To make a baby's hair curly, the baby may be wrapped in fur before it is dressed for the first time.
3248. "Mrs. M. told Walter that when her child was about to be born her mother prepared for its advent by placing conveniently near an old rug.
Upon this she placed the newborn child before it touched a fabric of any kind. This was to insure its having curly hair."
3249. Each night on the seven nights following birth, rub a silk handkerchief over the baby's head and its hair will become curly.

HAIRCUT FOR BABY

3250. The first time you wash a newborn baby you may cut off some of its hair and drop it into the fire while making a wish for the baby.
3251. Save the first clippings from a baby's hair for luck.
3252. It is unlucky to trim a baby's hair on Monday.
3253. On Friday during the increase of the moon is a lucky time for cutting a baby's hair.
3254. Never clip a child's hair after dark; it will cause the child a disappointment.
3255. A baby's hair trimmed during the first year will soon fallout.
3256. If a baby's hair is clipped before it is a year old, the baby will become a liar.
3257. By trimming a baby's hair the first year you make the baby unhealthy.
3258. To improve the health of a sickly baby, cut its hair the day it is eighteen months old.
3259. The person who cuts a baby's hair the first year will give the baby a weak back.
3260. Do not cut a baby's hair before its first birthday; the baby will go crazy.
3261. A baby whose hair is clipped the first year will soon die. Some say it will not live to the end of the second year.

Baby’s Nails Trimmed - Measuring Baby (3262-3271)

BABY'S NAILS TRIMMED
3262. It is unlucky to trim a baby's nails the first year.
3263. Scissors or any steel instrument used on a baby's nails the first year brings the baby bad luck before the year ends.
3264. If a baby's finger-nails are trimmed with scissors, the baby will become light-fingered. The prohibited time for this act is variously
given: first month, first six months, and first year.
3265. Some say you must bite off your baby's finger-nails to prevent thievish tendencies; others say the biting off a baby's finger-nails makes it a
thief. The latter belief is unusual. Occasionally the toe-nails are also included.
3266. Unless a baby's finger-nails and toe-nails are bitten off, the baby will be sickly the first year.
3267. Use scissors in cutting a baby's nails the first year (the first six months say some) and the child will not live long.
3268. Whoever clips a baby's finger-nails before it is a year old causes the baby to lose its mind.
3269. A baby whose nails are cut before its first birthday will become a witch.
MEASURING BABY
3270. Never measure a baby the first year; it will not live to see the second year.
3271. If you stretch out the arms of a two-year-old child against a wall and measure them finger tips to finger tips, twice this length will be the
child's height when grown.
 74

Baby tickled - Picture of Baby (3272-3278)

BABY TICKLED
3272. To tickle a baby causes it bad luck.
3273. A baby ticklish on the soles of its feet will become a roamer.
3274. If a baby laughs when tickled on the knee, it will steal sugar when older.
3275. Let a baby eat pickles and it will be ticklish on reaching maturity.

PICTURE OF BABY
3276. Do not take a baby's picture before its first birthday; the baby will be unlucky.
3277. A picture taken of a baby before it is three months old will cause the baby's death.
3278. The mother who hangs a baby's picture over the top of its bed will soon have a sick baby.

Baby and Mirror - Disposition of Baby (3279-3305)

BABY AND MIRROR
3279. It is unlucky for a baby to see itself in a mirror. This belief is usually confined to the first year.
3280. To let a baby look over your shoulder into a mirror before its first birthday brings it some misfortune.
3281. Babies looking into a mirror before they are a year old will become vain or high-toned.
3282. By letting a baby not yet a year of age look into a mirror you make it a thief.
3283. A baby who looks into a mirror will see the devil's butt. This is usually said of the first year.
3284. If a baby under a year sees itself in a mirror, it will not survive the first year. Some say the seventh year.

DISPOSITION OF BABY
3285. "My baby had the three-months colic and cried all the time, when an old German woman told me about crossing two forks and putting at
the foot of the bed. I did it. My baby stopped crying. I don't know if the forks did it or not, but if I had another baby to cry I would put the crossed
forks at the foot of the bed again."
3286. After a child has cried three nights in succession, it will never cry again at night.
3287. A baby crying continually during infancy will have a good disposition when it becomes an adult.
3288. Baby girls who are cross in infancy become happy old maids.
3289. Tie a yarn string about the neck of a fretful baby and it will not fret so much.
3290. You can check stubbornness in a baby by hitting it across the mouth with a fish bladder.
3291. Let a male baby suck a piece of fat bacon so that he will be a good- natured man.
3292. A baby whose chin quivers will have a bad temper.
3293. If you look at a sleeping baby and it likes you, the child will wake up.
3294. To see a baby smiling in its sleep is lucky.
3295. Some say if a baby smiles while asleep, angels are talking to it; others say if a baby over a year old smiles while asleep, it is talking
to angels.
3296. A child smiling in its sleep will wake up fretful.
3297. Children who snore in their sleep will some day be rich.
3298. If a baby laughs before it is four months old, it will not live to the end of the year.
3299. A baby who holds tightly to everything it touches will accumulate wealth.
3300. The habit of keeping its fists doubled is a sign the baby will be stingy. Some say selfish.
3301. To have a baby at birth grip your fingers indicates it will be "smart".
3302. Precocious children never live long.
3303. The good die young.
3304. A chair whirled around on one leg in a room where there is a baby will make it cross.
3305. If you have a baby and get another one, you can prevent the former from being jealous of the latter by letting the older baby see the new
baby's back before its face.

Baby’s Health - Slobbering Baby (3306-3332)

BABY'S HEALTH
3306. Unless the doctor's bill is paid promptly, the baby will not grow.
3307. Never step over a baby lying or sitting on the floor (or swing your leg over the head of a small child standing up); you will stunt its growth
--- for that year say some. This misfortune can be avoided by stepping back over the baby.
3308. The person who steps over a baby or small child lying on the floor will cause its death before the end of the year.
3309. A newborn baby with whom a dog is kept will never be sickly.
3310. Feed a baby garlic for health and strength.
3311. During the first year pass a baby through a horse collar to make or to keep it healthy.
3312. A baby's arms and feet are made strong by washing them in dishwater.
3313. Dip the hands and feet of a newborn baby into cold water and they will never become cold.
3314. You protect a baby against sickness during the first two years of life by tying about its neck the front feet of a mole, using a string
sufficiently long to allow them to rest on the stomach.
3315. To have a baby healthy (handsome say some), wash it with its own urine.
3316. A meat rind sucked by a baby makes it healthy.
3317. "I believe this is so: would not let anyone give my child strong drinks before it is a year old, it will stop it from growing."
3318. A baby given liquor always becomes a drunkard.
3319. Before a baby's first birthday rub a live gosling over its skin to produce a smooth texture.
3320. If a baby swallows a coin, it will be rich some day.
3321. A mother worrying too much about her baby's health will make it sickly.
3322. The child of whom you think too much will soon die.
 75

SLOBBERING BABY
3323. As much water as is first drawn from a well by a new mother, so much will her baby slobber. She should carry to the well the
smallest vessel possible on her first trip after childbirth.
3324. "After all my children were born and I first got up, I always carried just a few drops of water on a spoon to keep my baby from
slobbering."
3325. A baby will never drool, if the mother just before she puts her feet on the floor for the first time after confinement drinks a thimbleful of
water.
3326. Let a mother drink a thimbleful of water the third day after delivery to prevent drooling in her baby.
3327. The mother who on first getting out of bed after confinement carries a thimble of water will not have a baby that drools.
3328. "If a baby slobbers, take a live minnow and draw it back and forth three times through its mouth, then throw the minnow in running water
and the fish will swim away with the baby's slobbers. This is true because I tried it years ago. I had a baby and it slobber all the time. One day we
went fishing and I thought I would try it, for we had a bucket of minnows; so I took a large minnow and drawed it through the baby's mouth three
times and threw it in the creek, and the minnow went down the stream. You may laugh at me, but my baby never slobber after the fish was out of
sight."
3329. To cure slobbering in a baby, take it to a creek, catch three minnows, hold the first minnow by the tail while drawing it through the baby's
mouth, and then let the fish flop back into the creek. Do this also with the second and third.
3330. Three bibs given to a baby prevents its slobbering.
3331. A baby holding its tongue out all the time wants something. See 2850. 3332. Thumb-sucking babies always become rich.

Baby Falling out of Bed (3333-3336)

BABY FALLING OUT OF BED
3333. Babies who do not fall out of bed the first year will stop growing.
3334. A baby must tumble out of bed at least three times before it will grow.
3335. If a baby does not fall out of bed once during its first year, it will become a fool.
3336. A baby never has any sense until it has fallen out of bed three times.

Learning to Walk and Talk (3337-3352)

LEARNING TO WALK AND TALK
3337. A baby who slides along on the floor instead of crawling will not be strong.
3338. To crawl backwards in infancy is a sign of going forwards in life.
3339. If a baby crawls to the center of a room, you may expect visitors.
3340. If a baby crawls towards a door, expected visitors will be detained by a disappointment.
3341. Never let a baby crawl out a window; it will stop growing.
3342. A baby slow in walking can be made to walk by washing its feet with greasy dishwater.
3343. "My Willie sure had weak legs. He was almost five when they told me if a child is weak in the legs and cannot walk good, cut sone hair off
the top of its head and nail it on the wall somewhere about the height of the child; when they grow above that hair they will be strong in the legs. I
did. And it was not long until he got so he could walk good. "
3344. Babies who walk before they crawl are never healthy.
3345. "My uncle never crawled when he was a baby — he started right off walking — and before he died he could not walk; he had to crawl
everywhere he went. They say a baby that walks before it crawls will crawl before it dies."
3346. It is a bad omen for a child to walk or talk too soon. Some say a baby walking before it is six months old will be unlucky in life.
3347. A baby walking before talking will be ruined by its tongue.
3348. If a baby walks sooner than usual, its walking will be delayed; if it speaks sooner than usual, its speech.
3349. As a remedy for a baby who does not speak plainly, take two loaves of bread stuck together when baked and break them apart on the baby's
head. This is also good for a baby slow in learning to talk.
3350. "I knew a boy that when he was little he hollered like a goose all the time, and they killed a goose and gave the boy the blood to drink and
it cured him."
3351. A few words spoken by a baby long before the time for speech foretells a calamity in the family.
3352. If a baby girl utters her father's name first, she will be lucky; if a baby boy utters his mother's name first, he will be lucky.

DENTITION (3353-3419)

First Appearance and Number of Teeth (3353-3360)

3353. A baby who begins to cut teeth in its third month will be sickly all the time.
3354. Children with four teeth when six months old live a long life.
3355. As a general rule it is said that children cutting teeth in their first year do not live long.
3356. If a baby cuts its lower teeth first, it will reach maturity or have a long life --- "grow up" just as the lower teeth grow up, or "grow on top of
the ground"; if the upper teeth are cut first, the child will not live long, or it will be the first one to die in the family — "grow down" just as the
upper teeth grow down, or "grow down into the ground". This belief is sometimes given in another form: if the first two teeth come in at the
bottom of the mouth, the child will grow and thrive; if at the top of the mouth, it will soon die.
3357. To have a child teethe early indicates another baby in the family. Sometimes the earliest and latest time limits are mentioned: if (two)
teeth appear before the end of the third month, expect another baby; if teeth do not appear before the end of the eighth month, do not expect
another baby — or, if there is one, it will be slow in coming.
3358. Have the first tooth made into something the baby can wear, used as a set in a ring for example, and the child will be lucky.
3359. As long as a baby's first teeth are preserved it will not become sick.
3360. It is unlucky to count a baby's teeth.

Teething Remedies (3361-3419)

3361. "I had nine children and every one of them wore a string of allspice around their necks when they were cutting teeth and I did not have any
trouble." This necklace is sometimes prepared by letting the all- spice steep in hot water for a half-hour and stringing them on a silk thread.
 76

3362. Two necklaces of allspice about a baby's neck will aid teething.
3363. A remedy for teething is amber beads round a baby's neck.
3364. If you carry a baby around the outside of the house three times on the tenth day after its birth, teething will not be difficult.
3365. "My daughter's baby was just three months old when a bat got in the house. They say if a bat gets in the house and you have a baby in the
house, kill the bat and keep it in the house overnight and it will make the baby cut teeth better. They killed the bat and kept it in the house
overnight and they didn't have any trouble with the baby when cutting teeth."
3366. "Every one of the children in our family wore a string of burdock roots around their neck and they never had any trouble with
teeth-cutting." Some say this keeps fever out of the gums.
3367. Cut off the buttons of a man's shirt, string them, and tie this on a baby's neck for teething.
3368. Brains from a black hen may be rubbed over a baby's gums as a teething remedy. Sometimes they are tied up in a linen cloth and then
used.
3369. If a mother puts the warm brains from a freshly killed chicken in a sock and rubs this over her baby's gums while saying In the Name of the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, teething will not bother the baby.
3370. Teething can be made easy by rubbing the lining of a chicken gizzard over a baby's gums. Sometimes the gizzard lining is dried, powdered,
and the powder applied to the gums.
3371. As a treatment for teething, the baby's gums may be massaged with a rooster comb.
3372. You can prevent pains in the gums of a teething baby by massaging them with the white part of a boiled egg.
3373. There is never any discomfort in teething, if you massage the baby's gums with a boiled egg and then let the baby eat it.
3374. "Some years back my child was very sick cutting teeth. They would not come. I went to Dr. X. He is dead now. He said, 'Why come to me
and make a doctor bill? You go home and brown egg shells, then roll them fine, then put your finger in milk, then in the egg-shell powder, and
rub over its gums. I will not charge you for this remedy.' I did as he said and the teeth came right away without any more trouble."
3375. "My mother had some red beads. They came out of the ocean [coral? for coral is occasionally used]. I forgot what she called them. She
brought them along when she came from Germany. And she was always letting some child cutting teeth wear them around the neck to help in
cutting teeth."
3376. Crystal beads on a baby's neck assist teething.
3377. To soothe the gums of a teething baby, let a dog lick them.
3378. "My mother went fishing and got a small sunfish and put it in my sister's mouth, she was having such a hard time with her teething. If
cutting teeth, go fishing, catch a little fish, put the fish in the mouth of the child that is cutting teeth, let it wriggle around, then put it back
in running water, and the child will not suffer. My sister bit the head off the fish, so mother had to go fishing the second time and get a fish and
put in her mouth. This time it worked, for mother got it back in running water, and she got along fine after that."
3379. In helping a baby teethe easily, catch a fish and remove its neckbone at once and pass it back and forth over the baby's gums.
3380. To guard a teething baby against a cough or any annoyance with its teeth, a red flannel cloth should be wrapped about the baby's stomach.
3381. A baby with a frog about its neck has a mild teething.
3382. The person who lays a man's hat over a baby's head before teething will give the baby a bad time when cutting teeth.
3383. Never lay a black hat over the head of a baby not yet six months old; a troublesome teething will be the result
3384. If you let a baby wear a woolen cap the first year, a severe teething may be expected.
3385. "I was in the store at Fourth and Ohio, Thursday, and a woman came in and said, 'Have you any fresh brains? My baby is five months old
today and I want to start and feed her brains so she will get along with her teeth, for they say as soon as a child is five months old feed it all the
fresh brains you can to make teeth-cutting easy'." Hog brains are usually eaten. Some say the child should eat well-fried hog brains and
cracklings. The child's age is not always given.
3386. Any hog tooth about a baby's neck is good for teething. However, some say the tooth must be a brain-tooth (supposed to go to the brain);
others say it must be a tusk (sometimes called an eye-tooth because it is supposed to go to the eyes).
3387. As an assistance in teething, use a necklace of hog teeth on the baby's neck.
3388. To ease a child's teething, hang about its neck the lucky-bone from the head of a hog.
3389. A necklace of Job's tears is a common teething remedy.
3390. "I never let a child of mine look in a looking-glass the first year, and I had eight; think it makes them cut teeth hard."
3391. The paw of a mole is commonly used as a relief in teething: the right paw, front or back; either front paw; or the two front paws. It may be
worn in a bag about the neck or attached to a string. Some say you must use a fresh paw; others say a dried one. It is occasionally said the mole
must be caught before sunrise.
3392. An uncomfortable teething is prevented by cutting the baby's nails on a Friday before the end of the first year.
3393. For a comfortable teething, a nutmeg may be hung about the baby's neck.
3394. The wearing of an orris root about the neck of a baby aids teething.
3395. A baby cutting teeth can be helped with a necklace of pearl beads.
3396. If you cut up a potato and string the pieces about a baby's neck, the baby will teethe without any distress.
3397. "My grandmother did this for her children --- only had nine: if a baby is cutting teeth and is running off at the bowels, take the hot brains
of a rabbit and rub over its gums and the stomach will stop the running off." This also relieves pains in the gums. Sometimes the brains are put in
a bag and rubbed on the gums. Occasionally the brains are dried and used as a powder. Only a wild rabbit is useful.
3398. A baby whose gums are rubbed with a rabbit foot will not be bothered by teething.
3399. Teeth are cut without any difficulty by the baby who wears a rabbit foot on its neck.
3400. One may do this in assisting a baby to teethe: kill a rabbit, take out the heart while the carcass is still warm and split it open, and rub
the baby's gums with the opened part of the heart.
3401. "This is very old. I am ninety-seven and that is what my mother and grandmother did: if a baby is cutting teeth, skin a rabbit and rub the
skin while warm over the baby's gums."
3402. If the white fur from the end of a rabbit's tail is rubbed over a baby's gums, teething will be aided.
3403. A rabbit tooth about a baby's neck helps teething.
3404. "Just twenty-three years ago my baby was thirteen months old, was having an awful time cutting teeth, when someone told me this; and I
had my husband to find a rattler from the rattlesnake, and I rub it over her gums for several mornings. She got along fine after that. Since then I
have heard it was an old remedy and very good."
3405. "I have put a raw-hide string around dozens of babies' necks in my life, if a baby is having a hard time cutting teeth — to make it easy."
 77

3406. "When I was a baby I was wearing a black velvet ribbon, that all the rest of the children wore, and it broke for it was so old. And my
grandfather had to go to town to get another black ribbon, because after it broke I was having such a hard time. And just as soon as grandfather
got home and they put the black velvet ribbon on me, I didn't have any more trouble with my teeth."
3407. To relieve pains in the gums of a teething baby, rub them with a gold ring.
3408. "When my baby was six months old and sitting in its high-chair, a robin came in my kitchen and lit on the high-chair. If a robin come in
your house when you have a baby, never run the robin out; if you do, your baby will have a hard time cutting teeth — if you let it stay in, will
have a easy time. I never did a thing, let the bird go out itself. And I never knew when the baby cut its teeth."
3409. A mother need not worry about her teething baby's gums, if she massages them with sheep brains.
3410. During the teething period wash a baby's gums with sheep urine and the baby will not be troubled by them. Some add the child will never
get a decayed tooth.
3411. A baby's gums never pain during teething, if they are rubbed with a silver coin.
3412. Prepare a teething remedy as follows: bore a hole through a silver half-dollar and tie the coin about the child's neck, using three pieces
of ribbon, each of a different color — blue, pink and white.
3413. Pains during teething are lessened by rubbing the baby's gums with a silver spoon every morning.
3414. As soon as a baby is three months old, begin to rub its gums with fresh squirrel brains every few days and teething will not cause any
trouble.
3415. A baby never suffers from teething, if a silver thimble is rubbed on its gums.
3416. You may rub a thimble over a baby's gums three times while asking God for an easy teething.
3417. If the mother drinks a thimbleful of water just before she leaves childbed the first time, her baby will teethe easily.
3418. Teething never bothers a baby wearing an eye-tooth (human) about its neck.
3419. A teething remedy is made as follows: boil a violet root in milk for a half-hour, punch a hole through it for a string, and tie this about
the neck of the baby.

LACTATION (3420-3484)

Caked Breasts - Weaning - To Dry up Breasts (3420-3484)

CAKED BREASTS
3420. Soreness in the breasts at the time of delivery can be relieved by rubbing the nipples with some afterbirth.
3421. The nursing mother who enters an old cellar will soon have caked breasts.
3422. A caked breast poulticed with clay becomes well.
3423. To get rid of the inflammation, keep a dirty fine comb on the caked breast.
3424. "My mother always used a cow-manure poultice for cake breast; said it was the best thing you could use."
3425. As a remedy for caked breasts, let an unweaned pup suck them.
3426. Caked breasts can be cured, if they are massaged with goat milk.
3427. Goose grease applied to a caked breast and combed downwards is a good treatment. See Downwards, a magic rite in Index.
3428. "This is very old, for I heard my mother tell this, and she got it from her mother, and when grandma came over [from German] there were
only about thirty houses in Quincy. If an Indian woman had caked breast, they would get a wild goose or duck, cut open alive, and put on their
breast."
3429. "I knew a woman that did this and it help her. She took the lining [sweatband] out of an old greasy man's hat [old greasy sweatband from a
man's hat] and put on her caked breast."
3430. Either as a protection against or as a cure for a caked breast, a mole skin may be worn. Sometimes the hide is stretched on a board to
dry, sprinkled occasionally with salt, and when dried, tied furry side over the breast; at other times the dried hide is covered with camphor and
laid under the arm nearest the ailing breast.
3431. A man who has killed a mole by squeezing it to death in his hand can lay that hand on a caked breast and heal it.
3432. "I had a caked breast when my little girl came years ago and I just tried everything, I was in so much pain, when an old German woman
told me to take a large nutmeg and scrape out the insides of it and put the whole nutmeg on my breast so it wouldn't fall off. The folks fixed one
for me and I got over my pain right away."
3433. A woman cures her caked breast by applying a hot pancake, removing it, and repeating this process three times.
3434. "A woman had a very sore breast and all she did was to put her spit on the breast three times at night, three times in the morning, and do it
for three days."
3435. "Years ago, I would say about sixty years, one day I thought my baby was dying with a spasm. She was turning black. I will never forget it.
I had plenty of nurse, and I was so scared I lost every bit of it; didn't have a drop to give the baby when she came out of the spasm. Then my
neighbor told me about wetting the middle finger and making the cross over my forehead to bring back my nurse. I did just what she told me and
it came right back."
3436. In treating the inflammation a woman may squeeze some of her milk on a hot stove and then massage the caked breast with camphor.
3437. "My mother had ten children and she never had caked breasts, because she had a weasel hide and always rub it over her breasts; and she
use the same hide for all ten children."
3437a. "I tried this myself for weed in the breast and it was good. If you have caked breast or weed in the breast — that is worse than caked
breast — take a piece of oil cloth and put over the breast with the oil cloth to the outside; will take all the fever out."
3437b. Home remedies for caked breasts are almost endless, everything imaginable being used as a poultice, ointment, or liniment. Occasionally
these treatments are dressed up with a little magic: The skin of an egg may be dipped into camphor and rubbed over the breast three times a day;
also, "I tried this and didn't have any trouble, rubbed my breast with whiskey for two weeks before they [each child] were born, and I had eight"
--- magic time, two periods of seven days each.
3438. If a mother is somewhere without her baby and her breasts begin to hurt, it means the baby at home is hungry.

WEANING
3439. A baby on reaching maturity will have an ailment in that part of its body which corresponds to the sign of the zodiac when it was weaned.
For example: Never wean a baby in the sign of the stomach (or bowels = Virgo); you will give it stomach trouble.
3440. The task of the mother who weans her baby in the sign of the head (Aries) will be long and difficult.
3441. Never wean a baby in the sign of the head (Aries), its brains will hurt.
 78

3442. Babies weaned in the sign of the head (Aries) are always headstrong.
3443. To wean a baby in the sign of the breast (Cancer) causes it to cry all the time.
3444. Some say a baby weaned in the sign of the heart (Leo) will cry all the time; others say it will never cry.
3445. A baby weaned in the sign of the heart (Leo) will not live long.
3446. While the sign is leaving the heart (Leo) is a good time to begin the weaning of a baby.
3447. As a favorable weaning-time for a baby, any sign below the sex organ (Scorpio) may be selected.
3448. Unless you start weaning while the sign is descending from the thigh (thighs = Sagittarius), the baby will suck its thumbs until it is three
years old.
3449. The sign of the legs (Aquarius) is a suitable time for weaning babies.
3450. If a baby is weaned while the sign is going down from the knee (knees = Capricornus), it will rarely cry; if while the sign is going up, it
will cry continually.
3451. Do not wean a baby until the down-sign reaches the knees (Capricornus); for a baby weaned before that time will never be healthy.
3452. The light of the moon as the sign recedes from the knees (Capricornus) towards the feet (Pisces) is an excellent time to wean children.
3453. You can make a baby grow well by weaning it in the sign of the feet (Pisces). When Pisces is called fish (Fishes), they say the weaning
does not cause the mother any trouble.
3454. Wean a baby in the sign of the toes (lower part of the feet = Pisces) and it will not cry much.
3455. The first quarter of the moon may be chosen as a weaning-time for a child.
3456. One of the best times to wean a baby is during the decline of the moon.
3457. Friday is a proper day on which to wean children.
3458. A child born on Friday and weaned on Friday always thrives.
3459. "If you wean a baby in May, You will wean it away."
3460. The weaning of a baby in summertime makes it fretful.
3461. Children weaned during the summer die young.
3462. Always nurse a baby for the last time beneath an elder bush and it will not cry for breast milk again.
3463. A mother can wean her baby easily by rubbing her breasts with soot for three days.
3464. If a mother weans her baby and then gives it the breast again, the child will become a thief.

TO DRY UP BREASTS
3465. Breasts may be dried up by letting some of the milk drop on a hot brick.
3466. To dry up her breasts, a woman can squirt her milk three times against a hot brick during the dark of the moon.
3467. If a baby dies before it is weaned, the mother may lay a coarse comb between her breasts to dry them up.
3468. "I had a 'leven-month-old baby and I had too much milk, had milk fever bad, and my little girl died --- I was so sick I didn't think I could go
to the funeral — and someone told me to milk some of my milk on a rag and put it in the coffin with her, and I would not have any trouble with
my milk. I did and I got along fine, didn't have any more trouble." Some say of a woman who does this that she has buried her milk forever and
will not be able to nurse another baby.
3469. "I tried this years ago when my baby died: if you want to dry up your breast, take the shirt they died in and rub over your breast good,
then put the shirt away."
3470. As a method for drying up milk after a baby dies, the mother should take off the dead baby's shirt and wear it tied over her breasts.
Occasionally only a piece of the shirt is used. Some say the shirt must be dried thoroughly before it is worn.
3471. Let a mother squeeze some of her milk on the ground for three mornings to wean her baby and to dry up her breasts.
3472. The weaning of a baby in the dark of the moon dries up the mother's breasts at once.
3473. A mother may dry up her breasts by heating a white rock and milking some of her milk on it.
3474. If a mother milks some of her milk on the baby's shirt, she can dry up her breasts.
3475. "I know this saying [handed down from a maternal ancestor in Ireland] is two-hundred years old: if your breast is sore and you want to dry
it up when with a baby, milk some of your milk on your husband's dirty shirt, then wrap up the shirt and lay it away, and your breast will get all
right." Some say it is not necessary to wrap up the shirt and lay it away.
3476. Nursing mothers who spill hot grease on the stove (accidentally or purposely) will dry up their breasts.
3477. Some mothers dry up their breasts by allowing some of the milk to fall on hot iron — usually a stove or a shovel.
3478. It is possible for a woman to dry up her breasts, if she turns over a stove lid, squirts some of her milk on the soot, and replaces the lid.
3479. Breasts are dried up by the mother who squeezes some of her milk on a hot stove lid removed from the stove, letting the milk steam up
against them. This must be done for three mornings.
3480. To wean a baby and to dry up the breasts, a mother may put three table- spoons of her milk in a hot fire.
3481. By milking some of her milk on a hot shovel three times a mother can dry up her breasts.
3482. "I would always milk my breasts on the stove every morning for nine mornings when I wanted to wean my baby." This also dries up the
breasts.
3483. The mother's urine may be rubbed on her breasts to dry them up.
3484. Both the weaning of a baby and the drying up of the breasts is done by the mother dropping some of her milk into boiling water.

BAPTISM -NAMING -SPONSORS OR GODPARENTS (3485-3510)

3485. To change the day fixed for a baptism is unlucky.

3486. It is lucky to baptize a child on its birthday.
3487. A child taken from home before it has been baptized will have bad luck.
3488. Children do not develop normally until after baptism.
3489. By baptizing a sick child its health will improve immediately.
3490. Never choose a definite name for an unborn baby; this is very unlucky. You may consider several possible names before birth without
causing trouble.
3491. The sooner a baby is named after birth, the luckier it will be.
3492. If a woman on her first visit to see a newborn baby thinks of a name for it and the child is later so named, she will soon get a rich husband.
3493. Always name the first boy after his father for luck in life.
 79

3494. The mother who names her child after its father or herself will not get any more children.
3495. Do not name a child after either parent; it will soon die.
3496. You can make a child fortunate by naming it after a saint.
3497. The baby to whom the name of a dead person is given will always be unlucky
3498. "My uncle named two of his children after dead people and he lost both of them."
3499. The Christian name of a boy should never begin with the first letter of his surname; bad luck will come to him.
3500. A baby whose initials spell a word will become rich.
3501. The child whose name is changed will be unfortunate.
3502. A person who changes his Christian name will not live long.
3503. "I know this is true, because my baby cried at christening and it had very good luck.
3504. They say a baby crying at its baptism will be a cry-baby.
3505. If a baby cries when being baptized, insufficient clothing in life is indicated; if it does not cry, sufficient clothing.
3506. A baby failing to cry at its baptism never reaches maturity.
3507. The crying of a baby at baptism is a sign it likes its name: if a girl, the godmother should give her a pair of shoes for luck; if a boy,
the godfather should give him a pair of boots for luck.
3508. A person refusing to be a sponsor for a baby brings it bad luck.
3509. The baby for whom a pregnant woman acts as godmother will not survive the year.
3510. Let the sponsors buy the child's first book and it will be bright in school.

DETERMINATION AND DIVINATION OF CHILD'S FUTURE (3511-3533)

3511. If immediately after birth you put in your baby's hand some object symbolizing the occupation you want it to adopt in later life, your
hope will be fulfilled.
3512. "When my daughter was born, my wife had someone to rub a slice of apple over her tongue before she had anything else and she was a
wonderful singer. My daughter married and had several children and they are all wonderful singers, because she had someone to rub a slice of
apple over their tongue before they had anything else."
3513. " I did this to my baby boy for I wanted him to be a preacher, but he died when fifteen years old and didn't get to be a preacher: when
you wash a new baby just after it is born, lay its head on a Bible before you dress it to make a preacher of him."
3514. As soon as you find the first louse in your baby's hair, crack it on a Bible and he will become a preacher. Some say this must be done
before the baby is a year old.
3515. The mother who cracks on a hymn book the first louse she finds on her baby's head makes the baby a good singer.
3516. "I have two sons and years ago when I found the first louse in their heads, I cracked it on the bottom of a tin cup and they are both good
singers."
3517. By a mother cracking on a teacup the first louse seen in a baby's hair the baby will be made a lawyer.
3518. A mother may open a Bible at random, drop into it her baby's first louse, and close the book; the verse on which the louse was mashed will
tell what is going to happen to the baby.
3519. Hold in front of a baby three objects, each of a different color — blue, black and purple: if the blue one is picked, the baby's life will
be bright; if the black, dark; and if the purple, short.
3520. In divining a baby's future attitude towards finance, offer it a coin: if refused, expect a spendthrift; if clutched, a money-lover. Similarly, if
the coin is taken and dropped, money will slip through its fingers; if held tightly, riches will be accumulated.
3521. Let a baby see three new coins — a penny, a nickel and a dime — and the one chosen will indicate the measure of its financial success:
if the penny, a life of poverty; if the nickel, little more than a living; and if the dime, an accumulation of wealth.
3522. A bottle and a book may be laid before a boy on the day he is a year old; the bottle signifying a drunkard, the book a scholar. The object
first refused or thrown away will tire him first; hence, he will become what the other signifies.
3523. As soon as a boy can crawl, set in front of him a dollar and a bottle of whiskey: if he crawls to the former, he will always have plenty of
money; if to the latter, he will be a drunkard.
3524. Three objects may be placed on the floor in the path of a crawling baby — a dollar, a bottle and a book: if he takes the dollar, he will be
rich; if the bottle, a drunkard; and if the book, a bookworm.
3525. To discover a baby's future occupation, place before him on the floor a bottle, a dollar and a Bible: if he chooses the bottle, he will be a
drunkard; if the dollar, a banker; and if the Bible, a preacher.
3526. You can divine a baby's work in life by placing in front of him on the floor a bottle, a hammer and a dollar: if he picks the bottle, he will be
a drunkard; if the hammer, a carpenter; and if the dollar, a banker.
3527. To learn what a baby will do in life, show him a bottle, a Bible and a hammer: if he selects the bottle, he will be a drunkard; if the Bible,
a preacher; and if the hammer, a carpenter.
3528. The future calling of a baby can be divined by letting him look at a piece of money, a hammer, a book and a bottle — all of them on the
floor: if he prefers the money he will be a banker; if the hammer, a carpenter; if the book, a lawyer; and if the bottle, a doctor.
3529. On a boy's first birthday lay before him on the floor a deck of cards, a bottle, a Bible and a piece of money: if the deck of cards is selected,
he will be a gambler; if the bottle, a drunkard; if the Bible, a preacher; and if the money, a hard worker.
3530. The day a boy is a year old put down before him on the floor a pocket- book, a whiskey bottle and a deck of cards: if he reaches for the
pocketbook, he will be opulent; if for the bottle, a drunkard; and if for the cards, a gambler.
3531. A boy's future can be discovered on his first birthday by laying in front of him on the floor a book, a dollar and a hat: if he clutches the
book, he will be a good learner; if the dollar, a miser; and if the hat, a stylish dresser.
3532. Do this the day a boy is six months old: arrange in a row below him on the floor a piece of money, a Bible and a pair of scissors — if he
grasps the money, he will be prosperous; if the Bible, a preacher; and if the scissors, a murderer.
3533. This may be done the day a boy is a year old: on the floor before him are arranged in a row a book, some money and a pile of dirt — if he
plays with the book, a studious child may be expected; if with the money, an affluent man; and with the pile of dirt, an early grave.

THE HUMAN BODY (3534-4523)

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS (3534-3549)

 80

3534. The entire composition of the body changes every seven years.
3535. People with bad dispositions are under the influence of the moon.
3536. A fat person is always good-natured.
3537. A fat man has a little penis.
3538. A tall man has a big penis.
3539. A large man has a small penis; a small man a large penis.
3540. The woman whose left breast is larger than the right is loved better by her father than by her mother.
3541. You can strengthen your arm by wearing a leather strap round the wrist.
3542. A black silk string worn round the head keeps the brain clear.
3543. It is an old saying among colored folk that a coal-black Negro is a bad character. The reverse is thought to be true by some white people,
that a yellow or light-colored Negro is no good.
3544. Negroes say a young colored boy drinking coffee will become blacker when he grows up.
3545. A Negro is more sensitive on the shin than a white person; hence, the first rule in a free-for-all fight with a Negro is to kick him on the shin.
3545a. The belief that a Negro has a harder head than a white man has given the name nigger-head to a certain type of hard stone.
3546. Never measure yourself; you will bring bad luck to your family.
3547.
"If you scratch yourself down,
A new friend found;
If you scratch yourself across,
An old friend lost."
3548. A scratch on your body means someone has told a lie about you.
3549. The person who gets scratched will soon take a ride.

HEAD-FOREHEAD-CHEEK- CHIN-FACE-NECK (3550-3583)

3550. A large head indicates intelligence. But the contrary is sometimes believed:
"Little head, little wit;
Big head, not a bit."
3551. Long-headed people are long-sighted; short-headed people are short-sighted.
3552. Do not trust a person whose head at the back is long; he is calculating, always looking for the main chance, and inclined to be
unscrupulous.
3553. A person whose head tapers to a point at the back is an egg-head --- always stupid.
3554. A flat place on the back of the head marks a person as a flat-head --- thick-witted.
3555. Persons with broad heads are broad-minded; persons with narrow heads are narrow-minded.
3556. If your head itches, someone is speaking ill of you.
3557. The person whose head itches will soon wear a strange hat.
3558. An itching head is a token of danger; trouble before night say some.
3559. You can obtain good luck by rubbing your hands on a Negro's head.
3560. People with high foreheads are intelligent; people with low or sloping foreheads are unintelligent.
3561. Prominent temples denote determination or temper.
3562. Well-defined ridges just above the eyes mean low mentality or meanness.
3563. High cheek-bones are an indication of reserve or disagreeableness.
3564.
"Dimple in the cheek;
Mild, gentle and meek."
3565. Long-chinned people are aggressive or inquisitive; short-chinned people are retiring or vacillating.
3566. A square chin reveals a determined person.
3567.
"Dimple on the chin,
Devil within."
3568. An itching chin is a sign it will soon be hit.
3569. A broad face, a broad-minded person; a narrow face, a narrow-minded person.
3570. Broad-faced people are free-hearted or open-handed; narrow-faced people are self-centered or stingy.
3571. A long face, a sad person; a round face, a jolly person.
3572. The person having a dish-face is always a liar.
3573. Freckled-faced people are always lucky.
3574. When your face burns, somebody is thinking of you.
3575. Touch your beauty-spot and you will go on a visit.
3576. A beauty-spot is lucky.
3577. Since prunes are wrinkled, eating them will prevent or remove wrinkles. Some say ten must be eaten daily; others say twelve.
3578. As a treatment for wrinkles, wash your face every morning with your own urine.
3579. To sleep with your head raised high will give you wrinkles.
3580. Long-necked people are busybodies, self-opinionated or disdainful.
3581. If the back of your neck itches, you will receive a shock.
3582. An itching on the back of your neck denotes you will meet with some failure.
3583. The person who has an itching on the front of the neck (throat) will hear of an enemy.

HAIR (3584-3814)
Quantity of Hair - White or Grey Hair (3584-3606)
 81

QUANTITY OF HAIR
3584. Persons with hairy bodies will always have money.
3585. Hair on the body signifies strength.
3586. Hairy men are strong but hairy women are weak.
3587. A large quantity of hair on the body is an indication of sexual virility.
3588. An unusual amount of hair on the head indicates sexual potency.
3589. Bald-headed men have more brains than men whose heads are well covered with hair.
3590. Men with hairy arms are honest.
3591. To have hairy arms is a mark of wealth.
3592. Hairy arms mean strength.
3593. "I have not a hair under my arms. I am eighty-seven and I am very strong. Women who don't have any hair under the arms, sign they are
very strong. I have went through enough trouble to kill a hundred women."
3594. Never shave off the hair under your arms; it will take all your strength away.
3595. Legs well covered with hair denote strength.
3596. Hairy legs are a token of wealth.
3597. The person who has a lot of pubic hair is sexually virile.

WHITE OR GREY HAIR

3598. Fright will turn a person's hair white. They say this sometimes happens overnight.
3599. A person whose hair turns white early in life has the mind of a child.
3600. Men who become grey prematurely are usually good-natured.
3601. After you have found the first grey hair on your head, good luck may be expected.
3602. Remove one grey hair and two will take its place.
3603. The person pulling out a grey hair will soon find five more.
3604. One grey hair plucked out will be followed by seven others.
3605. If you jerk out a grey hair, ten will come to its funeral.
3606. Eleven grey hair will grow where one has been eliminated.

Light and Dark Hair - Red Hair - Curly Hair (3607-3640)

LIGHT AND DARK HAIR
3607. A light-haired man is always conceited.
3608. Women who have light-colored hair are less dependable than women with darker shades of hair.
3609. A blonde has a loving disposition but is fickle and unreliable.
3610. If a light-haired woman puts on fresh flowers and they wilt at once, it shows she is a flirt.
3611. The best husbands will be found among men with fine brown hair.
3612. Very dark hair in a man is always an indication of loyalty.
3613. A dark-haired woman is faithful and trustworthy.
3614. Women with dark hair are more loyal than light-haired women.
3615. A woman who has black hair of fine texture is highly strung.
3616. Regardless of the color, people having fine-textured hair are said to be dangerous when angry.
3617. Coarse black hair in a woman is a sign of a cross disposition.
3618. Coarse-haired persons are always good-natured.
3619. People with dark hair are more sensual than those who have lighter tints of hair.
3620. You can hypnotize light-haired persons better than those who have dark hair.
3621. "I know a young man right now, only twenty, with light hair, and he will not put cream in his coffee; drinks it black, trying to turn his hair
darker."
3622. Light hair should be dyed in the light of the moon; dark hair, in the dark of the moon. Similarly, to turn light hair dark, dye it in the dark of
the moon; dark hair light, in the light of the moon.

RED HAIR
3623. A person with red hair either has a great many freckles or is very fair.
3624. Red-haired people are the best home-lovers.
3625. A redhead is always a spit-fire.
3626. If the first child in a family has red hair, that child will be rich.
3627. If a boy has curly red hair, he will never be rich.
3628. To have good luck, rub your hand on the head of a red-haired person.
3629. An onion may be rubbed on a red-haired person's head for luck. Some say the onion must be red.
3630. You burn your hand by rubbing it on red hair. A generation ago it was a rather common prank for a large boy to pretend that his hand was
burning while he rubbed his knuckles none too lightly on the head of a small boy who had red hair. However, this prank was never attempted
unless the redhead was considerably smaller than the aggressor.
3631. It is lucky to meet a red-haired girl on the street.
3632. A red-haired woman met as the first thing in the morning denotes bad luck that day. This misfortune can be averted by returning home and
sitting down for five minutes before starting out again.
3633. The person who meets a man with red hair first thing in the morning will have good luck that day.
3634. A person meeting a red-haired Negro will be lucky.
3635. If on your way home you meet a red-haired girl coming towards you, expect to find company on your arrival.

CURLY HAIR
3636. A man with curly hair is always lazy.
3637. Boys with curly hair accumulate wealth.
 82

3638. Eat bread crusts to make your hair curly. Similarly, was an expression of my father's, which I heard from childhood: eating lots of bread
puts hair on your chest --- makes a man of you.
3639. Carrots may be eaten for curly hair.
3640. Let a person with straight red hair cut it and throw the cuttings out a window; after a rain washes them away and they have rotted, the new
hair will grow curly and stay that way.

Cowlick - Crown - Beard and Mustache - Washing Hair (3641-3671)

COWLICK
3641. Whoever has a cowlick also has a stubborn disposition.
3642. A person having a cowlick will never be in want of money.
3643. Persons with a cowlick are lucky.
3644. To keep a cowlick down, let a cow lick it.

CROWN
3645. A crown in the center of the head is a sign of intelligence.
3646. It is lucky to have two crowns on your head.
3647. Two crowns (or a double-crown) indicate you will live (or eat bread) on two continents or in two countries (governments or kingdoms).
3648. A person with two crowns will meet death by drowning.
3649. If your crown itches, you may look for good luck.
3650. An itching crown means a better position in life.
3651. To have an itch on your crown indicates your best friend is thinking about you.
3652. After your crown has itched, good luck may be expected.

BEARD AND MUSTACHE

3653. Let a cat lick cow cream off your face and you can raise a heavy beard.
3654. The boy who washes his face in the water of an old hollow stump will never have a beard.
3655. "Mother used to say chicken dung was good for a man's mustache to make it grow."
3656. In raising a mustache, honey should be smeared on the outside of the lips and chicken manure on the inside of the lips.
3657. To make a mustache smooth and thick, trim it during the new moon.
3658. A man with a mustache is deceitful.

WASHING HAIR
3659. Never wash your hair on Sunday; you will have bad luck that
day. The time for bad luck is also given as all week or before the following Sunday.
3660. The person who washes his hair as soon as he gets up on Monday morning will be lucky all week.
3661. By washing your hair on Friday you give yourself bad luck.
3662. Hair washed once a week with strong coffee made in the dark of the moon will become black and glossy.
3663. Rain falling on your bare head makes your hair grow.
3664. If it rains on your head during dog days, you will lose your hair.
3665. Wash your hair with March snow-water to prevent it from coming out.
3666. "March rain-water is good to make your hair grow. My son-in-law keeps it in the house all the time. He uses it for his car battery."
3667. Whenever rain falls on the first of May wash your head in a running creek and none of your hair will come out that year.
3668. As a cure for dandruff, wash your hair three times a week with a mixture of rain-water and urine.
3669. Coarse hair washed in urine becomes fine.
3670. Kinky hair is straightened by washing it with soap and urine.
3671. "My father, a blacksmith, always washed his hair in slack water to keep his hair from falling out."

Cutting Hair - Combing Hair - Disposal of Hair (3672-3791)

CUTTING HAIR
3672. "My mother did this when I was young to make me have long hair: cut the ends off and burn them [the cut-off pieces]."
3673. The first morning of a new moon get up and trim your hair before eating or doing anything and it will grow faster.
3674. Hair clipped anytime during the new moon: grows in twice as heavily, makes it longer, or prevents splitting.
3675. A woman who cuts the ends of her hair every new moon and at no other time will always have plenty of hair.
3676. You can rid yourself of split hair by cutting it when the moon is half dark and then singeing the ends.
3677. To obtain blunty hair, clip it in the dark of the moon.
3678. Hair can be kept or made thick by trimming it when the moon is full.
3679. The decrease of the moon is a bad time for clipping hair; you will become bald.
3680. If your hair is trimmed on Friday, it will come in thicker.
3681. Friday in a new moon is a good hair-cutting time. Some say the first Friday of a new moon.
3682. Always cut your hair on Good Friday for luck.
3683. If a woman in her courses trims your hair, it will grow better and have a finer texture.
3684. Let a pregnant woman trim your hair and it will grow twice as quickly and have double strength. This also thickens the thin hair of a child.
3685. Hair trimmed by a woman pregnant with her first child becomes heavier and longer.
3686. A man whose hair is cut by a woman will lose his strength.

COMBING HAIR
3687. If you comb your hair before breakfast and do not touch it again that day, you will have good luck.
3688.
"To comb your hair after dark,
Brings sorrow to the heart."
 83

3689. It is unlucky to comb your hair at night in front of a mirror.

3690. Whoever sees a woman combing her hair in the light of a full moon may expect trouble.
3691. The woman who combs her hair between sunset and dark (after dark say some) will be disappointed.
3692. If you comb your hair after sundown, you will lose your wealth; if after dark, you will never accumulate any.
3693. "My mother would not let us do it, comb your hair after dark; said someone in the family would get sick sure."
3694. Hair combed at night will fall out.
3695. If you comb your hair after dark (or after sunset), it will make you forgetful.
3696. If you comb your hair just before going to bed, you will become crazy.
3697. To turn your hair black, always brush it at night.
3698. A woman going to bed with a comb in her hair will be unlucky.
3699. Never comb your hair while sitting on a bed; you will soon meet with a disappointment.
3700. Tangles in your hair show that rats have slept in it.
3701. The woman who shakes her head while her hair hangs down is a flirt.
3702. Hair coming out in greater quantities than usual when combed is a sign of a severe illness for you.
3703. If a hair of yours curls when pulled between your thumb and fore-finger, you have a terrible temper.
3704. A hair curling when drawn between the thumb and fore-finger indicates its owner is proud.
3705. Your hair popping when combed signifies it is full of electricity and that you are healthy.
3706. A woman's hair will not take a permanent wave while she is menstruating.
3707. If during menstruation a woman permits someone to comb her hair, all of it will fallout.
3708. Do not permit anyone to brush back a strand of hair that falls down over your eyes; it will give you bad luck.
3709. It is unlucky for two persons to comb someone's hair at the same time.
3710. Two persons looking into the same mirror at the same time while combing their hair will be unfortunate.
3711. If you are compelled to finish combing your hair after someone has started the task, bad luck may be expected.
3712. Never comb anyone's hair; you will hear of an accident in your family.
3713. To let anyone use your comb will bring you a misfortune.
3714. "I have a friend that carries her comb with her all the time so no one can use it, so she will not lose her hair."
3715. He who uses another person's comb will soon quarrel with its owner.
3716. Never comb your hair in a Negro's home or let a Negro comb his hair in your home; it will cause you bad luck.
3717. Combings dropping from your comb in the morning denote trouble that day.
3718. It is unlucky to drop a comb.
3719. A comb dropped after dark makes you unlucky.
3720. If you let a comb fall behind you while combing your hair, you can expect trouble.
3721. To ward off the bad luck indicated by dropping a comb, step on it before you pick it up.
3722. The person who drops a comb can prevent bad luck by letting someone step on it.
3723. "I always do this when I drop my comb; pick it up and kiss it to keep bad luck away."
3724. Before you pick up a fallen comb, get down on the floor and kiss the comb as a precaution against misfortune.
3725. A dropped comb should be stepped on three times and kissed to avoid trouble.
3726. Always let someone pick up a comb you drop and you will not be unlucky.
3727. As a protection against bad luck after you drop a comb, turn around three times before picking it up.
3728. If you drop a comb, spit on it and bad luck will be averted.
3729. To let a comb fall is a sign of a disappointment.
3730. "I never pick up a comb I drop, always just kick it over in the corner and let it stay there until the next day; for if you drop a comb, never
pick it up for twenty-four hours or you will be disappointed."
3731. After you drop a comb, step on it to protect yourself against a disappointment. Some say you must use the right foot.
3732. You will not be disappointed after dropping a comb, if you let someone step on it.
3733. Let someone pick up the comb that you have dropped and a disappointment will be avoided.
3734. If you drop a comb, money will soon come your way.
3735. A person dropping a comb may step on it for money.
3736. The person who drops a comb while preparing to go somewhere will be compelled to remain at home.
3737. To drop a comb means company — usually that day.
3738. A fallen comb foretells a fallen woman --- a sporting woman is coming to your house.
3739. If you do not want the company foretold by a comb falling, step on the comb.
3740. They say the dropping of a comb makes you absent-minded.
3741. Persons dropping a comb will do something of which they will be ashamed before the day ends.
3742. Someone will soon tell a lie about the person who drops a comb.
3743. Never keep a broken comb; some misfortune will soon follow.
3744. If your comb breaks, bury the pieces under your doorstep to counteract bad luck.
3745. Anyone breaking a comb tooth will be unlucky.
3746. To count the teeth of a comb causes trouble.
3747. Whoever counts the teeth in a comb will soon break it.
3748. The counting of the teeth in a comb will make you lose your hair.
3749. An old comb left anywhere makes that place unfortunate.
3750. If you lose a comb given to you by a friend, the friend also will soon be lost.
3751. It is lucky to find a comb.
3752. The person who finds a comb will soon have a new friend.
3753. A comb found with most of its teeth missing signifies a male enemy:
if the comb is kept, he will not bother you; if it is thrown away, he will.

DISPOSAL OF HAIR
3754. "My mother didn't know this and she used to sell her hair to people to make wigs, and she got down and was sick for years
 84

for doing it. "

3755. Always save your hair-cuttings and you will never be bald.
3756. The person who throws his hair away will soon become grey.
3757. To keep your hair from falling out or to make it grow, combings or cuttings should be buried in the ground.
3758. "When I was a child, every time they cut my hair I would bury the hair under the front door to make it grow." Sometimes the hair is
wrapped in paper; after the paper rots, the hair is supposed to grow twice as fast.
3759. If you lay your combings or clippings under a rock, your hair will grow well. It also stops hair from falling out. But some say this practice
will give you bad luck.
3760. Combings or cuttings buried where water can drip on them, usually under the eaves of the house, makes the hair grow better.
3761. "I always put all my hair combings in a piece of paper, then put it in running water, to keep from losing the strength in my hair."
3762. A person throwing his combings or clippings into running water will lose his mind.
3763. "I never throw my hair out or burn it. I always put it in the water-closet so it will grow."
3764. Never burn your combings; bad luck may be expected.
3765. If your combings are burned, your hair will fall out or stop growing.
3766. Whoever burns his combings or cuttings will get coarse hair.
3767. Your combings should never be burned; you will become stupid.
3768. One of the causes of bad health is the burning of your hair.
3769. The person whose combings fail to burn when thrown in a fire is stingy.
3770. To have your combings blaze up when thrown in a fire signifies you will come to a bad end.
3771. Hold a strand of your hair over a lighted lamp: if the hair catches fire quickly, you may expect a short life; if slowly, a long life.
3772. Throw some of your combings on the fire: if they smolder and do not create a blaze, it is an omen of a short life; if they blaze up brightly, a
long life.
3773. If some of your hair-clippings fall to the floor, pick them up and burn or bury them at once; failing to do this will cause you bad luck for
seven years.
3774. Birds flying over your discarded combings bring you bad luck.
3775. You commit a sin by not putting out your combings where birds can get them for nests.
3776. After birds have made a nest with your hair-cuttings, good luck will befall you.
3777. It is good for the hair to have birds find your combings.
3778. A person whose hair is used by a bird when making a nest will soon become bald. Some say this does not happen until the hair rots.
3779. A bird building a nest from your combings will put tangles in your hair.
3780. If a bird builds a nest out of your combings, there will be an increase in the family.
3781. Hair picked up from the street is unlucky.
3782. A hair found in your food denotes bad luck.
3783. The finding of a hair in your mouth is a sign you will kiss a fool.
3784. To find a hair on your shoulder indicates you will receive a letter.
3785. If a loose hair falls over your nose, money will be received unexpectedly.
3786. A string in your hair shows someone is thinking about you.
3787. Keep a slip of your hair in your locket for luck.
3788. A curl from your head may be worn in your shoe for luck.
3789. For luck you may sleep with a small braid of your hair beneath your pillow.
3790. Insert a lock of your hair between the glass and the picture of a framed photograph and you will always be lucky; provided the picture is
one of yourself and hanging on the wall.
3791. A man can be lucky by keeping in his pocket a lock of woman's hair.

MOUTH - LIPS - TONGUE (3792-3814)

3792. A baby with a large mouth will become a good singer.

3793. A woman with a large mouth has a large vaginal orifice; the size of the mouth, the size of the orifice.
3794. A man with a large mouth is a c------ s------- ; practices cunnilingus.
3795. A person with a big mouth is a big talker; with a little mouth, a little talker.
3796. If the corners of your mouth droop, you have a jealous disposition.
3797. A large number of wrinkles round your mouth means you are a story-teller (liar).
3798. Whoever has a large mouth and thin lips can foretell the future.
3799. A person having thin lips tightly drawn about the mouth is stingy in money matters.
3800. Thin lips signify a close-mouthed person; thick lips, an open-mouthed person.
3801. A deep groove (philtrum) in the upper lip, a deep thinker; a shallow groove, a shallow thinker.
3802. The philtrum, the groove in the upper lip, is made larger by mucus running out of the nose; hence, a child with a large philtrum was
sometimes called a snot-nose.
3803. A woman who wipes her lips with a dish rag will get hairy lips.
3804. Itching lips indicate someone wants to kiss you.
3805. The upper lip itching is a sign you will be kissed.
3806. After a man's lips itch, he will kiss a woman; after a woman's lips itch, she will kiss a man.
3807. A person whose lips burn will be kissed by a stranger.
3808. If your upper lip itches, a man with a mustache is coming.
3809. An itching on the lips shows someone is crying about you.
3810. A large tongue means a short life; a small tongue, a long life.
3811. The person having a thin and pointed tongue is a good talker.
3812. People with pointed tongues are spiteful.
3813. If your tongue burns, you have told a lie in which you will soon be caught.
 85

3814. A blister (pimple or sore) on the tongue is an indication you have told a lie. You can get rid of this blister by spitting three times into the
fire.

TEETH (3815-3858)

3815. If you cut your wisdom teeth early, you will die young; if late, in old age.
3816. When you cut your wisdom teeth your life is half over.
3817. The two upper incisors are called front teeth or double teeth: if they are broad, you will be a lifelong traveler say some; but others say you
will never leave home.
3818. If there is a space between the two upper incisors, you will live far from the scenes of your childhood; if they are close together, you will
always live near the place of your birth.
3819. An unusual space between the two upper incisors is a sign of a long life.
3820. The person whose two upper incisors are wide apart will accumulate wealth.
3821. To count your teeth will cause you bad luck.
3822. It is unlucky to pick your teeth with a pin.
3823. Teeth picked with a needle or pin will soon decay.
3824. You can preserve your teeth by washing them frequently with your urine.
3825. A person losing a tooth will soon lose a friend.
3826. The loss of a tooth foretells some sorrow.
3827. In the sign of the head (Aries) is an unlucky time to extract a tooth.
3828. The sign of the shoulder (Taurus?) is a good time for extracting a tooth.
3829. A tooth extracted in the sign of the thigh (thighs = Sagittarius) during the dark of the moon will not hurt.
3830. Teeth should be pulled in the light of the moon.
3831. Never pull a tooth on Monday; you will be disappointed all week.
3832. As soon as a child's tooth is pulled, he should stick his tongue into the hole to get a new tooth.
3833. Unless a child keeps his tongue out of the hole left by the extraction of a tooth, he will soon find a gold tooth growing there.
3834. If a child sticks his tongue into the hole left by the loss of a first tooth, the second one will come in crooked.
3835. Always burn a pulled tooth for luck; failure to do this will bring you bad luck.
3836. If the first tooth with a cavity is pulled and burned, you will never have another decayed tooth.
3837. The person who burns his pulled teeth will not be bothered by gum trouble.
3838. By burning a pulled tooth you make its successor come in straight.
3839. To make the following tooth come in straight; some say you must throw away the pulled tooth, others say you must save it.
3840. If you throw away a tooth and a chicken picks it up, the one taking its place will be a chicken tooth.
3841. If you throw away a tooth and a dog steps on it, expect a dog's tooth in its stead.
3842. If you throw away a tooth and a hog swallows it, a hog tooth will grow where the other was.
3843. If you throw away a tooth and a rabbit runs over it, your next tooth will be like a rabbit's.
3844. If you throw away a tooth and a rat gnaws it, the following tooth will resemble that of a rat.
3845. You become lucky by throwing away a pulled tooth over your shoulder — the left say some, the right say others.
3846. To make certain of getting another tooth in its place, a pulled tooth should always be thrown over your right shoulder.
3847. If you throw a pulled tooth over your shoulder without watching to see where it goes, its place will be taken by a straight tooth; but if you
turn round to look, the new tooth will come in crooked.
3848. As a prevention against having any more decayed teeth, do not use an anesthetic with the first one pulled and be sure to throw this tooth
over your head.
3849. The person who has a wisdom tooth pulled may carry it for luck.
3850. A child's two upper incisors should be saved and later given to him so that he can keep them for luck.
3851. A tooth you have pulled may be kept beneath your pillow for luck.
3852. If a tooth comes out or is pulled, lay it under your pillow and next morning you will find a piece of money instead of the tooth — a nickel
say some, a dime say others.
3853. Always drop a baby's tooth into a rat-hole to make the new tooth strong and beautiful.
3854. If you hide your pulled tooth under a rock, the next one will be straight and never bother you with a toothache.
3855. A child whose first lost tooth is driven into a tree will never have a toothache.
3856. Put your pulled tooth behind your grandmother's water pitcher and she will be lucky.
3857. If a tooth comes out or is pulled, let it stay overnight in a glass of water and by morning the tooth will have changed into a nickel or a dime.
3858. If the first tooth lost by a child is dropped into a glass of water, witches will come during the night and change it into a penny.

LAUGHING - CRYING - YAWNING - WHISTLING - SPITTING (3859-3900)

3859. Go to bed laughing and you will wake up crying.

3860. The person who laughs in bed will cry before morning.
3861. As soon as you get out of bed in the morning, before dressing or eating, laugh at yourself three times while facing a mirror and you will be
happy all day.
3862.
"If you laugh before seven,
You'll cry before eleven."
3863.
"Laugh at the table
And sing in bed,
You are sure to shake hands
With a man not right in his head."
3864. Never laugh on Friday; you will shed tears before Sunday.
 86

3865. Friday laughter means Monday tears.

3866. Laugh on Monday; laugh all week.
3867. Laughing is catching: to laugh at another's misfortune will bring misfortune to one's self. Similarly, it is unlucky to mock anyone.
3868. To cry after sundown will cause bad luck.
3869. A person crying after dark will soon lose his money.
3870. Tears on Monday; tears all week.
3871. It is unlucky to cry before anyone when you have the blues.
3872. Always put your hand over your mouth when yawning or you may expect bad luck.
3873. If you yawn and fail to cover your mouth with your hand, an evil spirit will jump down your throat.
3874. The person who yawns and does not cover his mouth with his hand will have the devil jumping down his throat.
3875. "Our boys used to fuss at the table over getting the crust so they could be good whistlers. The more crusts of bread you can eat, when
young, will make you a good whistler --- that was an old saying of my grandmother."
3876. You can learn to whistle by eating burnt bread.
3877. It is unlucky to whistle in bed.
3878. To whistle before breakfast is unlucky, but this misfortune can be averted by turning around three times on your right heel.
3879. Whoever whistles before breakfast will fall into the mud before night.
3880. Never whistle at the table; it will bring you bad luck.
3881. If you whistle while rocking in a rocking-chair, bad luck may be expected.
3882. A man whistling in a woman's bedroom will give her bad luck.
3883. Whistling on a boat means trouble before you reach land.
3884. "A whistling woman and a jumping sheep, The worst thing a man can keep."
3885.
"A whistling maid and running sheep,
Are the very best property a man can keep."
3886.
"A whistling woman and a baa-baa sheep,
Is the very best property a man can keep."
3887.
"A whistling girl and a bleating sheep,
Always come to the top of the heap."
3888.
"A woman that whistles and a hen that crows,
Has her way wherever she goes."
3889. If you spit on yourself, a lie will be told about you.
3890. To spit on anyone is unlucky.
3891. If a gypsy spits in your yard, bad luck may be expected.
3892. "I went to see a woman not so long ago after she told me to come; she was ironing and didn't let me come in. I sure spit four times as I went
out the yard to bring her bad luck." You must spit four times.
3893. If someone spits on the ground to make you unlucky, avert the bad luck by rubbing your foot in the spit.
3894. Bad luck can be counteracted by spitting.
3895. You may spit for luck.
3896. As a device for becoming lucky, spit over the index finger — some say the right, others say the left.
3397. If you hold your index and middle fingers in the shape of the letter V and spit between them, you will become lucky.
3898. A person may spit into the palm of his hand for luck.
3899. To avoid bad luck or to obtain good luck, turn your head and spit over your shoulder.
3900. In making yourself lucky, you may draw a cross on the ground and spit into it.

SINGING (3901-3927)

3901. The person who goes to bed singing will wake up crying.
3902.
"If you sing in bed,
Sorrow hangs over your head."
3903.
"If you sing in bed,
The devil is overhead."
3904. A child singing in bed will be spanked next day.
3905. To sing in bed is a sign of a disappointment.
3906. Never sing after you have gone to bed; you will have bad luck next day.
3907. Bad luck all day may be expected by the person who sings just before getting out of bed in the morning.
3908. Sing just before you step out of bed in the morning and you will cry before dark.
3909. They say a person who arises singing from bed will be happy all day.
3910.
"If you sing before you dress,
You'll have trouble before you undress."
3911.
"If you sing before seven,
You'll cry before eleven."
3912.
"If you sing before you eat,
 87

You'll cry before you sleep."

3913. Do not sing before breakfast; you will soon be disappointed.
3914. Children who sing before breakfast will get a beating before the end of the week.
3915. Whoever sings before breakfast will soon fall into the mud.
3916. If you sing before breakfast, bad luck will soon follow; but this can be nullified by turning round three times on your right heel.
3917. A person singing before breakfast on Monday morning will pack up and leave home before the week ends.
3918. "Several weeks ago my boy started to sing at the table. I said, 'You will have bad luck.' He said, 'Oh mother, you are just superstitious.' But
when he went out to get his car he had a flat tire and was late to work that morning, so he had his bad luck right away."
3919. Singing at the table is followed by a disappointment.
3920. A child who sings at the table will soon be given a whipping.
3921. To sing at the table means a fight or quarrel before night.
3922. It is unlucky to sing on the street.
3923. After you have sung on the street, something will disappoint you.
3924.
"If you sing on the street,
Displeasure you will meet."
3925. Anyone who unconsciously begins to sing in the bathtub may look for good luck.
3926. Some misfortune is caused by singing on a boat.
3927. If two persons begin to sing the same song at the same time, both of them will be lucky.

SPEAKING (3928-3980)

3928. Low-voiced persons are given to deceit.

3929. To talk to yourself shows you are crazy.
3930. He who talks to himself is talking to the devil.
3931. A person telling you his troubles will give you good luck.
3932. Never say anything disagreeable; it might happen.
3933. Quarrel before breakfast and you will quarrel again before supper.
3934. "My mother said if you quarrel before breakfast, you will cry before supper."
3935. If you are out of humor or have the blues on Sunday, you will hear bad news on Monday.
3936. Angry words on Monday; angry words all week.
3937. The person who speaks a cross word on New Year's Day will be cross all year.
3938. Let an angry person count ten before speaking and his temper will leave. This also checks an impulse to swear.
3939. In saying something good of a person you cause him bad luck.
3940. Do not call anyone a fool; you yourself will soon be made foolish --- or be unlucky.
3941. If you accuse a person of something he did not do, bad luck may be expected.
3942. For each lie you tell a stitch will be taken in your nose after death.
3943. "My mother when she met anyone on the street she did not like, she told them a good lie; they won't bother you any more. "
3944. Tell three lies about a person who hates you and he will not hate you any more.
3945. Biting your tongue while speaking indicates your next remark will not be true.
3946. Failure to finish what you began to say is a sign of a disappointment.
3947. A person forgetting what was on the tip of his tongue is about to tell a lie.
3948. The person who forgets what he was saying may expect a sick spell.
3949. If you forget it is Friday and keep thinking the day is Saturday, look for a misfortune.
3950. "My mother used to say if you have someone on your mind all the time and just can't think of anything else, that person is in trouble.
3951. It is unlucky to forget a person's name.
3952. To forget where you have hidden something will bring you bad luck.
3953. If you do something and forget it has been done, you will cry before the end of the day.
3954. If you forget what you were about to say, you can make yourself remember it by walking out over the threshold and coming into the house
again.
3955. If you are doubtful about remembering some errand on your journey, sit down for five minutes before leaving home and then make a cross
on the ground with your foot while passing through the gate so that you will not forget it.
3956. If you suspect something to be done next morning may be forgotten, I lay a Bible under your pillow and think about the matter just before
going to sleep.
3957. A forgetful person should sleep on hops to stimulate his memory.
3958. Mullein leaves may be carried in your pocket as a protection against forgetfulness.
3959. Tie a string about your finger to keep yourself from forgetting a task.
3960. To say something backwards by mistake is an indication of a present.
3961. If two persons say the same thing at the same time, one of them will have good luck.
3962. Two persons saying the same thing at the same time denote company.
3963. If a sudden silence falls upon several persons while speaking, angels are passing through the room.
3964. If you see four black-haired women talking together, one of them is talking about you.
3965. If you think some woman is talking about you, throw a handful of salt at her gate and she will never talk about you again.
3966. If before breakfast you tell a secret to a man, you will be lucky; if to a woman, she will lie about you.
3967. Never tell a secret to a woman; you will have bad luck.
3968. Never speak to a sitting person from behind; he will be given bad luck.
3969. Do not say O.K. to everything a person tells or asks you; it is unlucky.
3970. Always answer immediately a person who calls you so that you will not become hard of hearing.
3971. Unless your mother is answered at once when she calls you, bad luck will befall you.
3972. By answering a neighbor who calls you before breakfast you make yourself unlucky the rest of the day.
 88

3973. To call a person by another's name signifies the latter is thinking of you.
3974. If you think someone is calling your name and find yourself mistaken, you will soon be disappointed.
3975. Be sure to rap on wood when you brag or you will have bad luck.
3976. If you have had good luck with something and boast about it, knock on wood three times or your luck will change.
3977. The person who brags about anything before eleven o'clock in the morning
3978. It is unlucky for a person to talk in his sleep.
3979. To talk while asleep is a sign you have done something wrong.
3980. If you talk in your sleep, it means you have enemies.

EARS (3981-4014)

3981. Large ears are a sign of riches.

3982. A person with large ears is noted for generosity; with small ears, stingyness.
3983. Large ears lying close to the head indicate a liberal person; sticking out from the head, a selfish person.
3984. Short-eared persons are poor listeners and great talkers; long-eared persons are attentive and not very talkative.
3985. Persons having short thick ears are thoughtless; long narrow ears, thoughtful.
3986. If your right ear rings or burns, expect good luck; if your left ear, bad luck. Occasionally these interpretations are reversed.
3987. A burning in your ear foretells a fire in your neighborhood. Some say within a month.
3988. If your ear itches, company may be expected.
3989. As soon as your right ear begins to burn, think of someone who has been dead over twenty years and you will get a letter containing
money.
3990. A tingle in your ear means sudden news.
3991. Both ears tingling at the same time signify good news.
3992. If there is a ringing in your right ear, pleasant news will be heard; if in your left ear, unpleasant news.
3993. A singing right ear reveals you are in the thoughts of a dear friend.
3994. If your right ear is itching, a secret will be told to you by a boy friend; if your left ear, by a girl friend.
3995. A person whose right ear burns or rings is being talked about.
3996. If your right ear burns or rings a man is talking about you; if your left ear, a woman.
3997. To have both ears burn at the same time shows someone is criticizing you.
3998. If your right ear burns (itches, reddens, or rings), something kind is being said about you; if your left ear, something unkind. At times these
meanings are transposed.
3999. Of a burning (itching or ringing) ear it is said:
"Right for might,
Left for spite."
or
"Right for spite,
Left for might."
4000. Of a burning (itching or ringing) ear it is said: right for spite, left for love or right for love, left for hate.
4001. If your right ear burns, you are being well-spoken of by a man; if your left ear, ill-spoken of by a woman.
4002. "When we were in school we used to say --- if our ears were burning — if it is good, talk on; if it is bad, let it alone. If our ears would stop
right away, we would say well, it is bad; if they kept on burning, they are sure talking good about us."
4003. To discover what is being said about you when your ear burns, rub spit on your ear: if the burning stops, the conversation is good; if it does
not, bad.
4004. What is being said about you when your ear itches can be discovered by rubbing spit round the rim of the ear three times while thinking of
a possible speaker: if the conversation is good, the burning will stop; if bad, it will not.
4005. As a method for discovering what is being said about you when your ear burns, spit on your finger and name it the talker suspected
(sometimes the saliva is then rubbed in the ear): if the gossip is bad, the burning will continue; if good, it will cease.
4006. Make a cross with saliva on the ear that burns and name it for someone you know: if the burning ceases, the person named was the talker; if
it continues, repeat the rite until the correct name is found.
4007. Saliva may be rubbed on a burning ear with these words If it is good, talk on; if it is bad, I hope you will bite your tongue.
4008. The unknown talker who makes your ear burn can be encouraged or discouraged by saying If a friend, talk on; if an enemy, wish me no
harm.
4009. "I always do this when my ears burn: take and wet your finger and go around it three times, saying Kiss my ass, kiss my ass, kiss my ass,
and it will stop."
4010. "My mother always did this: when her right ear itch or burn, make the cross over her ear and say Good, good betide you; if the left, make a
cross over it and say Bad, bad, I hope the devil will ride you."
4011. Mention the names of three persons whom you think are talking about you when your ear burns and the name upon which your ear stops
burning will identify the speaker.
4012. If your ear burns, name it and drop a pinch of salt into the fire; and if the person named is the talker, the burning and talking will stop.
4013. To stop a person's talk about you when your ear burns, put some salt on the stove and wish the talker's tongue will blister.
4014. Bite your tongue when your ear rings and you will make the person talking about you bite his tongue.

EYES - CROSS-EYES (4015-4069)

4015. Black-eyed women should be distrusted.

4016. Women with blue eyes are known for faithfulness.
4017. It is lucky to have blue eyes.
4018. A woman who has grey eyes is greedy.
4019. "My cousin has a brown eye and a blue eye — it means you will have nothing but bad luck — and he has had nothing but bad luck ever
since born."
 89

4020. Eyes sunk back in your head are a sign of deceit.

4021. Heavy eyelashes indicate weak eyes.
4022. People having long eyelashes are always lucky.
4023. The meaning of heavy and black eyebrows is a bad-tempered person; of thin and light-colored eyebrows, a good-tempered person.
4024. Regardless of the color, thick eyebrows denote a bad temper.
4025. Short eyebrows, a good disposition; long eyebrows, a bad disposition.
4026. If your eyebrows are far apart, you will live far from where you were born --- some say only after your marriage.
4027. Persons whose eyebrows grow together do not live long.
4028. A person having eyebrows that meet will become wealthy.
4029. Your eyebrows growing close together is an indication of stinginess.
4030. The meeting of eyebrows reveals a jealous nature.
4031. To have eyebrows touching each other signifies deceit.
4032. Eyebrows that touch each other disclose a thief.
4033. One eyebrow higher than the other means criminal tendencies.
4034. If your right eye itches, laughter may be expected; if your left eye, tears. These meanings are sometimes interchanged.
4035. If your right eye throbs (bats, jerks, jumps, quavers, quivers, trembles or twitches --- are words also used), you will soon be laughing; if
your left eye, crying — hence the couplet:
"Right eye, laugh eye;
Left eye, cry eye."
But the opposite is also believed:
"Right eye, cry eye;
Left eye, laugh eye."
and sometimes it is said a throbbing in either eye means a weeping.
4036. If your right eye itches or throbs, you will soon be pleased; if your left eye, displeased. However, some reverse these interpretations.
4037. An itching or throbbing in the eye is an omen of anger. Some say this refers to the right eye, others say the left eye.
4038. After your left eye has itched or throbbed, you will have a quarrel.
4039. An itch on your eye foretells a surprise.
4040. If your right eye itches, you will get a new friend; if your left eye, a new enemy.
4041. If your right eye itches, you will see an absent (or distant) friend; if your left eye an old (or nearby) friend.
4042. If your right eye throbs, you will meet someone you are longing to see; if your left eye, someone you do not want to see. These meanings
are occasionally reversible.
4043. If your eye throbs, you will see someone not seen for a long time — the right eye, a man; the left eye, a woman. Once in a while one finds
these interpretations interchanged.
4044. If both eyes throb, someone galloping on a horse will come to see you. Some say this is true of the right eye only.
4045. If your right eye itches, it signifies good news; if your left eye, bad news. At times one signification is changed for the other.
4046. Either eye itching or throbbing is a token of a letter.
4047. An itching eye betokens a letter from a dear friend.
4048. A person whose right eye itches will soon receive money.
4049. If your right eye itches or throbs, good luck is denoted; if your left eye, bad luck. Occasionally these meanings are transposed.
4050. To have either eye itch at night is lucky.
4051. An eyelash falling on to your shoulder is a sign of a letter.

CROSS-EYES

4052. It is unlucky to meet a cross-eyed (squint-eyed or cockeyed) person.

4053. A cross-eyed sailor seen over your left shoulder aboard a ship is unlucky.
4054. If the first woman met in the morning has cross-eyes, bad luck for the day may be expected.
4055. If the first person you meet on Monday morning has cross-eyes, you will have good luck all day.
4056. The person who looks at a cross-eyed woman on Monday will look at misfortune all week.
4057. If on Monday morning a cross-eyed man comes in one door of your house and goes out another, he will cause you bad luck.
4058. Some say the meeting of a cross-eyed person brings bad luck only if he looks at you or you look into his eyes.
4059. To avert bad luck when a cross-eyed person is met, find a four-leafed clover at once.
4060. Anyone who meets a cross-eyed person can avoid bad luck by turning the head and looking in the opposite direction.
4061. The bad luck indicated by meeting a cross-eyed person will not affect you, provided you turn and walk in the opposite direction.
4062. If you have just started on a journey or are going somewhere on business and meet a cross-eyed person, you must return home and start
again to guard yourself against bad luck.
4063. While passing a cross-eyed person hold your index and middle fingers crossed and you will not become unfortunate.
4064. After you have met a cross-eyed person, you can prevent misfortune by spitting.
4065. Always turn round three times and spit when you meet a cross-eyed person and bad luck will be counteracted.
4066. As a protection against bad luck when meeting a cross-eyed person; cross your fingers and spit, spit on your crossed fingers, or spit over
them.
4067. Whoever makes a cross on the ground and spits into it when meeting a cross-eyed person cancels the bad luck foretold.
4068. "I am very superstitious. If I should see a cross-eyed person, even in church I would take off my hat and spit in it so I would not have bad
luck."
4069. A cross-eyed Jew is the most unlucky person of all to meet; get rid of this misfortune by taking off your hat and spitting into it.

NOSE - SNEEZING (4070-4179)

4070. A person with a pointed nose is meddlesome.

4071. Pug-nosed people are nosey.
 90

4072. The meaning of a big nose is a generous nature.

4073. A man having a large nose has a large penis.
4074. You may judge a red-nosed person as a heavy liquor drinker.
4075. To get a pimple on your nose shows you have meddled with someone's affairs.
4076. If your nose itches, another person's affairs has been interfered with by you.
4077. If your nose itches, butter will be cheaper.
4078. If your nose itches, a dog's ass is in danger.
4079. If your nose itches, someone's behind is in danger.
4080. If your nose itches, you are wanted at home immediately; the reason may be serious.
4081. If your nose itches, somebody wants to talk with you.
4082. If your nose itches, something is being said about you.
4083. If the right side of your nose itches, someone who hates you is thinking spiteful things about you; if the left side, someone who loves you is
thinking about you.
4084. The day your nose itches you will be angry.
4085. An itching nose indicates you will soon have a quarrel — before the day ends according to some.
4086. A person whose nose itches will receive a letter; that day say some, the following day say others. This usually refers to the right side of the
nose.
4087. If the right side of your nose itches, a letter will come from a man; if the left side, from a woman.
4088. If the tip of your nose itches, expect a letter that day.
4089. If the tip of your nose itches, a letter from someone on a journey may be expected.
4090. After your nose has itched, good news will be received.
4091. If your nose itches, you will hear news immediately; make a wish for it to be good.
4092. If the right side of your nose itches, good news will be heard; if the left side, bad news.
4093. If the right side of your nose itches, a man will give you news; if the left, a woman.
4094. If the end of your nose itches, news is coming from a distance.
4095. A tickling on your nose is a sign you will kiss an old person before the end of the day.
4096. The person whose nose itches will be kissed by a fool.
4097.
"If your nose itches, your mouth is in danger;
Kiss a fool and shake hands with a stranger."
4098.
"If your nose itches, your mouth is in danger;
Shake hands with a fool and meet a stranger."
4099. An itch on the nose denotes you are about to meet a stranger who will go home with you and stay.
4100. If your nose itches, someone desires to call on you.
4101. If your nose itches or pains (or itches and burns at the same time), you may look for company.
4102. If your nose itches while you are away from home, you will find company at your house awaiting your return.
4103. Your nose itching on the right side means company all day.
4104. The left side of your nose itching is an indication of company from a distance who will remain a long time.
4105. Whoever has an itch on the left side of the nose may prepare for unwanted company.
4106. If the right side of your nose itches, a male visitor will soon arrive; if the left side, a female visitor.
4107. A nose itching at night foretells an unknown caller next day: if on the right side, a man; if on the left side, a woman.
4108. Both sides of your nose itching at the same time signify a man and woman will visit you. Some say they will come together.
4109. If the end of your nose itches, you will be visited by a couple --- a woman and man.
4110. If the end of your nose itches, a whole family will be your visitors.
4111. If your nose itches at the end, someone will come riding — in a buggy say some.
4112. If your nose itches at the top, a man on horseback is coming.
4113.
"Cream and peaches, my nose itches;
Somebody's coming with a hole in his britches."
or
"Cream and peaches, my nose itches;
Somebody's coming with a load in his britches."
4114.
"If your nose itches, you'll smell peaches;
Reach and you will split your britches."
4115. If your nose itches, someone is going to tear a hole in his britches.
4116. The person having an itch on his nose will soon see a change in his affairs.
4117. An itching nose betokens money.
4118. If your nose itches, sorrow is indicated.
4119. If your nose itches before seven o'clock in the morning, good luck will befall you that day.
4120. If the right side of your nose itches, good luck is the meaning; if the left side, bad luck.
4121. If your nose itches; rub it with your hand, then rub this hand on wood, and finally rub your knee with the same hand. This will bring you
good luck.
4122. You may wipe your nose with a teatowel for luck.
4123. If there is something up your nose, rub down on your upper lip and the particle will drop out.

SNEEZING

4124. If you feel inclined to sneeze and cannot, look at a bright light.
 91

4125. As a method for making yourself sneeze, walk into another room.
4126. Always say God bless You after you sneeze, to keep the devil from flying down your throat.
4127. After anyone sneezes, be sure to say God bless You and may the devil miss you.
4128. You must say Gesundheit (health) after anyone has sneezed, and that person must answer Gesundheit ist besser wie krankheit (health is
better than sickness).
4129. A quick sneeze, company at once; a slow sneeze, company later that day.
4130. One heavy sneeze is the sign of good luck.
4131. If you sneeze to the right, you will be lucky; if to the left, unlucky.
4132. If you sneeze to the right, it means prosperity; if to the left, poverty.
4133. If you sneeze to the right, you will not have anything to worry about; if to the left, you will be worried by something.
4134. The person who sneezes while talking is telling a lie say some; telling the truth say others.
4135. If you sneeze while thinking, what you are thinking will came true.
4136. Anyone sneezing will soon be kissed.
4137. Two sneezes denote two visitors that day.
4138. Whoever sneezes thrice may expect company.
4139. Three sneezes in succession will be followed by a disappointment.
4140. The meaning of three sneezes is a letter.
4141. To sneeze four times is a token of a letter.
4142. Five consecutive sneezes will bring you a letter.
4143. Six sneezes are an indication of a journey.
4144. A habitual sneezer will live a long life.
4145. It is unlucky to sneeze before getting out of bed in the morning.
4146. If you sneeze thrice in succession or on three separate occasions before breakfast, bad luck is foretold.
4147. It is unlucky to sneeze while putting on your shoes --- usually in the morning.
4148. If you sneeze between noon and midnight, good luck may be expected; if between midnight and noon, bad luck.
4149. Several things are said about sneezing before breakfast as an omen of tears: you will cry --- before dinner (midday meal), before supper
(evening meal), and before you go to bed or before you sleep.
4150. If you sneeze before arising in the morning, company will come that day.
4151.
"Sneeze before seven,
Company before eleven. "
4152. Sneeze before breakfast; company before supper.
4153.
"Sneeze before you eat,
Company before you sleep."
4154. The number of your sneezes before breakfast will be the number of your guests at dinner --- three being the usual number of sneezes and
guests.
4155. Those who sneeze before breakfast will hear exciting news before the day ends.
4156. A sneezing before breakfast signifies a letter that day.
4157. If you sneeze before three o'clock in the afternoon, a letter will soon be received.
4158. The day you sneeze at the table you will get a letter.
4159. If you sneeze at the table, good news will be heard according to some; bad news, according to others.
4160. If you sneeze while eating, provide for a hungry guest at the next meal.
4161. If you sneeze at the table, some say you will have one more person at the next meal; others say, one less. It is also said, one more or one
less.
4162. As many times as you sneeze at the table, so many guests will you entertain at the next meal.
4163. Someone sneezing at the dinner-table portends sickness for that house.
4164. After you have sneezed at the table, you will be disappointed.
4165. Sneezing at the table with your mouth full of food will cause you misfortune.
4166. One hearty sneeze in company foretells good luck.
4167. If you sneeze in church on Sunday, you will be lucky all week.
4168. Persons sneezing in church will soon receive hasty news.
4169.
"Sneeze on Monday for health.
Sneeze on Tuesday for wealth.
Sneeze on Wednesday for a letter.
Sneeze on Thursday for something better.
Sneeze on Friday for sorrow.
Sneeze on Saturday, see your sweetheart tomorrow.
Sneeze on Sunday, safety seek;
For the devil will be with you the rest of the week."
4170.
"Sneeze on Monday for danger.
Sneeze on Tuesday, kiss a stranger.
Sneeze on Wednesday, get a letter.
Sneeze on Thursday, something better.
Sneeze on Friday, sneeze for sorrow.
Sneeze on Saturday, see your sweetheart tomorrow."
4171.
"If you sneeze on Monday, you will be in danger.
 92

If you sneeze on Tuesday, you will meet a stranger.

If you sneeze on Wednesday, you will receive a letter.
If you sneeze on Thursday, you will get something better.
If you sneeze on Friday, you will have sorrow.
If you sneeze on Saturday, you will see your
sweetheart tomorrow. "
4172.
"Sneeze on Monday, sneeze for danger.
Sneeze on Tuesday, to kiss a stranger.
Sneeze on Wednesday for a letter.
Sneeze on Thursday, something better.
Sneeze on Friday for sorrow.
Sneeze on Saturday to meet your beau.
Sneeze on Sunday, watch your step."
4173.
"Sneeze on Monday, sneeze for trouble.
Sneeze on Tuesday, meet a stranger.
Sneeze on Wednesday, look for a letter.
Sneeze on Thursday, no letter at all.
Sneeze on Friday, for sorrow.
Sneeze on Saturday, no luck at all.
Sneeze on Sunday, the devil will get you soon. "
4174.
"If you sneeze on Sunday, you are safe to keep;
For the devil will have you the rest of the week."
4175.
"Sneeze on Sunday;
Good luck on Monday."
4176. Sunday sneezing betokens money before next Sunday.
4177.
"Sneeze on Monday;
Pay bills on Tuesday."
4178. If you sneeze on Monday (Tuesday or Wednesday say some), a package will arrive before the end of the week.
4179. On Wednesday a sneeze is an omen of happiness that day.

BACK - BELLY - BUTTOCKS - SHOULDER - ARM - ELBOW (4180-4203)

4180. It is unlucky to look at your back when undressed.

4181. A woman with an itching back will soon wear a new dress.
4182. An itching back indicates a whipping soon.
4183. "My mother always said if your back itches you need a whipping."
4184. The person who has an itching back will soon bear a heavy burden.
4185. If your belly itches, you will be invited to a feast.
4186. If your belly itches, you will eat pudding.
4187. If your buttocks itch, butter will be cheaper.
4188. "If you happen to scratch your behind, sign butter will be cheaper --- is an old saying of my grandmother's."
4189. Persons with broad shoulders are carefree.
4190. Your left shoulder itching is a sign of a burden to be borne.
4191. A person whose right shoulder itches will be given a present.
4192. An itching on your right shoulder denotes a large sum of money.
4193. Never read over anyone's shoulder; you will become unlucky. Some say you will make the other person unlucky.
4194. Long-armed people have a grasping nature or get what is wanted.
4195. A long scratch on your arm shows you will soon take a long ride.
4196. A quiver in your arm is an indication someone would like to see you: if in the right, a man; if in the left, a woman.
4197. After your elbow has itched, you may expect news: if the right, it will be good; if the left, bad.
4198. The left elbow itching is an omen of a gift.
4199. If your right elbow itches, you will be surprised.
4200. An itch on your elbow signifies you will change beds or your bedfellow. If this is undesired, you can prevent it by scratching the itch.
4201. The hitting of your funny-bone betokens a visit from two women.
4202. To hit your left elbow is a token of a surprise.
4203. A person who hits his right elbow will have bad luck.

HANDS - FINGERS (4204-4285)

4204. A left-handed person must work three days for the devil.
4205. Left-handed persons are deceitful.
4206. Persons with long hands come from good stock.
4207. Cold hands reveal a warm heart.
4208. If on partly closing your hand the lines of the palm form the initial M, you may look for a long life; but contrariwise, you will die young.
4209. Small knuckles mean stinginess; large knuckles, thrift.
 93

4210. Wide hands show an ability to earn money.

4211. Long hair on the backs of your hands is a sign of wealth.
4212. Either hand itching betokens money; though some insist upon the right, others upon the left — the latter often being called the money hand.
Usually the hand must itch in the palm, but occasionally the itching may be anywhere. Even when not expressed, the notion of unexpected money
is always implied.
4213. If your left hand itches, you will soon get money; the greater the itch, the larger the amount.
4214. If your left hand itches, big money may be expected; if your right hand, little money.
4215. If your hand itches and you scratch it: if the left, you are scratching the foretold money away; if the right, to you.
4216. Your left hand itching will bring money; provided your opposite thumb is rubbed round in the middle of the palm.
4217. If your left hand itches, spit into the center of your palm and money will be received.
4218. If your left hand itches, spit into your palm and rub it on your bosom for money.
4219. If your left hand itches, money is indicated:
"Rub your hand on a brick,
Will make it come quick."
4220. You can obtain the money signified when your left hand itches by spitting into the palm and rubbing it over your buttocks.
4221. As a method to secure the money denoted by an itching left hand, kiss the hand and pat your backside with it.
4222. The money denoted by an itching left hand can be had, if you rub the itch against your hips.
4223. If your left hand itches, put it in your pocket for money.
4224. If your left hand itches, spit on it and stick the hand into your pocket for money.
4225. If you rub an itching right hand on your pocket, money will come soon; if on your backside, it will come sooner.
4226. An itching left hand may be rubbed on your stocking for money.
4227. If either hand itches, rub it on wood and you will procure money. Some say the wood must be unvarnished.
4228. If your hand itches (some say the right, others say the left), you may expect money:
"Rub it on wood,
To make it come good;
Rub it on your ass,
To make it come fast."
4229. Spit into the middle of an itching right hand and rub it first on your backside and then on wood for money.
4230. One of the common beliefs about an itching hand and money is as follows: if your right hand itches, you will be given money; if your left
hand, you will pay out money. But here again, as in the preceding statements, there are contradictions; among them --- if your right hand itches,
you will give away money.
4231. If your left hand itches, money will be paid out grudgingly; if your right hand, money you do not owe.
4232. "My left hand was itching several weeks ago. I said, 'I will soon get a present', and did." This is also believed of the right hand.
4233. "I always get work whenever my left hand itches."
4234. After your hand itches, you will soon receive a letter. Some say the right hand is involved, others say the left.
4235. If your right hand itches, a letter with good news is coming; if your left hand, bad news. Sometimes these interpretations are reversed.
4236. If your right hand itches, you will hear news from afar.
4237. The person who spits into the palm of an itching right hand will soon get a letter.
4238. If your left hand itches, you will be disappointed.
4239. If your right hand itches, you will have good luck; if your left hand, bad luck. One interpretation is occasionally exchanged for the other.
4240. If your left hand itches:
"Rub it on wood,
And it will come good."
4241. If your left hand itches:
"Rub it on your ass,
And it will come to pass;
Rub it on wood,
Sure to be good."
4242. If your right hand itches:
"Scratch it on wood,
And a friend will be good."
4243. A similar rhyme says:
"If your right hand itches,
Scratch it on wood;
And you will shake hands,
With a friend that will make good."
4244. A person whose left hand itches will be called upon to visit someone loved.
4245. Some say the itching of your right hand is an omen of company; others say your left hand.
4246. If your right hand itches, a man will call upon you; if your left hand, a woman.
4247. If your right hand itches, you will be visited by a friend whom you have not seen for a long time.
4248. Either hand itching means you will soon meet a long-absent friend.
4249. If your right hand itches, a stranger will be met; but some say this also applies to the left hand.
4250. If your right hand itches, you are going to shake hands with someone.
4251. "An old saying of my mother was: if your right hand itches, you will shake hands with a person from far away."
4252. If your right hand itches, an old friend will shake hands with you.
4253. If your right hand itches, you will shake hands with a stranger.
4254. If the back of either hand itches, you will shake hands with a strange man.
4255. The itching of your right hand indicates you will shake hands with a stranger who is an unknown friend.
4256. "The other day I was at a house, I said, 'Oh, my left hand is itching.' The lady jumped up, came over and said, 'Shake hands with me, will
bring you luck.' And it did. I went to bingo that night and won eight dollars."
 94

4257. Shaking hands with your left hand will cause you bad luck.
4258. A person shaking hands with the left hand will encounter evil before night.
4259. Never shake hands with a left-handed person; bad luck will be caused.
4260. If you shake hands with a very black Negro woman, you will be lucky; if with a very black Negro man, unlucky.
4261. It is unlucky to shake hands while wearing gloves.
4262. To shake hands over a gate is unlucky.
4263. Three persons attempting to shake hands at the same time will meet with bad luck.
4264. If two persons simultaneously attempt to shake hands with a third person, all of them will be invited to the same party.
4265. If two couples shake hands at the same time, it is a token of good luck for the four of them.
4266. Four persons who accidentally cross hands while shaking hands may look for good luck.
4267. "I never shake hands with anyone when they leave my house; if you do, they will never come back to that house to see you."
4268. If on entering a house you shake hands with someone, do not on leaving shake hands with that person or you will be made unlucky.
4269. Two persons clapping hands palm to palm will soon end their friendship.
4270. Do not lock your hands and lay them on your head; you are laying trouble on your head. Only when you stand up with your hands locked
behind your head, say some.
4271. The person who locks his hands behind him and walks backwards while saying Give me luck will be given luck.
4272. If you scratch your hand with your finger-nails, you will become unlucky.
4273. To break anything in a person's hand causes bad luck.

FINGERS

4274. Soft fleshy fingers always shun work.

4275. Born with short fat fingers; born a good cook.
4276. If your fingers are short, you will have an easy life; if long, a hard life --- you will be compelled to work for a living.
4277. A person having long fingers is inclined to thievery.
4278. The child who has long fingers will become a pianist.
4279. The significance of long fingers is an acquisitive nature.
4280. Long narrow fingers denote a good ancestry; short stubby fingers, a bad ancestry --- your ancestors worked for their livelihood.
4281. If on closing your fingers you are able to see through the spaces, you will be or are a spendthrift.
4282. To sit with your fingers interlocked or your fist doubled is unlucky.
4283. Anyone possessing a crooked little finger is a crook.
4284. Never point your finger at the moon; the finger will grow crooked.
4285. Finger-joints cracking are a sign someone somewhere is doing something good for you.

FINGER-NAILS AND TOE-NAILS (4286-4374)

4286. An aspect of character shown by round finger-nails is honesty.

4287. Round and well-shaped finger-nails are a characteristic of a hasty temper.
4288. The possessor of narrow finger-nails is full of mischief.
4289. If you possess broad finger-nails, you are bashful but good-natured.
4290. The meaning of small finger-nails is anger and hatred.
4291. A person with small finger-nails has a revengeful disposition.
4292. Short finger-nails characterize a talebearer.
4293. Women having short finger-nails on wide fingers have pleasant natures.
4294. Long finger-nails and a good nature go together.
4295. Those who have long finger-nails lack confidence in others.
4296. If a person's finger-nails are pale, deceit is characterized.
4297. Expect a person with red finger-nails to be of a quarrelsome disposition.
4298. Anyone whose finger-nails are white is sickly and disposed to melancholy.
4299. A half-moon on each finger-nail proves your forebears were blue-blooded. Some say this half-moon must be near the root of the
finger-nail.
4300. White specks on your finger-nails are an indication of health; or, as it is sometimes said, the lumber of your coffin is still in the tree.
4301. Finger-nails with white marks mean you are anemic.
4302. The significance of white-spotted finger-nails is a lazy temperament.
4303. A person who has white spots on the finger-nails is honest.
4304. If your finger-nails have white specks, wealth may be expected.
4305. Spots of white on your finger-nails denote you will be a traveler.
4306. Each white mark on your finger-nails marks a lie you have told.
4307.
"A white mark on your thumb,
A gift is sure to come."
4308. As many white marks as are on your finger-nails, so many will be the number of presents you are going to receive. This often refers to
Christmas; but to be effective, you must count these marks before December 25.
4309. You can discover your fortune by counting the white specks on your finger-nails, starting with the thumbs, and saying:
"Friends, foes;
Presents, beaus;
And journeys to go."
4310. The dirt from your finger-nails and toe-nails may be wrapped in a piece of paper and put under the doorstep for luck.
4311. To bite off your finger-nails is unlucky.
4312. Whoever bites off his finger-nails will never be wealthy.
 95

4313. The biting off of your finger-nails will make you ill-natured.
4314. If you bite your finger-nails, you have thievish tendencies.
4315. The person whose finger-nails are bitten off will not grow tall.
4316. A finger-nail biter will become insane.
4317. An accidental breaking of a finger-nail is a token of a disappointment.
4318. It is unlucky for a man to trim a woman's finger-nails.
4319. It is lucky for a wife to trim her husband's toe-nails.
4320. Never cut a person's finger-nails or let a person cut your finger-nails; you two will quarrel soon --- within twenty-four hours according to
some.
4321. Manicuring your finger-nails in the presence of company will bring you bad luck.
4322. "When I cut my finger-nails and toe-nails, I always let them fall on something and burn them for luck."
4323. Toe-nails do not grow so quickly, if the cuttings are burned.
4324. If you throw your toe-nail clippings on the floor and someone steps on them, you and that person will soon disagree.
4325. The person who throws toe-nail trimmings on the floor or ground will be forced to pick them up in the hereafter.
4326. To clean finger-nails after dark is unlucky.
4327. If your finger-nails and toe-nails are trimmed on a waning moon, they will grow slowly; if on a waxing moon, rapidly.
4328. Some say the growing-time for finger-nails is the light of the moon; for toe-nails, the dark of the moon — therefore, rapid growth can be
checked by not trimming the nails at these respective times.
4329. To check their growth, pare your toe-nails on an uneven hour as the moon begins to decrease and tie up these parings in a bag which must
be buried that night. Moreover, if the toe-nails were crooked, this makes them grow straight.
4330. If you manicure your finger-nails during the new moon, it will cause good luck; if during the dark of the moon, bad luck.
4331. Do not clip your finger-nails on a holiday; bad luck will befall you.
4332. The omens drawn from the days of the week as cutting-times for finger-nails are:
"Monday for news.
Tuesday for a pair of shoes.
Wednesday for wealth.
Thursday for health.
Friday for woe.
Saturday for a journey to go.
Sunday for evil."
4333. Finger-nails may be clipped on:
"Monday for news.
Tuesday for a new pair of shoes.
Wednesday for a letter.
Thursday for something better.
Friday for woe.
Saturday for a journey to go.
Sunday for safety."
4334. As times for clipping finger-nails, the days of the week signify:
"Monday for health.
Tuesday for wealth.
Wednesday, best day of all.
Thursday for losses.
Friday for crosses.
Saturday no day at all.
Sunday worst day of all."
4335. If your finger-nails are pared on:
"Monday, a letter comes to you.
Tuesday, brings a new garment.
Wednesday, cares are few.
Thursday, brings you riches.
Friday, brings love's joy.
Saturday, brings misfortunes and troubles to annoy."
4336. The day of the week on which a person cuts his toe-nails may be interpreted as follows:
"On Monday, you trim for health.
On Tuesday, you trim for wealth.
On Wednesday, you trim for news.
On Thursday, you trim for new shoes.
On Friday, you trim for much sorrow.
On Saturday, you trim to see your sweetheart tomorrow.
On Sunday, you trim for the devil to seek.
For he will rule you the rest of the week."
4337. Finger-nails and toe-nails may be cut on Monday for luck or success.
4338. By cutting your toe-nails on Monday you will get a letter. This is also said of finger-nails in one of the preceding rhymes.
4339. If you trim your finger-nails on Monday (before breakfast), a present will be received (before the end of the week).
4340. Tuesday is a lucky time for paring finger-nails and toe-nails.
4341. To file finger-nails on Wednesday is lucky.
4342. Anyone who pares finger-nails or toe-nails on Thursday will meet with bad luck before the end of the week.
4343. Some say finger-nails and toe-nails trimmed on Friday do not grow so fast; others say they grow faster.
 96

4344. "My father would not trim his nails on any day but Friday; said it was good luck and would keep you from having toothache."
Nevertheless, most people consider this day unlucky; and some say the bad luck will last a week.
4345. It is lucky to clip finger-nails on the first Friday of a new moon.
4346. Never manicure your finger-nails on Friday if you are engaged in a business deal; you will lose during the transaction.
4347. The trimming of finger-nails on Friday morning will be followed by an unknown sorrow.
4348. "I always thought you would have foes instead of woes, if you filed your nails on Friday."
4349. A person cutting finger-nails on Friday will become a thief.
4350. If your finger-nails are cut on Friday, someone will tell a lie about you.
4351. As a method for staying healthy, pare your finger-nails on Friday.
4352. Finger-nails or toe-nails may be pared on Friday for wealth, Saturday for health.
4353. Saturday is an unfortunate day for paring finger-nails or toe-nails.
4354. The effect from filing your finger-nails on Saturday is a disappointment that day.
4355. A person who files finger-nails on Saturday will have the devil for a companion until the following Saturday.
4356.
"If you trim your toe-nails on Sunday,
It is the root of all evil;
And the rest of the week,
You will be ruled by the deevil."
4357.
"Don't cut your finger-nails on Sunday,
For you cut them for evil;
And for all the rest of the week,
You will feel worse than the deevil."
4358.
"He who on the Sabbath cuts his horns,
It were better for him if he had never been born."
4359. "You should never have been born,
To cut your nails on Sunday morn."
4360. "A man living near me wanted his wife to cut his finger-nails and toe-nails on Sunday. She did not want to do it. She said, 'Charlie, it will
bring you bad luck, if I do.' He said, 'Go on and do it, there is nothing to that.' Monday night he took a stroke and died that night." Some say the
bad luck will continue for a week.
4361. According to some, Sunday is the only lucky day of the week for cutting finger-nails or toe-nails; any other day is unlucky. But if you must
cut them on a week-day, bad luck can be averted by burning the cuttings.
4362. Whoever cuts finger-nails on Sunday will soon be disappointed --- that week say some.
4363. Cut your finger-nails on Sunday and you will be angry before night.
4364. A person becomes cross all week by manicuring finger-nails on Sunday.
4365. Letting someone trim your finger-nails on Sunday causes a quarrel.
4366. If you pare your finger-nails or toe-nails on Sunday, you will soon commit a sin.
4367. Concerning the paring of finger-nails or toe-nails on Sunday it is said: you will blush before sunset (before the day is over or before
Monday morning) or you will have a shamed face (or be caught doing something embarrassing) before next Sunday.
4368. If your finger nails are clipped on Sunday, you will accidentally break wind in someone's presence before next Sunday.
4369. A person clipping finger-nails on Sunday morning before noon will be lied about before the end of the day.
4370. Clip your finger-nails on Sunday and evil stories will be told about you all week.
4371. Do not trim your finger-nails on Sunday; you will become a thief.
4372. The person who trims finger-nails on Sunday will see his own blood before the week is over.
4373. Trimming finger-nails on Sunday will make you crazy.
4374. Toe-nails cut on Sunday do not grow so fast.

LEGS -KNEES -ANKLES -FEET (4375-4415)

4375. A woman with large legs has a large vagina.

4376. It is unlucky for a woman to cross her legs in front of a man or for a man to cross his legs in front of a woman.
4377. Never sit with your legs crossed in church; you will have bad luck.
4378. The person who crosses his legs and sits with hands crossed over the knees is brooding trouble.
4379. To sit cross-legged is a sign of good fortune say some; misfortune, say others.
4380. A boy sitting on his foot will become a tailor.
4381. They say a person missing the chair when he sits down has a bad soul.
4382. If a man flops into a chair instead of sitting down properly, it means he masturbates.
4383. An itching on the thigh indicates you will soon change your sleeping-place.
4384. The significance of an itching shin is a painful sickness.
4385. Women ticklish on the knee are fond of men.
4386. A woman whose knee itches likes men.
4387. If someone tickles you on the knee and you laugh, you have been stealing your mother's sugar.
4388. If your right knee itches, you will hear good news; if the left, bad news. This is usually said concerning business.
4389. If your left knee itches, expect news that will cause comment and gossip.
4390. An itching right knee denotes a change in your affairs.
4391. If your ankles are slender, your ancestors were of the leisured class; if thick, of the working class.
4392. A woman having small ankles is a good housekeeper.
4393. After an ankle itches, you will receive a gift of money.
4394. A man with small feet has a large penis; with big feet, a little penis.
 97

4395. The meaning of large feet is a good intellect.

4396. Large feet signify generosity.
4397. If your toes are far apart, you will never reside anywhere except in the town of your birth.
4398. The sole of your foot itching is an omen of a journey — usually a long one. Some say both soles must itch.
4399. A person whose foot itches on the bottom will soon pass over a strange bridge.
4400. Either sole itching foretells a journey over strange ground or in a strange land. Most people specify the left foot; a few, the right.
4401. If your sole itches, you will walk on strange ground with someone at present a stranger: if the right foot, a man; if the left, a woman.
4402. If the sole of your right foot itches, you will take a pleasant trip; if your left foot, an unpleasant trip.
4403. If the sole of your right foot itches, you are going somewhere and will be welcome; if your left foot, unwelcome.
4404. If the sole of your right foot itches, you will undertake some task and be successful with it; if your left foot, unsuccessful.
4405. An itching sole betokens a new pair of shoes. Usually the right foot is specified; sometimes, the left.
4406. The bottoms of your feet aching indicate you owe money.
4407. You may interpret an itching on the sole of your right foot as a quarrel with an enemy before the end of the week.
4408. Itching feet portend a sorrow.
4409. To have an itching right foot is lucky.
4410. The left foot going to sleep is a token of good news.
4411. Your left foot going to sleep signifies you are being thought about by someone you will soon see.
4412. If your right foot goes to sleep, a friend is thinking about you; if your left, an enemy.
4413. A sleeping foot can be awakened, if the sign of the cross is made on it with saliva.
4414. To wake up a sleeping foot, moisten your finger with saliva and make a cross over your knee.
4415. If your foot is asleep, awaken it by making with saliva a cross on your leg.

MOLES ON THE BODY (4416-4477)

4416. A person without a mole will lead a happy but uneventful life.
4417. Moles are lucky; the larger the mole, the greater the luck. Only round moles are lucky say some.
4418. A round mole with hair is an indication of prosperity.
4419. A hairless mole means a contented and prosperous life.
4420. Hairy moles are unlucky.
4421. A deeply colored mole warns you of some disgrace before you die.
4422. If you have a mole on the right side of your body, good luck is denoted; the left side, bad luck.
4423. Another interpretation for a mole on the left side of the body is industry and sobriety.
4424. A mole on the head is a token of ambition.
4425.
"Mole above your breath,
A lady before death."
4426. It is lucky to have a mole on the face.
4427.
"A mole on the face,
You'll suffer disgrace."
4428. If a person has a mole on the right temple, wealth may be expected; if the left temple, poverty.
4429. The person having a mole on the cheek always prospers.
4430. A mole on the right cheek is a mark of beauty.
4431. If there is a mole on your right cheek, it signifies modesty; if your left cheek, vanity.
4432. A chin mole indicates a long life.
4433. Persons with a mole on the lip are fond of delicate things.
4434.
"A mole on the lip,
You're a little too flip."
4435. The meaning of a mole on the nose is success.
4436. A mole on the eye characterizes a farsighted person.
4437. Those who have a mole near the corner of the eye are honest and reliable.
4438. From a mole on the right eyebrow you may predict a youthful and happy marriage.
4439. The significance of a mole on your left eyebrow is a life of sorrow.
4440.
"A mole on the ear
You'll have money by the year."
4441. Whoever has a mole behind the ear will be hanged.
4442. A mole on the throat foretells a rich marriage.
4443. Anyone having a mole on the neck is healthy.
4444. "I have two moles on my neck and I told my family I knew I will strangle when I die."
4445. A person with a mole on the side of the neck will rise to greatness.
4446. The omen to be drawn from a mole on the neck is death by hanging.
4447.
"Mole on your neck
Money by the peck."
or
"Mole on the neck,
Gold by the peck."
4448. A breast mole discloses a quarrelsome disposition.
 98

4449. Expect a mole on your right breast to bring you a life filled with ups and downs.
4450. If the right breast has a mole, it denotes ill health of your own making; if the left breast, a hereditary illness.
4451. A mole on the left breast shows a warm nature.
4452. In a woman a mole over the heart betokens constancy; in a man, fickleness.
4453. Men with a mole on the arm will enter the army.
4454.
"Mole on the arm,
You're a man's charm."
or
"Mole on the arm,
You are a gentleman's charm."
4455.
"Mole on the arm,
You'll live on a farm."
4456.
"If you have a mole on your arm,
You'll have money on a farm."
4457.
"A mole on your arm,
You'll never be harmed."
or
"A mole on the arm,
Free from harm."
4458. On the arm or shoulder a mole reveals great wisdom.
4459. People with a mole on the elbow become rich.
4460. A mole on your hand is a portent of a calamity in life. Some say the mole must be on the life-line.
4461. If you have a mole on your abdomen, you are greedy.
4462. If you have a mole on your abdomen, you are slothful.
4463. If you have a mole on your abdomen, you are slovenly in dress.
4464. An abdominal mole is a sign of good health.
4465. Children with a mole on the back have inherited their father's characteristics.
4466.
"A mole on your back,
More money than you can pack."
or
"Mole on your back,
Money by the pack."
or
"Mole on the back,
Money by the sack."
4467.
"Mole on the back,
Brains you will lack."
4468. A mole on the buttock portends death by hanging.
4469. You may characterize a person having a mole on the left side as ambitious.
4470. If your right side has a mole, a life of luxury is indicated; if your left side, a life of penury.
4471. Interpret a mole on the knee as a prediction of riches.
4472. A mole on the right knee causes good luck.
4473. He whose right knee bears a mole is rarely disappointed.
4474. A mole on the left knee and a bad temper go together.
4475. A mole on your left knee marks you as being rash.
4776. When you see a mole on someone's leg, you will know that person is lazy.
4777. The trait characterized by a mole on the left leg is a good disposition.

BEAUTY (4478-4523)

4478. Peelings from June apples may be rubbed over your face for a good complexion.
4479. The person who eats bread crusts will get rosy cheeks.
4480. Never destroy burnt bread; it should be eaten to make yourself beautiful.
4481. An excellent complexion is acquired by eating carrots.
4482. If chicken feet are eaten, you will become handsome.
4483. To be pretty, eat chicken gizzards.
4484. As a method for making yourself attractive, eat a chicken gizzard while standing on your head in a corner of the room.
4485. Girls can obtain large breasts by eating chicken gizzards.
4486. Chicken hearts bring beauty: some say you must eat them cooked; others say, raw. It is also said they must be swallowed whole.
4487. A person eating chicken necks becomes good-looking.
4488. Yolks of chicken eggs eaten raw will give your complexion a better color.
4489. Do not drink coffee; a muddy complexion will be the result.
4490. "My niece down in the country always washes her face in black coffee, will make you beautiful, and she is sure pretty."
4491. "We did this when we were girls, and I am eighty-three: comb your face down with a fine-comb, will make pretty cheeks."
 99

4492. Rainwater collected from cow droppings out in the pasture is a face lotion for beauty.
4493. A beauty preparation for the face can be made out of cow manure and water from an old hollow stump.
4494. Skin bathed in cow milk will turn as white as the milk. But some recommend half milk and half water; others, whey --- especially for a red
face or rough skin. It is occasionally recommended that the bathing be done at night.
4495. Buttermilk alone, or in which horse-radish roots or tansy leaves have been soaked, may be used as a face lotion to produce a fair
complexion; and combined with raw eggs it may be taken during the spring to bleach the skin.
4496. By washing your face with cucumber juice the skin is bleached.
4497. To cause attractiveness, wash your face in dew.
4498. You can remove skin blotches by washing your face in dew any day during May.
4499. A face washed in dew on the first of May before sunrise will soon appear lovely.
4500.
"A maid who on the first of May,
Goes to the fields at the break of day,
And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree,
Will ever after handsome be."
4501. If on the first three days of May before sunrise you bathe your face in dew, comeliness may be expected.
4502. Before sunrise on the first three days of May bathe your face in dew from an old stump as a beauty treatment.
4503. A person whose face is bathed in dew before sunrise every day of May will be comely all year.
4504. A woman can procure large legs, if she bathes them each morning with dishwater.
4505. Let a girl who wants beautiful hands put them in dishwater thrice daily --- wash dishes three times a day.
4506. "My mother knew a girl that would drink goat's milk all the time; said it would give her personality."
4507. Your looks will be improved, if you wash your face frequently with the water in which a blacksmith cools hot iron.
4508. Applications of the milky juice from lettuce will improve your appearance.
4509. Milkweed juice may be applied to the face for beauty.
4510. To pose habitually in front of a mirror causes ugliness.
4511. A girl can gain a charming complexion by sleeping in the moonlight.
4512. An onion eaten nightly before going to bed gives you a fine complexion.
4513. For an improvement in your looks, eat a lot of dill pickles.
4514. Some say rosy cheeks come from eating the skins of Irish potatoes; others say, the skins of sweet potatoes.
4515. Pumpkin seeds may be eaten for loveliness.
4516. Use the green scum (algae) from stagnant water as a lotion to beautify the skin.
4517. Blotches can be removed from your face, if you treat the skin with water from an old stump.
4518. Always take off your shoes and stockings while sitting on the bed and you will never be ugly.
4519. March snow-water is considered a good lotion for the skin of the face.
4520. Skin can be cleared up by washing in water from April snow.
4521. The swallowing of a turkey heart beautifies the skin.
4522. To bleach the skin, wipe your face every morning with a baby's wet diaper.
4523. Your skin can be whitened, if you bathe your face daily with your own urine — your first urine for the day say some.

FOLK MEDICINE (4524-7213)

SICKNESS AND HEALTH (4524-4638)

General Remedies (4524-4582)

4524. Do not speak of sickness; someone in your family will become sick.
4525. Every disease has a herb that cures it.
4526. Remedies requiring an incantation are ineffectual unless spoken in German.
4527. Never pay the doctor's bill in full; you will soon need him again.
4528. A dark cloudy Easter; much sickness that year.
4529. "My father always made us eat an apple on Easter morning on an empty stomach for good health."
4530. As a preventive against sickness, especially sickness caused by a contagious disease, carry a piece of asafetida. Some include a lump of
camphor gum, others omit the former and use only the latter. Usually, these substances, together or separately, are sewed up in a sack and carried
about the neck.
4531. Put some asafetida in a bag, tie thirteen knots in the draw-string, and wear this to keep sickness or evil away.
4532. If you cut up bittersweet into beads and let a child wear this necklace, it will never catch any disease.
4533. "Some old Germans say dried peas, but I say dried butterbeans, are the best to keep well. Save a few of the first butterbeans you raise in the
spring, dry them, and carry them in your pocket all winter to keep your health."
4534. The person who carries a buckeye in the pocket never becomes sick.
4535. Cloves strung on a string protects a child against disease. This can be used either round the neck as a necklace, or worn sash-fashion --- tied
at the front hem of the shirt, brought up over the shoulder, and fastened on the back hem of the shirt.
4536. If anyone dies with a contagious disease or some ailment thought to be hereditary in the family, cut a square piece of cloth from her dress
or his shirt and lay it with the coffined corpse so that the same disease or ailment will not again attack a relative.
4537. "If some of your relations die and you have some kind of sickness you want to get rid of, go to the dead one and take your hand and rub
over the back of the dead one's head right down next to the back of the neck, saying the Three Highest Names; will cure you if not too far gone.
My husband had been sick a long time, someone of his relations died and he tried it, but he waited too long. It didn't help him. You must start
when you first get sick."
4538. A dog, usually a puppy, kept in bed with a sick child will take away the sickness.
4539. If someone in the house is sick and a dog howls; take off your shoes, lay them upside down on the floor, and the patient will soon recover.
4540. A fern kept in the house will always keep you healthy.
 100

4541. "My mother told me this. You see, if living, she would be over a hundred years old. There was an Indian woman [before 1856] living out
here in the country about what we call Liberty now. She had a large family; nine girls and two boys. She lost three girls. She told my grandma,
she said, 'I will never lose any more girls.' When she lost her last one, she got six pairs of half-moon earrings for her six girls, she pierced their
ears when the moon looked just like the earrings, in the light of the moon, and when the moon was coming up she put the earrings in each girl's
ear, saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost, let my girls grow up like the moon and live. She didn't tell anyone when doing it. And all her girls lived
to be old."
4542. To ward off diseases carry a garlic in your pocket.
4543. "I use to never be able to keep anything down like salts or castor
oil, when someone told me about whatever you took your medicine in, turn it
upside down to keep your medicine down --- set your glass upside down, if you
took it out of a glass; and if you took it out of a spoon, just turn your spoon
over. I always do this now and I never have any trouble keeping my medicine
down."
4544. Green grass kept beneath the pillow of a sick person will bring a speedy recovery.
4545. Sickness among members of the household can be prevented by keeping a goat.
4546. Eat seven green things on Green Thursday (Maundy Thursday) and you will be well all year.
4547 "This was in slavery-time. A neighbor had a little girl about two years old and she was sick all the time. Another old woman told her baby
would never be healthy or have any luck until it had lice. This woman told her of a family that had lice, and she took her little girl over to this
house and got a louse, and put on her baby's head so it would be healthy and have luck. This is so; it happen over here in Missouri."
4548. Diseases are not caught by a child that wears a necklace of madder seed.
4549. Always keep a cup full of fresh milk in your room; it will suck up all; the germs in the atmosphere."
4550. A baby never gets sick, if during the first year a mole foot is worn about its neck.
4551. To guard against disease, tie round your neck the two forepaws of a mole.
4552. Tea boiled from bark off the north side of a red oak tree can be administered for almost any kind of ailment.
4553. An onion in the pocket protects you against disease.
4554. Several onions hung up in the house will absorb any infectious disease within three days.
4555. To make yourself immune from any contagious disease that a visitor might bring into the house, cut a cross on each of three small onions
and lay them over the transom of the door.
4556. "Years ago I knew of a woman down near Beverly that her little girl got an infection in her foot. There was an old saying, if you have an
infection on your body, to put a shovel in the stove and when it gets red-hot, if an owl will holler at the same time, it will cure it. This woman
tried putting the shovel in the stove three [different] times, but the owl didn't holler and the little girl died. The owl must holler, to save you, at the
same time the shovel is red. This is so. I knew the doctor she called after the owl didn't holler."
4557. Protect yourself against serious sickness by hanging above your bed a palm that was blessed on Palm Sunday.
4558. Prevent disease by carrying a small potato in your pocket.
4559. If you rub a potato over a sick person's head and bury the potato, the sickness will disappear after the potato has rotted.
4560. For almost all sicknesses, apply a mixture of quinine and lard to the armpits and soles.
4561. Rattlesnake rattles in a sack about your neck drives diseases away.
4562. In warding off disease, a rabbit foot is carried. Some specify the left hind foot.
4563. People who set their shoes up high at night are always plagued with bad health. To avoid this, let your shoes remain on the floor.
4564. Some believers in posture rites say, sleep with your head to the north for good health; others say head to the south. Both beliefs are
contradicted: if you sleep head northward, you will not live long; if head southward, you will be unhealthy. There appears to be agreement, that
sleeping with your head to the west shortens your life, and that with your head to the east is healthy. Related to the preceding southward belief: if
you are very tired, your fatigue can be driven away by going out into the yard and sitting down facing south.
4564a. You prolong your life by sleeping on your right side, because sleeping on your left side weakens the heart.
4565. It is unhealthy to have an east wind blow on you while sleeping.
4566. If you hold your mouth open and catch some of the first snow of the year and swallow it, you will be healthy all year. Some confine this
belief to luck for the year.
4567. Contrary to the preceding belief, some say the eating of the first snow of the year will poison you.
4568. Walk barefoot in the first snow and you will be free from sickness all year.
4569. As a protection against disease, place a spider in a nutshell and hang it about the neck.
4570. Sickness is barred from the house, if you burn sugar on the stove every morning.
4571. Go swimming before sunrise on the first of May and you will not be attacked by a contagious disease that year.
4572. A swim taken on the first of June guards you all summer against sickness.
4573. Bore a hole into a tree and into this stuff some hair from an unhealthy child; after the bark grows over this hole, the child's health
will improve.
4574. If when pulling bark off a tree for medicine you pull the bark upwards, you will throw up the medicine; but if the bark is pulled
downwards from the tree, you will keep the medicine down.
4575. "It was an old German saying from the old country, to keep a bottle of vinegar on a shelf without anything over it to keep out sickness. I
have heard my mother tell this many a time. "
4576. Swallow the first three violet blossoms you find in spring and you will not be sick that summer.
4577. A pan of water in the room where there is sickness absorbs the disease.
4578. Your sickness improves as soon as you have crossed water.
4579. Let a sick person get up on Easter morning before the sun rises, go into a spring, stand in front of it while saying the Lord's Prayer three
times, wash with the water, return home, be sure to arrive before sunrise, not speaking during the entire rite, and he will be cured. Years ago an
old woman took her sick son to the spring in South Park, Quincy, but the boy spoke on the way home and consequently died within a year.
4580. "My father made us gather all old weeds, when we were children, like jimson weed, milkweed, Indian-fever-cure, mullein leaves, plantain
leaves, and wild grape. We had to put them in a barrel and keep the dishwater over them for the hogs we were to kill for our own meat. Father
said you would never have to take any medicine, for the meat would have the medicine in."
4581. "I had a friend that always worn pink wool string around her neck to ward off sickness; wear a colored wool string."
 101

4582. Spit three times when you see a woolly-worm (caterpillar), then make a wish and walk away, and you will not suffer from sickness that
year.

Sickbed (4583-4635)
4583. A sick person will not recover unless the head and foot of the bed point north and south: some saying the head must be to the south,
other saying the north.
4584. Sometimes a person who has been sick a long time recovers if moved into another room.
4585. Never move a sickbed; it causes the patient bad luck.
4586. The sick person whose bed is moved will not get well.
4587. "I was in an Irish house Monday afternoon on Third and X. Street, and the man took sick on a cot and his wife wanted to have him in bed
before the doctor came, and he got angry; said he would die if they took him off the bed he got sick on and put him in another --- was bad luck.
Out in the kitchen the old woman told me she knew he would die because they threw an old alarm clock away over two weeks ago out in the
shed, that had not been running, and the alarm went off that morning."
4588. "My father always said never take a sick person from one room to the other by their feet; always take the head first — if you don't, they
will die. I remember when my father went to the hospital they took him out the door by his feet. He said, 'I will never come back well. Why didn't
you take my head first so I would come back well ?' And he died."
4589. Do not turn the mattress beneath a sick person; that person will soon die.
4590. To sweep under a sick-bed is unlucky.
4591. If anyone sweeps under the bed of a sick person, the latter will be dead before the end of the year.
4592. "My grandma will not even sweep in a room where someone is sick; afraid they will get worse."
4593. "My uncle and aunt were both sick, and my uncle would slide to the head of the bed all the time; he would hit his head on the top of the
bed. We knew he would get well and he did. We knew my aunt would die, because she would slide to the foot all the time, and she did."
4594. Observe a sick person closely as you enter the room on a visit: if the patient moves his feet first, there is no hope for him; if the hands,
he will recover.
4595. "A man out here on Tenth Street several years ago fell out of a tree and was hurt very bad. An old woman in the neighborhood ran out and
started to washing up the blood to see if he would live. If you go right out and wash that blood up and it come right up and don't leave a stain, the
person will live; but if the blood does not come up, they will die. The blood all came up. As they were putting him in the wagon to take to the
hospital, this old woman said to some of his folks, 'Don't worry, he will not die, because all of his blood wash up.' And he didn't."
4596. You will not survive a sickness during which you constantly think of someone who is dead.
4597. If a sick friend asks for you and you think that person is going to die, never visit the sickroom for you will be the next to go.
4598. Rub a piece of bread on a sick person's teeth and then feed it to a dog: if the animal refuses this food, look for death; but if it is
accepted, the patient will be restored to health.
4599. To discover the final result of a sickness, a chunk of meat is rubbed over the patient's feet and given to a dog. The dog's refusal of the food
means death; his acceptance foretells complete recovery.
4600. "I am very superstitious about this, for I had a very dear friend that was sick and went to see her, and forgot about going in one door and
going out another; and I went in the front door of the house and when I went home went out the back door, and she died."
4601. Just before you enter a sickroom (for the first time say some) lay a penny outside the door and the patient will recover.
4602. "I know a woman that had a sick niece and she went to a fortune teller; and she told her to put the white of an egg in a glass and let set for
three days without looking, and she would see how her niece would get. So this woman put the white of an egg in a glass and let set for three
days. On the third day she looked and saw a coffin in the glass with green grass around it. And her niece died within the next three days."
4603. The person who cuts his own finger-nails while sick will never get well.
4604. The sick person whose finger-nails or toe-nails are cut by someone else will never get well.
4605. The person who has his finger-nails trimmed while sick in bed will take a long time recovering from the sickness.
4606. Send flowers to the sick and you send bad luck.
4607. Patients should not be taken to the hospital on Friday, for:
"Friday flitting,
Short sitting."
4608. It is unlucky to have a sick person leave his bed for the first time on Friday.
4609. "I am a nurse, was taking care of a woman several months ago here in Quincy. The woman had been sick several weeks and her hair was
nothing but a mat. I was trying to comb it when a friend of hers came in and almost had a fit — said, did I know what I was doing; said the
woman would die before the year was out; said it would be my fault. Well, I told her I didn't believe in signs, and combed the other woman's hair.
The other woman left the house very angry at me for doing it."
4610. Hair curled in a sickbed always comes out.
4611. The person who becomes sick in a March that has two new moons will never recover.
4612. Bad luck befalls the person who while sick sees himself in a mirror.
4613. Sick people looking into a mirror always grow worse.
4614. "My little girl was very sick. My aunt came to see me. She brought my little boy a nice present, didn't bring the girl a thing. I was very
angry over it. She said, 'Why, I would not give your girl anything new while in bed sick; if I did, she would never get out of that bed. When she is
well, will send something to her.' And did."
4615. A person who takes sick while wearing a new unwashed garment will never recover.
4616. The sick person for whom you buy or make a garment will not surmount his sickness.
4617. If a patient gets worse at night, he will be sick a long time.
4618. Oleanders in a sickroom make the patient weak.
4619. "A little boy in our neighborhood was real sick; everyone thought he was going to die. Several of the old ladies of the neighborhood and a
man was setting up watching the child. That's the way we did in old days. Now, your neighborhood don't come in to see if you are dead or alive.
We were all sitting out in the kitchen when one of ladies went in to give him his medicine. When she came out she said, 'The boy is not going to
die, he will live.' Someone spoke up and said, 'Hope you are right. But how can you tell when the doctor said he will die?' 'Well, when I went in,
his little thing was sticking straight up, and that is a sure sign they will get well; for whenever a boy is real sick and his thing sticks up, sure sign
they will live.' And the boy did get well. This happen down here in the Bottom near Lima, even if the doctor did say he would not get well."
4620. If a policeman by mistake goes to a house where there is sickness, the sick person will soon be taken to the hospital.
 102

4621. "Miss X. [a Roman Catholic] said that after a priest is called in to see a sick person, the patient either becomes better or worse at once."
4622. A sick person will recover, if on your way to visit him you meet a rabbit.
4623. To change a sick person's wedding ring from one hand to the other breaks the fever and starts him on the road to health.
4624. Some say a patient singing on the third day of sickness is becoming better; others say this indicates a relapse.
4625. If a sick person sneezes three times in succession before breakfast, he will regain his health.
4626. Persons becoming ill on Sunday never recover.
4627. If a sick person gets better on Sunday, he will die; if worse, he will get well.
4628. Sunday is a bad day for a sick person to arise from bed the first time.
4629. To counteract the backset that will be caused by leaving a sickbed for the first time on Sunday, stand on your feet a few minutes the day
before.
4630. "Someone gave me a tuberose plant when I was sick, and, because it was my favorite flower, my mother put it right by my bed; and I
started to getting weaker every day until I was almost dead. Then a woman came in to see me and she said to my mother, 'That girl will not get
well as long as that tuberose is in the room, for the plant is getting stronger and your daughter weaker.' Then my mother put the plant on the back
porch and the plant started to dying and I got better."
4631. A tub of hot water secretly set beneath a sickbed will improve the patient's condition.
4632. Put a four-leafed clover under a sick person's pillow while wishing for an improvement in his health and your wish will be fulfilled.
4633. Anyone can get well by looking over the right shoulder at the moon as he wishes his sickness away. This must be done for three successive
nights.
4634. As soon as a sick person begins to break wind, it signifies that he is becoming well.
4635. To yawn in bed during sickness is a bad omen.

Healer (4636-4638)
4636. As a general rule the power to heal cannot be revealed or its efficacy will be lost. It may be disclosed to another person only when
the possessor is on his deathbed.
4637. The power of healing is destroyed if the healer accepts money in payment for services. A number of people refused to explain their
methods of curing when they learned that these remedies were going to be printed in a book which would be sold.
4638. "Ten or eleven years ago [1920-1921] I came upon a superstition which was quite new to me at the time. Questioning a little girl about the
health of her cousin who was suffering from a badly infected arm, I was told that his condition was very serious, 'Grandma had to talk to him
last night.' On inquiry I learned that Grandma knew how to 'talk over' people who were afflicted with wounds or sores and made them well, and
that she frequently exercised her art for all sorts of people. She had 'talked over' Marie herself, but Marie declined regretfully but firmly to tell
what she said. 'You dassunt tell or something bad will happen.' The school janitor to whom all the secrets of the South End [of Quincy] are an
open book, told me that he knew several old women who pretended to this skill, and he mentioned one within two blocks of the school, a radius
that would include Grandma also. I mentioned Grandma's curious practice to Mr. B., pastor of K. Church. He received the tale without any
surprise and acknowledged that the thing was common. Walter asked several acquaintances of German parentage what they knew about it, and he
found that old women who will 'talk over' you can be found in northeast Quincy as well as in south Quincy. No doubt this is an old German
superstition. It is certainly alive and flourishing in Quincy."

AMPUTATIONS AND SURGICAL OPERATIONS (4639-4649)

4639. A surgeon will kill you, if you let him operate on you during any of the following signs of the Zodiac: the head (Aries), the lungs (breast
= Cancer), and the bowels (Virgo).
4640. An operation during a sign below the waist will not be a success. The sign of the waist may be any of the middle signs of the Zodiac:
Virgo, Libra and Scorpio.
4641. Successful operations are performed only while the sign of the knee (knees = Capricornus) is going down.
4642. Saturday is an unlucky day for operating on people.
4643. Always burn an amputated limb, for burying it in the ground makes the wound painful until the limb rots.
4644. The wound from an amputation of a finger heals only by burying the finger.
4645. "My uncle's finger was cut off and his hand was so cold for several days. Someone said, 'What did you do with your finger when you cut it
off?' 'Oh, I just threw it behind the barn.' They told him to look for it and bury it --- if you cut your finger off and don't bury it right away, the
hand will be cold; but if you bury it right away, it will keep the hand warm. He went and found his finger just where he threw it, buried it, and he
had no more trouble with his hand getting cold."
4646. If you have any toes or fingers removed, the others will ache until someone buries the former.
4647. "I knew a man that had three fingers taken off; his hand hurt all the time because the fingers were not laid out straight when placed in the
ground. They took up his three fingers and straightened them, and after that he did not have any more pain."
4648. To avoid future pains, an amputated arm or leg must be buried north and south with the fingers or toes pointing toward the latter direction.
4649. "I know a woman that was operated on and it left her with a stiff knee. She tried rubbing everything on it, even the doctor could not help
her. Then someone told her, 'Put some worms in a bottle, hang them on the south side of the house, and when they turn to oil, rub on your joints.'
And she did. She took the oil and rubbed over her stiff knee, and it was no time until she could walk again. I think worm oil is wonderful."

APPENDICITIS (4650-4654)

4650. "I will tell you about 'pendisidis. Did you know that often when they operate for 'pendisidis they find small teeth and hair in the
'pendix? Well, whenever they find hair and teeth in the 'pendix, it is the sign that their mother should of had twins when they were born and
didn't. The teeth and hair in the 'pendix are what should of been in the other child."
4651. Let a person having appendicitis cover his side with warm cow manure and an operation will not be needed.
4652. A finger-nail biter has appendicitis before he dies.
4653. Babies who keep one thumb in the mouth and the other thumb in the navel suffer from appendicitis before they die.
4654. "I knew a man at Augusta [Illinois] that used to have bad attacks of 'pendisidus and someone told him about this. Stand in the corner of a
room on your head, let someone hold your feet up for you, and stand that way as long as you can, then rest and try it over, and whatever is in your
'pendix will run out. And he did it; would let his wife hold his feet for him. He did this every time he felt an attack coming on. And the spells got
 103

farther apart until he didn't have them at all. This man, when he would get an attack, you could hear him for a block, he was in so much pain. And
standing in the corner on his head cured him."

AURAL AFFLICTIONS (4655-4686)

Earache (4655-4678)
4655. Earache is cured by eggs mixed either with onion juice or sweet oil.
4656. "My grandfather always did this for earache. I have heard him tell how one of his sons cried all night with earache, and he had to wait until
morning to find a betsy-bug --- that's one of those hard-shell black bugs that live under old boards, they have one drop of blood in their body from
the head to the back. Take that one drop of blood and put in the ear."
4657. As a treatment for an ear that aches, breathe against the pain.
4658. In curing an abscessed ear, apply the juice from a cockroach.
4659. "I had a running ear for years and tried everything, when a woman told me about putting the cotton in the ear and let stay overnight, then
put the cotton in a coffin with a dead person; and when that cotton rots, your ear will get well. I tried it and it was no time until my ear got well,
and I never did have any more trouble with it."
4660. Heat cow manure in sweet milk, put this in a bag, and then bind it over an aching ear.
4661. "Take the dirt from a mud dauber's nest, put in a teacup and pour boiling water over it, let it set for one hour and it will clear, then
strain through a cloth, and put in a bottle. Warm it and put one teaspoonful in each ear every night. It will cure earache, risings in the head, and
will cure you if you are hard of hearing. This lady had a daughter who was very hard of hearing in both ears. You would have to shout to her to
make her hear. Some man gave the remedy and she thought she would try it on her daughter's ear. It couldn't do any harm. And she put one
teaspoonful in each ear every night for one week. Her daughter could hear so well that she could hear one whisper across the room."
4662. To rid yourself of pains in the ear, keep it well greased with goose grease.
4663. If you fill a clean bag with goose manure and boil it, you may use three drops of this water per dose in an ear that aches.
4664. "Just two weeks ago the little girl next to our house at Ninth and Jersey had earache bad. If you have the earache, take a gold ring, put it
just inside the ear, then turn the ring around three times, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Her mother put the ring in her ear
and did this, and it stop."
4665. The ear of a child will stop aching, after you put in it some hair from a Negro's head.
4666. Poultice a running ear with a mixture of hog dung and hog lard.
4667. A good ointment for earache is milk from the human breast.
4668. "My brother when he was a year old had earache bad, cried with it all the time. Mother got the doctor and he could not help his ear.
Then some old German woman told her about the onion. She tried it. Roast an onion in coals of fire, then squeeze three drops through a cloth in
the ear; will cure it, and you will never have earache again."
4669. Fry a piece of rabbit fat and put one drop of this grease in the ear for earache. Sometimes fat from a rabbit kidney is prescribed.
4670. Three drops of rabbit-fat oil in the ear is an earache cure.
4671. Treat an earache by rubbing it with rabbit urine.
4672. An old woman in her eighties said her family came from Germany to Quincy about 1835 and brought with them the following remedy:
"Gather the sheep buttons manure, let them dry hard, then put on to boil for about one hour, then take the juice and bottle it up, put two
tablespoonfuls of pure alcohol with it, then bury the bottons and use the juice for earache."
4673. In treating an earache, skunk oil is applied.
4674. Oil from a snake makes a good ointment for earache.
4675. Apply to an aching ear a rattlesnake button.
4676. "I had earache when I was a girl and mother just tried everything. Then she tried the water bugs out of the water barrel, some call them
sow bugs, and mashed them, and took the juice and dropped in the ear. And my ear stopped right away."
4677. You will not lose an earache unless your own urine is applied. In removing an insect from the ear, use anyone's urine.
4678. Only urine from a person of the opposite sex cures an earache.

Hearing and Deafness (4679-4686)

4679. It is said that a deaf person regains his hearing by going up in an airplane.
4680. A person who eats dove occasionally will never become deaf.
4681. Oil rendered from the fat of a hoot owl makes a good ointment for bad hearing.
4682. Do not eat potatoes if your hearing is bad; this vegetable will make your affliction worse.
4683. Hearing can be improved, if a rattlesnake button is kept in the afflicted ear.
4684. As a treatment for deafness, kill a squirrel and while it is yet warm take a drop of its urine and put in the afflicted ear.
4685. Human urine is rubbed in the ear for deafness.
4686. Applications of earth-worm oil restores the hearing.

BACKACHE AND LUMBAGO (4687-4698)

4687. "A neighbor man just last week had the backache bad; sprained his back and sent over to get my water bottle. A woman was visiting me
said, 'Don't let that man have your water bottle; If you do, you will get his backache.' I guess it was mean of me, for I didn't let him have it, for I
was afraid I would get his pains."
4688. The person who carries a buckeye in the pocket never suffers from backache. 4689. Let ten copper pennies soak in vinegar overnight and
sew five of them into each end of a long bandage. The latter must then be soaked in vinegar during the second night. Next morning arrange the
cloth so that five pennies rest on your sore back and the other five hang over your chest. This cures a sore back.
4690. "I had the backache one time so bad I could not lay down or do anything. I went out to a farmhouse and stood behind the cows and caught
a bucketful of fresh manure and took it home. That night I took two towels and put that manure in it and put it around my back. I sit up all night
in a chair with that manure on my back and the next day my pain was gone. It is an old remedy, but it is better than any doctor can do for you."
4691. If a person, as soon as he hears the first dove of the season call, lies down and rolls over three times, that year he will not be bothered with
a sore back.
4692. "My mother had lumbago bad and an old woman that lived on Bay Island told her about the eelskin. Mother laugh at first because she had
several of Quincy's best doctors and they could not help her. But at last she got one and put it on, and it did do her good."
 104

4693. As a remedy for backache, sleep with a knife beneath your mattress.
4694. "Cut a piece of oil cloth out the shape of a diaper and wear around your waist with the oil side out. Never put the oil side to your back.
This will make a good poultice for weak backs. I know several that have tried it."
4695. Pass a woolen string through a potato and suspend it from your neck. Your lumbago disappears as soon as the potato dries up.
4696. A poultice made of mashed potato-bugs, flour and water may be used for backache.
4697. On hearing the first whippoorwill of spring, lie down and rollover, and you will not have a backache that year.
4698. A sack of sulphur against the sole of each foot and a sack of sand on the back helps lumbago.

BITES AND STINGS

Dog Bit - Insect Bite or Sting - Snake Bite (4699-4744)
DOG BITE
4699. If a dog goes mad after biting someone, that person will also go mad. To prevent this, kill the dog at once.
4700. Sometimes they say a person becomes mad, if the mad dog that bites him is killed. To protect himself against this possibility, thus
neutralizing in advance the effects of the dog's subsequent death, the victim must make a bow round the animal's leg with a small woolen string
and then tie the bow into two knots.
4701. "I know a woman that was going to the store one day and a mad dog tore her dress. When she got home she sewed it up and forgot to cut
the thread off, she bit it off, and in nine days she got mad."
4702. Hair from the dog that bites you should be mixed with lard and bound on the wound.
4703. Remove some hair from the belly of the dog by which you were bitten and put on the wound as a remedy.
4704. Cure a dog bite by cutting some hair from his tail and binding in over the wound.
4705. The person who wears about the neck a tooth from a mad dog that has bitten someone is never attacked by mad dogs.
4706. "This is very old --- my grandfather lived when the Indians were here, he was part Indian himself. He said when a dog bit anyone and they
thought they would go mad, they would always hunt a deer, kill it, take the liver out and rub over the bite. If not so bad, they would cut a square
piece off the dog's back and put on the bite. They thought that good, but not as good as the deer liver."
4707. If you are bitten by a dog, take the precaution of touching a madstone; you will not go mad, even if the dog does.
4708. Hold a madstone against a dog bite to test the animal's sanity: if the dog was not mad, the stone will fall off immediately; if mad, it
will stick to the wound until all poison has been absorbed.
4709. A madstone, according to an old farmer who once saw one used, is grey and resembles a hog kidney. Years ago someone living near him
had been bitten by a mad dog, and the owner of a madstone was called in to work the cure. The latter began by putting his madstone against the
bite, where it stuck for a long time like a magnet and could not be removed. This signified, said the operator, that the madstone was sucking out
the poison; further, as soon as it was thoroughly saturated, it would drop off the wound. Thus the madstone eventually let loose, and he placed it
in a crock of milk which turned grey immediately. This process of administering the madstone and then dipping it into the milk was repeated
seven times. When it was applied for the eighth time, it no longer adhered, indicating that all the poison had been extracted; but to make certain,
the healer asked for another crock of milk and swished the madstone in it as a final test. The milk remained white.

INSECT BITE OR STING

4710. Bites and stings do not swell, provided the insect is caught and rubbed over the wound.
4711. A clay or mud poultice may be used on a sting to check the swelling and to lessen the pain.
4712. Three kinds of weeds applied to a bite or sting prevent swelling and assuage the pain.
4713. Cure a bee sting with an application of earwax.
4714. When stung by a bee or wasp, leave the stinger in the wound and the insect will die.
4715. If you get chiggers, you can make your blood distasteful to them by eating five drops of turpentine dropped on a half teaspoonful of sugar.
4716. To keep mosquitoes from biting you, rub coal oil behind your ears.
4717. Draw a cross over a mosquito or spider bite; the swelling will cease itching and disappear.
4718. The person who eats meat on Good Friday will be bitten by mosquitoes all summer.
4719. Greens eaten on Green Thursday (Maundy Thursday) protect you against mosquitoes bites that year.
4720. As soon as a mosquito lights on your bare flesh, tighten your muscles while holding your breath and you can kill the insect, for it will not
be able to fly away.
4721. "A spider bit me one Sunday on the eye. My eye was all swollen up. I looked and looked and didn't find it for a week, then found it on the
foot of my bed. I killed it and my eye got well right away after I killed it."

SNAKE BITE
4722. "This is over two hundred years old [?]and a' Indian remedy. A chief told my great-great-grandma. For a snake bite take the large wing
feathers out of a buzzard and take the quill part, roast them on the stove until you can make powder of them, then mix this powder good with
fresh lard and put it on a cloth, then put over the bite. A little drop of green will come on the cloth. This is the poison. As long as you see one
drop, keep changing the cloth until you see no more green drops on the cloth. Years ago we took up a homestead down in the Ozark Mountains
[in southern Missouri] and the snakes were very bad. We used this remedy on our horse and cow when snake bitten. My mother kept
buzzard-wing feathers in the house all the time, would not be without them for snake bite. I remember well one day that a woman that lived
several miles from us came carrying her little girl crying to our house. A copperhead had bitten her little girl and her leg was all swollen up.
She knew mother had the buzzard-wing feathers. Mother started right in to putting the poultice on her leg and would take one off and put on
another. The woman stayed all day and mother worked with the child and saved it. Our family don't think there is anything better for a snake
bite."
4723. "Down here in the South Bottom forty years ago my cousin when she undress threw her dress down on the floor. When she picked it up in
the morning to dress, a rattlesnake was coil up in it. Of course she didn't see the snake until it bit her on the finger. They ran out in the yard,
picked up a young chicken, cut it right open, and put her finger in this chicken to draw the poison out. It saved her life, but she has a scar on her
finger where the snake bit her."
4724. Poultice a snake bite with the warm gizzard from a chicken.
4725. If you are bitten by a snake, apply warm chicken guts and then drink whiskey.
4726. A wing should be wrested from a live chicken and used as a poultice for snake bite.
4727. Cut a black chicken open and tie half of it about a snake bite.
 105

4728. "Sixty years ago [1876] about sundown a little girl was playing in a path and a snake bit her on the foot; it was a poison snake, and the foot
was swelling. An old remedy for snake bite is to kill three chickens one after the other and put on a bite while warm to draw the poison out. They
got a chicken, kill it, put her foot right in the chicken until it got cold; then they kill another and put her foot in; and the third. They worked with
her all night, but she never had any more trouble. The third chicken drew all the poison out."
4729. Treat a snake bite by splitting open a live frog and applying it to the wound.
4730. "A boy I knew years ago had a bad snake bite, and I knew an old German man out here at Burton that brought a madstone over from
Germany. And we got that stone and put on this boy's arm and let stay on until it fell off, then put it in milk and leave for three days; will draw all
the poison out of the stone so you can use it for the next person that has a bite. When the poison was all out we gave it back. And the boy never
had any trouble."
4731. Mud rubbed over a snake bite draws out the poison.
4732. If the first thing you eat on Easter is a green onion, a snake will not bite you that year.
4733. A person carrying an onion in his pocket is never bitten by snakes.
4734. You will never recover from the bite of a green snake or a snake that has any green on its skin.
4735. "I remember this [in Missouri] when I was seven years old [1855]. Our neighbor boy was out hunting rabbits with his dog. The boy was
about thirteen years old. His dog went to barking and barking around an old hollow stump. The boy thinking there was a rabbit in the stump ran
his hand into the stump to get the rabbit and it was a snake. The snake bite him on the arm. He came on to the house, to the cookhouse. In those
days they always had a cookhouse out in the yard. His father was sitting out in the yard talking to another man. They got right up to go and look
for the snake, for it's an old saying, very old, if you can get a piece of the snake and bind on, will cure the bite. They didn't find it. And when they
got back the boy's arm was a sight, swelling so fast. Then they knew another remedy for snake bite, to catch a chicken and run a knife down its
back and put on the bite. They did this and this didn't work. By this time the boy arm looked like a stovepipe and all spotted. Then they knew
another. They got whiskey and poured down the boy. They saved him. But every year at the same time, this boy's arm would turn all spotted
like, where the snake bit him."
4736. If a rattlesnake strikes you, the snake must be killed at once, slit open, and the warm insides placed on the wound. Some say that the blood
alone is sufficient.
4737. Some say you must first cut off the head of the snake that bites you, before the poison goes through its body, and then apply a piece of
the snake flesh.
4738. Only the flesh taken from between the second and third rattle and applied to the wound will cure a rattlesnake bite.
4739. Snakes do not bite those who wear a belt made from a rattlesnake skin.
4740. "See here on my arm, this snake. If you are marked with a snake, a snake will never bite you. Well, I can pick up a snake anywhere and
they I will not bite me."
4741. In the spring drink tea brewed out of snakeroot and you will not be bitten by a snake that year.
4742. As a treatment for snake bite, cover the wound with crushed leaves off a thorn tree while thrice saying Poison kill poison.
4743. An application of urine, salt, and onion juice cures a snake bite.
4744. "Fifty-five years ago [1883] my husband was down by the creek. In those days they went without shoes a lot. This day he didn't have any
on. We lived on a farm out here. Well, he step on a rattlesnake by the creek; bit him right on the bottom of the foot. He put tobacco juice on it
right away, then came to the house with his foot swelling. Then I went out and got some clay. We put that on; didn't help. His foot was swelling
all the time. Then we sent to one of the neighbors on the next farm for whiskey and got him good and drunk; that didn't help. Someone said, 'Get
some cow manure and make a poultice and put on; that is very good.' But I said, 'Yes, and your own manure is better than any cow manure; will
tell you two people that was saved with their own manure.' Well, I told my husband to go out and do a job. Well, he couldn't right away, but did.
We made a poultice of his own manure and put on, and the poison came right out. It is sure good for poison. And the next day his foot was all
right. I will tell you one when I used my own manure. One day I step on a nail in the chicken yard. Of course you can't do a job whenever you
want to, you just have to wait. So I make a poultice of plantain leaves and put on until I could do a job; then, right away after I did, made a
poultice of it and put on. I never had any trouble with the nail."

BLEEDING
Cuts - Nosebleed (4745-4831)
CUTS
4745. If you cut yourself during the dark of the moon, the wound will not bleed much; if during the light of the moon, it will bleed profusely.
4746. The full moon is an unlucky time for cutting yourself.
4747. Wounds from cuts will heal better in the first and second quarters of the moon.
4748. If you cut yourself on a dark moon, you will have a scar; if on a light moon, you will not.
4749. A cut made in the sign of the heart (Leo) always causes greater pain.
4750. A cloth washed out on Sunday quenches the flow of blood immediately when bound about a cut.
4751. Blood poisoning never attacks a cut in the foot of a swimmer during the first ten days of August.
4752. "My grandfather cut his foot very bad and, when it heal up, his leg was all stiff; and the remedy he used was very old. He took those bugs
that stay under old rotten logs --- I don't remember what you call them --- cooked them, made a salve of them, rubbed his stiff leg with it, and it
cure him."
4753. Salve for cuts is prepared by boiling down in lard the red part from chicken manure and straining it through a rag.
4754. "I can tell a true story about a boy years ago that was playing out in the yard and cut his hand bad on some glass and got some of the pieces
in his hand. His mother knew my mother well, but didn't know about the yellow clay. This boy's hand got so bad that the mother had to take him
to the doctor. I am sure he had his hand lanced five times; blood poison was setting in. The doctor told the mother he was worried; he may have
to take the hand off if he couldn't get it better. One morning, after being to the doctor, his mother and the boy came along Ninth Street, and
mother wanted to know what was wrong, and they told her. Mother said, 'Let me see your hand.' My mother looked at it and said, 'I am going to
help you save that hand, and did. She took the bandage off, the doctor had put on, got some yellow clay and hot vinegar and put on; had the
folks to stay at her house all day, and every time the vinegar got cold, would put hot again. By the next day she had all the fever out of the arm,
and the third day he went back to the doctor to have him take the glass out of his hand that this clay and vinegar had drawn down, and his arm
was saved. That boy is around seventy now, and he often stopped here at the gate and talked about my mother saving his hand when the doctor
wanted to take it off."
4755. Cobwebs are used in three ways to stop the bleeding of a cut: first, after they have been applied, wrap tightly about them a piece of brown
paper as a bandage; second, first cover the wound with sugar, then soot, then cobwebs, and then a cloth bandage; and third, apply a mixture of
 106

cobwebs and soot. Some only use the soot, which has a reputation for healing qualities; but other reject it, separately or in combination with
cobwebs, for it is said to leave a black scar. Cobwebs almost always means dusty spider webs, usually gathered from a dark cellar, and rarely
clean ones.
4756. "My cousin was cutting wood and one morning he came home with his big toe cut open to the bone. As he came through the barn lot he
took off his shoe and walked through the cow manure, and when he got to the house he said, 'I have cut my toe open to the bone, but I stopped in
the barn lot and walked through the cow manure.' Grandma said, 'You could not of done anything better.' And he never had any trouble with his
toe."
4757. "It will amuse you to hear that my brother Walter, fourteen at the time, just then made a great slash in his leg with his new Christmas
pocketknife. In the excitement, the knife disappeared and was not found for months. It at last turned up, swathed in grease and rags, where it had
been hidden by our faithful colored maid, who did not intend that her favorite Walter should be endangered in life and limb by any foolish
negligence of his family. A man who lived next door to us many years ago cut his foot with an axe. He was given medical attention, but for
good measure the family greased the axe head and laid away carefully, usually in a dry place, until the would heals. If the axe had rusted, the
wound would not have healed."
4758. "Years ago my brother was out in the field and he cut his three fingers almost off with a scythe --- the finger was just hanging on. We
took that scythe and greased it good, then hung it up --- hang it up and you will not have any trouble with blood poison — and my brother just got
along fine with his fingers."
4759. A man who cuts himself with an axe should wipe the blood off the blade, rub coal oil over the steel, and lay the implement under his bed;
he will not only cure the wound but also never be cut with that axe again.
4760. "One day a man was out in the field cutting corn and he cut his leg with the corn knife, and he stuck the knife right down in the ground and
his leg stopped bleeding."
4761. A cut heals and never leaves a scar, if a horsehair is tied about it.
4762. Scrapings from the hoof of a horse makes a good poultice for cuts. Sometimes these scrapings are parched on the stove and mixed with
soot.
4763. To check a bleeding caused by a cut, bore a hole into a soft maple tree and plug up in this hole some of the blood.
4764. As a remedy for cuts, bind on it three leaves, taking each leaf from a different plant.
4765. To stop the bleeding of a cut, bind a piece of silver on it. Silver is particularly good for the bleeding of varicose veins.
4766. In checking the flow of blood, tie a snake skin about a cut.
4767. "Here is one of my grandfather's: if you have a bad cut and blood poison sets in, get the flesh of a blacksnake and bind on; will draw
the poison out." 4768. Urine on a cut stops the bleeding and disinfects the wound.

NOSEBLEED
4769. Nosebleed can be cured or prevented by wearing a necklace of amber beads.
4770. Red beads about the neck will prevent nosebleed.
4771. If you wipe some of the blood on three beans while saying the Lord's Prayer and then bury them, your nose will stop bleeding.
4772. Beets (because they are red) may be put in a sack and hung over the head of the bed as a preventive against nosebleed at night. Cow beets
(sugar beets) are sometimes required.
4773. "One day I had nosebleed bad, I was trying cold water, and a man came along and said, 'Do you want me to stop your nose from bleeding?'
I said, 'Sure I do.' He walked around me three times; saying to himself a certain verse out of the Bible; then he stop and said, 'Blow your nose
three times.' I did. And on the third blow there was no blood."
4774. You can stop nosebleed by letting three drops of blood fall on a brick (red) and throwing the brick over the house.
4775. "I know a man up here at Mendon had someone to give him a buckeye to carry, and he has been carrying it for twenty years and never had
nosebleed after he started to carrying the buckeye."
4776. To cure nosebleed, tie a strip of buckskin around the neck.
4777. "If you have nosebleed, hold a shovel of hot coals and let the blood fall on them. It will dry the blood up. When I went to school in the
country the teacher tried everything, and the shovel of red coals was all that would help it."
4778. Red corn strung on a string and worn as a necklace cures nosebleed.
4779. A nose stops bleeding, if you count twenty.
4780. Fifty counted backwards is a nosebleed remedy.
4781. "My sister always does this to stop nose bleedings: take some of the blood and make a cross with the blood over the forehead."
4782. Your nose will stop bleeding at once, if you think of someone who has been dead a long time — over fifty years say some.
4783. In curing a child's nosebleed, bathe the child with a dirty dish rag using dirty dishwater.
4784. It is lucky to have nosebleed on Friday.
4785. A nosebleed is stopped by raising and holding both hands above your head; but usually, in addition, a string is tied about the middle finger
— of the left hand say some, of the right say others.
4786. "If I have the nosebleed on the left side, always stand up and hold my right hand up as high as I can; if on the right side, I hold my left hand
up as high as I can."
4787. A key may be held against the back of your neck or in the middle of your back to cure nosebleed. Sometimes the key is wrapped in a wet
cloth.
4788. "My husband always does this when his nose goes to bleeding: hangs three keys on a string down his back."
4789. When your nose begins to bleed, put the end of a key up the bleeding nostril and then, without wiping off the blood, bind it about your
neck; and as long as that key remains there, you will never be bothered again by nosebleed.
4790. To be freed from nosebleed, wear a key on a green string about your neck. Occasionally a bunch of keys is tied to the green string.
4791. "I used to have nosebleed all the time until I started wearing a key on a red string around my neck all the time and now I don't have it any
more."
4792. Nosebleed in a man can be cured, if he transfers his pocketknife from the right pocket to the left.
4793. As a remedy for nosebleed, let some of the blood drip on the blade of a knife or ax and then thrust the blade into the ground.
4794. "One I try and think good for nosebleed is to let a steel knife down your back right in the middle, then let it lay right at the bottom of your
spine."
 107

4795. A piece of lead hanging down the back or worn about the neck, in the hollow of the throat say some, cures nosebleed; but this cure
frequently requires the lead to be round-shaped --- therefore, either the metal is flattened into a disk, or gun shot are used as a necklace or put in a
sack.
4796. If you hold a piece of lead behind your lip your nose will stop bleeding. However, with the mistaken belief that a pencil contains lead,
the point of a lead pencil is thought to be just as good.
4797. "When I was young I had nosebleed all the time, when one day an old Indian told my father to get a lead spoon, mash it up into a round
piece, put a hole in it, then put it on a red string and let me wear it, letting the piece of lead lay on my chest. Father took an old spoon, fixed it,
and I never had nosebleed after I started to wearing it."
4798. Wear a piece of lead that has never touched the ground and your nose will not bleed.
4799. If worn about the neck, a bullet with which something has been killed is a nosebleed remedy.
4800. As a treatment for nosebleed, drop a nail down your back.
4801. Leave rusty nails in cider vinegar until the rust comes off and then drink this liquid when stopping nosebleed.
4802. A nutmeg kept about the neck is good for nosebleed.
4803. "When I was a little girl I had the nosebleed all the time, and my mother put two nutmegs on a red string and made me wear them all the
time to school. If I would take them off, my nose would start to bleed."
4804. Nosebleed is cured with paper in these ways: against the back of the neck or down the back use paper of any kind, especially brown paper,
and better yet, brown paper soaked in vinegar; between the teeth bite hard on paper or cardboard; and under the inside of the upper lip hold any
type of paper, chewed into a wad, folded, or soaked in vinegar.
4805. "My brother was with a friend one day and his nose started to bleeding bad. They were near the river and he thought of his grandma's
remedy, so he told the boy to lie down; and he took a wet pebble out of the river and put up under his lip, and a handful down his back, and it stop
bleeding."
4806. A gold ring held under the inside of the upper lip or pressed against the roof of the mouth is a cure for nosebleed.
4807. Go where you cannot be seen and let your nose bleed on a white rock, then turn the rock over and depart, and the bleeding will cease.
4808. If you pick up a white stone, let three drops of blood fall onto the underside, restore the stone to its original position so that the
blood touches the ground, your nose will stop bleeding.
4809. A pair of scissors, some say they must be open, may be held against the back of the neck or dropped down the back to cure nosebleed.
4810. You rid a person of nosebleed by dropping a pair of scissors down his back three times.
4811. To get rid of a nosebleed, tie a pair of scissors to a red string about your neck and let the point hang down.
4812. Silver, usually in the form of a dime, is good for nosebleed: it may be worn on a string about the neck; it may be held against the back of
the neck; it may be tied on the forehead or merely placed there if the patient lies down; it may be bitten; and it may be put in the mouth — under
the tongue, against the roof of the mouth, and behind the upper or lower lip. A nickel or penny may be used in the same ways.
4813. For nosebleed you may wrap two dimes in separate pieces of brown paper and insert one of these under the lower lip and the other under
the upper lip.
4814. If your nose bleeds, put a dime in a small sack, tie this about your neck, using a red-yarn string, and, having opened the Bible, say In the
Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, stop my nosebleed.
4815. To cure a nosebleed, whittle a pine stick to a point, let three drops of blood fall on this point, and bury the stick in an ash pile.
4816. Cross two sticks, let some blood drop on the place where they are crossed, and your nose will stop bleeding.
4817. To cure a nosebleed, either keep a spoon under your tongue or pressed against the roof of your mouth. A spoon dropped down your back is
also an effective cure.
4818. Your nose will never bleed, if you wear a blue string tied in a bow around your neck.
4819. Use a black silk cord or thread about your neck as a nosebleed remedy.
4820. A piece of red string or yarn about the neck cures nosebleed.
4821. "My father always did this: if you wear a red silk ribbon around your neck, will stop nosebleed. My mother kept a red silk ribbon in the
drawer all the time, for my father's nose bled so much, and he would put it on just as soon as it would start to bleed, to stop it."
4822. You can cure nosebleed by wearing a piece of red string or yarn about your neck for three days. A woman said she had tried this remedy.
As soon as she removed the yarn, her nose began to bleed; but when she replaced the yarn, the bleeding stopped immediately. By experiment she
discovered that the yarn could be taken off only after the third day.
4823. "I used to have nosebleed bad. I remember one day I went to the little country school and my nose bled all morning. The teacher didn't try
to do anything and it bled most of the afternoon. In those days they made the children all walk to school, didn't care how far it was. Well, I was
walking home, I was so weak that another girl had my arm helping me along the road. We had to pass by where an old man and woman lived.
The woman saw me and said, 'Are you sick?' I told her my nose had been bleeding all day and I could not stop it. She took me in the house,
saying, 'We will have that bleeding stop right away.' She got a red-yarn string, tied it around my front finger [index finger] of my left hand,
saying, 'It will stop now.' And it did. This is so. Some laugh when I tell it, but it's the truth."

4824. In treating a nosebleed, tie a string or a piece of yarn, black or red, about the little finger; some say the left, others say the right.
4825. Your nose will stop bleeding, after you tie a piece of red yarn around your neck and little finger.
4826. Bind a piece of red yarn on the thumb for nosebleed.
4827. "I always do this when my nose goes to bleeding and it will stop: take a white cord string and wrap around your first [index finger], keep
wrapping it around."
4828. Nosebleed can be stopped by binding a white string around your arm just above the elbow: if it is the right nostril, tie the string above the
right elbow; if the left nostril, above the left elbow.
4829. "Those little balls [galls] that come on the white oak tree, keep in the house all the time. They are good for nosebleed. Take the cotton out
and you will find in that cotton something like red powder. That powder is very good to put on, to stop nosebleed. My mother kept a jar of them
all the time, so if anyone got nosebleed, she could use it."
4830. If a small child suffers from nosebleed, put a few drops of the blood in a hole that you have bored into a tree to mark his height; and after
he grows higher than this hole, his nose will never bleed again.
4831. This is a good nosebleed remedy: if the blood comes from the left nostril, lay a wet cloth on the left lower part of your bare belly; if the
right nostril, the right lower part of your bare belly.

BOWEL TROUBLE (4832-4846)

 108

4832. "Years ago my boy had running-off. I just tried everything. He got so weak he couldn't walk around, when I met an old woman that lived
down in the Bottom close to Hannibal [Missouri], and she told me about cutting up the burdock root: take burdock roots, cut fine, and hang
around the neck. I got some right away and tied them around his neck. It sure stopped the running-off. I always tell everyone about this, for I
think it good."
4833. Pulverize a dried chicken gizzard and administer to children having diarrhea.
4834. "My grandfather had locked bowels. One day they thought he was going to die, and they stuck a rooster in the throat and let him drink the
blood while the rooster was dying. And it cure my grandfather."
4835. If the first diaper soiled by a newborn baby is burned, the child will never have bowel trouble.
4836. You can force your bowels to act by scrapping your finger-nails upwards.
4837. To cure the chapping caused by a baby's loose bowels, lay a corncob over its bottom.
4838. "My mother would always make a jarful of light-bread biscuits on Good Friday and whenever any child in the neighborhood would get the
summer complaint, my mother would take one of these biscuits and grate it up real fine like powder and give to the child, and they would get
over the bowel trouble."
4839. Bark on the east side of a white oak tree supplies an excellent tea for loose bowels.
4840. A good laxative may be obtained by boiling the bark from the east side of a peach tree.
4841. Scrape the bark on a peach tree upwards, never downwards, and use the tea made of these scrapings as a cathartic.
4842. "Take ragwood [not ragweed] leaves, pull the leaves up from the stem, never down, and put the leaves in a bowl. Pour boiling water over
them. After it stands half an hour, strain and sweeten, and give a baby a teaspoonful every few hours. It is very good for the diarrhea. We lived
out in the country years ago and could not get a doctor. Our baby spoiled fifteen diapers in one hour. We thought she was going to die. Someone
told us about the ragwood-leaves tea and we gave it to her."
4843. "My great-grandmother said sheep dung makes a good tea for flux."
4844. Children weaned in the sign of the bowels (Virgo) have summer complaint.
4845. By weaning her baby in the sign of the knee (knees = Capricornus), a mother protects the child against bowel trouble.
4846. If you wean a baby when the sign is in the thigh (thighs = Sagittarius) going down into the knees (Capricornus), you will never have any
trouble with its bowels running off.

BURNS (4847-4860)

4847. "Mrs. O's neighbor had a little girl and one day she fell against the stove and burnt her hand very bad, and the mother couldn't stop the
child from crying, and she thought she was going to get in convulsions. So she brought her over to Mrs. T. to see if she could quiet her any; and
some man was delivering coal to Mrs. T. and asked what was the matter with the little girl, and she told him. He said, 'I can make her stop crying
if her mother wants me to.' So he mumbled a few words over the child's hands, and Mrs. T. said the child stopped crying instantly. Mrs. T. asked
him what he said, and he said he couldn't tell anyone; if he did tell, he would lose the power of healing all burns."
4848. "A man has got to tell this to a woman, or a woman to a man. A man told it to me. If you burn yourself, blow on it real easy, and hold your
breath while repeating this, and say Blow in frost and come out fire. You must say this nine times and the burn will not hurt."
4849. "My sister could take out a burn on your body. She would make a cross over the burn, then say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, and it would come out."
4850. Unless you bury the bandage that has been wrapped round a burn, the wound will never heal. Burning the bandage causes greater
inflammation.
4851. If you burn yourself and a blister is raised, wait until after sunset to open it and the burn will not become a sore.
4852. A burn can be relieved by poulticing it with cat hair.
4853. "My sister got some liniment in her eyes one day and it burned her face and eyes bad. Mother said all she did was to run out to the
henhouse, pick up a handful of fresh hen manure and put all over her face, took out all the burns."
4854. Mix the white part of chicken droppings with lard and apply to a burn.
4855. Burns are poulticed with dusty cobwebs.
4856. Spread cow manure over a burn.
4857. "A good remedy for a burn, my grandma always kept on hand, was to go to a elderberry bush on the north side, and scrape the outer side
bark up and throw away, then scrape the inside bark up, then fry in a little piece of fresh lard and a little piece of alum. Makes a wonderful salve
for burns."
4858. When you burn your finger, touch the lobe of your ear and this will remove the soreness immediately.
4859. "My daughter pulled a tub of hot water over on her and I put this goose- droppings salve, fry them down in lard for ten minutes, on her and
the burns never left a scar."
4860. Use the fat from a rabbit kidney on burns.

CHILLS (4861-4897)

4861. To treat chills, set an ax under the patient's bed so that the cutting edge points upward.
4862. "I knew a man at Marblehead that had chills so bad he just shook like a dog all the time. I made him a bag of camphor and had him to wear
it [usually about the neck]. After he started to wearing the bag, never had any more chills."
4863. The person who sits in the sun gazing at a yellow caterpillar will catch chills.
4864. "When I was a boy I had chills all the time. My mother took me to several doctors but they didn't help me. I was sick all the time, when one
day an old German woman came to our house and told my mother about the gall out of three chickens. My mother got the three gall from three
different chickens and give it to me. She had a time making me take it. My sister had to help me, but they got it down. I am a man forty-seven
years old and I have not had the chills since."
4865. Administer tea brewed from the lining of a chicken gizzard for chills.
4866. A cyclamen plant in the house causes chills.
4867. "My mother always said, if you have chills, to run around the house six times, then jump in the door, and leave your chills outside."
4868. If you have chills, take three drops of tea made from hops, do this for three successive mornings, then skip three mornings, repeat this
alternate process until you have taken nine doses, and your chills will be gone.
 109

4869. You can get rid of chills in the spring by blowing your breath into a mole run.
4870. "I have a friend that does this all the time in the spring and fall to keep from having chills: cut an onion in half and bind under both arms."
4871. Tea made of leaves pulled downwards from a peach tree cures chills-and fever.
4872. Red pepper pods in your stockings wards off chills.
4873. Carry a potato in your left pocket as a treatment for dumb chills.
4874. A rat crawling over the face of a sleeping person is followed by chills next day.
4875. "My mother always wore a little sack of salt around her neck to keep from having chills."
4876. "My husband and I put salt in the heels of our shoes all the time to keep away chills."
4877. Salt worn in your shoes for nine days banishes chills.
4878. Drink a teaspoonful of salt in a half glass of water before breakfast for three mornings and then skip three mornings. Repeat this alternate
process until freed from chills.
4879. As a prescription for chills, toss salt over your shoulder while repeating In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
4880. "My sister had the chills years ago and she took a cup of salt and went down to this creek that goes through South Park now, and stood on
the bank with her back to the water and throw this salt over her shoulder into the creek, saying in the Three Highest Names, and she got well."
4881. Arise before dawn and, not uttering a word, dig a hole, urinate into it, drop in a handful of salt, cover with dirt, and your chills will
soon disappear.
4882. "If you have chills and don't like someone, go to their land and make three holes in the ground and put some salt in each hole. As you put
the salt in one hole, say In the Name of the Father; in the other hole, say Son; and in the last hole, say Holy Ghost, I hope this leaves me and will
bother you. And they will get your chills. My husband, before he died, had chills bad down in the Bottom. And he didn't like one of the
neighbors, and he went over on his land and did this; and he got well, and the neighbor got the chills."
4883. Eat baked sheep lice in jelly as a chills remedy.
4884. Chills may be cured by drinking sheep-manure tea.
4885. "My uncle had chills for years, tried everything, when an old Negro woman told him this: take soot out of the chimney and molasses, equal
parts, then make a flour poultice of it, put one on each ankle and one on each wrist- He tried it and it cured him. I also had chills, did this, and it
cured me."
4886. "Here's another thing that happen down around Fall Creek. There's an old saying, take a spider web, roll them in little balls and take for
chills, will cure you. I had a friend down in the Bottom did this every time he had chills. I told him some day he would get some spider eggs on
the web, would kill him. He said, 'I always look good so there will be no eggs on the web'."
4887. "My father had chills bad. He went to town after medicine but they were out of it, for that was years ago. You see: I am eighty-nine [1936],
and I was only a child, so it was a long time ago. When he got home an old woman was at our house and she told him about tying the string
[usually white] on his arm above the elbow and one below the knee on the opposite leg. He laughed, but he tried it, and he got over the chills. I
have tried it myself since those days and the chills always left me."
4888. "I had chills bad. A neighbor man came in to see me and said, 'What's wrong?' I said, 'I have chills.' He said, 'I sure would be ashamed to
have chills,' and left the room. It sure made me mad to think he would say that, for I didn't want them. In a few minutes he came back with a wet
white piece of string, walk up to the bed, laid it over my head, then around my left arm, then told me to shut my eyes and not look [measuring?].
He picked up the string and left the room. I have never had chills since and I am seventy-five year' old. Several days after he left the room, we
saw a white string hanging on the eaves of the house. We thought it was the same string, but we never asked him. But we were sure it was."
4889. "My sister had chills bad and she put a string around her waist, then went to a big tree and tied the other end around this tree, wishing in the
Three Highest Names the chills will go, then started to run --- the string will break and you will leave your chills on the tree. She left her chills
too, for she never had them after that."
4890. "I will tell you something that's a fact. I tried it. My uncle came home from the [Civil] war. He had the rheumatism and chills near a
month, and a fellow, in the same regiment he was in during the war, that was always full of projects, told him how to get rid of them. He sure
got rid of them. I was twenty-one in March, and the middle of April I took chills and ague, and shook for six months. The last two months I
shook mornings and afternoon both. My uncle came over to see my mother. He was telling me what to do. I said, 'I will try that.' I had been to
three doctors and they didn't help me. Next morning I got up and took a long piece of yarn string and went about one-half mile from home to a
white oak tree. You have to get up before anyone else gets up, and dress, and never speak to anyone. I had told my mother the night before, I
was going out of the house early in the morning, that when I passed through the room not to speak to me. I went up the hill to the white oak tree.
The hill was not so steep. The tree was three feet over [in circumference]. Then I tied the string to a piece of bark on the tree. I am too fast.
While going to the tree you have to tie a knot in the string for each chill that I had. I did this. Then I went around that tree with that string and tie
the string to the other end where I had started at, and broke the rest of the string off. I could hear the roots of that tree breaking. My uncle told
me not to get scared or look back [after leaving the tree]. I had about fifteen or twenty yards to the tow path along the river. I thought every
moment that tree would come over on me. That day I was to have two chills, one in the morning and evening. I never had chills again until I
took typhoid fever years after. A fellow that I knew, that was a cut-up, happen to come along and pass that white oak tree on the hill — seeing a
yarn strung around it full of knots, pulled it off. And he had just as many chills as there were knots in that string."
4891. "My husband had the chills and he wrote on a piece of paper I want to get well. Then he folded it up and took it to a oak tree in the woods,
and took a piece of bark off and put the paper against the tree, and put mud over the bark to hold it in place. My husband got well and the tree
died."
4892. People having bad chills should never cross running water, because the ailment will return.
4893. Either ague or three-days-chills is treated by taking a plunge into cold water.
4894. Place a pan, jug or bucket, of water under your bed to drive away chills.
4895. Use in a tea for chills the bark scraped downwards from a willow tree.
4896. Seventy-seven willow leaves boiled down in water to a pint of liquid is a good chills tonic.
4897. Swallow an earth-worm for chills.

FEBRILE DISEASES (4898-4967)

Fever - Malaria - Measles (4898-4949)
FEVER
4898. If you see a caterpillar, it will give you ague unless you spit.
4899. If you see a caterpillar crawling towards you, it will give you fever unless you spit over your little finger.
 110

4900. If you see a fever-worm (a yellow caterpillar), it will give you fever unless you spit three times.
4901. Some say your seeing a caterpillar will not give you fever unless it crawls across your path; if it does cross your path, you can prevent fever
by spitting.
4902. The person who touches a wooly-worm (caterpillar) takes a fever.
4903. Kill a caterpillar and you will catch fever before the summer is gone.
4904. To secure a good remedy for fever or measles, ask for one from a stranger on horseback; if the stranger is riding a white horse, the remedy
will be more effective.
4905. Fever may be treated by tying one piece of fat bacon on the pulse and another piece on the back of the neck.
4906. Bind cabbage leaves on your forehead as a fever remedy.
4907. Cut the ear of a cat and let three drops of blood fall into some brandy, add a little pepper, and have a patient drink this for fever.
4908. "My daughter had a very high fever and one day someone told me about bathing her in cockleburs. So I went out in the woods and got a
handful and mashed them, and made a tea and started to bathing her. That night when the doctor came he took me out in the kitchen and said,
'What have you done to your daughter? She is so much better tonight. Her fever is going down.' Then I told him I had been bathing her all day
with the cockleburs. The doctor said, 'Keep it up, for she sure is better.' And in a few days she was all right."
4909. Bruised garlic kept in the room keeps out fever.
4910. Apply a garlic poultice to the soles of your feet at night and your fever will be gone by morning.
4911. "My mother when a girl lived in the South and she told me, if anyone was sick, if they would put a knife between the mattress and
featherbed, would cut the fever down. So when I have anyone sick I always put a knife between the mattress and springs, because I have no
featherbed, to cut the fever."
4912. High fever in a child goes up to the heart and causes death. A mustard poultice on each sole draws the fever down and sends it out
through the feet.
4913. If a person has fever, lay an onion under the bed and the fever will go into the onion. Some say the onion must be hung over the bed and a
fresh one used every morning. In this latter belief, however, the symbolism of the former is nullified --- that of making the fever go down.
4914. You can reduce a high fever in a child by laying sliced onions on its palms.
4915. Fever can be cured by poulticing the bottom of each foot with chopped onions and salt.
4916. Onions bound to the ankles and wrists reduces a fever.
4917. "I remember my mother telling many a time when she used to go to someone's house when a child had fever. I remember her telling one
story about a little boy that had such a high fever, was out of his head. She went to help his mother. She started in mashing up plantain leaves,
said about every fifteen minutes she would put fresh ones in the bottom of his stockings. In an hour time the fever started down, and she save
that boy with only plantain leaves. "
4918. In curing a fever administer to the patient tea made of sheep droppings.
4919. To cure or to prevent fever, put a silver coin and a piece of salt of equal weight in a sack and carry it hanging over the heart. Some say the
coin must be new.
4920. "Years ago my mother always kept a snake hide in the house to tie around our heads, if we got the fever. "
4921. "If a baby has high fever, take and put two tablespoonfuls of soda in a pint of hot water, and take rags and wet them good, and tie them
around each foot and each ankle, and each wrist, and around their head; and when the rags get dry, wet them again. This will break the fever.
Three weeks ago Mrs. C's baby was very sick with high fever. She done this and broke the fever. When the doctor came he wanted to know what
she done, and she would not tell him, afraid he would laugh. But some old woman told her this."
4922. Drink your own urine to get rid of a fever.
4923. As a precaution against fever being taken by a baby with a coated tongue, wipe off its tongue with a soiled diaper.
4924. Set a bowl or pan of water under the head of the patient's bed in treating fever.
4925. Fever going up on a child results in death. To make fever go down, and to draw it out through the child's feet, keep a bread-and-yeast
poultice on the soles.

MALARIA
4926. A person who has had malaria will have it every seven years.
4927. "My husband had malaria fever. He tried everything. The doctor could not do him any good, and at last he went to a witch doctor down in
Hannibal [Missouri], and he blew on his back three times, holding his hand on my husband's chest, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, and my husband got well right after that."
4928. "Every summer my family all wear a white silk bag with camphor in to keep malaria away."
4929. To check malarial chills, tea made from the dried lining of a chicken gizzard may be administered.
4930. Pulverize an egg shell, after you have removed the lining, and administer this powder for malaria.
4931. "I knew a man that had malaria fever, and they could not find anything that would help him; and they gave him the white droppings from a
dog, in whiskey, and it cure him."
4932. Never let goldenrod grow in your yard, for it will give you malaria.
4933. "My husband was very sick with malaria fever and I did not have any onion in the house, so I took two large potatoes and cut them in
halves and put them under the bed. His fever left and went into the potatoes and he got well."
4934. As a treatment for malaria, wear in each shoe a teaspoonful of salt and pepper mixed.
4935. "My brother had malaria. For months he was under the doctor's care, and he tried everything anyone would tell him, and it did no good.
One day a real old German man told him if he would drink his own urine, it would cure him; he did, and he got well."
4936. "I had malaria bad and nothing would help. If you have malaria, it is a very old saying to go to a river and cross it where another river runs
into it. So my folks took me down to St. Louis so I could cross over the Illinois River that runs into the Mississippi River. And I got better."

MEASLES
4937. The breaking out of measles in a dark-complexioned person takes twice the amount of time it requires in a person with a light complexion.
4938. A baby that has measles before it teethes will have the disease again.
4939. If measles are contracted during apple-blossom time, the case is always a mild one.
4940. Keep a piece of asafetida round your neck and you will not catch measles.
4941. To induce the usual eruption in measles, administer tea made from black- haw bark sliced upwards, then downwards, from the tree.
4942. Protect a child against measles by letting it swallow three buckshot daily for three days.
 111

4943. As a cure for measles, drink tea brewed from bark stripped off the north side of a cherry tree.
4944. "My boy had black measles bad and they would not come out. I gave him a cup of the water in which the white droppings from the
chickens were boiled and in two hours you couldn't put your finger on his body; he was broke out from toe to head."
4945. Measles may be cured by drinking blossom-tea. This word, said to be an old one, derives its name from chicken droppings with brown
centers and white edges, which are supposed to resemble blossoms. This remedy is also good for chickenpox.
4946. The rubbing of a rind from salty meat over the body forces out measles.
4947. A child with measles is helped by letting it wear a penny about the neck.
4948. Use sheep-manure tea as a sudorific agent in measles.
4949. Babies with measles became well, if rubbed with their wet diapers.

Scarlet Fever - Smallpox - Typhoid Fever (4950-4967)

SCARLET FEVER
4950. As a remedy for scarlet fever, rub black-cat blood on the patient.
4951. Cure scarlet fever by the administration of cobweb pills.
4952. Tea made from sheep manure is drunk in treating scarlet fever.

SMALLPOX
4953. "Years ago a man died with the smallpox and after he was dead five years, they gave his shoes to a man to wear, and that man took
the smallpox and died."
4954. A person who has had smallpox will never have tuberculosis.
4955. As a protection against smallpox, wear a piece of garlic around your neck.
4956. You make yourself immune from smallpox by carrying an onion in your pocket.

TYPHOID FEVER
4957. You may cure typhoid fever by using a picked chicken in one of the following ways: split the chicken into halves and tie a half to each foot
of the patient, gut two chickens and let the patient put a foot in each chicken, and lay a whole chicken against each foot. This remedy for typhoid
fever, called brain fever years ago, was supposed to draw the fever down from the brain and out through the feet.
4958. Drink goat milk three times a day for typhoid fever.
4959. A woman, who as a girl in 1860 had had typhoid fever, then called brain fever, described the symptoms by saying that the eyes ran and
became red, misery attacked the head, and hot steam issued from the ears. After she got well, her mother, complying with a custom of that time
on Mc Gees Creek near the county-line, blew up a hog bladder, tied it, and let it dry; then she cut the inflated bladder crosswise, making two skull
caps. The informant wore one of them to facilitate the regrowth of her hair.
4960. "My son years ago had typhoid fever and the doctor gave him up, could not get his fever down. An old colored woman told me to get
jimson-weed leaves and cover him with them, and I did, and it brought the fever down when nothing else would."
4961. To cure typhoid fever, keep a pan full of slaked lime under the sickbed.
4962. Sliced onions placed in the room of a typhoid fever patient will suck up the poisonous odors. The onions will turn black. 4963. "My baby
was dying, when the doctor came, with brain fever years ago. He said he could not help my baby. A neighbor came in. We peel onions, chopped
them up fine, put salt over them, and made a poultice; put one on each wrist, one on the bottom of both feet, and one across its chest. [These
five places are an excellent example of the magic number five equaling the five nails or wounds of the Cross.] And we saved my baby. Of course,
we worked all night, when a doctor would not do that."
4964. "Sixty years ago [1879] my sister had typhoid bad. They did everything, when someone told the doctor, if he would give her urine, would
help. And he put my sister's urine in all of her medicine after that and she got well."
4965. "My daughter was real sick with typhoid fever. The doctor told us she was going to die, that he could not do anything more for her. A
neighbor told me, if I would get apple vinegar and bathe her, it would help. So after the doctor left, I sent my other girl to the store to get some
apple vinegar, and started to bathing her all over, and kept it up. When I started to bathing her, she was so weak she didn't know us, and the
second day she started to knowing us. And I got her well after the doctor said she would die. And apple vinegar was what save her."
4966. "In the last stages of typhoid, put cotton socks on their feet and fill the socks full of corn meal. Put in all the socks will hold, then soak feet,
socks and all, in apple vinegar; and it will cure nine times out of ten."
4967. Spit when you see a woolly-worm [caterpillar] and you will not catch typhoid fever.

FEMALE DISORDERS (4968-4992)

4968. To regulate the flow in menstruation, boil the inside bark of a sweet- apple tree and use as a tonic: if flowing too much, the bark must be
scraped upwards from the tree; if too little, downwards.
4969. "When my mother was about twelve [1845] an old Indian doctor told them to wear black beads around their neck to keep the blood from
going to the brain. All the girls in that time wore black beads all the time to get their monthly to come when coming into womanhood, for it made
the blood come down."
4970. If a woman flows too freely, restrain it by painting round her knees with bluing.
4971. Sour food and drink must be avoided by menstruating women, for it will cause tuberculosis.
4972. If women during menses eat too much cinnamon or nutmeg, it will dry up their blood; and if they eat fish, anything that lives in water, they
will die from an excessive flow.
4973. "If a young girl's sickness stops on her from a cold, don't let her eat bread or anything white; let her have everything red to eat, like red
onions, red beets, and red tomatoes, and that will bring her again."
4974. A girl entering her first monthly period will have an easy experience and be sick three days only, provided the cloths are handled with three
fingers when washed.
4975. The more you change your grandy rags, the greater the flow.
4976. The burning of menstrual cloths makes the woman absent-minded.
4977. Monthly cramps vanish, if the menstrual cloths are burned.
 112

4978. "I knew a girl that always burned her monthly cloths and she got so thin and sick that they had to send for the doctor. And he told the
mother, 'Do you mean to tell me you don't know what is wrong with this girl? Well, she is burning up her cloths every month and she is just
burning up her life. If she don't stop, she will die. And I can't do a thing for her as long as she does."
4979. Burnt sanitary napkins bring on tuberculosis.
4980. "My mother always made me pee on red-hot coals whenever I would get any pains in my ovaries. I would have to stand over the bucket
and let the steam come up."
4981. "My sister had milk leg bad and she used the yellow corn. She got well. Take the ears of yellow corn, boil them good and keep hot, put
one ear on each side of the leg, and just as soon as cool, put another two on; will turn black, for it draws out all the fever."
4982. "You can always tell if a girl is menstruating by feeling the palm of her hand: if the center is very warm and all the rest of her hand
cold, that is a sure sign."
4983. Beat up a pint of holy water with similar quantities of alcohol and olive oil, dip a sponge into this ointment, insert within the vagina
nightly for nine nights, then cease during the next nine-night period, and continue this alternative process for whites.
4984. Throughout the nine-day period preceding a day in any month, the numeral of which corresponds to the date of your birth, soak a cord
string in holy water, bind this around your waist, letting it remain there until the identical day next month, to free yourself from menstrual cramps.
You must begin the rite during the dark of the moon between midnight and the first cockcrow.
4985. "I believe if anyone live out in the moonlight, will make them sick. I remember one night I could not sleep and I went out and lay on the
top of the porch floor all night, and the moon was shining right down on me. And I took sick the next day and in a few days my monthly would
not come. Then mother had father to get a pine board and take the knot out of it and shave real fine and put in a quart of whiskey. They gave it to
me three times a day and I got all right. I always tell everyone not to sleep out and let the moon shine on you all night."
4986. "A woman told me to wear a potato in a sack around my waist for falling I of the womb."
4987. "Just before your monthly, if you have pains in your sides, take and put some salt in the palm of your hand and take your first finger and
rub it around [circular motion] in that salt three times, then rub that finger on your sides, rubbing down, and the pains will leave. I tried this and
know it is so."
4988. "When I was young I wore a red string around my neck all the time to make the blood go down, even to make my monthly come; for if I
took that red string off my neck, they would not come, the blood would go up. So I wore it all the time to keep my blood going down."
4989. A white cotton string worn about each wrist arrests an excessive flow during menstruation.
4990. To check cramps while menstruating, roll a yarn string in sulphur and tie it around the leg.
4991. "If flowing real hard, put vinegar on the lower part of the stomach; will stop the flow. I have heard my mother say that was an old remedy
of my grandma's, and she was a midwife."
4992. Never wash your head during menstruation; it will cause poor health.

FOOT AND HAND AILMENTS (4993-5177)

Ingrowing Toe-Nail - Sweaty Feet - Frostbitten (4993-5019)
INGROWING TOE-NAIL
4993. Ingrowing toe-nails are prevented by trimming toe-nails on the light of the moon.
4994. A person who trims an ingrowing toe-nail during the increase of the moon always has trouble with it, but if it is trimmed while the moon
decreases, the toe-nail will soon become normal.
4995. To cure an ingrowing toe-nail, cut it square at the beginning of a dark moon and keep scraping the nail from the center towards the outer
edges until the moon becomes light.

SWEATY FEET
4996. Bathe your feet with beer that has stood in the sun three days, to keep them from sweating.
4997. A good remedy for sweaty feet is to walk barefoot in the dew.
4998. Sweaty feet are cured by running barefoot round the house in the dew on three successive mornings.
4999. If you get up before sunrise on the first of May and walk in the dew, it will prevent sweaty feet.
5000. As a remedy for sweaty feet, wash them with the water in which a hog was scalded to remove its bristles.
5001. The person who at night keeps his shoes under the bed so that the toes point inward never has sweaty feet.
5002. Three pieces of white thread worn in the bottom of each shoe cures sweaty feet.
5003. To rid yourself of sweaty feet, they should be bathed with your own urine.
5004. For nine nights keep a pan of water beneath that part of the bed on which your feet lie and they will not sweat again.

FROSTBITTEN FEET
5005. Pour hot water over chicken dung and bathe your feet with it for frostbite.
5006. Frostbitten feet are treated with applications of cow droppings.
5007. The burning in frostbitten feet can be removed by wiping them with an old dish rag.
5008. "We lived in the country and mother always kept several bladders out of the hogs, when they killed in the fall, for us children; for we had
so far to walk to school we were always getting our feet frozen, and mother would rub this bladder over our feet."
5009. As a remedy for frostbitten feet, hold them in hot water containing horse manure.
5010. Warm rabbit guts in a bucket of hot water makes a good bath for frozen feet.
5011. "Another thing they did when I was a boy [the informant was ninety-seven in 1936], if you had frostbitten feet, was taking a rabbit and
while warm wrap it around your feet; and if one didn't take the frost out, put another warm rabbit skin on."
5012. Salt worn in your shoes helps the circulation of the blood and thus keeps your feet from becoming cold or frozen.
5013. "We had a man living upstairs in our house years ago and we had a big snowstorm. I was looking out the window and saw this man
walking around barefooted in the snow. I said, 'What is wrong with you? Do you want to die?' He said, 'Every winter I walk barefooted in the first
snow and I never have cold feet all winter'."
5014. Feet will not become cold or frozen, if a person walks round the house every morning barefoot in the snow.
5015. You prevent a burning or itching in frostbitten feet by walking
barefoot three times round the house in the snow and letting the latter dry on your feet.
5016. To prepare a salve for frostbitten feet, boil snow and lard together until all the snow water has boiled away.
5017. Sulphur may be kept in the shoes as a protection against cold or frozen feet.
 113

5018. If you dip a string into pine tar and tie it about your ankle, your feet will not suffer from cold or frostbite.
5019. Chilblain is cured by trimming your toe-nails and placing them outdoors under a bucket.

Sore Feet - Foot or Hand Cramp or Pain - Corns (5020-5144)

SORE FEET
5020. A baby weaned in the sign of the feet (Pisces) never has sore feet.
5021. To cure sore feet, walk barefoot in the early morning dew.
5022. Run up and down the road barefoot before sunrise on Good Friday and you will not have sore feet all year.
5023. Elder leaves are worn in the bottoms of the shoes for sore feet.
5024. You can remove a pain from your foot by binding a small fish to the
bare sole.
5025. As a prevention of sore feet, wear grape leaves in your shoes.
5026. If whiskey is kept in the shoes, sore feet are prevented. According to a Civil-War veteran this was a common practice among his comrades.
5027. Zinc insoles in your shoes cures sore feet.

FOOT OR HAND CRAMP OR PAIN

5028. A sack of alum kept in the bed is good for cramps in the feet.
5029. Cramps in the feet or legs are prevented by keeping a sack of camphor tied under each knee.
5030. Leg cramps may be cured with a piece of copper wire worn as a band either below or above the knee.
5031. A bracelet of copper wire on the wrist is good for cramps in the arm.
5032. The person who wears a brass ring never has hand or leg cramps.
5033. "My father always laced his shoes up with copper wire and put a piece of paper under the tongue [of the shoe] to keep from having cramps
in his feet."
5034. If you have a pain in your leg or arm, make three crosses over it as a cure.
5035. If you have a pain in your leg or arm, make three crosses over it: the first cross while saying Father; the second, Son; the third, Holy
Ghost. The pain will soon be gone.
5036. "When I have cramps in my arms, and I have them a lot, I only make a cross on my arm, then spit on it, and they will go away."
5037. One rids himself of cramps in the legs by spitting on a finger and marking with this saliva a cross against the bare sole of each foot.
5038. Cramps in your leg are stopped by crossing the other leg over the one that hurts.
5039. "My mother wore an eelskin around her knee to keep from having cramp in her lower legs."
5040. Ward off cramps in the feet or legs with a flat file beneath the mattress of the bed.
5041. "My own aunt had cramps in her legs. A woman came in and wanted to know what was wrong --- she was all bended over, thought she
was sick — said she would stop the cramp. She went home and got two black-silk handkerchiefs and tied one around each leg, and she was well
in one hour. You see, my aunt had put vinegar in her husband's whiskey to break him, and he caught her. She was so scared that she turn black
and went to bending over with cramp. But this woman brought her out in one hour with the black silk handkerchief tied around each leg."
5042. "My uncle, whenever he gets cramps in his legs in the field or any place, he always ties a red handkerchief around his knees to stop them."
5043. "My husband does this all the time: put three hops in a tobacco sack, tie up real good and put under the sheet near your legs, will keep
cramps away."
5044. "I have tried this and it worked: paint a circle around your ankles with black iodine and if you have cramps in your legs, they will leave."
5045. Keep a piece of iron at the foot of the bed for cramps in the legs.
5046. A leather strap about the wrist prevents cramps in the arms.
5047. "Take new muslin that has never been used for anything and make a wide garter, and wear around your leg; will stop cramps. I have tried
this."
5048. As a protection against cramps in the legs, sprinkle red pepper into your shoes.
5049. Either a rock or a brick kept in or under the bed will prevent cramps in your legs. Some say the rock must be white.
5050. A pair of scissors under the sheet or mattress, or under the pillow, protects you against leg cramps. Some say the end of the scissors must
be pointed, not round; others say they must be open, not closed.
5051. Never sit down with one shoe on and one off; it will give you cramps in your feet.
5052. If you keep your shoes higher than your head, you will have cramps in your legs.
5053. "Whenever I take my shoes off, I always set them with the heels up so the perspiration will run out of them, and to keep from having the
cramps in my I legs. I keep my Sunday shoes always sitting upside down and I don't have cramps."
5054. To be freed from foot or leg cramps during the night, take off your left shoe first and lay it upside down in the corner of room that is nearest
to your bed and on the left-hand side.
5055. On going to bed, set your right shoe down first, your left behind it, both toes pointing the same way, and you will not have foot cramps
during the night.
5056. "I didn't believe this, but I had cramps in my toes and I thought I would try it, and I set my shoes up against the wall with toes out, and
it stopped my cramp."
5057. "I never have cramps when I do this. Several times I have forgot and I get cramps in my feet. When you go to bed, set your shoes against
the south wall and with the toes together."
5058. As a riddance of cramps in the feet or legs, arrange your shoes so that the toes point toward the east.
5059. You will not suffer from cramps in the feet or legs, if your shoes are turned upside down with the toes pointing northward.
5060. "I always do this to keep cramps away: if you have cramps in your legs, take and put your shoes upside down under the last chair you set
on before you went to bed."
5061. "I do this when I go to bed: when you go to bed at night, always set your shoes by the bed like you were walking away from the bed; will
keep you from having cramps in your legs when in bed."
5062. You can get rid of leg cramps by letting your shoes rest anywhere beneath the bed; but some say the head of the bed, others say the foot of
the bed.
5063. You can get rid of leg cramps by letting your shoes rest upside down anywhere beneath the bed; but some say the head of the bed, others
say the foot of the bed.
 114

5064. "I do this every night before I go to bed to keep cramp out of my leg; put your shoes upside down at the head of the bed, make three
crosses over them, say the Three Highest Names."
5065. To cure leg cramps: some say your shoes must be laid under the bed so that the toes point outward, others say inward; and further, some
say the shoes should be completely beneath the bed, others say half the shoes only.
5066. As a protection against leg cramps, at night set your shoes upside down with both toes pointing away from the bed and make over them the
sign of the cross three times: the first one while saying Father; the second, Son; and the third, Holy Ghost.
5067. In treating foot or leg cramps, set your shoes under the bed so that the toes touch, form the letter V, and point outward.
5068. In treating foot or leg cramps, set your shoes under the bed so that the heels touch, form the letter V, and the toes point outward.
5069. Foot cramps while in bed may be avoided by setting your shoes in the shape of the letter T.
5070. "My dad always did this before he went to bed to keep from having cramps in his legs. He stood working on a ladder all day. And he said
if you would put your shoes in one another, you would never have cramps in bed." In this rite they are usually set under the bed.
5071. Always keep one shoe across the other at night and you will not catch leg cramps. They are generally kept beneath the bed.
5072. Keep your shoes crossed and upside down under the bed, to obtain relief from cramps in the legs.
5073. As a treatment for cramps in the legs, stuff your socks into your shoes and lay the latter upside down under the bed.
5074. One of your soiled socks or stockings kept beneath the bed protects you against cramps in the legs.
5075. "My husband keeps his socks on the bed all the time, and when he feels a cramp coming on, he puts his socks on, for they stop the
cramps."
5076. Just before going to bed, exchange your cotton socks for woolen ones, and sleep in the latter as a protection against toe cramps.
5077. A man can get rid of leg cramps by wearing in bed at night a woman's stockings; a woman, a man's socks.
5078. Hang up your stockings by the toes at night to prevent cramps in your legs.
5079. A silver ring on the hand will protect you against cramps in the fingers.
5080. "I wear a string with a dime on it on my leg all the time to keep away cramp."
5081. "My grandmother always wore two skunk hide strips, one on each leg above the knee, to keep away cramps in the legs."
5082. Bottle a few live black spiders and keep them in the foot of your bed as a remedy against cramps at night.
5083. To stop cramps or pains in your arms or legs, tie a string about the aching place.
5084. If you have cramps below the knee, tie a string anywhere below the knee; if above the knee, tie it anywhere above the knee.
5085. As a remedy for leg cramps, tie a black, red, or white string about the ankle, or above the knee, or just below the knee. Cotton, silk or
yarn may be used. Sometimes the white string is a candlewick. Sometimes the string is dipped into kerosene or turpentine. The string is tied on
the leg affected; if both legs, use two strings. This statement condenses twenty- seven separate beliefs.
5086. You can cure cramps in one leg by tying a black string around the opposite leg.
5087. Three strands of red or white yarn tied below the knee or worn as a garter will cure cramps in the legs.
5088. "There would be many a night that I would not sleep, if I didn't tie twelve red yarn strings around my leg that has the cramp."
5089. To prevent cramps in arms or legs, tie a white string in a bow knot round your arm or leg.
5090. For foot or leg cramps, keep a sack of sulphur in a pocket, or at the bottom of the bed, or against each foot at night, or sprinkle some of it in
your shoes.
5091. Put a bowl or pan of water under your bed at night as a remedy for cramps in the feet. Some add; the colder the water, the better.
5092. A pan of water kept under the bed for seven days cures cramps in the feet.

CORNS
5093. To rid yourself of a corn, always scatter the parings over an ant mound.
5094. After you have taken off a corn, bury it in the ground and it will never bother you again.
5095. "My mother had a bad corn. One day she was cutting it and she cut it so, it went to bleeding real hard. She was afraid of blood poison, so
she put the blood on a piece of bacon and buried the bacon back of the barn; and the corn didn't come back, and she didn't get a sore foot."
5096. You lose a corn, if on three consecutive nights you dip a piece of raw boiling-beef into vinegar and use it as a poultice.
5097. The alternate ritual of painting your corn with bluing three nights in succession and then refraining for an equal length of time will
eventually remove it.
5098. A corn or bunion can be cured by rubbing it three times with the kernel of a buckeye.
5099. "Chewing-gum is very good for a corn. I had a very bad corn on my little toe. I was working up in the North Bottom and a girl said, 'I can
cure your corn.' I said, 'I will give you $5.00 if you take it off.' She took some chewing-gum, chews it, then put it on my corn. She did this three
times. I lost my corn. I am sorry to say it, but I only gave her $4.00. She was glad to get that and I was glad to lose my corn."
5100. Without being seen by anyone, jerk off some leaves as you pass a cherry tree and wipe them over your corn, bury these leaves, and the corn
will have disappeared after the leaves decay.
5101. Heat some sap from cherry tree and spread it over a corn, letting it remain there three days, and the corn will fall off if soaked in warm
water.
5102. One loses a corn by feeding the trimmings to a chicken.
5103. As poultices on corns, the inner lining from a rooster gizzard may be used.
5104. Soreness in a corn is relieved with applications of yellow clay.
5105. Coal oil removes a corn, if it is applied on seven nights and seven mornings.
5106. To cure a corn, apply coal oil for nine nights.
5107. "I had two bad corn. I tried everything, and someone told me this; we lived on a farm and I did the milking, thought I would try it. So I took
off my shoes and stockings and went milking in my bare feet, walking in all the fresh droppings I could find, and I lost both of my corns."
5108. In treating a corn, one rubs over it a candle with which he stroked a corpse.
5109. Corns are removed by paring them with the razor of a dead man.
5110. A callus on the sole can be cured, if a person walks barefoot in the dew for three successive nights or mornings.
5111. If you walk barefoot through the dew on the first three mornings of May, your corn soon disappears.
5112. Smear a dime with blood from your corn; when this wears off the coin, you will no longer have the corn.
5113. Rub your dish rag over your corn, go to the back fence, stand with your back to the fence, throw the rag across your shoulder and over the
fence, walk away without looking back, and your corn will soon be gone.
5114. Steal a dirty dish rag, rub it over your corn for seven mornings, bury the rag, and you will lose the corn.
5115. Earwax is a good corn salve.
 115

5116. Garlic worn in your shoes cures a corn.

5117. A corn may be anointed with a mixture of dandruff from a hog's back, lard, and turpentine.
5118. Bathe a foot callus with water in which a slaughtered hog was scalded to soften the bristles.
5119. Unsalted lard bandaged to a corn for five mornings and five nights takes it off.
5120. If you swathe a corn with lard nightly for seven nights, it drops off during the seventh night.
5121. A lemon rubbed over a corn on nine nights soon removes the corn.
5122. Whittle a match to a sharp peg, press it round your corn, moving in a circle, and then hammer the peg into the north side of a tree. This rids
you of the corn.
5123. You should pare a corn when the moon is full and, every morning thereafter until the new moon, cover it with saliva. This prevents the
growth of corns.
5124. Some say corns trimmed in the dark of the moon neither bleed so much nor grow so fast; others say they will decrease as the moon
decreases.
5125. As a method for removing a callus on the bottom of the foot, hold it in hot salt water under a dark moon.
5126. In ridding yourself of a corn, it must be rubbed In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost just as the moon is taking off.
5127. "I had a real bad corn on my foot, so I sit down on the back porch and took off my stocking and did this, and I lost my corn. In the last
quarter of the moon, look at the moon, take off your stocking, spit on your finger and say to the moon, making a cross over your corn, say Corn,
corn, corn, go away: In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost."
5128. "My mother tried this and the corn went: when you go to bed at night, blow your nose, then touch your corn, and say Good night, Mr. Corn.
You must not speak while doing this or again that night. Next morning, as soon as you awake, and before you speak to anyone, blow your nose
and say Good morning, Mr. Corn. You must do this for nine nights and mornings."
5129. Onion juice rubbed on a corn for seven nights will cure it.
5130. Enter your bedroom in the darkness, take off shoes and stockings, and bind a piece of onion on the corn. Next morning, remove rag and
onion, and drop them into a hole so that they disappear from view after falling. Wait one night and the corn will be gone.
5131. If a dirty dish rag is rubbed over a corn three times and secretly buried in the back yard, the corn will disappear as the dish rag rots.
5132. A callus pared during a rain never returns.
5133. One can take away a corn, if it is rubbed with saliva on a piece of cotton.
5134. Rid yourself of a corn by rubbing it with your first spittle in the morning. Some add, you must not speak or do anything before trying this
remedy.
5135. Each night before going to bed and every morning after getting up, spit on your corn until it disappears.
5136. "My sister had a bad corn and for a week [seven days] every morning she would rub her spit over it before she took a drink or spoke and it
went away."
5137. Treat a corn by spitting on it for nine nights or mornings.
5138. "I did this, for I had a corn. I could not wear my shoes. My corn went away. When you get up in the morning, don't spit until you wash your
hands. Then take that spit and rub on your corn. Do this for nine mornings and your corn will go away."
5139. Night and morning for six months rub saliva on a corn to make it leave.
5140. "I had a corn, it hurt me all the time. Someone said, 'Where do you keep your shoes or slippers?' I said, 'In a wall-pocket on the door.'
'Never do that, for your feet will hurt all the time. Put them on the floor.' I did. And my corn hurts now [only] when it is going to rain."
5141. To cure a corn, set your shoes upside down at night.
5142. If your corn aches, remove your shoes and place them so that the toes point under the bed.
5143. They say a person who accidentally hits his corn during a peal of thunder will soon lose it.
5144. You can get rid of a corn by washing it three times: first, in warm water, and throw that away; next, in soda water, and throw that away;
and finally, in vinegar, and throw that away.

Swelling - Gout - Splinter - Nail Wound - Sprain (5145-5177)

SWELLING ON FEET
5145. To remove a swelling on the leg, bandage it with a piece of linen taken from a corpse.
5146. A white swelling on the leg can be cured with an application of cow manure.
5147. I was sick for a long time in the hospital --- six weeks. Dr. X. [a well-known Quincy physician] was my doctor. When I came home from
the hospital I had a blood clog [clot] on my leg. I could not get my shoe on. I said, 'Dr. X., when will that leave?' He said, 'I don't know. You are
lucky you are here.' My husband didn't like my doctor. He liked Dr. Z. [another well-known Quincy physician] and he made me call Z. He came
and he said, 'Dr. X. is doing all he can. I can't do anything.' I went for three months without putting my shoe on. Then I said to my husband, 'I am
going to try an old German remedy and leave the doctors alone.' So I got a young dog that was fat and well, and let that dog lay on my leg right
where the blood clog was. In three day's time I felt a tingle in my leg. In two week's time the swelling started to go down. And in six week's time
I could put my shoe on. I let that dog lay on my leg all the time. And I got well from the old German remedy, not from the doctor's. This is so.
Some people laugh at you, but I don't care. I will try an old remedy now any day before I send for a doctor."
5148. Swollen feet (particularly during pregnancy) can be cured or relieved by keeping both shoes beneath the foot of the bed.
5149. "I had a swelling in my foot. It was twice the size it should be. My father took me to a man and he spoke over it, saying In the Name of the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. He said that three times. And my father had to take me
three mornings. And I got well."

GOUT
5150. Cook a hill of ants in a bag and use it as a poultice for gout.
5151. Gout may be cured by applying a mixture of goat-milk butter and cow manure.

SPLINTER
5152. A wound caused by a splinter in the foot will not become infected, if the extracted splinter is buried.
5153. Remove a splinter from the hand by covering it with rabbit grease. Some say this must be rendered from the fat at the back of a rabbit's
neck.

NAIL WOUND
 116

5154. The person who steps on a nail should burn it up at once to prevent blood poisoning.
5155. "This was my mother's saying: if you step on a nail, the rags you use to bandage it with, never burn them, always put them in a rat hole so
the rat will take the poison away. My brother step on a nail in the barn lot and she made us children find a rat hole to put the bandages in."
5156. "My father, when I was young, kept a piece of fat hanging up in the barn, and whenever we children or the horses step on a nail, he would
stick it in that fat and leave the nail in it. That old piece of fat was just full of nails and tacks, but we never had a sore foot."
5157. "My son step on a nail three years ago and we drop the nail in the coal oil can and it is still there. Never take it out. He never had
any trouble with his foot."
5158. As a remedy for a nail wound, grease the nail and carry it in your pocket.
5159. "I step on a nail in a board several months ago. I pulled the nail out of the board, put it in my bedroom window for nine days. Always put it
in a window for nine days to keep from having any trouble. I didn't."
5160. To avert soreness or blood poisoning, the nail on which you have stepped must be placed higher than your head --- on a shelf, over a door,
or up in the chimney. The nail is usually greased.
5161. If you bury the nail on which you have stepped, the wound will not bleed very much and will heal rapidly.
5162. If you grease the nail on which you have stepped and drive it into the ground, the swelling will soon go down and lockjaw will be
prevented.
5163. The nail on which you have stepped must be covered with lard and buried under the eaves to effect a cure.
5164. If you step on a nail, put it some place where it cannot get wet; if it gets wet, you will have a sore or an infected foot.
5165. A nail wound in the foot does not become sore, if the nail is hidden where no one can see or find it. Sometimes the nail is wrapped in a
greasy dish rag.
5166. "Ninety years ago my mother run a rusty nail in the bottom of her foot. Blood poison set in and they had sent for the doctor and when he
got, there he said, 'Go out and get a fresh cow pancake and we will put her foot in it.' They did. And my mother got well, for the cow pancake
drawed out all the poison."
5167. "Years ago my brother, up here on a farm near Ursa was running a hog. He jump over a hedge fence after the hog and jump on one of those
old short weed stumps [a scythe in cutting weeds leaves certain types of cut-off weeds with sharp stumps] --- went right up through his shoe,
taking pieces of his sock and some of the bottom of his shoe along. He was suffering so, he sent to Quincy for a doctor just as soon as he got to
the house. The doctor came for about a week and he was getting no better --- suffering all the time. Blood poison had set in. The doctor didn't
draw the pieces of sock out of the foot. One day he said, 'I am getting tired of the Quincy doctor coming out here and only using bread poultice,
I am going to try my grandfather's remedy.' And he did. The next day he had someone go out and catch hot cow manure --- and for three weeks
and three times a day to catch it. He put it on the bottom of his foot, hot, three times a day. And the first day, pieces of sock and leather started to
come out, until he got it all out and got well. That was the only thing that saved him. If he had of kept on the Quincy doctor, he would of died."
5168. If you step on a nail, scratch three crosses on a pine board with the nail and then throw the nail away as a precaution against infection.
5169. Hog manure poultices are applied to a nail wound in the foot.
5170. For an inflamed wound made by stepping on a nail, let a piece of red flannel smolder over hot coals and hold your foot in the smoke.
5171. "Just this week the little boy across the street run a nail in his foot, and I went over and rubbed soap all over it [the nail] and drove the
nail in the north side of a tree and he didn't have any trouble at all."
5172. Guard against blood poisoning after you have stepped on a nail by applying tobacco to the wound In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost.

SPRAIN
5173. Yellow clay and salt make a good poultice for a sprain.
5174. As a treatment for a sprained ankle or wrist, wrap an eelskin around it three times and leave this bandage on.
5175. Tie a piece of rattlesnake skin around your wrist to keep it from spraining or straining while chopping wood.
5176. A sprained ankle or wrist is cured with applications of your own urine.
5177. You can cure a sprain in the leg or wrist by tying a woolen cord about it.

GOITRE (5178-5232)

5178. Goitres are removed by applying human afterbirth.

5179. "I had a friend that had a goitre bad. Someone told her to wear a big bag of asafetida around her neck. She did and it cure her goitre."
5180. A bag of alum worn about the neck is good for goitre.
5181. "My sister had a goitre. She had a fine string of amber beads. If you wear amber beads, it will draw all the poison out of your body. If the
beads turn black, that is the poison in your body. Bury the beads for a while and you will bury the poison. She wore them. They all turn black on
her. She buried the beads. When she dug them up they looked like new again, for she had buried the poison."
5182. Black beads on the neck prevent goitre. They also rid you of one. After the supporting string rots, the affliction disappears.
5183. A necklace of red beads about the neck frees you from a goitre.
5184. "I had a very bad goitre. It hung way down over my breast. And that was all I did, was to take nine different kind of bean leaves and put
them on a cloth, so the smooth side of the bean leaves would be next to my goitre, and put it around my neck, and it cured me. You can see for
yourself it is gone."
5185. If a person with big neck (goitre) walks through a field, picks up the first animal bone found, rubs that over his swelling, buries it at its
original location, departs without glancing back, the ailment will fade away as the bone decays.
5186. A piece of chammy (shammy) round your neck protects you against goitre.
5187. Guard against or cure a goitre by wearing a necklace of coral beads.
5188. "My aunt had a bad goitre, suffered for years with it, nothing she tried helped her. Someone told her about the dead hand, to rub a dead
hand over it, the goitre will not grow any more. She tried it and lived for years without it growing any more or suffering with it."
5189. "If you have a goitre; you should go to a corpse; and if your goitre is on the left side, take the dead person's left hand and rub over
your goitre on the left side; and if on the right side, take the dead person's right hand and rub on the right side. Never only take one hand and rub
all around your neck. My sister had a bad goitre and when our mother died she took her left hand rubbed it allover her left side, and her goitre got
well on the left side and never did get well on the right side."
5190. "My brother saw a little girl fourteen years old with a bad goitre. She went to where a dead person was laid out. And this girl took the
dead person's hand, rubbed it over her goitre three times, and lay the dead hand back in the same position that it was in; and in a year my brother
 117

met this girl and her goitre was gone." 5191. A woman loses her goitre by passing the hand of a dead man over it three times; a man, the hand of
a dead woman. 5192. To get rid of a goitre, rub back and forth over it the hand of a dead person three times --- making six times in all --- but be
sure not to remove the hand until the rubbing is finishing.
5193. Goitre on a woman can be removed, if she touches it thrice with the hand of a dead man while repeating In the Name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost.
5194. "I [a woman] had a bad goitre. I tried everything and nothing help. Then my uncle died. Then I went in the room and shut the door, all by
myself in the dark, for no one must see or know that you are doing it. I took my uncle's dead hand and rub over my goitre three times, saying In
the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, take my goitre with you. And in three weeks after he was buried, my goitre was way down.
Everyone could see the change in it.
5195. If you kneel down near a dead person and ask the Lord to transfer your goitre to the corpse, the goitre will waste away as the body
decomposes.
5196. The person who wipes a piece of bacon on the hand of a dead person, applies this meat to his goitre, then lays it in the coffin or drops it
into the grave, will soon be cured.
5197. As a treatment for goitre, rub a greasy dish rag over it and bury the rag.
5198. If you steal a dish rag, keep it wrapped about your goitre for three nights, bury the rag, the goitre will disappear after the dish rag rots.
5199. Drop a live frog into a skillet of hot lard and let it fry until dead. This makes a good ointment for Goitres.
5200. "I have a sister living in California that has a very bad goitre and I am going to send her out a box of wart frogs this spring. You take
toads, some call them wart frogs, cut open alive, and bind around your neck for a goitre."
5201. You free yourself from a goitre by binding a live toad to the neck.
5202. A live toad passed over the neck takes off a goitre.
5203. Move the belly of a live frog over your goitre three times and throw the frog over your left shoulder. The goitre will disappear and the frog
will die.
5204. In curing a goitre, lift up a live toad and, having pressed its belly over your neck three times, restore the toad to the exact spot on the
ground from which you lifted it.
5205. "My grandmother that lives in Quincy wears garlic all the time around her goitre and she can see where it is going down."
5206. The wearing of a gold-bead necklace cures a goitre.
5207. If you let some of your hair touch your goitre, braid the hair, cut this off and tie it around a small tree; or, if you braid some of your hair,
cut this off and wrap it about your neck, then tie around a small tree; after the tree grows and breaks the band of hair about its trunk, your goitre
will be gone.
5208. Every night paint your knees with iodine, always painting downward, and you can force a goitre down through your body and out the feet.
5209. A necklace of Job's tears is good for goitre.
5210. Job's tears may be used for a goitre; but, as the goitre grows smaller, one tear must be taken from the necklace every few days. The cure
will be complete after the necklace has been completely unstrung.
5211 "I had a bad goitre, the doctor wanted to take it out, I kept putting it off, when a woman told me to put a silver knife in the pillowslip, sleep
on it every night, and that I would wake up some morning without my goitre. Well, I tried it every night for five months and one morning woke
up without my goitre. This is the truth. It is six years since I did this and my goitre has not come back. Several people told me I was crazy, even
the doctor. Well, I didn't care what they said, for my goitre was gone. I guess the doctor was mad because I didn't have to pay him big money.
This is true too: I told another woman that had a goitre up near our place [near Fowler] after I lost mine, so she tried it too. But she didn't lose
hers until after six months."
5212. Gaze at the moon the first time it begins to wane, and, while rubbing your goitre, say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Do
this for seven consecutive nights.
5213. "I had a very bad lump [goitre] on my throat. It worried me. And someone told me this: go to the four-crossed roads when the moon is
increasing and look up at the moon, and put your thumb on the lump and say What I see is increasing, what I squeeze is decreasing. And I went to
the four corners of the road and stood right in the middle and squeeze the lump, looking at the moon, and said this. And my lump disappear right
after that."
5214. "I had a goitre when eighteen years old and some old woman told my mother about mussel shells. We had some shells in the yard, so I
washed them and scraped them into powder, made it into three doses, put one dose on the end of a knife, looking at the moon when it was taking
off, and making the cross over my goitre, saying the Three Highest Names: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I did this for three nights. I lost my
goitre. I have told a lot of people this remedy that have Goitres, but they are afraid to try it. But I say it is good."
5215. "I have a goitre and I keep a nutmeg around my neck all the time. Whenever I take it off, I get a choking spell right away."
5216. "My sister had a large wen on the back of her head and it went away without her having a doctor. I just know she took a potato and rubbed
over her wen. I would beg and beg her to tell me how she lost her wen, but she would not tell me. I guess she was afraid to tell me. She was afraid
it would come back. She was always telling me to cut a potato in three pieces and rub over my goitre. So one day I did, and took the pieces
a-way-way out in the country and buried them right up against a tree, so no one could walk over it. And when I buried them, I said In the Name
of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I didn't wait long enough to see if my goitre went away without the doctor, for I had a very bad goitre. One
night I almost choked to death and they took me right to the hospital. I know the potato would of helped me, if I had of rubbed it on sooner."
5217. "I know this will cure it, for I had a goitre and I put a wide silk piece around my neck and it left."
5218. Black silk ribbon kept round your neck makes a goitre leave.
5219. If you tie a black velvet band round your neck and each morning cut a little of the tape off to tighten the band, your goitre will soon be
gone.
5220. Blue silk ribbon about the neck removes a goitre.
5221. Kill a garter snake, wrap it round your neck, leave it on until sundown, throw the snake away, and the goitre will soon be lost.
5222. If you skin a garter snake and wear it tied round the neck until the skin wears off, you will be rid of your goitre.
5223. A goitre will no longer trouble you, provided a live snake is dragged across it.
5224. Twist a live garter snake round your neck so that the tail rests in its mouth, and release the snake after reciting:
"Goitre, goitre, go away,
Before the sun rises another day."
5225. "My niece had a goitre and she put a blacksnake around her neck three times and let it crawl away, and it cured her goitre."
 118

5226. "A man's sister had a goitre. He went and killed a blacksnake, cut its head right off, and tied a string around the snake's neck, then
wrapped that snake around his sister's neck three times, then took it off and wrapped it around again three times, then again three times. This last
time he let it stay on his sister's neck until she started to getting blue in the face, then took it off, and the goitre went away."
5227. "When I was a girl sixteen years old I had a goitre. My mother tried everything she could think of --- let me wear a black band around my
neck, red beads and amber beads, but nothing help --- when one day an old gypsy woman came along and she told mother about the sponge; said
it would cure a goitre, that it was an old gypsy remedy. So mother got a sponge and burn it, then divide the ashes in nine equal parts, and gave me
one of the nine parts for nine mornings in the decreasing of the moon. And I lost my goitre. I am sixty-two years old and it never come back, and
that was when I was sixteen years old. So I think this very good."
5228. A goitre is taken off by keeping a black string tied round the neck.
5229. A goitre is prevented or cured by keeping a red string tied round the neck.
5230. "A woman had a goitre and another woman said she would take it off. She went to her just when the moon was changing from light to dark,
she went at one o'clock at night, and went nine nights, and stopped nine nights, then went again nine nights. She took a white cord string and tied
around the woman's neck the first night, and left it on until she made three times nine trips [that is, until she had gone three periods of nine
successive nights separated by two of the same duration]. Then she took the string off and soaked it in iodine, then she buried the string under a
rock, and while burying it she asked God to remove the goitre off of Helen or whoever's it is neck. She asked this three times. And in nine months
after that the goitre had gone."
5231. Having folded a white linen handkerchief like a diaper, fold it again in the same manner, dip into turpentine, and bind to your neck for three
nights. Then leave this bandage off during the next three nights, redip into turpentine, and replace it on your neck. Repeat this alternate rite until
you have had the handkerchief about your neck nine nights, and you will lose your goitre.
5232. "My great-great-grandmother's saying was, if you wear those old-time wooden beads around your neck, you will never have goitre."

HEADACHE (5233-5300)

5233. A buckeye carried in your pocket or the band of your hat prevents headache.
5234. Powder the dried lining of a chicken gizzard and give for a headache.
5235. To pin on the clothesline a woman's dress or a man's shirt by the hem, thus letting it hang upside down, brings a headache to the wearer.
5236. Copper wire round the neck preserves you from headaches.
5237. A person subject to frequent headaches can check the attacks by wearing gold earrings.
5238. "My father always wore an eelskin around his head to keep from having headache."
5239. Persons trimming their finger-nails or toe-nails on Monday never suffer from headaches.
5240. You rid yourself of headaches, if your finger-nails or toe-nails are trimmed every Friday.
5241. In curing a headache, cut your finger-nails and toe-nails, drop the cuttings into a small sack, and bury this in the woods while saying In the
Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
5242. For getting rid of pains in a severe headache, apply a hot flatiron to your feet so that it will draw the blood down from your head into the
feet.
5243. Hair cut in the dark of the moon gives you a headache.
5244. Hair cut after dark gives you a headache.
5245. The person who cuts his hair in March may expect headaches all year.
5246. Do not singe your hair after cutting it, for it will cause a headache.
5247. Some say the burning of hair combings or cuttings causes a headache, others say this protects you against headaches.
5248. Some say the burying of hair combings or cuttings causes a headache, others say this means headaches until the hair rots.
5249. "An old saying of my grandmother's was: if you have the headache, take some hair off the top of your head and bury the hair; when it rots,
your headache will not come back."
5250. As a treatment for headache, hair must be cut and buried beneath a rock.
5251. Headache is prevented by keeping your combings in a dark place.
5252. Never throw any of your hair out into the yard; you will have headaches until the hair decays.
5253. Birds picking up and making a nest of your hair will bring you a headache — headaches the rest of your life say some.
5254. After birds have found your discarded combings and made a nest of them, you will not lose your headaches until the nest is destroyed.
According to some, you must destroy the nest by burning it.
5255. Headaches come from mice or rats getting your discarded hair. These pains will not leave unless you recover the hair.
5256. Always wear a few strands of your hair in a braid and you will not be bothered with a headache.
5257. One strand of your hair cut off every morning for five days is a headache remedy.
5258. The child whose mother clips some hair from its head immediately after birth, saves it, buries it when the baby is a year old, will always
be immune from headaches.
5259. Pluck a few hairs from your eyebrows and forehead just as the moon begins to wane and, while invoking the Three Highest Names, bury
them at the garden gate in ground over which you frequently walk. Repeat this rite on three wanings of the moon and your headaches will
disappear.
5260. A woman rids herself of frequent headaches by keeping a rubber hairpin in her hair for nine months and then burying it before sunrise.
5261. You can cure a headache with a red hanakerchief tied round your forehead.
5262. A man's hat falling to the floor will make his head ache that day.
5263. To sit in the house with your hat on produces a headache.
5264. If you dig seven holes in the ground and stick your head into each hole every morning for nine days, you will soon lose a headache.
5265. "I remember my mother saying, it was my grandmother's saying too, take the hair out of a horse's tail and mane, sleep on this, it will stop
the headache. Of course I don't believe this. It was their old sayings."
5266. A cap or hat woven of hair from a mare's tail is good for headaches, unless the mare was in heat when you secured the hair. In the latter
case your headaches will be worse.
5267. Hold wilted horse-radish leaves to the back of the head and slowly move them down the entire length of your body. This forces a
headache downwards and out through your feet.
5268. A woman can drive away her headache by letting a man squeeze her head.
5269. A match worn in your hair wards off a headache.
 119

5270. If you put a small mustard plaster on the calf of your leg, a second a little higher, a third just above these, a fourth and larger plaster so that
it covers all three, a sick headache will go away.
5271. A woman should never fold her nightgown and lay it under her pillow when making the bed; she will be sick with a headache all day.
5272. Headache is cured by wearing a nutmeg round your neck.
5273. Headache is cured by wearing a nutmeg on a red string round your neck.
5274. The lucky stone from a perch head when carried in your hair is good for a headache.
5275. An effective remedy for headache is a potato kept in your pocket until it withers.
5276. Red ribbon tied round your neck stops a headache.
5277. As a protection against headaches, a black velvet band should be wrapped about your head.
5278. "My mother always did this as soon as she started to get the headache and it would stop --- wear a green velvet ribbon around the neck."
5279. Salt eaten every morning for ten days will cure a headache.
5280. If you put on your left shoe first, you will get a headache.
5281. A headache is caused by setting your shoes under the bed at night.
5282. Some say a headache comes from sleeping with your head to the west; others say, your head to the east.
5283. The first snake of the year killed and made into a hatband is a good headache remedy.
5284. "When I was a girl I had to work hard in the harvest fields and always had the headache until an old man told me to get a rattlesnake skin
in the spring about the first of April — that is about the time they come out. After that, every spring I tried to get as many rattlesnake skins as I
could, to wear in my hat, and I didn't have the headache after I started to wearing them. In those days snakes were very numerous. I lived out
back from Mendon."
5285. "My grandmother did this to keep headache away: took a piece of rattlesnake skin and rolled some of her hair on it, just like a curler."
5286. "My father wore a rattlesnake rattler pin in the top of his hat to keep away the headache." Sometimes two are worn in the hat.
5287. "My grandmother had headache bad all the time and someone told her this. Of course this was years ago. And she got three rattlesnake
rattlers and always kept them tied in the back of her hair. They wore long hair in those days and no one could see the rattlers in her knot. She said
she never had the headache again after she started to wearing them."
5288. "Look! I am wearing a rattle with twelve rattles and one button in my hair. [These were attached to her side comb which she removed so
that they could be seen.] Been wearing it for four years to keep from having the headache.
5289. To be freed from headaches, wash your head with snow-water on Good Friday.
5290. Tea from sparrow droppings is administered for headaches.
5291. One remedy for a headache is to find a spider on the ceiling and watch it drop to the floor.
5292. "One day I was working out in the field and I said to a man, 'I have such a bad headache, I wish I had some medicine.' He said, 'Take your
fingers and rub under your arms real hard, then smell them.' I did and my headache
went right away."
5293. Headache is driven away by hanging one of your pulled teeth about the neck.
5294. Drop your first pulled tooth into a bird nest and you will never be troubled by headaches.
5295. Headaches will no longer trouble a woman, if a live toad is bound to her forehead.
5296. "I know a person that carries a black walnut in their pocket all the time to keep headache away."
5297. A powdered wasp nest poulticed to the forehead will draw from your brain all the gas that is causing your headache.
5298. "If you have the headache, dip your hand in cold water, rubbing it over your head, then shake all the water off your hand before you put it
back in the pan of water. Keep doing this. But never let any water stay on your hand that went over your head, for you will be putting the
headache back and will keep it. You must throw your headache away every time."
5299. Babies should never be weaned in the sign of the head (Aries); they will have headaches all through life.
5300. The person who while lying down hears the first whippoorwill of the season will be annoyed with headaches all year.
MUMPS (5301-5310)

5301. Let a dog sleep near the pillow of a person having mumps and the disease will be transferred to the animal.
5302. Use a mixture of warmed cow and hog manure as an application for mumps.
5303. "About seventy-two years ago [1862] my brother, sister and I had the mumps bad, and a school girl we went with. My mother took some of
the slop around our hog trough and made hot poultices and put on our mumps. My sister said, 'I will not let you put that dirty poultice on me. '
And she got very sick. My brother and I let mother put it on us and we were not sick at all. And our school girl friend let her mother put one on
her and she got along fine. But my sister almost died."
5304. "Years ago I took mumps in the morning. My mother took me out to the hog trough, rubbed my neck over the hog trough, just got my neck
full of that old green slime. I was well by night."
5305. A person can rid himself of mumps by rubbing his jaws three times on a trough where hogs rub themselves.
5306. In treating mumps, anoint them with Negro hair fried in lard.
5307. Women who have mumps should keep a string or towel tied around the body just above the breasts to prevent the disease from going down;
for if it goes down, they will never bear any children.
5308. To keep mumps from going down, a man must tie a black silk cord around his waist; a woman, about her neck.
5309. Mumps will not go down on the person who keeps a red string tied around the neck.
5310. A white string tied round the waist keeps mumps from going down or falling on a person.

MUSCULAR COMPLAINTS
Crick - Hiccough - Sideache - Swimming Cramps (5311-5365)
CRICK
5311. For a crick in your neck, rub it on a tree against which a hog has rubbed itself.
5312. If you lay a piece of blanket over a stiff neck and iron down on the blanket, the pain will go out through your elbow; but if you iron up,
the stiffness will spread to every part of your body.
5313. Wear a woolen string as a necklace to prevent cramps in the neck.

HICCOUGH
5314. Hiccough is sometimes caused by an absent person talking about you --- usually telling a lie.
 120

5315. According to another belief in which hiccough does not have a physiological origin, to hiccough three times in the morning means three
letters that day; next day say some.
5316. A cure for hiccough is to hold your breath while counting nine.
5317. Count ten while holding your breath and your hiccough will stop.
5318. If a person counts backwards starting at fifty, his hiccough will be gone before he reaches three.
5319. To check hiccough, hold your index fingers out in front of you and try to see how near you can bring them together without touching.
5320. In getting rid of hiccough, try to cross your index finger and little finger over or under the two middle fingers so that they touch each other.
5321. Cross your arms over your stomach, bend down and draw in your breath, and hiccough will disappear.
5322. With your arms held straight down in front, hold the ends of two black strings stretched taut between the thumb and index finger of each
hand, twist the two ends on the right side one direction and the two ends on the left side the other direction, keep twisting as you slowly raise the
two strings upwards, and when they are on a level with your nose, your hiccoughs will be gone.
5323. "If someone is hiccoughing, say I can stop it. Look me right straight in the eyes. Both holding their breath, you hold your thumbs on the
two nerves in the wrist on their right arm, still holding your breath, hold it as long as you can hold your breath, then throw their arms away,
saying Hiccough if you can. I'll give you a dollar if you can. But they can't. This will even cure a drunken hiccough."
5324. Wear a nutmeg round your neck and you will not have hiccough.
5325. A person can treat hiccough by blowing up a paper bag and inhaling from the bag.
5326. For a severe attack of hiccough, eat a potato three nights in succession instead of supper and then take a tablespoonful of castor oil in
hot coffee.
5327. Grate a raw potato and apply it to your navel as a hiccough remedy.
5328. To drive away hiccough, lift up one end of a rock (be careful to keep the other end on the ground), spit under it, and restore the rock to
its original position.
5329. Hiccough can be stopped, if immediately before or during the first hiccough you can slowly say One or That's once.
5330. A string tied about either index finger cures hiccough.
5331. "This was a saying of my grandma: If you had hiccoughs, to think of the seat you set in last at church and they would stop."
5332. You can rid yourself of hiccough by recalling the text of last Sunday's sermon.
5333. Think of your best girl friend or boy friend when you have hiccough and if she or he loves you the hiccough will stop.
5334. While drinking water think of the first person you ever loved and your hiccoughs will go away.
5335. If you hold your two little fingers together in front of you just so that they do not touch, and at the same time think of someone you love,
your hiccoughs will be cured.
5336. Sit in a rocking-chair, think of someone who has been dead a long time, then begin to rock, and your hiccough will be stopped.
5337. Think of six persons who have been dead over ten years and this will cure your hiccough.
5338. One of the commonest remedies for hiccough is taking swallows or drops of water — usually while holding your breath and drinking
slowly. The number of swallows is variously given: three, six, seven, nine, ten, twelve and twenty-one.
5339.
"Drink three cups up,
Will cure the hiccoughs up."
5340. Three dry swallows cures hiccough.
5341. Occasionally, as a hiccough remedy, both ears are held tightly closed with the fingers while someone gives you three swallows of water.
5342. As a remedy for hiccough, take three swallows of water and say: on the first Hiccough, on the second Snicup, and on the third Snacup.
5343. It is sometimes said you must look straight up while you take six; swallows of water to cure hiccough.
5344. Hold nine sips of water in your mouth, count nine backward, turn round nine times, and your hiccough will be gone.
5345. Your hiccough will vanish, if you take a drink from a cup, set the cup upside down, and then lay a safety pin on top of it.
5346. If you put a silver spoon in a glass of water and drink the water while looking at the spoon, your hiccough will go away.
5347. If you put a silver or steel knife in a glass of water and drink the water while looking at the knife, the knife will cut away your hiccough.
5348. If you hold a knife crosswise in your mouth while drinking water, the knife will cut away your hiccough.
5349. If you let someone hold a knife on your tongue while you drink water, the knife will cut away your hiccough.
5350. "I was down here in Payson several years ago and several men were talking about a woman that had dying hiccups, had been under the
doctor's care for six weeks, said she would die. I said, 'Why, I can stop hiccups.' One of the men said, 'Hell, I will take you right over to her house
and see if you can, after the doctor has tried six weeks.' I went and I took a butcher- knife, don't put your hand on the blade, stuck the knife in a
glass of water, then told the woman to drink all the water without touching the knife. The knife always falls on the floor. It stopped her hiccups.
She got well."
5351. Rid yourself of hiccough by wishing it on someone you do not like.

SIDE-ACHE OR STITCH IN THE SIDE

5352. A stitch in the side comes from stirring coffee or tea with a knife.
5353. If a woman catches a pain in her side and happens to be wearing an apron, she can tuck one corner of the apron under her belt and the pain
will stop.
5354. To cure side-ache, pick up a clod of dirt, spit on the underside, and restore the clod to its original position. The same thing may be done
with a rack or a chip of wood. An uncommon variant of this remedy requires that you keep both feet together throughout the rite.
5355. Side-ache can be cured by picking up a rock, spitting on it three times, and then throwing it over your shoulder: some say this must be
thrown over the left shoulder with the right hand; others say, over the right shoulder with the left hand.
5356. Whenever you have side-ache, find a small rock, hold it against the aching side while you run a little and walk a little, then drop the
rock without looking back, and the pain will soon leave.
5357. Squeeze on both thumbs held tightly inside your closed fists to get rid of a side-ache.
SWIMMING CRAMPS
5358. Cramps attack a person who swims during dog days.
5359. You avoid a swimmer's cramp by wearing sewed in a bag the lucky stone from the head of a perch.
5360. A swimmer protects himself against cramps, if preceding his entrance into the water he picks up a rock, spits on it, and restores it to
the original position.
 121

5361. Prevent swimming cramps by wearing a small rubber band round each ankle and wrist.
5362. Swimmers who after undressing lay a forked stick on their clothes are not bothered by a cramp.
5363. As a protection against swimming cramps, keep a chew of tobacco in your mouth while you swim.
5364. If when about to enter the water you urinate and rub this warm urine over your body, you will be immune from swimming cramps.
5365. To guard yourself against cramps during a swim, do not plunge into the water until you have performed three acts: test the temperature of
the water, first with the feet, then with the hands, and finally, sprinkle some of the water on your discarded clothing.

NERVE MALADIES (5366-5402)

Hysteria - Nervousness (5366-5368)
HYSTERIA
5366. Grind dried chicken dung into a powder and give a pinch of it in a prune for hysterics.

NERVOUSNESS
5367. If you kill a chicken and let it die in your hand, you will become nervous.
5368. "My daughter worked in grapes for three days straight and had a nervous breakdown. Never work in grapes for several days without
stopping; will make you very nervous."

Neuralgia - Neuritis - Shingles (5369-5402)

NEURALGIA
5369. A brass ring may be worn either as a remedy for or as a prevention of neuralgia.
5370. To rid yourself of head pains, particularly those caused by neuralgia, pluck a four-leafed clover while wishing this riddance, and then wear
the leaf in your hair.
5371. Keep an eelskin round the head for neuralgia.
5372. Neuralgia is avoided by trimming your finger-nails and toe-nails on Friday.
5373. After you have pared your finger-nails and toe-nails, wrap these parings in a cloth and throw them into running water to stop neuralgic
pains.
5374. "If you have neuralgia, take a white string and dip in holy water and wear that string around the top of your head. I know a woman that
does this. I will not tell her name, for we are good friends and I am afraid she would get angry at me."
5375. "My face was all swollen up from neuralgia, couldn't find anything to do it any good, when someone told me to wear a nutmeg around my
neck on a string. Some say the nutmeg must rest on your breastbone, others say the string must be woolen. I did, and am still wearing it. That was
five years ago. Every time I take off the nutmeg I get the neuralgia back, so now I only take it off long enough to change the string when it gets
dirty. Some people laugh at me, but it's so, and I don't care as long as it keeps neuralgia away."
5376. "Every fall, when it turns a little cool, I take two nutmegs and I put a nutmeg on a string and wear it around my neck to keep neuralgia out
of my head, and the other I wear around my waist to keep the pains out of my body."
5377. "I had neuralgia bad, could not sleep at night. Someone told me about the nutmeg, and I thought I would try it; and I put a nutmeg in a little
sack and pinned it on my underclothes, and wear it all the time, and I have never been bothered with neuralgia since I put it on."
5378. As a treatment for neuralgia, a nutmeg should be attached to a red string and tied round the neck. Some say the nutmeg must lie at the back
of the neck.
5379. "1 know several that have tried this --- keep a potato in your pocket all the time and you will not have neuralgia — and it was good."
5380. "Years ago Mrs. X. had a bad case of neuralgia. A traveling-man told her husband that she should always put on her left stocking and left
shoe first. She did and her neuralgia left and has never returned. Even today when she goes to buy a new pair of shoes, she makes the clerk put on
the left shoe first, because she is afraid the neuralgia might come back."
5381. "My grandmother, if she has neuralgia, she will put a blue ribbon [a blue silk string is sometimes used] around her neck when going to bed.
When she gets up in the morning she will be well."
5382. "1 knew a woman that had neuralgia for ten years and someone told her to get a piece of cloth [ribbon or string may be used] grass-green
and wear it around her neck, it would help her. She got the green cloth and put it around her neck; only had it on three weeks when she got well."
5383. "My mother had very bad teeth and someone told her this: always wipe your hands first and your face last to keep neuralgia away. And she
started to wiping her hands first and has never had neuralgia after she started to doing it."

NEURITIS
5384. Keep a bag of alum in the bed for neuritis.
5385. To prevent neuritis, wear round your neck the hearing bone from the head of a hog.
5386. Neuritis can be cured by smoking jimson weed seed.

SHINGLES
5387. When the two ends of a chain of shingles meet, the patient will die.
5388. "I remember another thing that happen down at Marblehead. They say take the blood out of anything black and rub a person with shingles,
will cure them. We had a black cat, and the neighbor had shingles so bad, they wanted us to kill it so he could get the blood. I remember I cried.
But at last they killed our cat."
5389. Paint shingles with blood taken from the tail of a black cat.
5390. As a remedy for shingles, daub them with three drops of blood out of the tail of a black cat.
5391. In treating shingles that cover both sides of your body, take three drops of blood from the tail of a black cat and spread this on the left side.
5392. You can get rid of shingles by cutting off a black cat's tail and keeping it wrapped round your waist next to the skin.
5393. Put at the edge of your patch of shingles some hot blood from a chicken and rub that blood back to the place where they are thickest.
This is called Rubbing the shingles back.
5394. To cure shingles, daub them with blood from a black chicken.
5395. To cure shingles, kill a black chicken by sticking it in the throat, and then let the warm blood drip on them drop by drop.
5396. To cure shingles, cut open a black chicken and bandage them with the blood, feathers, intestines --- everything.
5397. To cure shingles, wear about your neck the head of a black chicken.
 122

5398. If you split open a black hawk and poultice it over your shingles while the blood is warm, you will soon be cured. The person of
Irish-Indian descent who gave this remedy said it was an Indian one that had been handed down in the family.
5399. "I know several families in the North Bottom that had shingles and I told them this and it cure them. If you have shingles, take and get
some oats straw, cut it all up and boil, then drink the water off of that. Also, take some oats, fry in lard, then take that and rub your shingles.
Always rub them down. [Some say the rubbing must be with a circular motion.] If you rub up, they will close up inside and you will die."
5400. A person will lose his shingles, if he kills a snake and wraps it about them. Sometimes the snake is skinned so that the inside of the
skin may be applied.
5401. The skin of a copperhead snake worn as a belt against the skin cures shingles.
5402. Round your patch of shingles draw a circle with juice from an old pipestem and this will prevent them from spreading and also effect a
cure.

OCULAR MATTERS (5403-5510)

Bi-Colored Eyes - Blindness - Cataract and Growth (5403-5411)
BI-COLORED EYES
5403. "I knew three different men that their mothers let them lie in the moonlight before they were a year old and all three have different color
eyes [one eye of one color, the other eye of a different color --- iridis heterochromia]."

BLINDNESS
5404. Blindness at birth is cured by the mother squeezing some of her milk into the baby's eyes.
5405. "A girl went blind with the measles and her mother said that she hoped the day would come when she could see. When her mother was
dying they rubbed her hand over the girl's eyes and in three days she could see."
5406. You never become blind, if you wear earrings.
5407. The person who looks into a mirror that has an ornamental wreath round it will go blind.
5408. "My mother always said never to burn black or red pepper on the stove; sure sign you will lose your eyesight some day and go blind."

CATARACT AND GROWTH

5409. "I have a bad cataract on my eye and I have been thinking of trying this. A woman told me this was very good, to take egg shells and brown
them good so you can make a fine powder of them, then put this powder in a quill and blow this powder in your eye, will cut the cataract off. Her
grandfather had a very bad cataract and he did this, and it cut it off without him going to the doctor. So I think I will try it on mine."
5410. "A woman had a growth on her eyes and she took a radish and said In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and rubbed the radish
over her growth and it went away."
5411. "Mrs. B's mother had something growing on her eye and she said it was very painful. It was the size of a pea. And one day some old
German fellow said, 'Let me see your eye.' And he spit on his finger and rubbed it across her eye. And the next week he asked her how her eye
was getting along, and she said it was still growing and it was still painful. So he spit on his finger and rubbed her eye again. And in another week
he came back and asked her the same thing, and it wasn't any better. So he spit on his finger and rubbed her eye the third time. And she didn't
notice it, and when he came back to ask her about her eye it was completely gone [!]. She asked him how he did it and he said he just used the
spit and said nothing. But a man has to use his spit on a woman and a woman has to use her spit on a man, once each week for three weeks."

Cross-Eyes - Pink Eye - Particle in Eye (5412-5421)

CROSS-EYES
5412. Always keep a baby in a dark room for six weeks after birth and it will never become cross-eyed or have sore eyes.
5413. You make a baby cross-eyed by letting it look into a mirror before it is a year old.
5414. A child laid where the moon shines into its eyes becomes cross-eyed.

PINK EYE
5415. Pink eye can be cured if you let a mother with a new baby squirt some of her milk against the infection.

PARTICLE IN EYE
5416. A particle can be removed from your eye by holding the upper eyelid over the lower one while you count twenty.
5417. To remove a particle from the eye turn back the eyelid and blow the nose.
5418. Close the eyelid, blow your nose, and any particle in your eye will come out through one of the nostrils.
5419. If you get anything in your eye, raise and close the eyelid three times and then blow your nose hard.
5420. Keep one nostril shut as you blow the other one and at the same time pull down the upper eyelid over the lower. This brings a particle out
of the eye.
5421. When there is something in your eye, hold one nostril shut and blow your nose. The particle will come out through the open nostril.

Sore or Weak Eyes - Sty - Sun Pains (5422-5510)

SORE OR WEAK EYE
5422. On meeting people with sore eyes you will not contract their ailment, provided you turn your back to them.
5423. Those who meet an acquaintance with sore eyes should stop and count their finger-nails before speaking, to avoid catching the disease.
5424. If you blacken your finger-nails with blackberries on Friday and wash this off next morning, you will never catch sore eyes from anyone.
5425. As a treatment for sore eyes, you must use a poultice, each separately and in the following order --- of cow manure, slippery elm, and bread
and milk. Repeat this process indefinitely.
5426. Pierce the ears to strengthen the sight and to prevent sore eyes. This will be more effective when done in childhood. Incidentally, you
can keep the ears from becoming sore by piercing them on the first of May.
5427. To make the eyes stronger and to remove any inflammation, at the beginning of the new moon wipe off a needle in a piece of flannel, cover
the point with vaseline, and use silk for threading it. After you have pierced your ears, run the thread through the holes three times. Do this after
sunset and repeat next morning before sunrise.
5428. Always take off your glasses before looking at a new moon, for looking at a new moon through glasses weakens your sight.
 123

5429. To protect yourself against sore eyes, you should wear earrings. This remedy is sometimes considered ineffective unless gold ones are
worn.
5430. Weak eyes can be strengthened by singeing the eyelashes.
5431. Boil eggs laid that day, slice them in halves lengthwise, and bind one half on each eye every night for three nights to improve impaired
sight.
5432. When you have pains in your eyes, rub three fingers over the eyeballs for relief.
5433. "My daughter had a very sore eye and I put a live frog on the eye and let stay overnight. It drew all the soreness out."
5434. To heal sore eyes, they should be rubbed with the sap taken from grapevines in March.
5435. In changing the lenses of your eyeglasses, bury the discarded ones and sprinkle them with holy water before filling the hole so that
additional power be given to your sight.
5436. "My husband had very sore eyes and could not see. He went to a woman before sunrise and she said In the Name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, make this man's eyes better. He went for three mornings, and on the third morning he was well and could see good."
5437. Wash a baby's eyes with milk from its mother's breast, to cure its sore eyes.
5438. Among the remedies to prevent sneezing are the following: press on the groove (philtrum) beneath your nose, rub a finger up and down the
ridge of your nose, and rub a finger back and forth across the tip of your nose. However, all three of these devices, particularly the third, cause
sore eyes.
5439. Smoke dried poke roots for pains in the eyes.
5440. "I knew a man that could not see for nine days, his eyes were so bad, and another man got a rattlesnake and cut off its head and rendered
out the grease and put on this man's eyes, and in no time his eyes were all right. If the snake should bite itself after you catch it, don't use it, for
that grease would poison the person you put it on.
5441. As a remedy for sore eyes, anoint them with the saliva of a newborn baby.
5442. Cure diseases of the eye by rubbing them with the saliva of the first- born child on the male side of the family.
5443. Use the juice from sheep buttons (manure) on sore eyes. 5444. "My brother had very bad eyes. Someone told him to wash his eyes with his
urine. He did and his eyes got well."
5445. Sore eyes should be bathed in the water you melt from Good Friday snow.
5446. Treat sore eyes with March snow-water.
5447. Water melted from the last snow in March cures sore eyes.
5448. Bottle some of the last snow that falls in April and preserve it as a wash for sore eyes.
5449. Bathe sore eyes with water from the last snow of the season.
5450. "My mother always caught the first rain-water in May and put it in bottles to keep for her sore eyes because it will never sour."
5451. During the light of the moon visit a hollow stump on a morning that follows an evening rain, scoop out the standing water, and bathe your
inflamed eyes with it nights and mornings at an uneven hour.
5452. A good remedy for granulated eyelids is washing them in spring-water before sunrise on Easter.
5453. You can cure your sore eyes, if you wash them in a running stream before breakfast and do this on seven mornings.
5454. "My grandfather run a sawmill years ago down in the south part of Quincy. My dad, just a little boy then, had sore eyes bad. He was sitting
out on the front steps of the building one day when an old man came along. He stop and talked to my dad about his eyes looking so bad. He asked
him if his father could swim, knowing my dad was too young to swim. He told him he was a good swimmer. Then he had my father go in and get
my grandfather. He came out. And this man told him he should take his boy on his shoulders and swim every morning across a body of water
back and forth for seven days early in the morning, will cure them. My grandfather took him down to the river every morning early before he
went to work and would swim out in the river down here near Front and State Street, back and forth, and he cured his sore eyes. Of course this is
a long time ago, for I am seventy years old, and this was my father when he was a little boy"

STY
5455. If an eyelash falls into your eye, you will get a sty.
5456. The person who stops in a path to urinate while crossing a field will get a sty.
5457. It was once a common expression, to say of one who had a sty: he has wet in an alley.
5458. "When I was a kid I had a sty, oh! so often; and they told me I wet in the road, then looked at it, to get my sty."
5459. "I did this to lose my sty; wet in an alley."
5460. To get rid of your sty, wet in the road and the next person who walks over your urine will catch the sty.
5461. If you stop in the road to defecate, you will get a sty.
5462. Rub three beans over your sty, lay them down in the road, and the first person stepping over the beans will soon have your sty.
5463. "I had a sty. I took my white cat's tail and rub over my sty three times and I lost my sty."
5464. A sty can be cured by rubbing it with the tail of a black cat.
5465. "I have had several sties and I always take the end of a black cat tail and rub over my sty three times and they always go away."
5466. Visit the crossroad with a black cat in your arms and pass its tail over a sty while repeating Sty, Sty, go away and go on the next one that
comes by. Then release the cat and return home.
5467. In curing a sty, mumble the following rhyme when you meet someone on the road:
"Sty, sty, go off my eye,
Go to this one I pass by."
5468. To cure a sty, stand at a crossroad and say:
"Sty, sty, leave my eye,
Take the next one passing by."
or
"Sty, sty, leave my eye,
Go to the next passer-by."
5469. People may rid themselves of a sty by standing in the middle of a crossroad and uttering this couplet:
"Sty, sty, leave my eye,
And go to the next man riding by."
5470. As a sty treatment, go to the crossroad and announce:
"Sty, sty, leave my eye,
 124

And come on the next ass [buttocks] that passes by."

5471. A sty may be removed, if a person during the new moon stands at the crossroad as the sun is sinking and makes this declaration:
"Sty, sty, sty, go off my eye,
And go to the eye, of the first person that passes by."
5472. Cure a sty by rubbing it with a dish rag while saying:
"Sty, sty, leave my eye,
Catch the first one passing by."
Then throw the dish rag over your left shoulder without watching to see where it goes.
5473. To lose a sty, rub a stolen dish rag on it and throw the dish rag into running water.
5474. A dish rag should be rubbed over a sty and buried; when the dish rag rots, the sty will be gone.
5475. You can cure a sty by plucking a hair from your eyebrows.
5476. As a remedy for a sty, look through a knot hole in a fence.
5477. A sty may be treated by rubbing it nine times with your finger-nail.
5478. On nine successive mornings before sunrise, rub your hand over a sty, always rubbing towards your nose, and this will remove the sty.
5479. "I [a woman] had a sty and I let a real old man take a gooseberry brier and pick it, and my sty never did come back after he picked it. If
you are a man, let a very old woman do it."
5480. A sty can be thrown away, if a person pierces it with a gooseberry thorn and then throws the thorn over his left shoulder.
5481. A gooseberry brier when rubbed nine times over a sty removes it.
5482. The removal of a sty is accomplished by pulling off nine of those little stickers from a gooseberry bush, pointing each one at your sty,
and then tossing them over your right shoulder.
5483. Let a person prick a sty with nine gooseberry thorns as he says In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and it will soon vanish.
5484. If you have a sty and someone says, "Oh! there is a sty on your eye" or something similar, you must answer You lie and the sty will soon
depart.
5485. If you have a sty and someone asks, Have you a sty? and you reply It is a sty and then that person says It is a lie, the sty will soon
disappear.
5486. In ridding yourself of a sty, rub it with a piece of paper and drop the paper as you walk down the road mumbling:
"Sty, sty, sty, go off my eye,
To the next one that passes by."
5487. A sty is lost by rubbing it three times with a potato and burying the latter.
5488. As a riddance for sties, look through a gold ring three times.
5489. A gold ring rubbed over a sty will drive it away. Occasionally the ring is first heated by rubbing it on cloth. Sometimes they require that
the ring should have been blessed — a wedding ring.
5490. Make the sign of the cross with a gold wedding ring as you rub it over your sty and the sty soon disappears.
5491. At night heat a gold ring by friction and rub twice one way and once the other over a sty, thus making the sign of the cross, and your sty
will vanish before morning.
5492. For removing a sty, rub it three times with a gold band ring.
5493. On three mornings fasting and before sunrise free yourself of a sty by rubbing it with a gold wedding ring.
5494. You can transfer a sty to another person, if you sit daily on your porch for three days, rub a gold ring over it, and call out:
"Sty, sty, leave my eye,
And go to the next one who passes by."
5495. Treat a sty by rubbing it nine times with a gold ring, each time saying Sty, sty, leave my eye.
5496. Treat a sty by rubbing it nine times with a gold ring, each time saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
5497. Sties may be disposed of, if they are rubbed nine times up and nine times down with a gold ring.
5498. Let a person having picked up a rock rub it over a sty, put the rock in his pocket, and the sty will be lost after he loses the rock.
5499. A traveler catches your sty, if you pick up a white rock, rub the infection with it, carry the rock to where three roads meet, and drop it
while exclaiming:
"Sty, sty, sty, go off my eye,
And come on the next that passes by."
5500. If you have a sty, go to a crossroad, find a rock there, pick it up, spit on it, turn it over, walk away without looking back, and you will
lose your sty.
5501. In destroying a sty, anoint it seven times with saliva.
5502. A piece of silver, often a dime, rubbed on something until it becomes hot and then applied to a sty, cures the ailment.
5503. A brass thimble should be heated by friction and rubbed over a sty for a cure.
5504. To give your sty to a passer-by, walk three times round some large tree on a public road as you make this request Sty, sty, sty, go off my
eye; go to the first man that passes this tree.
5505. A person rids himself of a sty by washing it with his own urine.
5506. Your sty will flow away, if at a running stream you rub some salt on the sty, then cast the salt into the water, and issue this order three
times Salt disappear like malt on the water.

SUN PAINS
5507. A person who sleeps with his head to the sun will get up with sun-pains.
5508. To remove sun-pains from your eyes, arise before dawn and wash your eyes in dew.
5509. "My son had sun-pains over his eyes. They would come just before sunup and leave just at sundown. Someone told him about going to the
spring before sunup and sticking his head under the water. So he thought he would try it. And he went nine mornings just before sunup and put
his head under the water, and he got well. "
5510. "My husband knows of a good living spring down at Marblehead. Take a lock of hair out of the crown of your head, then take that hair to a
living spring, and put it under a rock to lose their sun-pains. You see, we used to live at Marblehead."

PAROXYSM
Colic - Epilepsy - Spasm - Piles (5511-5603)
 125

COLIC
5511. Alum kept in a sack about a baby's neck prevents colic.
5512. As soon as a baby is born, let it suck a bacon rind. The child will never have colic.
5513. Take a baby to a blackberry patch where the drooping vines touch the ground and pass the baby back and forth under these arches to cure
its colic.
5514. "A man out here in the country had colic bad. He was suffering so with pains, his wife said he was all double up, she didn't know what to
do. She remember the old remedy about the white droppings of the chickens. She told it herself, that she went to the henhouse with her lantern
and got a pan of the white droppings, as she had nothing else in the house to give him. She made a strong tea out of the droppings and strained it
so her husband would not know what it was. She took a cup of this hot tea to him, saying, 'Drink this, will help you,' but didn't tell what it was.
He was suffering so, he didn't ask what she was giving him. He drank the cup of tea and in an hour he fell asleep and was well by morning. This
is so, for it happen right out here near Quincy."
5515. Tea made out of the dried egg bag of a chicken is good for colic.
5516. Make a tea with the dried lining of a chicken gizzard and use as a colic or cramp-colic remedy.
5517. The person who rocks the baby's empty cradle will give colic to the child.
5518. Administer hourly to a child with colic a teaspoonful of tea made from the white dung of a dog.
5519. After a baby is six weeks old, prevent colic by letting it lick the spoon every time you eat something.
5520. "When my first baby was born it had the colic all the time, and someone told me this old remedy. And when my next child came, the first
time I sit up in bed to comb my hair, I put the baby across my knee and let the hair fall over it. But she never did have the colic. And I know
several that tried it and it worked."
5521. Unless a curly-haired girl marries a straight-haired man, her children will be troubled by colic.
5522. Horse-manure tea cures colic.
5523. Never kiss an infant on the mouth; you will give it colic.
5524. A baby who laughs in its sleep soon has colic.
5525. "I did this many a time when I was younger when someone's baby had colic: put meal shuck in a pan, then set them on fire, then hold a
baby over the pan, and let the smoke go up their clothes."
5526. You can cure colic by keeping a rabbit foot round the baby's neck.
5527. Never put a rubber sheet under a baby before it is six weeks old; the rubber will cause colic.
5528. A good treatment for colic is a heated bag of salt laid on the baby's stomach. Sometimes cornmeal is used.
5529. Someone should hold the newborn baby by the feet before it is dressed, letting its head hang down, and administer a gentle shaking. This
prevents colic.
5530. As a colic cure, lay a child down on its stomach and, picking it up by the feet, give it a shaking in one direction; then, letting the child lie on
its stomach again, it is to be picked up and shaken in the opposite direction (making sign of cross?).
5531. "This is another remedy my mother did for colic, to keep the child from getting it. When the child is about two weeks old, take it by the
heels, head down, and shake it good; then lay the child across your lap for a few minutes, then shake it by the heels again; then lay over your lap,
then shake again and lay over your lap; doing it the three times the same morning, and the child will never have colic after that."
5532. Sheep-dung tea is good for colic.
5533. If a mother removing her shoe pours some water into it and lets the baby take a few sips from the shoe, the baby's colic will soon leave.
5534. Chimney soot boiled in water is good for a colicky child.
5535. Put every kind of spice in a bag and dip the bag into hot water. Keep this bag on a child's stomach for colic.
5536. Tie a black silk string round a baby's neck to ward off colic.
5537. Colic is not caught by babies who wear woolen stockings.
5538. Pass a child three times round the leg of a table to cure its colic.
5539. Do not allow a teakettle to steam in the same room with a baby, for it gives colic to the child.
5540. Treat colic by blowing tobacco smoke on the infants stomach or up under its clothes.
5541. "My baby had colic for three months when someone told me this, and I did it and she was cured. Let the mother take a little piece of
tobacco and hold it on her tongue for a while until some of the strength is gone [sometimes the tobacco is merely dipped into boiling water], then
put this tobacco on the baby's navel."
5542. Tobacco smoke blown into breast milk and administered to a baby takes away colic.
5543. "I remember when my first grandchild had the colic. That son of mine and his wife had a fight. They were always fighting. It was one of
those cold days in December when ice was on everything. He brought the four-weeks-old baby down in the Bottom to my house to take care of.
Coming through that cold the baby took the colic. I was up half the night when I thought of my grandmother's remedy for colic. I took a big
spoon of milk, then I got my husband's pipe, smoked it, then blew the smoke three times into the milk, and gave it to the baby. The baby went
right to sleep. I had four more grandchildren after that and did this to every one when they had colic."
5544. "If you let a child after it is five months old smoke on a pipe, it will never have colic. We are letting our baby smoke on the pipe."
5545. To cure a baby's colic, pull it through the fork of a tree during the dark of the moon.
5546. Give a little water to an infant as soon as it is born and the child will never have colic.
5547. Sprinkle a small quantity of cold water on a baby immediately after its birth as a precaution against colic.
5548. The first time a woman arises from childbed she should carry a thimble full of water round the house three times to make her baby immune
to colic.
5549. Write the baby's name, the names of its parents, and seal the slip of paper in an air-tight can. Three days preceding the dark of the moon,
the mother, carrying her child, must throw the can into running water while saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost, remove the colic.

EPILEPSY
5550. "If you have epiliptic fits, take the white part of chicken droppings and dry them and make a powder, and give to the person a
teaspoonful after each meal. I knew a child that had fits all the time and the doctor could not help, and someone told the mother about the white
part of the chicken droppings and she tried it, and the child got over the fits."
5551. You will never have epilepsy, if you grind up an emerald and wear the powder.
5552. As an epilepsy remedy, visit a hop vine seven mornings in the spring, before sunrise and without speaking, and each morning bite a
different sprout of the plant.
5553. A cure for epilepsy is to administer marrow taken from the bones of a horse.
 126

5554. Give three seed of the jimson weed thrice daily to a person who has epileptic fits.
5555. Epileptic fits are always more frequent and more severe during the increase of the moon.
5556. Rattlesnake rattles worn about the neck so that they hang in the hollow of the throat cure fits.
5557. "I have heard my grandmother tell one for fits: take a black silk ribbon, put it around the neck with a little key hanging right in the
hollow part of the neck, and never take it off only to change the ribbon when dirty."
5558. "I know several people that did this and it cured the ones that took it: if anyone has fits, take off their shirt they have on while having it, cut
out the piece over their chest and boil it good, when cool strain, and give to the person to drink --- it takes poison to kill poison." The same
remedy is used for a spasm.
5559. "I knew a young man that had fits. They did everything anyone told them, but it didn't help, when one day a woman came along and they
were telling her. She said, 'I will cure that boy,' and did. She went to his house when he was having one of those fits. She pull his shirt off over
his head, put it on a pan and set it on fire. She took the ashes and told the family to feed him a spoonful before each meal. They did and he never
had another fit."
5560. Epileptic attacks are checked, if you remove the person's undershirt immediately after an attack, let it smolder on live coals, mix a
teaspoonful of these ashes in a glass of holy water, and say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. These ashes in holy water must be
administered three times a day.
5561. To cure a woman who has epileptic fits, give her three times a day a tablespoonful of urine from a man whom she has never seen; and do
the same thing for a man with epileptic fits by using the urine of a strange woman.
5562. "I had a friend and she told me when her grandmother came over from Germany that her daughter had fits all the time in the old country,
but just as soon as they landed over here she never had another. Bringing her over the large body of water cured her."
5563. A person will never have epileptic fits again, if during an attack you draw some of his blood, put it on a white handkerchief, and then
throw that handkerchief into running water.
SPASM
5564. "A doctor said years ago spasms was always caused by a worm in the child's neck. Give carrot juice; worms don't like carrots, and they
will crawl back out of the neck."
5565. "My mother always did this, she had eight children, and I was the only one that didn't have spasm. If you want to bring anyone right out of
a spasm, put the beef gall in a little water and keep it. When they get in a spasm, give them three drops of the beef-gall water."
5566. Pulverize the dried lining of a chicken gizzard and administer for a spasm.
5567. All the clothing or merely the shirt that the child wears during a spasm should be taken off immediately and burned, to prevent a recurrence
of the trouble.
5568. If a child is suffering from convulsions, remove its shirt at once and hide it under a rock to stop the attack.
5569. "I knew a woman about thirty-five years ago that had a baby and it was having one spasm after another. It had eleven spasms that day. An
old woman came along and wanted to know what was wrong, for the woman was crying, and said, 'My baby is going to die.' The old woman said,
'I will stop that. Just take off her flannel skirt and turn it wrong side out, then bury the skirt.' And they did. And the baby never had another
spasm."
5570. As a treatment for convulsions, wash the child in hot dish water.
5571. Stand a child subject to spasms against a door, bore a hole into the wood on a level with the top of the head, and in this put a lock of his
hair. After he grows taller than the hole, the attacks will not recur.
5572. To rid a child of spasms, put some of its hair in a hole that you have bored into a tree and plug it up.
5573. "When I was young I always kept a black silk handkerchief handy, so, if any of my children had a spasm, I could throw it over their face;
will bring it right out."
5574. Holy water is given to a child who has spasms or fainting spells.
5575. Wilt horse-radish leaves on the stove and bind them to the palms and soles of the baby for spasms.
5576. A mother can free her teething baby from convulsions by biting off the head of a mouse.
5577. In treating a spasm, tie onions on a baby's soles. Sometimes the onions are raw, sometimes fried.
5578. "I had three children and this is what I did for spasm: cut an onion in half and let the child hold half in each palm of the hand."
5579. Pieces of onions bound over the hands and wrists make a spasm disappear.
5580. A child recovers from a spasm as soon as you rub a white onion on its palms and soles.
5581. Convulsions cease after the entire body of a baby has been rubbed with onions.
5582. If a baby is inclined to clinch its fingers while in a spasm, you can revive the child by prying the hands open and dropping salt into them.
5583. Turpentine placed in the left hand and on the left foot brings a baby out of a spasm.
5584. A spasm soon vanishes, if a person rubs round the child's navel with turpentine.
5585. "I always bring a child out of a spasm by giving it a drop of turpentine for every year old it is and rubbing turpentine on their stomach."
5586. "This is Dr. X's old remedy. She told me this years ago. If your child is born with a veil on it, if you will dry that, make a powder of it in a
box, and if your baby has spasms, give it to them, it will cure it. But it is not good for any child, only the one that the veil was on."

PILES
5587. To prevent piles, carry alum in your pocket.
5588. As a treatment for piles, a buckeye is worn: in the pocket (usually the left), or one in each pocket, or one pinned to the underclothes, or
one round the neck, or one rolled in the top of each stocking.
5589. Powder obtained by grinding the dried lining of a chicken gizzard, with the addition of butter or lard and sometimes salt, makes a good
salve for piles.
5590. In curing piles, a hot dirty dish rag should be pressed against them and then burned.
5591. An ointment for piles is made by cooking in lard some white droppings from a dog.
5592. "Years ago my husband had piles bad. Some man told him if he would get elderberry leaves and wear in his hip pocket, would cure him.
He did, and is not bothered any more, and he is eighty year old."
5593. There are two methods by which hog manure can be prepared as an ointment for piles: either bake it with lard all day in a tin can; or, melt it
on the stove, adding when cool a few drops of turpentine.
5594. "If you have piles, take and get a dozen lemons, and eat three a day without sugar. When they are gone, get another dozen and eat two a
day. When they are gone, get another dozen and eat one a day. And when they are all gone, you will be well. This is so, because I tried it and got
well."
 127

5595. Piles do not bother the person who carries mullein leaves.
5596. A nutmeg carried in your pocket frees you from piles.
5597. "My uncle had piles for years, tried everything anyone told him, when one day an old Indian man told him about the Epsom salts and
sulphur: take equal parts of Epsom salts and sulphur, a spoonful every night for nine nights, then skip nine nights, then take nine nights, then skip
nine nights, then take nine nights --- until you take the twenty-seven nights. So he put the equal parts in a jar, shook it up good, and took like he
said. And my uncle cured himself of piles after he had them for years."
5598. Eat a whole black pepper daily for three days, then skip three days," and repeat this rite until nine have been eaten. At the end of this
period your piles will be gone.
5599. The person who eats a raw potato nightly for three nights and then takes a tablespoonful of castor oil has cured his piles.
5600. You protect yourself against piles by keeping in your pocket several rattlesnake rattles.
5601. Never sit on a stone, especially a cold one; you will catch piles. Some say, "The poison in the ground goes up through the stone and into
you."
5602. As a remedy for piles, wipe them with a piece of your old underwear and then burn it up.
5603. If you cook a wasp nest in honey and strain, it makes a good salve for piles.

PULMONARY AFFECTIONS
Lung Trouble - Pneumonia - Tuberculosis (5604-5639)
LUNG TROUBLE
5604. "If a child has lung trouble, take off all the child's clothes. Take and boil corn on the ear, just like you feed a horse. When it gets good and
hot, wrap it in towels and put all around the child. Put a cold rag on its head [to keep the trouble from rising into the head]. My boy had lung
trouble bad, next to pneumonia. I put the boiling-hot corn around him and the cold rag on his head. It sure did help him."
5605. Let a person with weak lungs drink billy-goat urine.
5606. To cure lung trouble, put sheep lice in some article of food and eat it.
5607. The person who wears a black silk string round the right arm will have strong lungs.
5608. As a remedy for lung trouble, poultice the chest with skunk grease.

PNEUMONIA
5609. "I had a boy that was very sick with pneumonia. The doctor said he could not get well. After the doctor left, I took fat bacon and put a piece
on each arm, and tied a piece on each bottom foot, and a piece back of his neck [five places], and left it on all afternoon. About time for
the doctor to come, I started to taking it off, and the doctor caught me. He wanted to know what I was doing, and I told him. He let me put it back
on, and in two days we could see he was getting better. And he got well. That bacon took out all the fever."
5610. Pneumonia can be cured by keeping on the chest a chicken that was freshly killed.
5611. "My boy was very sick with pneumonia. The doctor told me one night he could not get well, he was very low, and to call him in the night if
anything went wrong. After the doctor left, I was sitting in the kitchen crying, when a woman that lived in Slab Holler [Hollow] came to my
house. She had heard how low my boy was, and said, 'If you will let me, I will help you get your boy better.' I said, 'I will try anything.' Then she
told me about the cow manure and bread dough. I said I would try it. So she went and got the cow manure and I made up some light bread. We
tied his feet up in that light-bread dough and started to putting on hot-cow-manure poultice on his lungs. Just as soon as they would get a little
cool, we would put another one on. We kept that up all night. The next morning when the doctor came, when I open the door, he said, 'How is the
boy? I was looking for you to call me last night.' I said, 'I believe he is better.' He just looked at me. When he saw the boy, he said he was better,
'I believe he will live. What happened?' I said, 'Doctor, I don't want you to laugh at me, but I will tell you what I did.' When I told him about the
cow manure and dough, he said, 'That is a good one for the doctor's book, cow shit and dough.' I knew he was making fun of me, because he said
cow shit. I said, 'Well doctor, you can make fun of me if you want to, but I saved my boy and that is all I care about. Put it in the doctor's book if
you want to'."
5612. "I knew a boy that had pneumonia years ago and they gave him one-third cup of cow-manure tea every hour to break the fever — you put it
in a rag and boil it --- and kept cow-manure poultices on his lungs; and they saved him after the doctor said he would die."
5613. "If someone is dying with pneumonia, if you can take the sweat off of their face while dying and rub over your throat, you will never have
pneumonia or any kind of cold. I was sitting up with a man that was dying with pneumonia and he was just full of sweat. I have always been
sorry I didn't rub some of that sweat over my throat, to keep from getting colds, when I had a good chance to get some sweat."
5614. "If you take the hog's bag bladder and cook it down, then take the grease out of it, it is good for pneumonia or any kind of lung trouble."
5615. "It's a funny thing about doctors. They claim that they can cure everything but the pneumonia, but the superstitious people say that they
can cure pneumonia with hogs hoof. They say, take some hogs hoofs, wash them clean and then put them in hot boiling water and let them boil
until they steam, then take the water and drink it and it will cure the pneumonia. The name of the water is hogs-hoof tea. "
5616. Tie up some slaked lime in a piece of mosquito netting, hang it over the bed of a pneumonia patient, and this will prevent the disease from
turning into tuberculosis.
5617. "If you have a cold in the chest take a flannel shirt and grease it with lard, then take three nutmegs and grate on the shirt, then wear the
shirt for three days, then change and do it again. It will even cure pneumonia."
5618. Onions tied to the springs of the bed on which a person with pneumonia lies will soon absorb the disease. Within thirty-six hours the
patient's condition improves.
5619. Wash your child in the first snow and it will not catch pneumonia that year.
5620. "My boy was very low with double pneumonia. The doctor said he would not get well. I said to the doctor, 'I have an old remedy. Can I try
it?' The doctor said, 'Do anything you want. Your son is very low.' I had some Granger Twist tobacco in the house. I took it and pulled it all apart
and put it in a pan. Then I put skunk oil over it, put it on the stove. When it was good and hot, I put it on the bottom of his feet, lungs, just
everywhere; and my boy got well. I will tell anyone, that when a doctor fails with pneumonia, take and cure them with skunk oil and tobacco and
they will get well." Some- times the skunk oil is put on a rag, which is then dusted with nutmeg, applied to the chest, and covered with a piece of
brown paper.

TUBERCULOSIS
5621. A cat sleeping at the foot of the bed prevents tuberculosis.
5622. Tea made from a dried chicken gizzard will cure tuberculosis.
5623. Administer red-clover-blossom tea for tuberculosis.
 128

5624. A consumptive person should burn a red corn cob to ashes and swallow a pinch of them daily.
5625. To drink the warm milk from a red cow is a tuberculosis remedy.
5626. Let those having tuberculosis inhale the fumes from manure in a cow shed or a horse stall.
5627. In curing tuberculosis, go to the stable early each morning for three days and drink a spoonful of dew from the cow-manure pile.
5628. Dog fat rendered into lard and used for cooking everything eaten by a tubercular patient is a good cure. Similarly, a pup may be cooked and
fed to the patient.
5629. "If someone has consumption real bad and in the last stages, take and put six whole eggs in a jar with the shells on them, take six lemons
and cut and put in the jar, put the lid on and let stand until the lemons eat all the shells up to a thick syrup, then give to the sick one, one
tablespoonful at mornings for nine mornings, then stop for nine mornings, then start again for nine mornings, then stop again for nine mornings.
Just keep this up for nine months, and the one that has consumption will get well."
5630. A person with freckles never has tuberculosis. This is a variant of the belief that a freckled person always has good health.
5631. Visit a hickory tree and, having bored a hole into the east side, cram into it same hair from the crown of your head. The hole must then
be plugged up. As this hair rots, your tuberculosis disappears.
5632. "If you have T.B. [tuberculosis], take some hair right out the top of your head, then go to a soft-maple tree and bore a hole in the tree to the
heart, save all the sawdust, then put your hair in this hole, then the sawdust, then the plug; and when the hair and sawdust rot, you will be cured. I
know a lady down here in the South Bottom did this and she got well. I know one that is trying it now."
5633. Anyone can free himself from tuberculosis by boring a hole into a red-oak tree, ramming in some of his hair, and plugging it up. After the
bark grows over this aperture, the disease will be gone.
5634. Tuberculosis will soon leave, if a person drinks a cupful of hot blood from a hog that has just been slaughtered.
5635. Milk from a sow is good for children with tuberculosis.
5636. Never sleep with your face to the wall; it will cause tuberculosis.
5637. As a treatment for tuberculosis, a snail should be eaten daily on alternate periods of seven consecutive days.
5638. Those who are very low with tuberculosis in the summer usually survive until the leaves fall.
5639. "My aunt would never let me touch a weed in August that had turn yellow, said they had T.B. in them."

RESPIRATORY DISTURBANCES
Asthma - Catarrh - Hay Fever (5640-5676)
ASTHMA
5640. Asthma may be cured by keeping a necklace of amber beads about the neck.
5641. Break a loaf of hot bread over a child's head to cure its asthma.
5642. As a treatment for asthma in a child, cut a broomstick so that it is as long as the patient is tall, then lay this under the front doorstep, and
the disease will disappear after the child grows taller than the length of the broomstick.
5643. To rid a child of asthma, bore a hole into the door jamb on a level with his head, put in this one of the patient's hairs, and stop it up with
putty; and when the child's height exceeds that of the stopped-up hair, he will no longer be bothered with the disease.
5644. "If you have asthma, take and stand the person up against a door — the door must be an outside door — bore a hole in the door at the top of
their head, save the sawdust, then put a lock of their hair in this hole, then the sawdust, then the plug. When the person grows above that hole,
they will be well. Do you see that hole in the kitchen door over there? Well, that is where we tried this on my niece, and she got well."
5645. Stand an asthmatic child against a door and into the jamb bore a hole that will be as high as the top of his head; then, having crammed into
this hole some of the child's hair, finger-nails and toe-nails, it must be plugged up. The child will lose his asthma after he grows taller than the
height of the hole.
5646. "When I was twelve years old I had asthma bad. My mother took and stood me up against a door. Just at the top of my head she bore a hole
in the door, put some of my hair in that hole, then plug it up, praying the house would not burn down before I grew above that hole, for if the
house should burn down before I growed above that hole, I would die. My mother said she would never bore a hole in a tree like so many do, for
if the tree should die, the person would die too. She thought the house safer."
5647. Dandruff from the back of a cow may be burned and inhaled as an asthma cure.
5648. An eelskin worn about the neck is an asthma cure.
5649. "If someone has asthma, take the person and stand them up against the fireplace, and take a nail and mark their highest place; and as they
grow by the mark, they will get well. My grandmother tried this."
5650. "I have asthma bad. They say if you get a hornet nest and smoke it, very good for asthma. I have always wanted to try to get a hornet
nest, but I am afraid of hornets so have never tried it."
5651. As a riddance of asthma, a mud dauber nest is kept about the neck.
5652. "My mother had asthma bad and someone told her about wearing the muskrat over her lung [some wear the flesh side, others the fur side,
to the skin], and she got one and it sure did her a lot of good." The skin may be worn about the neck.
5653. You can cure your asthma by wearing a nutmeg.
5654. A pillow stuffed with shoemake berries (staghorn sumac) and slept on for nine nights will rid you of asthma.
5655. To free yourself from asthma, kill a poisonous snake, skin it, dry the skin and split it open, and then bind the skin on your chest.
5656. If one stake is driven at the head and another at the foot of an asthmatic child lying on the ground under the eaves of the house, the
disease will disappear as soon as the child's height is greater than that of the distance between these two stakes.
5657. Never remove your socks or stockings at night when you go to bed and you will not be troubled by asthma.
5658. Sap taken from the roots of three varieties of trees is boiled into a tea and administered daily for asthma.
5659. If what you spit up during an asthmatic attack is put on a rag and plugged into a hole that has been bored into a tree, your asthma will go
away as soon as the rag rots.
5660. After you have stood an asthmatic child against a tree and under a limb that just touches the top of the child's head, cut the limb off at
the trunk of the tree, and bury it; and when the patient has grown above this mark, he will no longer suffer from asthma.
5661. While an asthmatic child stands against an oak, measure his height and note this length by driving three nails into the tree; and when
the child's height surpasses this mark on the trunk, his asthma will have vanished.
5662. To cure asthma, bore a hole into a tree, putting in this some of your hair, and the disease will leave within nine days.
5663. When a small child has asthma, bore a hole into a young tree, and in it plug up some of his hair; and as the tree grows, he will outgrow the
disease.
 129

5664. "My brother had asthma bad. My father took him out in the woods and stood him up against a tree, then took his knife and cut a piece of
bark off and put some of my brother's hair in that hole; and just as soon as my brother's head was above that hole, he got well. My brother is an
old man and he has never had the asthma since that."
5665. Let an asthmatic child stand against a tree as you bore into the trunk a hole indicating the child's height; then, lift up a lock of his hair and,
having wedged it tightly in this hole, sever the hair from the child's head; and after this hair decays, the asthma will be gone.
5666. "I knew a little girl about five years ago that had asthma, and they took her out in the timber and chopped her hair into a tree: take it out
in the timber and hold its hair up against a tree; take the axe and chop the hair into that tree; when the child gets three inches above that cut on the
tree, it will be well. And she got well."
5667. "If a child has asthma --- when the moon is first turning to dark, take the child and stand it up against a tree; then take a ten-penny nail
and hammer that nail in the tree even with the child's top of the head, then pull that nail out, then cut a lock of the child's hair and put in that hole,
then drive the nail back into the hole up to the head. When the child grows above the head on the nail, it will be cured. You must say In the Name
of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost when driving the nail in the hole."
5668. "That boy across the street there had asthma bad last spring. He came over here. I have a big linden tree in the back yard. I will show
you before you go. Take the person to a linden tree, bore a hole, and take some hair off the person's head on the top, put in this hole, do this in the
spring when the sap is going up; and when it grows over, the person will be well. I bored a hole in my linden tree and put some of his hair in it,
and the hole is almost covered over and he is a lot better. I am going to have him over again this week, before the sap goes up, and bore another
hole. You see, once would be enough, but he had it very bad and I am going to bore another hole for him."
5669. Bore into the west side of a honey locust tree a hole just as high on the trunk as a child with asthma is tall and in this hole stop up some of
his hair. The child will lose the disease after he grows above the hole.
5670. A person with asthma may bore a hole into the east side of a white oak tree and in the hole plug up some of his hair. After the bark has
grown over the hole, the disease will vanish.
5671. If an asthmatic person hides a lock of his hair in an old stump, his disease will go away as soon as this hair becomes rotten.
5672. Let an asthmatic sufferer hide some of his hair between the outer wall and plaster of a house; when this hair rots, he will be freed from
asthma.
5673. "I know three people, one was my brother, that had asthma and did this and got well: take a cup of trinity seeds and put a quart of boiling
water over it and let cook, then strain it and sweeten a little, and take a cup every three hours for two days, then three times a day before meals for
nine days, and you will get well of asthma."

CATARRH
5674. "I knew a man that had catarrh real bad and that was all that would help him --- he snuff up his own urine."

HAY FEVER
5675. "I had several children --- we were all exposed to the hay fever. An old colored woman told me about crossing water, so I put all
my children on the ferry boat and went across the river to run away from the hay fever, and we didn't get it."
5676. "I met a lady at the cemetery last week and she had three sunflower seeds in her pocketbook to help her hay fever."

RHEUMATISM (5677-5804)
5677. As a cure for rheumatism, either a lump of alum is carried or the patient sleeps on a sock filled with powdered alum.
5678. "I know this is a cure for rheumatism. Take pure ammonia, one drop, and put in a pint of cold water and drink just before going to bed. Do
this every night, increasing a drop each night until you have ten drops. Then start back and decrease one drop each night until you get back to one
drop, always using a pint of cold water. Then rest three nights and start in again. You must do this whole thing three times. I knew a man that
lived out here in Augusta [Illinois] that had rheumatism for years. He had tried several of Quincy's best doctors and they could not help him. He
had been in a wheelchair for two years when an old quack doctor came along and told him he could get him out of that chair. And that about the
ammonia is what he told him. The man used the ammonia, and after he had tried it the three times, he could walk."
5679. Put the eggs from large black ants in alcohol and use as a liniment on stiff joints.
5680. Let yourself be stung by the first bee each spring and you will not suffer from rheumatism that year. A bee sting at any time is supposed to
be good for rheumatism.
5681. Three teaspoonfuls of honey after each meal will rid you of rheumatism.
5682. The person who carries the knuckle bone out of a beef never has rheumatism.
5683. Do not burn bones in a stove, for it gives you rheumatism.
5684. One buckeye is worn in one of several places as a rheumatism remedy: about the neck, on the breast, in a pocket (especially a hip pocket),
round the waist, and under the bend of the knee. Sometimes, they say buckeyes are ineffective for rheumatism, unless you begin by using an
unripe one. Moreover, it is occasionally said, to lose this nut in the process of curing yourself brings bad luck. And finally, because a buckeye is
also called a horse chestnut, the real chestnut is worn as a substitute, but this seems to be rare.
5685. Buckeyes used for curing rheumatism should always be carried in pairs. This also makes you lucky at the same time.
5686. "If you carry three buckeyes in a sack so they will be on your skin, good for rheumatism; if the buckeyes dry all up when wearing, then
they are doing you good; but if they don't dry all up, they are doing you no good."
5687. Buzzard grease is good for applying to rheumatic pains.
5688. "I will never have the rheumatism, because every night when I go to bed I tie a bag of camphor under each knee to keep from having it."
5689. "My grandma had rheumatism and she just hated a cat, but she slept with one every night and she got over rheumatism."
5690. Never let a chicken die in your hand while you are killing it; to do so will give you rheumatism.
5691. If one foot or leg is rheumatic, cut open a live chicken and put your foot into it as a cure; if both feet or legs, two live chickens --- a foot in
each chicken.
5692. A coffin nail carried on your person prevents rheumatism.
5693. Cure rheumatism by keeping a penny in your left shoe.
5694. Rheumatism is cured with an insole of copper in each shoe. Sometimes, as a substitute, a penny is worn under each inner sole at the ball of
the foot.
5695. As a preventive against rheumatism, use copper in one shoe and brass in the other.
5696. Copper in one shoe and zinc in the other protects you against rheumatism.
5697. The person wearing copper wire around the left ankle will not be bothered with rheumatism.
 130

5698. Free yourself from rheumatism with copper wire about the ankle and waist.
5699. If you have rheumatism in the left arm, wear copper wire round the right arm and left ankle; and conversely, if in the right arm, round the
left arm and right ankle.
5700. Tie a penny under each knee before going to bed and your rheumatism will soon vanish.
5701. A piece of copper wire round your leg just above the knee is good for rheumatism. Similarly you may pin safety pins together in the form
of a circle and wear this as a garter.
5702. If you have rheumatism in one of your legs, wear copper wire on the opposite leg.
5703. For rheumatism you may wear copper wire on the right leg and left wrist.
5704. Three copper wires about each leg controls rheumatism.
5705. If you have rheumatism in the right arm, keep copper wire round the right wrist; if in the left arm, round the left wrist.
5706. If you have rheumatism in one of your arms, keep copper wire round the other arm.
5707. To be immune from rheumatism, put a copper wire or band about your waist. Some say this belt should be soaked in apple vinegar and
salt.
5708. A brass ring or a copper ring made from a penny may be used for rheumatism. Some say you must not wear a gold ring at the same time;
others say this remedy is good only for rheumatic pains in the hand, arm, or shoulder.
5709. A brass or copper ring on the middle finger of the left hand wards off rheumatism.
5710. Always keep a piece of copper --- usually a penny --- in your pocket and you will not have rheumatic pains.
5711. Persons with a piece of copper wire worn as a necklace are not subject to rheumatic trouble.
5712. If you kiss three pennies, one at a time, wrap them in white paper, put them in a small white sack, and wear this, rheumatism will never
bother you.
5713. Another thing my father is carrying for rheumatism: he took a quarter and had some copper put in the middle of it and carries that for his
rheumatism. They say silver and copper together are very good for rheumatism.
5714. Rheumatism can be cured by sleeping with corks in your mattress; they absorb the disease.
5715. I live down here in the South Bottom and I know several that did this and got well of rheumatism. Get the roots of the cottonwood tree on
the north side of the tree. Take the inside bark and make a strong tea and drink. I know another person that tried it, but she got the roots out of the
black dirt. I told her to get them out of the yellow clay. And she started it this week and I know she will get well now.
5716. "I have a brother-in-law out here beyond Fifth and Locust Street that had rheumatism bad, walked with a cane all the time. I told him about
how cow manure poultice, would help him. He didn't want to try it, but he did at last. And he has not walked with a cane for ten years now."
5717. Cow urine in a flannel cloth applied to the pains will cure rheumatism.
5718. Take a teaspoonful of cream of tartar in a glass of water each morning for nine days and then discontinue the medicine during a similar
length of time. Repeat this alternate process to get rid of rheumatism.
5719. "I know a good cure for rheumatism --- just let a cyclone hit your house, will cure you, if you have rheumatism bad. This is so, every word.
When I was a girl going to school we lived back on the creek near Mendon. My father had rheumatism bad, he walked with a cane all the time,
never went without one. He sit around all the time with copper wire around his legs, had mother making him poultices of ground glass to put on
his joints. Well, he had it so bad that mother and us children did all the work on the place --- we hated to see him hobble around and suffer, said
every step he took made him suffer. Our near neighbor was about a mile across the creek. I can remember so well. There was a big old tree that
had fell across the creek and we would walk this tree across the creek to go to school or to our neighbor's house. Mother had a barrel by the
kitchen door with a hen in it, setting. The old hen was about to hatch, when one day a big cyclone hit our house. Poor father was sitting by the
window feeling so bad. We had all been out doing the chores, for we saw the storm coming. When it hit our house, we saw the old barrel go up in
the air, hen and eggs --- it was a sight. It took the roof off the house and turn it clear around. We looked for father and he was not there in the
chair. We thought he too had went up in the air, for his cane was by the chair. We didn't know it then, but did in a little while. He ran over to get
this neighbor that lived a mile across the creek. He even walked across the old log tree we all used. When he got to this farmer's house, the farmer
said, 'How did you get here? you even don't have your cane.' My father said, 'Hell, I left my cane back home. The cyclone scared the rheumatism
out of me. I don't need a cane any more.' The man came home with my father and help us. But my father never used his cane any more, and we
children and mother didn't do all the work on the farm, for my father was cured of the rheumatism where nothing else help."
5720. "About forty-five years ago a man had rheumatism so bad that for several years he could not walk or do any kind of work. He had a man to
row him across a slough down in the South Bottom, I forgot just where he was going, but when they got about halfway over the slough, the man
ran the skiff into a tree. And when they looked, there were three or four big water moccasin snakes lying there. It scared the man so, he jumped
out of the boat into the muddy water and walked to shore. He never had the rheumatism after that. He said he didn't know if the scare cure him or
walking in the mud, but he was well."
5721. As an aid against rheumatism, rub the finger of a dead person over the ailing joints In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
5722. To walk barefoot in the dew every morning drives away rheumatism.
5723. "I was boarding at a place years ago and they had a little dog there. We all thought so much of the dog, and if the man had of told me the
dog would die, I don't believe I would of done what I did. I had rheumatism bad. I would go to work and they would have to bring me home. I got
so I could not even walk. One night when I came home on my cane an old man said, 'I will tell you something to get rid of your rheumatism, if
you don't tell anyone in the house.' But he didn't tell me the dog would die. He said, 'When you go up to bed tonight, you take the little dog and
let it sleep with you, but be sure and put the dog out of bed before sunup. Put it in bed with you for nine nights.' I liked the dog and didn't see any
harm letting it sleep with me. So that night I took the dog to bed with me and done just as the old man said. And on the seventh morning I could
walk to work. But when I came home that night I notice the dog was limping. I put the dog out on the ninth morning and when I came home that
night the dog didn't meet me. And on the tenth night the dog started toward me and it just screamed and screamed, it was in so much pain. The
man at the house thought I had kicked the dog. I said, 'I never did a thing. I think too much of the dog.' The dog was sick all night and died on the
eleventh morning. Then the old man told me the dog had got my rheumatism and had died from it, and not to let anyone know what I did. And I
got well. I am sixty-five now and have never had rheumatism since."
5724. If you shoot a stray dog --- it must be shot with a gun --- cut off the tail while the carcass is warm, split the tail and rub each half over
your rheumatic pains, you will soon be well.
5725. "A woman out here in Payson keeps a pair of ring-neck doves in the house all the time to keep the family from getting rheumatism. She
would not be without them."
5726. An eelskin is variously used for rheumatism: about the neck, round the waist, as a garter or garters, on the ankle, and tied to the pains.
5727. Some say those who sleep on feathers will never have rheumatism, but others say those who sleep on feathers will always have
rheumatism.
 131

5728. Red flannel is good for rheumatism when used in one of the following ways: on the ankle, as garters below or above the knees, about the
wrist, round the arm below or above the elbow, and sleeping between red flannel blankets.
5729. Pains in rheumatism can be alleviated by drinking three cupfuls of garlic tea daily for three days and then eating one garlic a day for five
days. Continue this alternate rite until well.
5730. Women who wear their garters below the knees never contract rheumatism.
5731. "I had rheumatism bad when someone told me about the fresh dirt. If you have rheumatism, get someone to plow up a piece of ground and
walk over fresh dirt every day barefooted, will cure you. I went out here near Twentieth and Cedar and rented eight lots. Of course [in contrast
with her present poverty] this was about thirty years ago. I had a man to plow the ground and I walked over fresh dirt every morning; soon as it
would get a little dry, have it plowed again. I am seventy-five years old this week and I am cured of the rheumatism. You can see for yourself I
am a very spry old woman at seventy-five and with no rheumatism." 5
732. The person who keeps a guinea pig in bed with him at night never has rheumatism.
5733. Hair cuttings or combings thrown on the floor gives you rheumatism.
5734. Unless a person burns his hair clippings or combings, he will get rheumatism.
5735. To strike a child anywhere above the hips is one of the causes of rheumatism.
5736. The eye tooth of a hog may be carried in guarding yourself against rheumatism.
5737. Rheumatism can be kept away, if you carry that little round bone from a ham joint.
5738. If you have rheumatism in the upper part of the body, sleep with a bag of wild hops under each arm; if in the lower part of the body, under
each knee.
5739. A horseshoe-nail ring is worn for rheumatism, but some say you must wear it on a little finger.
5740. A horseshoe-nail ring is no good for rheumatism, unless you accidentally find a lost horseshoe containing eight nails and make the ring
from one of them.
5741. As a treatment for rheumatism, carry an Indian turnip in your pocket.
5742. "A man right here in Lorraine wears an iron bolt hanging down his back and a bolt hanging in the front to keep rheumatism away."
5743. "If you have rheumatism, take jimson seed, and take one, then the next day two, the next day three, the next day four, the next day five, the
next day six, the next day seven, the next day eight, the next day nine. Then wait three days and start all over. Do this until you get over the
rheumatism."
5744. Treat rheumatism by carrying a lemon in your pocket.
5745. A lodestone in your pocket is a rheumatism remedy.
5746. Mare milk as a drink helps rheumatism.
5747. People with rheumatism should wear a mole skin.
5748. "My husband kept mud dauber nest in the house all the time. He would look for them all the time, because he had rheumatism. If you have
rheumatism, get a quart of the mud dauber nest, put them in a skillet with one-half cup of salt and one cup of vinegar, cook good; then put this on
your knee as hot as you can stand, leave on, then put another hot one on before the first gets real cool. You will find relief from rheumatism. This
was an old Indian remedy that an Indian gave to my grandfather."
5749. As a remedy for rheumatism, keep a nutmeg in your pocket, or wear one round your neck — on a white string say some.
5750. Stay away from oleanders; they cause rheumatism.
5751. You will not be bothered by rheumatism, if you string a potato and wear it about your waist against the skin. Sometimes two potatoes are
worn in a belt.
5752. Halve a potato and wear one half on each knee to cure rheumatism.
5753. "My husband went to work in a damp place, worked there for four years, and he didn't take rheumatism. They say if you work in a damp
place, carry a potato on you all the time to keep rheumatism away. Nine times out of ten you will get it. You can tell if the rheumatism is going
into the potato and not you --- if the potato starts to getting hard, it is getting it; if the potato stays soft, look out! for you are getting it. He put
a potato in his pocket and when that potato got hard as a rock he knew the potato was getting the rheumatism and not him. He buried the potato,
put another new potato in his pocket, and when that got hard buried it, and kept on doing that the four years. When he stop working in that damp
place he didn't have any rheumatism, it had all gone into the potatoes he carried on him." But some say: if you are carrying a potato and it
becomes hard, the remedy will be unsuccessful; if it rots, successful.
5754. Three small potatoes are carried in the pocket for rheumatism.
5755. Potatoes will not cure rheumatism unless you steal them. Further, in all potato-cures for rheumatism, the potatoes may be peeled.
5756. A rabbit foot may be worn for rheumatism.
5757. Your rheumatism is cured by keeping a fresh rabbit skin on the affected place.
5758. Thirteen raisins in a sack over the affected place will take away rheumatic pains.
5759. Spit on a rock for three mornings, hide it under your front porch, and after you have forgotten about the rock your rheumatism will be
gone.
5760. "I had been suffering for months with rheumatism pains when a man told my husband on the W. P. Works that a bag of salt on the chest
was very good. I put a bag on right away. I am telling you the truth, I don't have any more pains."
5761. Salt sprinkled in your shoes is a good remedy for rheumatism.
5762. You may treat rheumatism with a teaspoonful of salt and red pepper mixed in each shoe. Sometimes a pod of red pepper without the salt is
kept in each shoe.
5763. The warm gall of a freshly butchered sheep may be rubbed on stiff joints.
5764. Rheumatic pains will never attack the person who always puts on his left shoe first. This is the general rule, but some say the right shoe
should , be put on first.
5765: One shoe set in the other when going to bed at night is a help for rheumatism.
5766. "My mother did this. She was eighty-five when she died, and she had her shoes turned upside down under the bed when she died. She did
this for the rheumatism."
5767. "They told me that, years ago when I was young, if you burn old shoes, you will get the rheumatism. But I didn't pay any attention, and
have burnt many a old shoe to get a meal. And now I have the rheumatism so bad I can't get around, for not listening to other people telling me
not to do it."
5768. A silver coin tied on your ankle guards you against rheumatism.
5769. For ridding yourself of rheumatism, wear a silver bracelet on either arm and another one on the opposite leg.
5770. Skunk oil is an ointment for rheumatism.
 132

5771. A rattlesnake skin is carried in the pocket for rheumatism.

5772. A rattlesnake skin tied about each arm prevents rheumatism in the arms.
5773. A snake hide --- blacksnake, rattlesnake or water moccasin is the snake usually prescribed --- can be worn against your skin as a belt to
help rheumatism.
5774. Any kind of snake skin when applied to rheumatic joints will lessen the pains. But some say this skin must come from the first blacksnake
of the season.
5775. A hatband made from the skin of the first snake killed in the season will take away rheumatic pains.
5776. Rattlesnake rattles are used for rheumatism in one of the following ways: they are worn next to the skin of the waist, in the hatband, and in
the pocket.
5777. Anoint rheumatic joints with grease rendered from a blacksnake. Some say you must render this oil from the severed head of a blacksnake
that was captured before it could bite itself. In this remedy, and in the snake remedies preceding, it is often required that you yourself must kill
the snake.
5778. You can cure your rheumatism by eating some blacksnake meat.
5779. You can cure your rheumatism by eating the heart of a rattlesnake.
5780. Take a teaspoonful of soda night and morning for three days, stop for three days, and keep repeating this alternate rite for rheumatism.
5781. "If you carry a squirrel right-hind foot, will make you limber, you will never be stiff and have rheumatism, for you know a squirrel is
always jumping around. Of course, you must know how to fix this squirrel foot. You just can't take a foot and carry it. You have to take a
squirrel, skin its foot up above the first joint, then strip the flesh up toward the body above the first joint, then cut the skin off, then tie the sinew
around the upper part of the body, then unjoint the leg at the first joint --- never break it, if you do, will do no good --- always unjoint it; and if
you carry this leg, you will never be stiff."
5782. Sulphur in your shoes will cure rheumatism. Some say the sulphur cures you by going up through your system. Instead of this, the sulphur
may be kept in the mattress of your bed.
5783. Sunflower seed in your shoes protects you against rheumatism.
5784. If you trim your toe-nails on Sunday, you will get rheumatism.
5785. If you bore a hole into a sugar maple tree and stop up in this hole some of your toe-nail and finger-nail cuttings, the rheumatism in your
hands will soon leave.
5786. "The nurse at X. told me today that she went to see a very old Negro woman who had a severe case of rheumatism. This old Negress said to
the nurse, 'If I could only get a thunderbolt, I sure would get well.' The nurse asked, 'What is a thunderbolt?' The old Negress explained that they
are found under the trees after a big thunderstorm.
5787. As a remedy for rheumatism in your feet or legs, rub a turkey wishbone on both knees and burn the bone.
5788. Rheumatism can be cured by rubbing the ailing parts with the gold meat [yellow meat] of a turtle.
5789. If you have rheumatism, bathe the affected parts with your own urine.
5790. If you have rheumatism, wrap round the aching part a red flannel rag that was dipped into the urine of a child.
5791. Keep an unripe walnut in your pocket as a remedy for rheumatism.
5792. Treat rheumatism by setting a pan of water under the bed and keeping it there. Refill the pan when empty.
5793. "Another old rheumatism saying: if you will put a bucket of water under the bed every night, set it outdoors in the morning, not spilling a
drop or putting a drop more water in that bucket, will keep away rheumatism."
5794. You will never have rheumatism, if after washing your hands and face in the morning you dry your hands first.
5795. Do not throw out the water in which you wash your feet at night, wait until the following day, and your feet will always be free from
rheumatism.
5796. "I knew a man that had rheumatism and he went to a clear stream of water early in the morning, and he walked across and back seven
straight mornings barefooted, and it cured him of the rheumatism."
5797. "I knew an old colored man well, poor soul, he's dead now, he had rheumatism bad. And he went down here at the foot of Chestnut Street
to a little stream of water that ran into the Quincy Bay and stood barefooted three times a week in this stream with his feet pointing to the Bay, so
the water would take his rheumatism on into the Bay."
5798. A person gets rid of rheumatism by mashing up fresh wintergreen plants, rubbing them over the affected parts, and throwing the plants
away.
5799. Oil made from the common worm --- variously called angleworm, earth- worm, fishingworm and redworm --- is one of the best known
remedies for rheumatism. The oil can be secured either by letting the worms decompose in the sun, or by boiling them down in water or frying
them. Sometimes the live worms are bound on the rheumatic pains.
5800. A piece of yarn, usually red, is tied in one of the following places for rheumatism: over the pain, round one finger, above or below the
knee, round the arm, am about the ankle after the yarn has been dipped in turpentine.
5801. Twist two strands of white yarn together, roll this in sulphur, and use it round the knee for rheumatism.
5802. A white woolen rag may be tied round your leg or arm for rheumatism.
5803. A piece of zinc in a woolen cloth about your neck is good for rheumatism.
5804. "I know a man that is doing this and it is helping him fine, taking away the pains. If you have rheumatism, take a piece of zinc, then put
a piece of copper on top of it, and wear it in both shoes for a week. Then change and put the copper down and the piece of zinc on top for a week.
Change every week, keeping them on top of one another, and in both shoes."

SKIN COMPLICATIONS (5805-5904)

Blister - Chafing - Chapping - Eczema - Erysipelas (5805-5827)
BLISTER
5805. Never open a blister before sunset; you will have bad luck.
5806. A person rubs a finger behind the ear and wipes it on a fever blister as a remedy.
5807. "If you have a cold sore [fever blister] on your lips, take a match and stick it in your ear, then rub it over the cold sore. I will bet
you anything it will be well by the next night."
5808. "I had a bad fever blister several weeks ago and I took the saliva on my finger, then some of my earwax, and rubbed on it, and it cured the
fever blister right away."
5809. A blister or a pimple on the tongue comes from telling a lie.
5810. To cure a blister on the tongue, spit into the fire three times while saying Blister, blister, blister, go away.
 133

CHAFING
5811. As a cure for chafing or galling, one of the following things may be carried --- usually in the pocket: alum in a bag, bitterweed,
buckeye, dogweed (dog fennel) leaves, elder leaves in the hip pocket for galling of the crotch and on the shoulders for galling in the armpits, elder
and mullein leaves mixed, grape leaves in the pocket or under the sheet of your bed, mule tail leaves, mullein leaves in the hip pocket or a leaf in
the baby's diaper for a baby, green mustard tops, ragweed tops in the hip pocket, and a bag of saltpetre pinned on the corset or shirt tail for galling
between the legs and on the arm for galling in the armpit.
5812. Mix the white part of chicken manure with fresh lard and rub on a baby's chafed bottom.
5813. Fresh yellow clay or dirt from a road may be applied for chafing.
5814. For chafing in young children, powder a mud dauber nest and apply.

CHAPPING
5815. To cure chapped lips, rub a finger behind the ears and then wipe it on your lips. This is the general rule, but the finger may be rubbed in the
armpit, on the sole, or between the toes.
5816. A person who washes his hands with the first snow prevents them from chapping that winter.
5817. Hands do not chap during the winter, if they are washed in March snow- water. This water should be bottled and kept so that it is
ready for use at the beginning of cold weather.
5818. Treat chapped hands by washing them with your own urine.

ECZEMA
5819. Let the warm blood from a freshly killed beef drip on eczema of the hands for a cure.
5820. Eczema can be cured by stroking it with the hand of a corpse.
5821. Get up before sunrise, find three twigs and rub them over your eczema, and then burn the twigs while saying In the Name of the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. Do this for three successive mornings as a remedy.
5822. "This old man said, years ago everyone that had any diseases would go down to this creek [in South Park] and wish it in the creek. He said
he knew a woman one day that was well and walked across the bridge that went over that creek and got eczema bad and almost died."
5823. "I know a man that had eczema bad on his hands and he came to the blacksmith shop where I worked and washed his hands in that slack
water every day for two weeks and he got well."

ERYSIPELAS
l5824. "I knew a woman that lived on Sixth and Washington Street that had erysipelas very bad. She could not see out of her eyes. She had
had two doctors and they didn't seem to help her. My father run a butcher shop near Sixth and Washington. Those days they let the stock all run
loose and father had a lot of cows, and he had several cats around the butcher shop. He went over and told this woman: if she would let him, he
could help her with an old German remedy that he had heard about from the old country; it was not very nice, but he knew he could help her. She
told him to try. So he went back to the butcher shop and killed one of the cats, skin it, and put that cat skin all over her face, warm; left it on
twenty-four hours, took it off, and it had drawn out all the inflammation in her face and eyes. That woman got well. The doctor and some other
people made fun of my father, but he said he got her well when the doctor didn't do any good, would of let her go blind. Those old remedies are a
lot better than the doctor's remedies."
5825. "I lived in the South when I was a girl, and I had St. Anthony fire bad, that's a breaking-out, when one day an old Irish woman came in and
told my mother I would die if she didn't do something for me. And she told her to do this: take two inches of a black cat tail and cut off, then take
that tail with the blood end and make a mark, starting at the top of the head and going down the front as far as you can, then the back the same
way, then both arms. And I got well.
5826 Several years ago [1936] my sister and I while in the country heard of an erysipelas cure that had been worked with an Indian arrowhead by
an old woman formerly well known as a healer. Our informant, who was related to the healer's family, did not know any details, but said two of
the old woman's sons, elderly men, were still alive --- the one, a nearby farmer, professionally engaged in the healing tradition of the family; the
other, a business man, the owner of a hardware store in the small town a few miles away. I decided to visit the business man first. The purchase of
a dipper, which I actually wanted, served as an excuse. After the usual talk about things in general --- the weather (it was about ninety-five in the
shade), people on relief, business conditions, prospects from the approaching harvest --- I told the man who I was, explained my work, and
offered what credentials I could muster. Fortunately, he knew a boyhood friend of mine who at that time lived on a farm in the neighborhood, and
he had also known my father. He became quite friendly. Our conversation ended something like this:
"So you're going over to see my brother about that old cure of my mother's." He seemed amused. "Wait a minute." He went over to his
desk, opened a drawer, took out two implements, held them up and asked, "What do you think of them?" One of the objects was an Indian
arrowhead; the other was a piece of steel shaped like this --- u-shaped --- two prongs sticking out from a handle.
"Wonderful! May I hold them?"
"Sure."
"Your mother's?"
"No, mine. Fact is, I've done that cure for years. Not so much recently. Just do it as a favor. Only cure I know. But that's good for any
kind of skin trouble; not only erysipelas."
"Why is the steel in a shape like this?"
"No reason. I had it made like that years ago by a blacksmith. Easier to hold. See, I put my hand through here and let these two prongs
stick out. Just like a handle. Those prongs are like a guard. No danger of skinning your hand."
"Must you use an arrowhead?"
"No, any kind of flint will do. But my mother used an arrowhead. I found this one myself."
"Have you ever told anyone how you use these?"
"No."
"Could you?"
"Yes, but I couldn't tell you. Have to tell a woman. And I have to tell a woman younger than myself. And she could only tell a man,
and he would have to be younger than her. If you don't, you'll lose your power."
"Suppose you gave this secret to a woman younger than yourself and she abused your trust, say, by telling it to another woman or to a
man older than herself?"
 134

"That wouldn't hurt me. She would lose her power, I wouldn't."
"Would you be willing to give the secret to a woman younger than yourself?"
"I might."
"How old are you?"
"I'm X. years old."
"See that automobile out in front? See that woman in it? That's my sister. She's younger than you and older than I. Suppose I go out,
send her in, and you explain everything to her?"
After some hesitation he agreed to the plan. So I went out, explained the hocus pocus to my sister, and she went into the store while I
stayed in the car. In about a half hour my sister came out. We had the cure. Wrote down the details immediately. Here they are.
You must hold a piece of steel in your right hand and strike downwards on a flint held by your left hand --- our informant called this
striking fire --- as you go through the following four actions of the complete rite:
(1) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, begin to strike down on the flint, making sparks; then, come down, slowly,
continuing the sparks, over the right ear, shoulder and arm, to the finger tips; and, while striking these sparks from the top of the head down to the
finger tips of the right hand, you must repeat three times:
"While fire flies away,
Tame fire devours you."
This whole act must be done three times; hence, the incantation is repeated nine times.
(2) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, and strike sparks down to the left finger tips while repeating the incantation three
times. This whole act must be done three times.
(3) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, and strike sparks down over the face, nose, mouth, center of the body as far as
there is pain or the disease can be seen, even if it extends to the toes. The incantation must be said three times and the whole act repeated three
times.
(4) Start at the top of the patient's head, in the center, and strike sparks down the back of the head, down the middle of the back, and as
far as the pain or disease extends, even to the heels if necessary. Repeat the incantation three times and the whole act three times. The complete
rite --- containing the four separate acts, each of which, as already stated, is repeated three times --- must be performed after sunset or before
sunrise, and it must be repeated on three different occasions as follows: if you commence after sunset, perform the complete rite at that time, then
again just before the following sunrise, and then again after the next sunset; if you commence before sunrise, perform the complete rite at that
time, then again just after the following sunset, and then again just before the next sunrise.
Now, if the complete rite performed on three separate occasions fails to cure the patient, wait awhile, three days or a multiple of three,
and perform the rite again; then wait once more, and perform the rite for the third time.
Therefore, in this extreme case, the complete rite is performed 9 times and each of the 4 acts 27 times ---which means going down the
body 128 times and repeating the incantation 324 times. And if this fails to cure the patient, I do not know what happens. Probably the healer will
need a healer for himself.
This remedy, which has been worked in the community since about 1850, was brought over from Germany by the informant's
grandmother. With our arrowhead cure safely bestowed, and with high hopes, we next went out to see the other brother, the professional healer.
He refused to tell us anything. It was another one of the hundreds of disappointments and failures one meets while collecting folklore.
5827. "When I was a girl I had erysipelas bad. My mother took me to an old woman. This woman put me on a long board, made me lie down,
then took three long strings, one white, blue, and red, and started at my head and went to my toes with the three strings, just like she was
measuring me. She done this three times at a time and three times a day, and she would powwow [not a local term; probably directly or indirectly
from Pennsylvania-Dutch] all the time. And in two days I was well."

Freckles - Hives - Itch - Pimple - Poison Ivy (5828-5890)

FRECKLES
5828. "Years ago two girls out in the country near Burton and Liberty was going to a party. They had their dresses made, but both girls had a lot
of freckles; and they heard that if you would put cow manure all over your face, it would take them off. So they made up their mind to try
before the party. They both stayed at one house, and put it allover their faces. The next morning when they washed, they were all green. The cow
had been eating something green and it stain their faces. It took the girls several days to get the green off their faces. They got rid of the freckles
but didn't get to go to the party, for their faces were too green. It got out, and the boys and girls had a good time over them missing the party
over getting rid of the freckles."
5829. To remove freckles, you must go to the pasture, catch some fresh urine from a cow, and wash your face with it.
5830. There is a rhyme about how you can get rid of freckles:
"Wash in water, neither rain nor run;
Dry by towel, neither woven nor spun."
This means you must wash in dew and dry in the sun. Do this on seven mornings.
5831. A remedy for freckles is to wash your face with dew before sunrise in March.
5832. You will never have freckles, if on the first day of May you bathe your face in the dew off growing wheat.
5833. Go out to a wheat-field in your nightclothes on the first of May and wash your face with dew to remove freckles.
5834. If you arise on the first of May, walk out of the house backwards, bathe your face with dew, your freckles will leave.
5835. "My face was just full of freckles, so I got up on the first day of May and washed my hands in the early-morning dew --- then lay your
hands on some other part of your body and the freckles will go to that place --- then I put my hands on my shoulders, and the freckles left my face
and went to my shoulders."
5836. If you kneel down in the grass on the first of May before sunrise, lay the palms of your hands flat into the dew, cross your hands and keep
them crossed while you rub downwards over your face to the shoulders, your freckles will transfer to the latter place."
5837. On each of the first three mornings of May get up before four o'clock and wash your face with dew that you have scooped up in your hands,
then rest , your hands on some part of the body to which you want the freckles transferred, and they will soon appear at that spot.
5838. Your freckles will soon vanish, if you get up before sunrise on the first three mornings of May and wash them with dew from red clover.
5839. As a cure for freckles, wash your face in dew before dawn on the first seven mornings of May, wipe it off with your hands, and rub it on
that part of your body to which you want them transferred.
5840. Freckles can be removed by washing your face with dew from grass on the first nine mornings of May.
 135

5841. If you bathe your face before sunrise on the first ten mornings in May, then go back to bed and let the dew dry on your face, you will soon
lose freckles.
5842. Never wash your face with water in which eggs have been boiled; it will give you freckles.
5843. Lemon juice rubbed on freckles for nine nights and nine mornings removes them.
5844. To make a lotion for removing freckles, put lemon-rind juice and ten raisins in a bottle filled with water that has run or dripped from the
eaves of the house. You must shake the bottle daily for nine days and wash with the liquid after the ninth day.
5845. "If you want to get rid of your freckles, milk a mare in your hands and wash your face with that milk, then put your hands where you want
your freckles. I did this, and see, I put my freckles on my elbows."
5846. Grate horse-radish into mare milk and use as a lotion for removing freckles.
5847. It was a spring past time among children years ago to pop into each other's faces the squirters or soft seedpods of the silver maple tree.
This juice was supposed to cause freckles.
5848. Use the first snow of the season as a wash to take off freckles.
5849. Water from the first snow of March makes a good lotion for taking away freckles. Some say any snow of March can be used.
5850. "My grandmother said wash in the first snow of May, would take away your freckles."
5851. Bottle the last snow of the season and use it as a lotion for washing away freckles.
5852. To make freckles disappear, wash your face with water standing in a hollow stump. An oak stump is occasionally required. Some think
bran put in this water and allowed to sour makes the remedy more effective.
5853. Lose freckles by washing them with your own urine.
5854. Wipe your face daily with a baby's wet diaper to get rid of freckles.
5855. The urine of a healthy child used as a face lotion three times a day is a good freckle remover.
5856. As a rite for losing freckles, bathe your face in a running stream before sunrise on the first of May while saying:
"This is the first of May,
I wash my freckles away."
5857. Early on Easter morning go to running water, walk downstream, stop three times, each time taking up some water and putting it in a bottle,
and then return home. All of this must be done before sunrise. This water is a good wash for freckles, provided you say the Lord's Prayer while
washing.

HIVES
5858. "I knew a woman that did this to all ten of her children and they never had hives. Take a razor and cut a little place on the shoulder of a new
baby, and take about two drops of the blood and feed to the baby, will never have hives."
5859. The first rule in the cure of hives requires that they be forced out as soon as possible, for turning in or going in the person will bring
death. Sometimes they go in the patient because he gets them wet; hence a person with hives should never go swimming. One of the best
remedies to force out hives, especially out of children having bull hives (large hives), is tea made from the white part of chicken manure.
5860. Bathe hives with tea brewed from dog manure.
5861. Hives can be cured by rubbing hog dung over them.
5862. As a remedy in curing hives, rub them against a hog trough.
5863. Sheep-dung tea is a good wash for hives.

ITCH
5864. For a toe-itch cure, wrap an apple peeling round it while saying Apple Peeling, take this itching away from my toe.
5865. The white part of chicken manure mixed with lard makes a good itch salve.
5866. Cobwebs rubbed on an itching caused by a crack behind your ear will cure it.
5867. Rub the itching soles of your feet with coffee grounds; the itch will be thrown away with the grounds.
5868. "I have often heard my grandmother tell this: it's an old saying, to go through a patch of corn after dark will give you the itch."
5869. If you step on a spot where a cow has urinated, the skin of your toes will crack open. This ailment is variously known as cow-itch,
ground-itch and toe-itch.
5870. Ground-itch can be cured by holding your toes under a cow that is relieving herself and letting the urine run over them.
5871. A person who wiggles his toes in a fresh cow-cake or cow-plaster and lets the manure dry on them will lose ground-itch.
5872. Your mother's dish rag rubbed on the soles of your feet takes away an itching in them.
5873. "I just tried this just last week. I had toe-itch and I spit on it and it cured it."
5874. To cure barber's-itch, rub saliva on the affected place three times a day and cover with cigar ashes.
5875. One shoe pointed east and the other west will stop an itching on your foot.
5876. Wear a black-yarn string on your toe for cow-itch.
5877. "I always wear a red-yarn string around a cracked toe. I am wearing one now, for my toes are so bad from being out in the strawberry
patch."
5878. "Another thing I used to do for toe-itch was to take a piece of white yarn off my white-wool shawl I was wearing and tie around my toe."
Sometimes this string is dipped into bacon fryings or turpentine.
5879. Regardless of the toe affected with cow-itch, a yarn string about the little toe cures it.
5880. To rid yourself of ground-itch, a white woolen string is worn round the ankle.
5881. A toe never cracks open, if you keep about it three strands of yarn.
5882. Cracked toes are treated by binding them with a yarn string that was dipped into melted lard, but this remedy must be repeated for nine
days.
5883. As a wash for itch, boil down twelve walnut leaves in a quart of water to a pint and having strained this add a teaspoonful of sulphur.

PIMPLE
5884. To free yourself from pimples, arise before daylight on the first three mornings of May and bathe your face in dew.
5885. Pimples can be cured by washing them with lemon juice for nine mornings.
5886. "I always wash my face every morning in my own urine to keep from having pimples." This is also a cure for blackhead or fleshworm. In
this case, you are supposed to let the urine remain in a pot overnight, remove the scum next morning, and use the clear liquid.
 136

POISON IVY
5887. The person who gets poison ivy has it seven consecutive summers.
5888. If you were born in a month containing the letter R, you will always be poisoned by poison ivy; but if the month of your birth does not have
the letter R, you are immune.
5889. Slack-water, the water in which a blacksmith cools hot iron, is a good wash for poison ivy.
5890. Treat poison ivy by bathing it with your own urine.

Rash - Scrofula - Tetter - Thrush (5891-5904)

5891. A person born after his father's death has the power to cure such childhood ailments as rash, tetter, and thrush --- commonly called thrash
--- by blowing on the disease. Sometimes the breath is blown into the patient's mouth.
5892. A posthumously born person whose father did not die a natural death can cure a baby's sore mouth by breathing on it.
5893. Scrofula can be cured by cutting open a live frog and using it as a poultice.
5894. Six frogs or toads fried in a quart of lard down to a pint of grease make an ointment good for scrofula.
5895. If a child has tetter, put a lock of its hair in a hole that you have bored into a tree to indicate the child's height; and when the child grows
above this mark, the disease will be gone.
5896. "I know this is so, for when my baby got the thrash and nothing would help, I took him out in the country to a farmhouse and let him inhale
the steam from a hot manure pile, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and he got well."
5897. Hold a live minnow so that it breathes (opens and closes its gills) three times in the child's mouth as a thrush remedy.
5898. An old shoe should be burned and the ashes used in washing out the mouth of a child with thrush.
5899. As a treatment for thrush, let an adult, of the same sex but unrelated to the child, carry it a drink that he or she has secured from a
running stream by using the left hand to dip up the water with the right shoe. This rite must be repeated on three successive mornings.
5900. The water in which a blacksmith cools hot iron, called slack-water or blacksmith-water, is used as a wash for rash and tetter; but to be
effective the water must dry on the skin.
5901. Three sow-bugs carried alive in a sack about the child's neck cures thrush.
5902. "My baby had the thrush bad and all I did was to wash its mouth out every morning with the corner of her wet diaper."
5903. Thrush is prevented, if you wipe out a baby's mouth with its first wet diaper.
5904. To rid a baby of thrush, its mouth may be rinsed out with the father's urine.

SLEEP DIFFICULTIES (5905-6004)

Insomnia - Snoring - Sleep-Talking (5905-5948)
INSOMNIA
5905. You will not sleep well, unless your bed rests east and west --- the direction in which the earth revolves.
5906. Never sleep with the head of your bed to the west; you will not sleep well.
5907. "If I can't sleep at night, I get up and put my head at the foot of the bed to make me go to sleep."
5908. "My mother, if she couldn't sleep at night, she would get up and walk around the bed so she could."
5909. An open Bible kept under your pillow prevents restlessness at night. If you do not have a Bible, any book containing the Lord's Name may
be used.
5910. Insomnia is cured by keeping a four-leafed clover beneath your pillow.
5911. Count one hundred backwards after you go to bed and you will soon fall to sleep.
5912. If you are restless during the night, rub the bottom of your left ear and you will soon be asleep.
5913. A file beneath your pillow makes you sleep well.
5914. As a remedy for nervousness at night, keep a hatchet beneath the mattress.
5915. People who sleep badly should put a butcher-knife under the pillow.
5916. You can sleep well at night by having a knife and fork crossed beneath your pillow.
5917. A person sleeps well with two needles crossed beneath the pillow.
5918. Those unable to sleep well should lay an onion under the pillow or hang one over the head of the bed.
5919. Brown paper beneath your pillow will make you sleep better.
5920. To cure insomnia, during the night get up, take off the pillowcase, turn the pillow over, lie on it that way, and you will sleep better.
5921. You will sleep soundly, if you always carry seven grains of red popcorn in your hip pocket.
5922. Salt anywhere under or in the bed is effective against sleeplessness.
5923. "My daughter was working down in the shoe factory and she was so nervous she could not sleep. Then she put a pair of scissors [they must
be open say some] under her pillow and slept fine."
5924. The person who sleeps with his shoes beneath the bed will be restless all night.
5925. If you sleep with your shoes beneath the foot of the bed, you will not rest; if beneath the head of the bed, you will rest well.
5926. To have another person's shoes beneath your bed will give you a sleepless night.
5927. Some say your shoes must rest beneath the bed so that the toes point towards the bed, to make you sleep well; others say your shoes must
rest beneath the bed so that the toes point away from the bed, to make you sleep well.
5928. If you awaken during the night and cannot go back to sleep, get up and change the position of your shoes or turn them in the opposite
direction.
5929. To secure a sound sleep, lay your shoes under the bed with the toes touching each other and make the sign of the cross while saying In the
Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
5930. Keep your shoes turned upside down at night and you will sleep well.
5931. A person unable to sleep should get up and put some garlic in his shoes.
5932. "My mother said, whenever she would worry and could not sleep at nights, she would always get up and put her stocking with the foot
under her chin, and wrap the rest of the stocking around her neck, and she would go to sleep right away."
5933. Water in a bucket or pan beneath the bed cures insomnia.

SNORING
5934. To keep yourself from snoring, put a Bible under your head.
5935. The person who sleeps with legs spread apart will never snore.
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5936. If a person snores, lay a lemon under his pillow.

5937. The snores of a sleeper can be stopped at once by telling him to stop snoring.
5938. Whistle at the sleeper and he will stop snoring.

SLEEP-TALKING
5939. The person who keeps a Bible under his pillow will not talk in his sleep.
5940. "If anyone is talking in their sleep and you want to know what they are saying, lay a horseshoe on their breast with the points up and they
will tell you all they know. Years ago we were living on a farm out near Burton and my brother came to town [Quincy]. When he got home he
forgot what he did with the money. I said, 'Mother, wait until tonight and I will find out.' So when he went to bed I put a horseshoe on his breast
and he started to tell what he did with the money — he bought a girl a cheap dress and a pair of stockings. The next morning I told him what he
done with the money and he said he did buy them."
5941. If you hold a mirror before the face of a person who is talking in his sleep, he will tell you what you want to know.
5942. You can ask a sleeptalker questions and he will answer correctly, provided you do not mention his name.
5943. Scissors kept beneath the bed or mattress prevents a person from talking while asleep.
5944. To make a person talk while asleep or to understand what a sleeptalker is saying, hold his big toe.
5945. A sleeping person will talk when his little finger is held in a glass of water.
5946. As a method for learning the secrets of a person who is asleep, put his hand in a glass of water.
5947. Make a person talk in his sleep by holding his hand in muddy water.
5948. If you lay a wet cloth on a sleeptalker's head, he will tell you his secrets.

Sleep-Walking - Night Sweat - Nightmare (5949-6004)

SLEEP-WALKING
5949. Never awaken a sleepwalker; you might kill him by the sudden shock (separate his wandering or confused soul from his body).
5950. As a protection against your sleep-walking, a Bible should be kept beneath your pillow.
5951. If an onion is cut in half and laid under the pillow, a person will not walk while asleep.
5952. Sleep-walking can be prevented by secretly keeping a glass or pan of water under the victim's bed. It is sometimes said this water must be
emptied each morning unknown to the sleeper.
5953. "My son walked in his sleep. One night he came down the stairs. The second time I said, 'I am going to put a pan of water for you to fall in,
if you come down again.' In about an hour I heard my son coming down the stairs for the third time. I went and put a big pan of water at the foot
of the stairs. When he got to the bottom he fell in the water. That broke him. He never walked again in his sleep."

NIGHT SWEAT
5954. To cure night sweat, lay an ax or hatchet under your bed. Some say the head of the tool must lie beneath the lower part of your back.
5955. Sleep with cedar bark or leaves in a bag under your pillow and you will not have night sweat.
5956. If you boil red corncobs in your teakettle until you have a quart of juice and drink a half cupful of this tea each night until it is
exhausted, your night sweat will soon be gone.
5957. Rid yourself of night sweat by keeping grape leaves under the sheet.
5958. A potato kept under the bed is a good remedy for night sweat.
5959. Your night sweat can be cured, if someone secretly puts under your bed a pan of water in which potatoes have been boiled. This is
occasionally called potato-water.
5960. Night sweat can be stopped by putting a cup of cold sage tea under the bed.
5961. Salt beneath the bed or under the sheet cures night sweat.
5962. The person who keeps his shoes under the bed will have night sweat.
5963. Night sweat is prevented by keeping your shoes under the exact center of the bed.
5964. Shoes kept under the side of the bed with toes pointing out prevent night sweat.
5965. To prevent night sweat, keep your shoes under the bed so that the toes point toward the foot of the bed.
5966. "Whenever my husband has night sweats I always get up and set his shoes by the bed with the toes from the bed and it sure helps. But don't
put them under the bed."
5967. As a remedy for night sweat, turn your shoes upside down under the bed.
5968. If you rub your finger between the large toe and the next one just before going to bed and smell your finger, you will not be bothered by
night sweat.
5969. A bucket or pan of cold water secretly set under the patient's bed will cure night sweat.
5970. A pan of boiling water set under the bed just beneath the patient's back will cure night sweat. This must be done in secret.
5971. You can cure night sweat in four nights with a tub of water beneath the bed, but the depth of the water must be different each night as
follows: on the first night the distance from the water to the top of the tub is the width of a silver dollar; the second night, of a half dollar; the
third night, of a quarter; and the fourth night, of a dime. Do this without the patient knowing anything about it.
5972. Water in a pan or bucket beneath the bed for seven nights is a remedy for night sweat. The patient must not know what you are doing.
5973. "If you have night sweats, take a bucket of water and set it under the bed. You can't spill a drop of the water after you have it in the
bucket. In the morning take it out, set in the sun; then put the same bucket of water under the bed that night, then set in the sun again next
morning. You must do this for seven nights, using the same water, never spilling a drop or putting a drop to it; and the eighth morning, throw the
water away and you will throw your night sweats away too."
5974. The person beneath whose bed you keep a pan of water for nine nights will soon lose his night sweat. The patient must not be aware of
what is being done.
5975. "When my husband starts to have night sweats I always put a pan of water under the bed with an ax across the pan and it will keep them
away."

NIGHTMARE
5976. If an ax with the point up is secretly laid under the bed of a person who has nightmare, a cure will soon follow.
5977. Keep a Bible beneath your pillow and you will not have nightmare.
5978. A person when disturbed by nightmare should turn his pillow over and make the sign of the cross on it.
 138

5979. You can rid yourself of nightmare by sleeping with a file beneath the mattress. Frequently a rusty file is prescribed.
5980. A fork under your pillow rids you of nightmare.
5981. Nightmare is prevented with a fork and knife crossed beneath your pillow.
5982. As a nightmare remedy, go to bed wearing your left garter.
5983. Nightmare does not attack a person who sleeps with a hatchet beneath the head of the bed.
5984. A horse halter hanging on the head of the bed drives away nightmare.
5985. If you hang a horse halter on the head of the bed and tie the rope or strap about some part of your body, nightmare will not disturb you.
5986. To ward off nightmare, a horse halter should be hung on the foot of the bed and a bridle put under the bed.
5987. You will never be attacked by nightmare, after you lay a knife under your pillow and stuff the keyhole of the bedroom door with cotton.
5988. A butcher-knife under the head of the bed is a preventive against nightmare.
5989. The woman who keeps a man's pocketknife beneath her pillow will not be molested by nightmare.
5990. Nightmare is driven away by an open pocketknife laid under the pillow.
5991. Do not sleep where the moon can shine on you; it will cause nightmare.
5992. Nightmare is always worse on a rainy night.
5993. Protect yourself against nightmare by laying a pair of scissors under your pillow or the head of the bed.
5994. You drive away nightmare by setting your shoes under the bed, usually the foot, so that the toes point away from the bed. Sometimes the
heels are beneath the bed and the toes are out; one half the shoe under, the other half out.
5995. If you set your shoes together near or under the bed so that the toe of one shoe sets about three inches beyond the toe of the other shoe with
both toes pointing away from the bed, nightmare will not molest you.
5996. If in the manner of walking you lay one of your shoes about two feet in front of the other near or under the foot of the bed so that each toe
points away from the bed, nightmare will walk away from you.
5997. Your shoes upside down near or beneath the bed is a protection against nightmare.
5998. With your shoes upside down and heels together making the letter V, set them near or under the bed, toes pointed out, and you will not be
troubled by nightmare.
5999. As a precaution against nightmare, lay your shoes upside down near or under the head of the bed so that the toes point away from the bed.
6000. If a woman wants to stop her nightmares, she should tie a man's shoe to one of hers and put these two shoes under her bed; if a man, he
should tie a woman's shoe to one of his and put both under his bed.
6001. Persons keeping the toes of their shoes pointed east during the night will not have nightmare.
6002. If on taking off your socks or stockings at night you rub the left one between all the toes of the right foot and rub the right one between all
the toes of the left foot, you will not get nightmare.
6003. If you smell your finger after you have held it about ten minutes between your little and next toe, nightmare will never trouble you.
6004. Always dip your fingers in a pan of cold water before going to bed and nightmare will not come to you during the night.

SORE AND BEDSORE (6005-6039)

SORE
6005. Some say the burning of a bandage taken off a sore inflames it and delays healing; others say this dries up the sore and makes it heal
quicker.
6006. If the bandage is burned, a sore will burn; but if the bandage is buried, a sore will stay cool and heal quickly.
6007. Do not wash a bandage; the sore will run all the time and never heal.
6008. In curing an inflammation sore — a sore that has become inflamed --- cut open a black chicken and apply.
6009. "I know a woman that had her mouth full of canker sores, and they heat chicken droppings and gave it to her through a straw, and she got
well."
6010. Poultice a sore with a piece of the pouch from a cow that has just been killed.
6011. "Years ago a gypsy woman [an Indian or a half-breed Indian] lived near my mother out here on Mill Creek. She had a very bad sore that
would not heal. She told my mother it was a old gypsy saying, if you could get a crane and take the lining [insides] out and dry it and make
powder, it would heal. She said, 'I have been praying every day and night that we will find one on the creek.' I don't remember now just how long
it was before they kill a crane, for it's been a long time. But mother did say the sore was all black. She put this crane powder on and it was no time
until the sore started to getting red, then got well. I have heard my mother tell this over and over. If living, she would be over a hundred. I think
this happen about eighty-five years ago [1851].
6012. A woman with a bad sore should rub the hand of a dead man over it while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, take this
sore away. A man having a bad sore must use the hand of a dead woman and repeat the same words.
6013. You can cure any kind of sore on your arm or leg by putting one of the bandages under a coffined corpse.
6014. If you wash a sore with the cloth used in washing a corpse and bury the cloth, the sore will be gone after the cloth rots.
6015. Treat a sore by letting a dog lick it. Sometimes, as an incentive for the animal, the sore is covered with butter or anything sweet.
6016. A black-nosed dog licking a sore cures it, but a red-nosed dog licking a sore inflames it.
6017. "I knew a man that had a very bad running sore and he fried a dog and greased it and his sore got well."
6018. Earwax is a good salve for sores.
6019. Rid yourself of a sore on any part of the body by carrying elder leaves in your pocket.
6020. To secure an ointment for a running sore, scrape downwards on the roots of a year-old elder bush and boil these scrapings with mutton
tallow.
6021. "My mother used this years ago when we lived in the country, goose droppings. If anyone had a sore, she put this on to draw to a head."
6022. An excellent remedy for sores is the water in which a blacksmith cools hot iron.
6023. Sores may be treated with applications of mud taken from the bottom of a pond in which cattle have stood.
6024. Dissolve a mud dauber nest in water, add one cup of salt and a cup of vinegar and heat, and swab a sore with this liquid.
6025. Rabbit fat on a sore cures it.
6026. Anoint a sore with raccoon grease.
6027. The gall of a sheep and a half teaspoonful of salt boiled twenty minutes in a cupful of water makes a liniment for a sore.
6028. Sheep manure used as a poultice on a sore will draw it to a head.
6029. The person who steps on a snake will get sores on his fingers.
 139

6030. Water from the last snow of March is good for sores.
6031. "Years ago we had a boy in our neighborhood and his head was just full of sores, and they could not find anything to get the sores well.
One morning this boy was standing near a window and a neighbor, not seeing him, threw the chamber out the window and it went all over the
top of this boy's head. And the sores got well right away."
6032. Stew a veal bone and bathe an open sore in that pot-liquor for three days. Then obtain a new bone, bathing the sore another three-day
period, and continue this rite until cured.
6033. A sore should be bound with three leaves, each picked from a different vegetable, laid one above the other.

BEDSORE
6034. Lay an ax under the bed of a sick person and he will not have bedsores.
6035. Bedsores can be avoided, if a china dish is inserted between the mattress and springs of the sickbed.
6036. Old iron kept under the bed prevents bedsores.
6037. "My father had rheumatism for years, was in bed for years, when an old woman told my mother if she would keep a pan of rusty nails
under the bed with a little water over them, my father would not get bedsores. So my mother put the pan of nails under the bed and father never
had a bed sore."
6038. A bed-ridden person never has bedsores after a piece of sod is laid below the mattress.
6039. Water beneath the patient's bed keeps bedsores away.

STOMACH DISORDERS (6040-6071)

6040. "I know a woman that had heartburn and indigestion so bad, she just tried everything and nothing would help her. An old German woman
told her about rubbing her hands under her armpits several times and smelling it. So she tried it and she got well."
6041. "My mother always wore a brass ring to keep from having cramp in the stomach."
6042. A buckeye carried in the pocket prevents stomachache.
6043. Small burdock roots strung as a necklace and worn by a baby are good for stomach complaint.
6044. If you are sick at your stomach, put camphor on your throat and a cold cloth on your head.
6045. To wheel an empty baby carriage back and forth gives a stomachache to the absent baby.
6046. Burn the first soiled diaper taken off a baby and the child will never have any stomach complaint.
6047. A baby weaned in the sign of the Stomach (Virgo) will have stomach trouble.
6048. "My father was riding on the train and he told an old man he had stomach trouble bad and they wanted to operate on him. The old man
said, 'Never do that; you may die. Just take a teaspoonful of egg-shell powder before each meal.' He did and he got well."
6049. A teaspoonful of powder obtained by pulverizing the dried lining of a chicken gizzard may be administered in a little water for upset
stomach, catarrh of the stomach, heartburn, and stomach ulcer.
6050. To cure cramp in a woman's stomach, hang her dress upside down; in a man's stomach, his trousers upside down.
6051. Cramps in a woman's stomach are to be treated by tying the hem of a man's shirt tail round her waist.
6052. To relieve pains in your stomach, hold a live goose on it and the goose will absorb them.
6053. "This is very old. If you have stomach trouble, get a ground-hog claw and carry it in your left-hand pocket all the time and the stomach
will soon be healthy. This was one of my great-grandfather's sayings."
6054. There is a bone near the ear of a hog used in curing stomach trouble. It must be tied on a string and suspended over the bare stomach.
6055. Smoke a hornet nest in your pipe as a remedy for stomach cramps.
6056. Horse-radish leaves dipped into vinegar and laid on the stomach relieves a stomachache.
6057. Dried mullein leaves smoked in a pipe stop a heartburn.
6058. Wear a piece of nutmeg on your belt to become immune against stomach trouble.
6059. "I know several cases where the doctor could not do any good for an upset stomach and they mashed up some onions good and put them in
two socks, then put under the armpits. It will help every time.
6060. An upset stomach is settled by applying a poultice of peach leaves.
6061. Bore three holes into a pine tree and walk round the tree thrice, saying while you make each circuit, Biliousness, go away.
6062. "One day my brother had stomach cramps good. He was out in the barn lot and he got so sick he had to lay over the wagon tongue. An old
German woman came along and wanted to know what was wrong. Then she told him about putting the salt in the palm of the hand, rubbing it
around and around in your hand so it will go into your skin, and also on the bottom of the foot. He tried it right away and got over the cramps and
was never bothered after that with cramps."
6063. People born in September always suffer from stomach trouble.
6064. "A man out by Kinderhook [Illinois] by the name of F., his stomach was always coming up [not vomiting, but the stomach seemed to rise
in his body]. He just could not stand the feeling. He called in the doctor and the doctor said, 'I will give you something that will hold your
stomach down.' The doctor took number two buckshot and sugar-coated them, and told him to take three a day until he had taken twenty-four,
and that would hold his stomach down. He took the pills the doctor gave him and did not have any more trouble until thirty-five years after that.
He called in the same doctor and he gave him a good physic, and the twenty-four buckshot passed from him and he lived to be an old man."
6065. A yarn string tied round your middle finger stops a cramp in the stomach.
6066. To get rid of pains in your stomach, make seven knots in a cord string and tie it round your waist.
6067. "Years ago [1855?] my grandmother was at a country church and a man got the cramps so bad they didn't know what to do with him. One
old lady said, 'If we could just get some chamber-lye, he would get all right.' So they look around and found a can and let someone use it, and
gave it to this sick man and he got all right. Years ago they called urine chamber-lye."
6068. Treat cramps in a child's stomach by giving him vaseline on a knife for three nights.
6069. Green violet leaves crushed and laid on the stomach is a treatment for inflammation of the stomach.
6070. A baby given a spoonful of water immediately after its birth never has a bellyache.
6071. To cross a large body of water helps stomach trouble.

THROAT INFIRMITIES (6072-6219)

Cold - Cough - Croup - Diphtheria (6072-6147)
COLD
 140

6072. If on the day a baby is born the father takes it outside and tosses it up into the air so that the sun can shine on its face, the child will never
have a cold.
6073. Do not drive through an alley at night; you are certain to catch a cold.
6074. Asafetida and tobacco worn in a bag is a protection against either a cold or croup.
6075. "I can remember when I was a girl, when we children had a cold, my father would take a bucket of beer and heat pokers red-hot and put
them in the beer and give it to us. One time he had three pokers in the bucket at the same time. We were all sick but we got well."
6076. To guard against a cold, wear a bag of camphor round your neck.
6077. A severe cold may be cured by rendering fat from a dog and taking a teaspoonful of this grease three times a day.
6078. The person who removes his flannels on the first of May never catches a cold.
6079. A piece of red flannel pinned to a baby's shirt so that it lies on the navel protects the baby all winter against a cold.
6080. Colds are relieved by garlic kept in your bed.
6081. Garlic and tobacco in your shoes is a preventive against colds.
6082. Goose grease mixed with quinine and applied to the chest, or a hot poultice of goose grease and nutmeg on the chest, is a good remedy for
a cold. Goose grease is also sweetened and administered to a baby with croup.
6083. Anoint the chest with goose grease, then the palms of the hands, and finally the feet. This drives a cold out of the body through your feet,
but the rubbing must always be downwards.
6084. A cold can be treated by drinking hog-hoof tea.
6085. Steam some horse manure and rub it on the person who has a cold or influenza.
6086. "I know an old man at Marblehead that does this every fall, breaks the first ice in the fall and eats a little so you will not have a cold, and
he has never had a cold and he is eighty-two years old."
6087. "I always let my small children wear a mole foot around their neck to keep from getting a cold."
6088. As a treatment for a cold or croup, poultice the chest with boiled or fried onions --- usually in a flannel bag. Diphtheria may be
treated similarly, but in the latter case the patient must also drink onion juice.
6089. A cold or cough will soon disappear, if a roasted onion is rubbed on the soles of your feet.
6090. Baked onions applied to the chest and the soles of the feet cures a cold.
6091. A peeled onion beneath the foot of the bed will cure a cold, and onions anywhere in the room will cure influenza.
6092. "My mother always did this and we never had a cold; kept a green onion in water under the bed."
6093. "I always wet my head in every rain to keep from getting a cold in my head winter or summer."
6094. You can avoid a cold by wearing rosin in your shoes.
6095. A small sack of salt about the neck will protect you against a cold.
6096. Babies wearing a black silk vest never contract a cold or pneumonia.
6097. In the fall put a black silk ribbon round your neck and you will be protected against a cold all winter.
6098. Skunk grease is rubbed on the chest for a cold and on the throat for croup, and is eaten both for a cold and croup.
6099. "I have been sleeping with my head to the west for the last twenty years and I have not had a cold in twenty years, and was always having
one before I started to sleeping with my head to the west."
6100. A person eating some of the first snow will be free from colds all winter, and a child doing this will not catch croup that winter.
6101. "My father always got up the first thing in the morning, if there was snow on the ground, and went around the house barefooted so he
would never get a cold in the winter."
6102. "During [Civil] War times my mother would make all of us children, nine of us, when the first snow came, run around the house barefooted
three times before she would put our wool stockings on, to keep from having a cold."
6103. As a precaution against colds, in winter one should walk barefoot about the house every night.
6104. "My father would always make us go barefooted on the first day of May. He did not care how cold it was. He would make us so we would
not have a cold that year."
6105. "My mother always would rub tallow on the bottom of our feet when we had a cold."
6106. "I always do this, as soon as I start to get a cold, so I never have one, rub between your toes and put it up your nose."
6107. Rid yourself of a cold by drinking your own urine or gargling with it. Some say the urine must be boiled first.
6108. They say, "A child will not catch a cold lying in its own pee."
6109. Secretly set a pan of water under the bed of a person with a cold and he will quickly recover.
6110. As a protection against a cold after you have washed your head, always dampen your hair three times with cold water.

COUGH
6111. Dip a soft cloth into strong brandy and rub the soles of the feet morning and evening for a cough or cold.
6112. A bad cough may be cured, if you stroke your throat with the hand of a corpse.
6113. To stop a child's cough, pull three hairs from the crown of his head.
6114. As a treatment for a coughing spell in a baby, rub the soft spot on the top of its head. According to the first edition of Folklore from
Adams County, Illinois, "There is a soft spot, the sutures, on the top of every baby's head, and until this place becomes firm the child will not
talk" (2593); also, "A baby is unable to walk until the soft spot on its head grows hard" (2594).
6115. "I knew of an old German doctor right over on Fifteenth Street, he is dead now, if living would be way over a hundred year old, and he
used potato-bugs for cough medicine. They say years ago he bought up all the potato-bugs he could. When he died they found among his
remedies he used the potato-bugs for his cough medicine."
6116. A good cough syrup can be made by covering snails with sugar and letting them stand for a while.

CROUP
6117. Fat babies always have croup; lean ones never.
6118. A string of allspice about a baby's neck prevents croup.
6119. Alum in a bag about a baby's neck will keep croup away.
6120. To cure croup, administer chicken brains with a small quantity of salt.
6121. A child with croup should be given tea from the white part of chicken droppings.
6122. "I knew a little boy that had membranous croup that the doctor gave up, and his mother did this and he got well; make a poultice of hot dog
manure and bind on the throat."
 141

6123. "I have a friend that lives on Tenth Street that has three children and she let them wear a hog tooth around their neck for croup. She said it
was the best remedy she could find."
6124. "I did this: take a baby's left stocking and dip in holy water and tie around its neck. It will cure croup or sore throat."
6125. Let a baby wear a nutmeg about its neck for croup.
6126. Administer sheep-nanny tea for croup.
6127. "My brother always had the croup. After my mother put the black silk ribbon around his neck and let it hang down over his stomach he
never had the croup again."
6128. "If you will put a black yarn string around a baby's neck when born and keep one around all the time, it will never have croup. Some people
laugh over this, but it is so."
6129. "My grandmother took black silk thread and crochet a chain of it to keep around her children's neck for croup; said it kept it away."
6130. "My sister did this for croup for her baby and it help her: if your baby has croup, take three black silk threads, braid them together, then
tie around it's neck."
6131. A red yarn string about the neck protects a child against croup.
6132. "My neighbor across the street said her little boy was taking croup, just last week. She didn't have any white silk thread, so she sent over
and got mine, and kept it around his neck for several days. He didn't get the croup."
6133. "I kept a leather shoestring in the house all the time to hang on my children's neck, if they got the croup. My son had croup bad, he was
almost choking to death, and all I did was to put the leather shoestring around his neck with the end hanging on the chest and he got all right."
The leather is variously described as buckskin, calfskin or rawhide.
6134. A small white button strung on a white silk thread about a baby's neck is good for croup.
6135. A nutmeg strung on a black silk thread about a baby's neck is good for croup.
6136. "My baby was real sick with the croup and someone told me about the urine. And I gave my baby a teaspoonful of my urine and it got well
right away." The mother's urine must be used.
6137. "My boy had the croup bad. I told him to rain some urine in a glass and I gave it to him hot with butter and sugar and it cured him." The
patient's urine must be used.
6138. If you stand a croupy child against a tree and into the trunk drive nails just above his head, after he grows as high as these nails the
disease will be gone.
6139. If a child having croup is stood against a peach tree and a nail driven into the trunk on a level with his head, the disease will go away
as soon as he can chin the nail.
6140. Children who wear a weasel hide about the neck never catch croup.

DIPHTHERIA
6141. Red-clover tea may be drunk for diphtheria.
6142. "Years ago they were dying all around me with diphtheria. I had it very bad. They said I would not live until morning. My mother took and
put the hog manure poultice all around my neck and it stayed on all night. The next morning I was some better. Then my mother put on a new one
and I got well soon; and they said that was all that save me."
6143. Make a strong tea from fresh hog manure and administer for choking- spells in diphtheria.
6144. A dose of medicine for diphtheria is prepared by burning a sheet of writing paper and administering these ashes.
6145. "If someone has diphtheria, take the droppings of the sheep and put in a bag, put boiling water over them and let boil good, then let the
person with diphtheria gargle; and if too low, give one-half teaspoonful of this in the last stages. This is old but good."
6146. Children wearing a bag of sulphur about the neck will be immune from diphtheria.
6147. Diphtheria is not caught by children who live in a house that has toads in the cellar.

Sore throat - Tonsilitis - Whooping Cough (6148-6219)

SORE THROAT
6148. "Years ago a child had quinsy and they sent for a man to cure this child. They told this child not to look at the man. And this man came
between daylight [after sunset] and sunup, and took each thumb and rubbed over each side of the child's neck three times, then went and sit down,
then got up and went home. He came three mornings and did the same thing three times. And the child got well."
6149. Never remove a bandage from a sore throat, but let it fall off of its own accord; otherwise you will not rid yourself of the cold.
6150. If you wear a string of amber beads about your neck, you will never have a sore throat.
6151. "Just as soon as it starts to getting a little cold in the fall, I put on beads and wear them until it gets hot, to keep from getting sore throat."
6152. Black beads should be worn the year round as a precaution against a sore throat.
6153. Sore throat can be relieved by a piece of copper about the neck.
6154. Treat a sore throat by bandaging it with a red flannel cloth.
6155. A red flannel cloth saturated in skunk oil and bound to a sore throat is a remedy.
6156. Pluck three hairs from the top of your head and rub them over your throat while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
take my sore throat away.
6157. Hog manure makes a good poultice for a sore throat.
6158. If you bind a piece of salted mackerel round your neck at night, your sore throat will be well next morning.
6159. A pimple on the tongue shows that you are catching a sore throat.
6160. To sleep with your left stocking about your neck prevents a sore throat.
6161. Turn your stocking inside out before going to bed and place its foot against the sorest part of your throat, then wrap the whole stocking
round the neck, and next morning your ailment will have disappeared.
6162. As a treatment for sore throat, smell the inside of your shoe and then let a soiled sock or stocking remain on your neck all night.
6163. Your left dirty sock or stocking about your neck at night cures a sore throat. Occasionally the right is used.
6164. A sweaty stocking filled with salt and wrapped over your neck at night is a good sore-throat remedy.
6165. The unclean sock of a man when worn round a woman's neck at night will cure her sore throat. The left one is occasionally required.
6166. "I had ten children. I always kept a silk string around their neck and we never did have any sore throats in the family."
6167. Black silk thread or black yarn round the neck makes a person immune to sore throat. Sometimes a black silk ribbon is used. 6168. One
either loses or protects himself against a sore throat, if he folds a red yarn string three times about his neck and lets it stay there.
6169. Gargle a sore throat with your own urine.
 142

6170. A baby whose mouth is washed out with its first wet diaper will never have a sore throat.
6171. If a child writes on a steamy window with his finger, he will catch a sore throat.

TONSILITIS
6172. "My sister had a bad cold every winter and bad tonsils. She suffered for years until someone told her about the amber beads. If you can
get the genuine amber beads and wear them winter and summer, you will never take a cold. She got a genuine pair of the amber beads and put
them on, that was twenty-five years ago, and she has wore them ever since; of course, not the same beads, because after you wear them so long
they start to getting smaller all the time, seems like they go in the neck. Anyway, she has had several pair in the twenty-five years, but she has
never had a cold or bad tonsils since she put the amber beads on twenty-five year ago."
6173. "I wore a bag of asafetida around my neck when I had tonsilitis. It sure did cure me when nothing else would."
6174. A person who wears a necklace of white crystal beads is not bothered by tonsils.
6175. "My daughter had very bad tonsils. She was going to have them taken out. One morning I was talking to a neighbor and told her about my
daughter. She said, 'Why not try an old German remedy before she has them taken out.' We took fat bacon and dip in hot vinegar, then put salt
and pepper on the bacon, and put around the neck. She never had them taken out. It sure worked good. I believe those old German remedies are
better than most of the doctors we have. They just want to cut you. "
6176. "Years ago an old tramp told my father this. A man stop at the farm, wanted something to eat. My father told him my mother was very sick
in bed, was choking all the time with her tonsils. The man said, 'I can help you for that. Get me some fresh hog manure.' And father did. They fry
it and put it between two cloths and apply to the tonsils, as soon as cold put on another hot one, one after another. And mother was all right in
several days."
6177. "I have tonsilitis and when I wear a black silk ribbon around my neck, they don't bother me; but just as soon as I take the black ribbon off,
they start to hurting."

WHOOPING COUGH
6178. As a whooping-cough remedy, administer thrice daily for three days a mixture of powdered alum and honey, then stop during the
next three-day period, and keep repeating this alternate process.
6179. "I knew a woman that her child was almost choking to death with whooping cough. I told her about the asafetida. She put some on her
child's neck and it went right to sleep and stop coughing."
6180. To cure whooping cough, let the child urinate on a piece of bread, burn the bread well, and throw it into a hog pen so that the hog can eat
it.
6181. If you have been or will be exposed to whooping cough, you can immunize yourself by breathing into the face of a cat.
6182. "I had a fine cat years ago, I would not of took a thousand dollars for her, and my child got whooping cough bad, and they killed my cat
and render out the lard and gave to her, and put it all over her body. And it help her fine."
6183. Chicken-gizzard tea checks coughing spells in whooping cough.
6184. Tea made from the white ends of chicken droppings is good for whooping cough.
6185. "My mother did this for all her children for whooping cough: take the yellow of a hard-boiled egg, cut it all up, put salt and pepper over
it, then put in a little sack, and wear around your neck."
6186. Whooping cough is treated by letting the child wear several pennies (copper) in a sack about its neck. Some say one penny is sufficient.
6187. "If a child had whooping cough in my days, they would kill a crow, make soup of it and give to a child with whopping cough, and they
would not whoop."
6188. A greasy dish rag round a child's neck cures whooping cough.
6189. Bark from the north side of an elm tree makes an excellent tea for whooping cough.
6190. Garlic in their shoes keeps children with whooping cough from coughing.
6191. Children with whooping cough should be carried through the city gashouse for a cure.
6192. If you carry a child with whooping cough through a gas works on three successive days, the disease will soon be cured.
6193. To prevent whooping cough, the first time a mother during confinement sits up in bed she should hold the baby across her lap while
combing her hair.
6194. A case of whooping cough will not be severe, if the child wears about its neck a lock of hair clipped from a boy who never saw his father.
6195. As a treatment for whooping cough, let a horse, usually a stallion, breathe into the baby's face.
6196. Make a stallion windless by running and then have it pant nine times into the face of a child with whooping cough. The latter is done by
quickly lifting the child up and down or holding it back and forth in front of the horse's mouth.
6197. "If a child has the whooping cough real bad, take a horse and run it up and down the road real hard until the horse is almost out of breath.
Then hold the child up by the horse's mouth and let the horse throw what little breath he has left in that child's mouth. Do this for three mornings
and the child will get well. Seventy-five years ago [1859] my brother and sister had the whooping cough bad. And my mother run a horse up and
down the road for three mornings, and let the horse blow its breath in their mouth. She said she almost killed the horse, but my sister and brother
got well."
6198. "My little girl had whooping cough real bad, thought she was going to die. All I did was to go out in the field and milk the old mare and
give her the milk, and it brought her right out."
6199. Milk of a black mare is given to children having whooping cough.
6200. Use the milk from a white mare as a whooping-cough remedy.
6201. To free a child from whooping cough, a teaspoonful of mare's milk must be administered each morning for seven days.
6202. Whooping cough can be cured by passing the child under or letting it crawl under the belly of a mule four consecutive times.
6203. Let a child who has whooping cough sleep on a sack containing hair from the mane of a mule.
6204. You can cure whooping cough by holding the baby on the grain in an old-fashioned corn hopper while you grind up the grain. The
ground-up grain must be fed to an animal.
6205. Set a baby before it is a year old upon the upper burr or grist of an old-time stone mill and turn the mill three times. This either drives away
whooping cough or produces immunity.
6206. If a mother having rubbed a live minnow over the mouth of her child releases it in water, the minnow will swim away with the child's
whooping cough.
6207. If a mother thinks her baby is catching whooping cough, make the child swallow a live minnow as a preventive.
 143

6208. "One day some children came over to play with my little girl and they had whooping cough. I didn't know it. I was just sick, afraid my girl
would get it. I told an old German woman and she told me about the cellar bugs [sow or pill bugs]. 'I will go right down with you and get them.'
So we went right down and got nine cellar bugs, and put them in a bag, and put them around my little girl's neck, and she never took the
whooping cough."
6209. Give three times a day for whooping cough a tablespoonful of sheep- droppings tea to which lemon juice and sugar have been added.
6210. A live spider in a bag about the child's neck is good for whooping cough. Some prescribe several spiders.
6211. "An old colored slave told my mother this years ago [1850 decade], if a child had whooping cough, to get several [three] hard-shell
terrapins and drill a hole in their back and take three drops of blood out [a drop from each animal] and give to the child. Do this until the child
has nine drops. Will cure it."
6212. A black velvet band on the child's neck protects it against whopping cough.
6213. Children carried across running water lose their whooping cough.
6214. As a method for curing whooping cough, carry the child over a bridge above running water and bring it back the same day.
6215. If a mother carries her sick child across a river and lets it play in the water on the other side, its whooping cough will flow away.
6216. "I tried this: take a trip upstream, if you have whooping cough, and you will leave it there. I got on a boat and went up the river forty miles
[to Keokuk, Iowa] and I didn't whoop when I came back."
6217. "My child had whooping cough bad and we could not find anything to help her, when my husband's brother came up from Hannibal
[Missouri] and told us about the woolly worm. We were several days before we found one, but we did find it and put it [in a bag] on her neck and
she started to getting better right away."
6218. Yarn string round a baby's neck keeps it from getting whooping cough.
6219. Whooping cough is lost by keeping three strands of red yarn about the child's neck.

TOOTHACHE (6220-6261)

6220. To cure a toothache, fold a handkerchief three times into six layers of cloth --- this is done by folding the handkerchief twice one way and
once the other (three foldings) — blow your breath through these folded layers thrice, and then rub your open hand down your face nine times.
6221. If you throw a pulled tooth away and a bird carries it to her nest, you will suffer from toothache as long as that tooth remains there.
6222. A child who has a tooth pulled should always burn it so that he will not be bothered by the tooth growing in its place.
6223. "I knew a woman that said she had a tooth pulled and she buried it in the ground, and after it was buried fifteen years she took it up just
to see if she would get the toothache --- because she had always heard her mother say, that as long as the tooth was in the ground you would not
have toothache. And she said just as soon as that tooth was out of the ground she got the toothache, and she had not had the toothache for fifteen
years."
6224. "My brother had toothache bad one day and he filled it with hen manure [only the white part of the manure according to some informants],
and it stop aching right away."
6225. "I will tell you another about hot cow manure. I had a very bad tooth, jaw all swollen up, and my mother put hot cow manure on it and I
got over the toothache. Of course, people will not do that now. This was my mother's remedy of the Civil War."
6226. "If you have the toothache, take and bite into a white dog turd [the white part of dog dung], then throw the turd away, and your toothache
will stop. I know several people that done that, and it always stopped their toothache."
6227. "I had several bad teeth and I did this for three years to keep away toothache: when you first get up in the morning, before you do
anything, speak or eat, rub behind each ear."
6228. Apply earwax to a painful tooth.
6229. "Two years ago we had a neighbor that had two bad teeth aching. He didn't know about this cutting your toe-nails [some say finger-nails]
on Friday to keep from having the toothache, so he went to the dentist one Thursday and had his teeth worked on, and the dentist told him to
come back the next week and he would fill them. That, night he was telling me about it, and I said, 'Trim your toe-nails on a Friday.' The next day
he got up and trimmed his toe-nails on Friday, and has been doing it ever since. And he never went back to have the two teeth filled, because they
have not ached since, and that is two years ago."
6230. He who cuts his finger-nails during a new moon never has toothache.
6231. You prevent toothache by trimming your finger-nails on the first Friday after a new moon.
6232. If a person trims his finger-nails and toe-nails on Friday, carries the trimmings to a tree that leans out over running water, bores a hole
into that part of the trunk which is above the water, and in this hole plugs up these trimmings, he will never be troubled by another toothache.
6233. Always bury your finger-nail and toe-nail parings at the north side of the house and you will not suffer from a toothache.
6234. Your tooth will stop aching at once, if you stop up in a goose quill a small clipping from each finger-nail and toe-nail and bury the quill.
6235. Dried horse manure may be smoked in a pipe as a toothache remedy.
6236. A nutmeg worn about the neck prevents toothache. Some say you must square the nutmeg.
6237. Quail-breast feathers in your pillow will protect you against toothache.
6238. If the pain lingers after a tooth has been pulled, lay the tooth on a rock and hit it with a hammer. This guards you against toothache in the
future.
6239. Free yourself from a toothache by heating a sack of salt and putting it on top of your head.
6240. Toothache can be prevented by salt worn in a white bag round your neck.
6241. Persons who take off the right shoe first never have a toothache.
6242. To put on your right stocking and shoe first rids you of or protects you against toothache. This is the general rule, but some say the
left stocking and shoe first.
6243. As a protection against toothache, put on the left stocking and shoe first, and the left arm in your clothes first.
6244. "An old Indian doctor years ago told my mother he was the seventh son of the seventh son, and if you don't want to have toothache, let
someone shoot a blacksnake in the head so it couldn't bite itself; for if it did, the snake would be poison. Before this snake is dead, draw it
through your mouth, letting it touch every tooth, and you will never have toothache."
6245. "I had always heard my father and grandmother say if anyone kill a rattlesnake and you could bite into that snake back with your teeth
before the snake bit itself, like they always try to do, you would never have the toothache or a bad tooth. When I was a boy about fourteen years
old and my brother about sixteen years old we were helping out in the hayfield near Payson. We were unloading a wagon load of hay at the barn
when my brother happen to stick his pitchfork into the head of a rattler that was in the hay. We knew the snake couldn't bite itself, so brother said,
'Let's bite into its back, so we will never have any bad teeth or toothache.' Boys like, I reached down and bit into its back while brother held the
 144

snake, then I held the old snake while brother bit into its back. Well, you can see my teeth. I have not a false tooth in my head. Never had the
toothache in my life. I am seventy years old this year, [nineteen] forty-one. My brother died two years ago and he never had the toothache or a
bad tooth."
6246. "I have heard my father say: if you will wear a rattlesnake rattler in your hatband, will keep you from having toothache."
6247. Eat some of the first snow that falls and you will not have a toothache that year.
6248. "I have a white silk string tied around my tooth now to keep it from aching."
6249. "I knew a woman that had a tooth pulled and she buried it in a hollow place in a tree. She went for years without the toothache, when
someone cut this tree down and cut it up for wood, and she got the toothache right away, for the place she buried that tooth was disturbed."
6250. "If you have the toothache, go to a oak tree, cut a little splinter out of the tree, then pick your tooth until it bleeds, then put the splinter
back in the tree and put the bark over it, then walk away and not look back. My uncle stop my tooth one day this way."
6251. "When I was a girl I had the toothache all the time, so my father found a tree that had been struck by lightning and took a piece of the wood
home. And every year I would make a toothpick out of some of that wood and pick my teeth, and after I started that I never had the toothache
again."
6252. "When my mother had toothache years ago bad one day and nothing would help her, she put her urine in the cavity and it stop. That was an
old remedy from Germany."
6253. "My mother always held her own manure in her mouth while hot when she had toothache."
6254. "After the tooth has been pulled, take a little vinegar in your hand and put it on the root of your pulled tooth, then take that tooth and lay it
in the sun to dry, and you will never have the toothache again."
6255. Each morning wash your arms and hands before washing your face and you will not have toothache.
6256. "Every time you wash your hands and face, always wipe your hands dry before you touch your face; if you do this every time, you will
never have toothache. I am seventy-three and never had a toothache in my life. An old Indian told this to my father when I was a little girl."
6257. To stop a toothache, lay a cold cloth on your head and hold your feet in hot water.
6258. Each time you wash your face say I don't want the toothache and you will never get one.
6259. A tooth pulled while the sign of the knee (knees = Capricornus) is going down does not bleed much.
6260. If you have toothache, fill your mouth with water and sit on a hot stove until the water boils. A variation of this remedy is to fill your
mouth with urine and do the same thing.
6261. If you have a toothache, jumping through a window will take away the pane (pain).

TUMOR - CANCER - BOIL (6262-6293)

6262. Always burn your apple peelings and you will never have a cancer.
6263. Boils will remain indefinitely regardless of the remedy attempted, unless the bandages are burned.
6264. A boil, formerly considered a method by which poison could leave the body and therefore an indication of good health, was said to be
worth five dollars or a doctor's bill.
6265. One boil will soon be followed by seven, nine or thirteen more.
6266. "I know a man out here [near Ursa] that had a bad sore on his arm. He doctored with a Quincy doctor for a long time. The doctor told him
he had a cancer and his arm would have to be taken off. He went to another doctor and he told him he had a cancer. I know this man well and he
did have a very bad sore. One day he was talking to an old woman about his cancer and they wanted to take his arm off, and she said, 'Don't do it.
Do as I tell you and you will get well.' She told him to go to a bean patch and to pick one bean off of the first hill In the Name of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, then miss two hills and pick two beans, then miss three hills and pick three beans, then miss four hills and pick four beans, then
miss five hills and pick five beans, then miss six hills and pick six beans, then miss seven hills and pick seven beans, then miss eight hills and
pick eight beans, then miss nine hills and pick nine beans --- he had to say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost at each hill — and
bury all the beans. When the beans rot the sore will be well. It takes about seven weeks for all the beans to rot. It took this man a little longer,
because he had a very bad sore, but he got well. I was talking to him this summer. And if he had of listen to the doctor, he would not have a arm.
And this is only three years ago [1932]."
6267. While the priest pronounces the benediction in church, keep stroking your tumor as you repeat three times What I look at is sin; what I
stroke, may it vanish.
6268. A buckeye either carried in the pocket or worn about the waist protects you against boils.
6269. The dried lining of a chicken gizzard may be taken internally for cancer of the stomach and applied externally to a boil.
6270. "A Quincy woman was sick for a long time with cancer. She had one breast taken off. Her husband was a druggist and worked in one of
Quincy's best drug stores. Her father was a druggist. And they could not find a thing that would do her any good. This woman got down in bed.
She could not even sit up in bed for nine months. My mother went to work there. She told this druggist if he didn't care, she would get his wife
out of bed, that she had got two women out of bed with cancers years ago over in Missouri. So he told her to do whatever she wanted to. My
mother went out in the country and got a flour sack full of red clover and a sack full of red corn. The corn and ear both must be red. She came
home and told the druggist she was going to get his wife well. Then she put on a big pot of clover to boil and a big pot of corn, and let boil good
for one-half day. Then she strained both and started to giving her the tea off of both. In three weeks that sick woman started to sitting up a little
each day, and after she had took the tea for four months she was able to do most of her work. And the woman got well and lived thirty years
after she took the red-clover tea and red-corn tea."
6271. You can cure a cancer by rubbing it with musty corn (corn smut) you yourself have stolen from somebody's cornfield.
6272. "I had a wen on my hand. I tried several things and it would always come back. A negro man got burned in a fire and died. I went to see
him and took his hand and rubbed it over my own, and it left and never did come back."
6273. "If you have a tumor [or wen] on the outside of your body, take it and rub it over the corpse of a dead person three times and it will go
away. I know this is true, because when my father died, our neighbor had a tumor on her arm and she came and rubbed her tumor over my dead
father three times, and in no time the tumor was gone."
6274. Tie a string round a finger of a corpse, take the string off; tie it round an outside tumor, take the string off; put it in the coffin, and you
will be well after that string rots.
6275. To cure a tumor or abscess, get a human bone from a graveyard and rub it over the tumor or abscess, then bury the bone under a waterspout
of a roof where neither sun nor moon can shine on it.
6276. Gold rubbed over a boil soon cures it.
 145

6277. Three tablespoonfuls of goose droppings in three quarts of water are boiled down to a quart. Administer a glassful of this liquid night and
morning for cancer.
6278. As a remedy for a boil, stick it with a gooseberry thorn until blood comes and then throw the thorn over your left shoulder.
6279. Fresh hog manure fried in fresh lard with a few drops of turpentine makes a good ointment for cancer of the rectum.
6280. Horse-hoof scrapings made into a tea is good for cancer; cooked with jasmine roots into a salve, it is good for a boil.
6281. "I am telling this for the truth. If I had a cancer of the mouth, I would do this. My aunt help a woman do this about forty year ago [1899]
with a cancer of the mouth, when her doctor gave her up. This woman got well that did this. If you have a cancer of the mouth, go to a shed or
any place where there's a knot-hole, letting the sun shine directly on your cancer, then while the sun is shining on the cancer, saying the Lord's
Prayer. Do that for nine mornings and your cancer will disappear."
6282. "If you have pain in the top of your head all the time, take a pan and hold right over your head, then put a small piece of lead in the pan —
if the lead in the pan roll to the front, you have a fawn [German name, spelling uncertain, for some kind of tumor]; and if it go to the back, it is
not a fawn. And the only way you get well of a fawn is to have some one speak over it. I know a man over here on Eighth Street that tried this,
and the lead roll to the front; but he will not let anyone speak over him, so he keeps the pains in the top of his head."
6283. The lead shot from a gun shell will cure boils: any number of shot cooked in a pint of milk and the liquid drunk for three mornings; or,
three shot swallowed in a glass of water; or, nine shot taken in one dose or one by one at different times.
6284. Look over your left shoulder at a new moon and rub your hand on your tumor while saying What I see is increasing, what I feel is
decreasing: In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
6285. For a boil you may soak a mud dauber nest in vinegar and apply.
6286. A nutmeg round the neck guards you against boils.
6287. Salve for a boil is made by rendering the fat from the back of a rabbit's neck.
6288. A rabbit foot should be rubbed over a boil to relieve the soreness.
6289. If you swallow a small dose of saltpetre on each of three successive mornings, then stop for three days, and repeat this alternate rite until
you have taken nine doses, your boil will vanish.
6290. A white-silk thread tied round your wen, left on for three nights, then buried under the eaves, will take the wen away as soon as the
thread decays.
6291. "I had a bad boil under my arm, had used everything I knew, when an old colored man told me about the toad salve. Take a live toad-frog
and put it in a skillet with butter, with a lid on. Put the skillet on a fire out in the yard. After it is done, take and strain it. And I tried it and it
sure was good."
6292. To rid yourself of a large boil under the arm, urinate on the road.
6293. Never wash your feet and you will not catch a boil; for the poison causing a boil then stays in the feet.

URINARY PROBLEMS
Bed Wetting - Kidney Trouble (6294-6325)
BED-WETTING
6294. To break the habit of bed-wetting, heat a brick and let the child wet on it.
6295. As a bed-wetting remedy, kill a tom cat and place his hide between the mattress and blanket so that the child's buttocks will lie directly
over it.
6296. "An old German farmer told me this that lived near Lima when my little girl was wetting the bed every night. Take the lining out of a
chicken gizzard, dry it, then make a power, fill three two-grain capsules, give one each night before going to bed for three nights, will stop them
from wetting in bed." Chicken-gizzard-lining tea (without magic) is also a remedy.
6297. Bed-wetting is cured by concealing a piece of the child's clothing in a coffin that contains a corpse.
6298. Pour some of the child's urine into a bottle, hide this with a coffined corpse, and the child will stop wetting the bed. Sometimes a hole
is punched through the stopper so that the urine can drip out --- the cure being effected after the bottle becomes empty.
6299. If a female child wets the bed, put some of her urine in a bottle so that it can drip out as in the preceding remedy, and drop the bottle into
a grave opened for a male corpse. The open grave of a female corpse is used for a male child.
6300. Let a person who wets the bed urinate into an open grave and a cure will follow. If the patient is too young or incapacitated, throw some of
urine into the open grave.
6301. To cure bed-wetting, let the child urinate into three open graves while you repeat a prayer at each grave.
6302. Tea from the white droppings of a dog cures bed-wetting.
6303. One of the causes of bed-wetting is a child's playing with hot ashes or fire. Matches has been added to them.
6304. If you make a child wet on a pig toe and then bury this toe, the child will stop wetting the bed.
6305. Either a knife or a pair of scissors kept under the child's pillow cures bed-wetting.
6306. A head louse on a piece of bread is fed to a child that wets the bed. Some say this louse must not come from the child's head. Occasionally
the louse is baked.
6307. Remedies for bed-wetting will not give permanent results unless tried in the light of the moon.
6308. One of the commonest cures for bed-wetting is to eat a mouse variously prepared: mouse tea (sometimes a rat is used) made by boiling a
mouse or pouring hot water over a roasted mouse, soup from the tail of a mouse, one leg of a fried mouse, the two hind legs of a fried mouse, and
a whole roasted mouse. Any of these five variations may be taken all at one time or bit by bit until the cure is effected.
6309. "If a child wets the bed, take and tie a mouse in a cloth and bite off mouse's head, then put the head and cloth around that baby's neck and
throw the mouse's body away, and let the child wear that head tied in that cloth for several days. That will stop it from wetting the bed."
6310. The child that sings in bed will wet the bed.
6311. Make a child lie on its back under a red-hot stove to cure bed-wetting.
6312. To keep a child from wetting in bed, hollow out a turnip, let him urinate into it, and then hang the turnip up in the chimney.
6313. As a treatment for bed-wetting, spread the wet sheet over the child's head and make the child stand out in the sun until the sheet dries.
6314. "I did this for this boy you see standing here. Get up the first thing in the morning and squeeze that urine out into a cup, put in just
a teaspoonful of milk, one-third teaspoonful of sugar, and let them drink before they eat anything else."
6315. Water kept in a bucket or pan under the bed is a bed-wetting remedy.

KIDNEY TROUBLE
 146

6316. Stew a hive of bees and feed the broth to those suffering from kidney trouble. This remedy requires the cooking of a complete
beehive, bees and hive together; but it refers to the old-fashioned skep, an inverted and domed-shaped basket woven of twisted straw.
6317. If a newborn baby is unable to urinate, lay the skin of an egg over its privates.
6318. Egg-shell tea is used for kidney trouble; some parch any number and let them soak in cold water, others boil six shells in a cupful of water
for ten minutes.
6319. A person can rid himself of any kidney complaint by drinking goat urine.
6320. You free yourself from kidney trouble by digging three small holes in the ground, blowing into each one, and covering them up again.
Some people say that you are not to blow into these holes simultaneously or in rotation, but into the first and fill it, then into the second while
filling the first, and finally into the third as the second is being filled.
6321. Tea made from the leaves of a male peach tree cures kidney trouble. This tree is said to be one always full of blossoms which drop off and
bear no fruit.
6322. As a treatment for kidney trouble, carry a potato in your pocket.
6323. During the wane of the moon urinate on a sack of rye meal, tie the sack to a tree, and before the moon wanes again the meal will become
moldy and take away your kidney trouble.
6324. Pains in your kidney are relieved, if you apply to them a sack of heated salt.
6325. To discontinue nocturnal visits caused by kidney trouble, keep a pan of water under your bed.

WART ORIGINS (6326-6335)

6326. Never let the blood from anyone's wart touch you; you will get the wart.
6327. "I know this is so: if you pick a wart and the blood gets on you, you will have a wart for every drop of blood. My boy had one wart and he
picked it, and his hands got full of them --- for every drop of blood he had a wart."
6328. The person who washes with water in which eggs were boiled will soon have warts.
6329. Do not hold a frog in your hand; you will get a wart.
6330. A bullfrog wetting on you gives you warts.
6331. You will catch a wart, if you touch a toad.
6332. Kill a toad and your hands will be covered with warts.
6333. Unless you spit as soon as you see a toad, a wart will appear on your hand.
6334. Warts come from lying on your back and counting the stars.
6335. Count the stars by pointing at them with a finger and a wart will come on that finger.

WART DOCTOR (6336-6340)

6336. A woman living near Clayton said that a house painter took her son's warts off merely by looking at them. This, she heard, was a special
gift accorded to most members of that trade.
6337. The seventh son of the seventh son is able to cure warts.
6338. An old wart healer complained of diminished power to take off warts because his blood had become too thin; further, that every wart
formerly removed by him was now appearing on his own body. He displayed a considerable number of warts in proof of this belief.
6339. If a healer reveals his secret for removing warts, the power will disappear.
6340. It is possible for a man to remove a woman's warts, but a woman is unable to cure a man's warts.

WART CURES (6341-7051)

Apple - Bacon - Baking Soda - Bean - Beef (6341-6452)
APPLE
6341. "My niece did this and she lost her wart: take an apple peeling, rub over your wart, then bury the peeling."
6342. "I know this is so because I tried it and I lost my wart: take an apple, cut it in half, throw one half away, then rub the other half over your
wart, then bury that half at the corner of the house where the water will drip on it." Sometimes this second half is buried anywhere.
6343. To lose your wart, rub it with each half of an apple and, having put or tied these halves together, bury them. Under the eaves of a house is
usually selected as the best burial place.
6344. Let a person while rubbing the two halves of an apple over his wart say Take this wart away. This rite is completed by burying the apple
beneath the eaves of a house.
6345. Rub the two halves of an apple over your wart three times: once, as you say In the Name of the Father; again, while saying Son; and finally,
at the words And Holy Ghost. After the apple is buried below the eaves of a house, the wart will leave.
6346. If one rubs both halves of an apple round his wart while thrice repeating In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and buries the
apple, the wart soon vanishes.
6347. This cures a wart: an apple should be quartered, one of the pieces rubbed on the wart and thrown away, and the remaining quarters buried.
6348. Use this remedy for a wart: quarter an apple, rub each piece on your wart, rejoin the four quarters by tying them together with a white
string, and bury the apple.
6349. A rotten apple rubbed over a wart and then buried is a cure.
6350. Having stuck your wart with a straw, stick that straw in and out an apple as many times as you are years old, and throw the apple away.
Some say you must leave the straw sticking in the apple to make the cure effective.
6351. "I had a wart, and a woman said, 'Mrs. X., I will take away your wart.' She took an apple sprout and chewed it all up, then rubbed it over
my wart, then threw the chewed-up sprout away, and my wart left."
6352. "I know this works, for my daughter had a wart. She tried several things, and this took her wart away: walk up to a young apple tree — if
you have a wart — walk around to the opposite side and cut two notches in the bark, then rub your wart over the two notches, then walk back the
same way you came; when the bark grows over the cut places, your wart will be gone."

BACON
6353. You free yourself from a wart by rubbing it with a piece of bacon and throwing the latter away.
 147

6354. If you chop a piece of bacon into small bits, tie them in a piece of paper, rub this over your warts, then throw it away, whoever picks up
that package catches your warts.
6355. Hang in a tree the piece of bacon that you rubbed over your wart and after birds have eaten the meat the wart will disappear.
6356. The person who rubs his wart with a piece of bacon and buries the meat will soon be freed from the wart.
6357. If a piece of bacon with which you have rubbed your wart is put in a rat hole, the animal will eat the meat and get the wart.
6358. A piece of bacon rubbed on a wart and buried under a rock is a good remedy.
6359. To cure a wart, you must rub it with a piece of bacon before sunset and bury the meat before sunrise.
6360.
6361. Just before going to bed stick your wart until it bleeds, bandage the wound with a piece of bacon, take off the meat next morning and bury
it, and you will soon lose the wart.
6362. Tie a piece of bacon over a wart, keep it there for one night, next morning bury the meat on the east side of the house, and the wart will
go.
6363. "Here's another one of my mother's: steal a piece of bacon, rub over your wart, then bury the bacon in a pile of ashes."
6364. As a remedy for a wart, one rubs it with a piece of stolen bacon and buries the meat under the house.
6365. Bacon rind rubbed over your wart three times and buried under the eaves of a house takes off the wart.
6366. "I had a wart, the only one I ever had, and I did this and lost my wart: steal a piece of bacon, rub over your wart three times, then bury the
bacon."
6367. "My mother told me to do this: if you have a wart, take a piece of bacon and rub over your wart seven times, then bury the bacon, and you
will lose your wart."
6368. To remove a wart, a person keeps it covered for seven nights with a piece of bacon — this must be removed each morning and not replaced
until evening — says a prayer on the seventh morning, and buries the meat.
6369. In curing a wart, rub it nine times with a piece of bacon and bury the meat.
6370. A wart will vanish after you rub it with a piece of bacon In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and throw the meat over your
shoulder.
6371. Before the sun rises, and In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, take the bacon with which you have rubbed your wart and bury it
where water drips. This takes off the wart.
6372. One removes a wart by rubbing it with a piece of bacon at sunrise, making the sign of the cross while saying In the Name of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, and burying the meat under the eaves of a house.
6373. Two days after the full moon, rub your wart with a piece of bacon as you say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, wart go
away, and bury the meat so that water can drip on it.
6374. Bacon drives your wart away, if it is rubbed over the wart on the decrease of the moon and then buried.

BAKING SODA
6375. "I had a bad wart on my hand. One evening my beau said, 'Let me take off your wart.' He pick it until it bled; then told me to go somewhere
and steal some baking soda without anyone knowing it. He rub it all over my wart, and in a few days my wart was gone."
6376. A person loses a wart by picking it on three successive days and sprinkling baking soda over the blood.
6377. "My brother did this and his wart left: put baking soda on it, then take a match and hold to the soda and burn it. Do this three mornings."
6378. For ridding yourself of a wart, cover it with baking soda on nine mornings.

BEAN
6379. A bean rubbed over a wart and then burned up is a remedy. Some say the bean must be white.
6380. If you rub your wart with a bean which is afterwards buried, the wart will be cured when the bean sprouts.
6381. To make a wart leave, rub it with a bean which you must immediately bury in an ash pile.
6382. As a wart remedy, it is rubbed with a bean which must then be buried under the eaves. This belief, the usual one, implies the disappearance
of the wart after the bean has rotted away; but some believe the contrary, that the wart leaves only as the bean begins to sprout.
6383. Pick your wart until it bleeds, smear some of the blood on a bean and bury it, and the wart will soon be gone.
6384. Some say you may do this rite for yourself, others say it must be done by another person: halve a bean and rub the halves over the wart and
bury them.
6385. "My grandmother did this to my wart and it went away: split a white bean in half, then rub each half over your wart, then put the two pieces
under the front porch."
6386. Rid yourself of a wart by breaking open a bean, rubbing the pieces over the wart, and burying them under a rock.
6387. A wart is taken off by the person who cuts a white bean in half and on the wart rubs one of the halves and buries it; then buries the other
half in another place.
6388. If one half of a white bean is rubbed over your wart and buried and the other half carried in your pocket, you will soon miss the wart.
6389. "I had a friend that had a big wart right up in her nose and it bother her all the time. She did this and lost her wart: take a lima bean, cut it
in half, then pick your wart and let a little of the blood drop on the bean, then stoop right down and dig a hole and put the lima bean in."
6390. The person who wishes his wart away as he rubs it with a bean, then buries the latter, will soon be without the wart.
6391. One rids himself of a wart by rubbing it for five mornings with a bean which is then buried.
6392. You will lose your warts, if you rub each of them with a different bean and conceal these beans in a hillside.
6393. A bean rubbed three times on a wart and buried under a white rock cures a wart.
6394. If you rub three beans over your wart and bury them, you will get rid of it.
6395. Let a person prick his wart until it bleeds and then spread this blood over eight beans which must be buried at once: if these beans grow, the
wart grows; if they rot, the wart rots away.
6396. A person who pricks his wart until it bleeds, smears some of the blood on each of nine beans, buries them, soon loses the wart.
6397. For curing a wart, tie a string about it and rub it with a bean; then, gouge up a round piece of sod with a knife, place the string and bean in
this hole, and replace the sod.
6398. Having removed a green bean from its pod, cut the bean open and rub it over your wart, then throw the bean away, and your wart will soon
be gone.
6399. If you divide a bean, rub one half on your wart, throw the other half away, then swallow the half used in rubbing, you will soon be without
the wart.
 148

6400. To take off your wart, rub it with a bean, and spit on the bean and throw it away.
6401. A wart is cured by rubbing it with a bean and feeding the bean to the chickens.
6402. Warts are soon lost, if they are picked until they bleed and a bean covered with this blood is thrown into a vacant house.
6403. A bean may be rubbed on a wart three times and cast over the house as a remedy.
6404. The person who rubs his wart with a bean and throws the latter over his left shoulder takes off the wart.
6405. "My sister had a wart, she picked it until it bled, then took a green bean out of a green shell, rub the bean over the blood, then threw
the green bean over her left shoulder to lose her wart, and she did."
6406. Your wart soon leaves, if you make it bleed, put some of the blood on a white bean, and throw the bean over your right shoulder.
6407. To transfer your wart to someone you dislike, rub it with a bean while wishing this transference, and then pitch the bean over your left
shoulder.
6408. If the two halves of a divided bean are rubbed on your wart and thrown over your shoulder, the wart will soon vanish.
6409. If you take one bean from a green-bean pod, split it, tie one half on your wart and throw the other half away, a cure will be effected after
the half tied to the wart is lost.
6410. A person rubs a bean on his wart, puts the bean in a small cotton sack, throws the sack away, and whoever steps on that sack will get the
wart.
6411. For a wart cure, drop three beans into a sack, rub this over your wart three times, and throw the sack away.
6412. Take nine beans, or let a grocer lay them out for you --- laid in a row according to some --- lift up one bean at a time, rubbing it over
your wart, and do this until the entire number has been used; then, having placed these beans in a sack, they may be thrown over your shoulder or
else casually dropped while taking a walk. Whoever picks up the sack will pick up the wart.
6413. If you rub each of your warts with a different bean, wrap these up in a piece of paper, walk a mile and drop this package, your warts will
be transferred to the person who takes up the beans. Sometimes they are put in a paper sack and left at a crossroads or at a T or Y intersection of
two streets.
6414. You can rid yourself of a wart by stealing two beans, rubbing these over your wart, and dropping them at a crossroads.
6415. A wart will go away, after you rub it with a bean and drop the bean into a hollow stump.
6416. A wart will go away, after you rub it with a bean and drop the bean into water standing in a stump.
6417. You may rub your wart three times with a bean and throw the bean into running water for a cure.
6418. One drives away a wart by rubbing it with a bean and dropping the bean into a water-closet.
6419. If you divide a bean, rub the inside of each half over your wart, tie the halves together and throw them into the privy, the wart will go.
The same thing may be done with a bean pod.
6420. To get rid of a wart, a person rubs it with a bean that is then thrown into a well. For several warts, rub each one with a bean and throw the
beans into a well.
6421. Lose your wart by splitting a bean in half, rubbing both halves over the wart, and throwing the two pieces into a well. Some say you must
use a white bean.
6422. In losing a wart, you may rub it three times with a bean and drop the bean into a well; but you must not hear the bean hit the water — run
away as soon as you let go of the bean.
6423. A person who spits on a bean, rubs it over his wart three times, then drops the bean into a well, will lose the wart.
6424. Two beans may be rubbed on a wart and dropped into a well as a cure. Two lima beans and an old or abandoned well are sometimes
prescribed.
6425. For getting rid of a wart, rub it with a bean while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Repeat this rite on three
mornings, using the same bean throughout or a different bean each time, and finally throw the bean or beans into a well.
6426. If you pick your wart until it bleeds, put some of this blood on each of three beans, drop these into a well, your wart will soon be cured.
6427. You can lose your wart by naming each of eight beans after some spiteful woman, rubbing these over the wart, and throwing them into a
well.
6428. "I know this is so, because I had some warts; and I took nine beans and rubbed over my warts, and put the beans in a well, and it was no
time until my warts were gone."
6429. The person who picks his wart until it bleeds, puts some of the blood on each of nine beans, drops them into a well, will soon be free from
the wart.
6430. A method for curing a wart is to anoint it three times with the juice from a bean leaf.
6431. Another method for curing a wart is to anoint it with the juice from three bean leaves.
6432. Persons with a wart may rub a bean leaf over it and bury the leaf as a cure. Usually the wart should be made green by the rubbing.
6433. To drive a wart away, rub it with a bean leaf and bury the leaf under the eaves of the house.
6434. Your wart will go away, if you rub it with a bean leaf and bury the latter under a rock.
6435. If you pluck a bean leaf and let someone rub it over your wart, your wart will go away after that person buries the leaf.
6436. Scratch a wart until it bleeds, smear some of the blood on a bean leaf, bury the leaf, and the wart will disappear within three days.
6437. A dry bean leaf may be rubbed over your wart three times and buried as a remedy.
6438. "I tried this and lost all my seven warts: take as many bean leaves as you are old, rub both sides over your wart or warts, then give the
bean leaves to someone to hide for you so you will not know where they are."
6439. "I took a bean leaf, rubbed over my wart, then threw the leaf over my right shoulder, and my wart left."
6440. An excellent device for getting rid of your wart is to steal some bean leaves, rubbing these over the wart until it and your hands smart, and
throwing them away.
6441. Whenever a person goes to a bean patch, plucks a bean leaf, rubs his wart with this until the wart is green, throws the leaf over his
shoulder, walks backwards to the place from which he started, the wart will soon be removed.
6442. "Years ago my hand was just full of warts. My brother took me to the bean patch, and took a handful of leaves and rub over my warts; then
went a little way and took another handful of the leaves and rubbed over my warts, and then threw them down in the patch [this was probably
done three times] and said You will leave all your warts in this bean patch. And I did, for my warts went away."
6443. They say the fifth child has the power to take off a wart by rubbing it with a bean leaf and throwing the leaf away.
6444. If a person shells a green bean, rubs the pod over his wart and buries the pod, the wart will soon be gone.
6445. Either close your eyes or do not watch the operator during the following rite: while making a wish to lose your wart, let someone break a
green bean pod, rub it over the wart, and bury the pod.
6446. If you rub a green bean pod over your wart and throw the pod over your shoulder, after the pod dries up the wart will dry up.
 149

6447. After rubbing your wart with a green bean pod, put the pod under the front doorstep and some visitor will walk away with the wart.
6448. Cut off one end of a green bean pod, throw this smaller piece away, rub the cut surface of the larger piece over your wart, lay this part of
the pod under your front door, and the wart will soon be taken away.

BEEF
6449. In curing a wart, rub it with a piece of beef and bury the meat.
6450. "Grandmother's old remedy for a wart was to take the rind of a piece of beef, rub over, then bury that rind under the door."
6451. A piece of beef rubbed over your wart three times and concealed in a crack in a barn, house or elsewhere, removes the wart.
6452. Make the sign of the cross with a piece of beef as you rub it over your wart and perform this rite on three mornings; then bury the meat, and
the wart will soon be gone.

Bone - Bread - Broomstraw - Button (6453-6476)

BONE
6453. Upon finding an old bone, it may be rubbed on your wart and cast over your shoulder as a cure.
6454. If you pick up an old bone that has been lying on the ground, rub the underside of it over your wart, throw the bone away, your wart will
eventually come off.
6455. To remove a wart, pick up an old bone from the ground, rub it over your wart three times, and throw the bone over your shoulder.
6456. On finding an old bone, pick it up and rub it over your wart, restore the bone to its original position, and the wart will soon vanish.
6457. To lose a wart a person walks a mile, there searches for an old bone, picks it up, rubs over his wart the side that touched the ground,
wishing the wart away, and replaces the bone exactly as found; then without looking back, returns to the place from which he started.
6458. Find an old bone and, having rubbed it on your wart, throw it over your left shoulder; if you then hunt for the bone and bury it where
found, the wart will be cured.
6459. Whoever rubs a dry bone over his wart while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, then buries the bone, will cure the
wart.
6460. Scrapings from an old bone may be rubbed on a wart and buried as a remedy.
6461. As a cure rub the wart three times with a bone from which you have eaten the meat and bury the bone.
6462. While you are eating at someone's house, steal a bone from the table, rub this over your wart after you leave the house, then throw it over
your left shoulder, and the wart will soon be gone.
6463. "I have tried this: when eating, if you have two bones, rub them together, then rub over your wart, go to the door and stand with your
back to the yard, and throw the bones over your shoulder as far as you can, without looking; your wart will go soon."
6464. Steal a bone from a dog, or pick up a bone on which a dog has been chewing, dip it in hot water, rub it over your wart, repeat the rite next
day, and within two more days you will be rid of the wart.

BREAD
6465. The person who steals a piece of bread, rubs it on his wart, throws the bread away, will not have the wart long.
6466. If you steal a piece of dough from somebody making bread, rub this over your wart, then throw it away, the wart will soon leave.
6467. "My father told my sister that had several warts to steal a piece of bread the next place she went, rub it over her warts, then bury the bread;
as the bread rots, your warts will start to go. She did this and lost her warts."
6468. A wart soon disappears, if you stick it with a pin, put some of the blood on a piece of bread, and then bury the bread.
6469. Blood from your wart when wiped on a piece of bread and fed to chickens is a remedy.
6470. Bread rubbed over your wart and fed to a dog is a remedy.

BROOMSTRAW
6471. As a wart remedy, burn a broomstraw and with its charred end draw a circle round the wart on three mornings.
6472. Scarify a wart until it bleeds, lay two broomstraws in the shape of a cross over the blood, bury these broomstraws, and the wart will soon
be gone.
6473. In removing a wart, rub it thrice with three broomstraws and bury them where water drips.

BUTTON
6474. To get rid of a wart, sell it for a button and keep the button.
6475. A wart can be driven away, if you rub it with a button and throw the latter over your left shoulder.
6476. One loses a wart by rubbing it three times with an old button and hiding the button where it cannot be found.

Castor Oil - Chalk - Chicken - Cloth or Rag (6477-6508)

CASTOR OIL
6477. You can make a wart go away by anointing it with castor oil morning and evening for three days.
6478. "I had twenty-eight warts. I did this: take equal parts of castor oil and coal oil, and rub over your wart for three days. On the fourth
morning I was washing dishes, and when I got through they were gone."
6479. An application of castor oil nightly for seven nights will drive away a wart.
6480. Castor oil applied to a wart for nine mornings is a cure.
6481. Warts anointed with castor oil morning and night for nine days will soon disappear.

CHALK
6482. Mark your wart with a piece of chalk and you will lose the wart when the chalk mark wears off.
6483. Chalk rubbed over a wart for three mornings and then thrown away removes the wart.
6484. Chalk rubbed over a wart for seven nights and then thrown away removes the wart.
6485. If in the light of the moon you rub your wart with a piece of chalk at sunrise for nine mornings, the wart will be gone by sunset on the ninth
day.
6486. Let a person with a piece of chalk draw a mark round his wart and make a corresponding mark on a stove (stovelid is sometimes specified);
and after the chalk burns off the stove, he will no longer have the wart.
 150

CHICKEN
6487. Blood from a black chicken when rubbed on a wart is a cure.
6488. "I have a friend that her hand was just full of warts. She did this and lost them all: if you have a wart, kill a chicken, take the blood,
rub over your wart, then take the head and throw it over your head; and when the head rots, your wart will go."
6489. To lose your wart, rub it with a chicken bone and then throw the bone over your left shoulder.
6490. A wart is taken off by rubbing it with the foot of a dead chicken.
6491. The person who sticks his wart until blood comes and then rubs it with the inside of a chicken gizzard soon loses the wart.
6492. "My grand-daughter had a wart. One day I gave her a chicken gizzard and told her to rub it over her wart, then throw it over her left
shoulder and not look where it went; but child-like she looked and her wart didn't go. Several months after that she was out here in the country
again and I was dressing chickens. I said, 'You are going to lose your wart this time.' So I took her out in the backyard, put a handkerchief over
her eyes, gave her the chicken gizzard to rub over her wart and throw over her left shoulder. I led her back into the house saying, you will lose
your wart now, because you didn't get to look where the chicken gizzard went. And she lost her wart."
6493. By rubbing the lining of a chicken gizzard over your wart and burying the lining, the wart will be cured within three days.
6494. "I remember when I was a young girl living over in Missouri --- that is a long time ago, for I am eighty year old now [1938]. If you have a
wart, take the lining of a chicken gizzard, rub over your wart, then bury the lining under a rock. I had several bad warts. Mother one hot day was
cleaning some chickens down by the spring house, for it was so cool down there. She threw the chicken entrails back behind a tree, and I went
and found several of the gizzards, rubbed over my warts good, then buried them under a rock. I lost all my warts."
6495. "I know this is so, for I did this: if someone is dressing a chicken and you can steal the lining out of the gizzard and rub over your wart,
then bury it, your wart will leave. I went to see a friend, she was dressing a chicken. She went out in the yard to get a bucket of water, and I took
the lining out of the gizzard while she was gone and rubbed over my wart, then buried it out in the yard, and my wart left in no time."
6496. To remove a wart, rub it three times with the lining of a chicken gizzard and bury the lining.
6497. If a person rubs a chicken gizzard over his wart and buries the gizzard, the wart will soon come off.
6498. For a wart cure, twist a chicken gizzard three times above your head and throw the gizzard away as you depart without looking back.
6499. "My brother had a big seed wart, and he killed a chicken and took the head and rub over his wart while the head was warm, and his wart
went away." The head is thrown away or buried.
6500. "A chicken will always gap [gape] three times before it dies. If you kill a chicken and rub that head over the wart before the chicken gaps
for the last time, will take it away. I had a very bad wart, and I killed a chicken and rub the head over my wart before it gap the second time, and
lost my wart."
6501. For a wart cure, kill a rooster, immediately rub its head on your wart, and bury the head.
6502. If a person cuts off the head of a chicken and rubs it thrice over his wart and buries the head, the wart will soon disappear.
6503. The intestines of a black chicken rubbed over your wart and buried will take off the wart.

CLOTH OR RAG
6504. If you tie a knot in a white rag, rub the knot over your wart, and throw the rag away, the wart will soon be gone.
6505. If you take a square piece of white cloth, rub the center of it over your wart, tie the center into a knot, and throw the cloth away, you will
soon be rid of the wart.
6506. In removing a wart, you may rub over it a clean white rag, spit on the rag while wishing the wart away, and lay the rag under a rock.
6507. Someone must do this for you, to remove your wart: make the wart bleed, put some of the blood on a white cloth, and bury the cloth where
you cannot find it.
6508. Wart blood wiped on a small white rag and dropped at a crossroad is a cure.

Corn - Counting - Crossroad - Dandelion (6509-6574)

CORN
6509. By taking as many grains of corn as you have warts, rubbing each wart with one of these grains and burying the corn, you can remove the
warts.
6510. As a wart cure, a person may take as many grains of corn as he has warts, rub all of these grains over each wart, and bury the corn.
6511. One grain of corn rubbed on your wart and buried under the eaves of the house takes off the wart.
6512. "My sister bought my warts with corn: rubbed a grain over each wart, then put them where the water would drip on them for me to lose
them, and I did."
6513. "I did this and my wart went: let someone give you a grain of corn for a wart, wrap it in a piece of paper, then bury it in the northwest
corner of the cellar."
6514. A wart is lost, if you hold a grain of corn in your hand while wishing the wart away and then bury the corn. The corn must not touch the
wart.
6515. To get rid of a wart, a person rubs it with a grain of corn, digs out the heart of the kernel and spreads this flour over the wart, and then
buries the empty shell.
6516. You lose a wart by picking it with a grain of corn until blood comes and letting somebody bury that corn in a secret place.
6517. A remedy for removing a wart is to pick it until you draw blood, halve a grain of corn, rub some of the blood on both halves, and bury each
half in a different place.
6518. If a person picks a hole in the blunt end of a grain of corn, draws one drop of blood from his wart, puts this in that hole, buries the corn,
the wart will soon disappear. Sometimes the blood is drawn from the wart by picking it with the same grain of corn.
6519. A person with more than one wart may count and set aside a grain of corn for each wart and then bury these grains as a remedy. The corn
must not touch the warts.
6520. Two grains of corn rubbed in blood from your wart and buried under the front doorstep will take away the wart.
6521. The person who rubs his wart with three grains of corn and buries them under a rock will soon find the wart gone.
6522. Five grains of corn smeared with blood from your wart and buried any- where will rid you of the wart.
6523. Seven grains of corn rubbed on your wart and buried under a stone will effect a cure.
6524. Seven grains of corn rubbed on your wart and buried seven inches in the ground will effect a cure.
6525. A wart may be cured by rubbing it with nine grains of corn which must afterwards be buried.
 151

6526. You can drive your wart away, if you cover a three-cornered grain of corn with saliva by holding it in your mouth, successively rub each of
these wet corners over the wart, and then bury the corn.
6527. To lose a wart, spit on a grain of corn and rub this over the wart. The corn may be buried or thrown away.
6528. If you spit on a grain of corn, rub it over your wart, repeating this rite three times, the wart will soon go away. The corn may be buried or
thrown away.
6529. "My uncle came to see me one day. I had some warts on my hands. He said, 'Do you want to lose your wart?' I said, 'Sure I do.' He said,
'Well, give me a grain of corn for each wart.' I had five warts. I went and got five grains of corn and gave them to him. He rubbed each grain of
corn over my warts, put them in his pocket, saying, 'Your warts will soon be gone.' And they were."
6530. In curing a wart, make it bleed, daub a grain of corn with some of the blood, and cast the corn away.
6531. "Mother always said, to take a wart off, take a grain of corn, rub over your wart, then throw that corn over your left shoulder."
6532. Prick your wart with a grain of corn until blood comes, throw the corn over your left shoulder, and whatever picks up the corn will catch
the wart.
6533. The person who draws blood from his wart by scratching it with a needle, cuts a grain of corn in half, rubs this blood on these two
halves, then ties them together and throws the corn away, will lose the wart.
6534. A grain of corn rubbed over your wart three times and thrown over your shoulder is a remedy.
6535. Let someone else work this remedy for you: bite a grain of corn in two, rub each half over your wart three times, and toss the halves away.
6536. You may rub your wart seven times with a grain of corn and throw the corn over your shoulder as a cure.
6537. Count your warts, rub each one with a different grain of corn, and put these grains in a bag. Lose the bag and the warts will be lost.
6538. If you cut across the top of your wart with a sharp knife, first one way and then the other way, making a cross, then rub that cross with a
grain of yellow corn and throw the corn over your left shoulder, you will soon lose the wart.
6539. For a wart remedy, one rubs a wart with a grain of corn and lets a chicken eat the corn.
6540. To get rid of a wart, rub it with a grain of corn and toss the grain over your left shoulder. As soon as a chicken eats the corn, the wart
will be gone.
6541. A grain of corn rubbed over your wart until blood is drawn and then fed to a chicken will drive off a wart.
6542. If you rub an ear, not a grain, of corn on your wart until blood comes, shell those grains stained with the blood, feed them to a chicken; the
chicken will soon die, and after that you will find the wart gone.
6543. "When I was younger I had seventeen warts on my two hands. I took seventeen grains of corn, that was one for each wart, then I took the
heart out of one grain of corn, throw the hull over my left shoulder, then I picked one wart until it bled, put the blood on the heart and threw it
over to the chickens. I did this to all seventeen warts using up the seventeen grain of corns and I lost my warts."
6544. "Here's another, if you have a wart, you could try: take a grain of corn, rub over your wart, then toss it in the chicken yard --- if the
old rooster get it and eat the corn, you will lose your wart; if a hen eat it, your wart will stay with you."
6545. "I had a bad wart and I picked it until it bled good, then put it on corn. I went to the chicken yard, turn the old rooster out of the yard so
he would be sure to get the corn, and he did. I lost my wart. If a hen get your corn, you keep your wart."
6546. In freeing yourself from warts, scratch the largest with a needle and wipe a drop of this blood on as many grains of corn as there are
warts. The corn must be given to a rooster.
6547. You can take off your wart by pricking it with a grain of corn until blood comes and feeding the corn to a red rooster.
6548. Some blood from your wart when put on a grain of white corn and thrown over your head to a white rooster will give the wart to him.
6549. "I know this works, for I did it and my wart left: take a razor and scrape your wart until it bleeds, then rub a grain of corn over the wart
and blood then give it to a black chicken to eat, and the wart will go."
6550. Get rid of a wart by rubbing it with a grain of corn and feeding the corn to a setting hen.
6551. A wart goes away, if a person rubs it with six grains of corn and feeds this corn to a speckled hen.
6552. For removing your wart, rub seven grains of corn over it and give the corn to the chickens. Sometimes the corn is given to a neighbor's
chickens.
6553. If after rubbing a grain of corn over your wart you put this corn in a chicken gizzard lining and bury it, the wart will soon come off.
6554. Rub your wart with a grain of corn and wrap the corn in the skin peeled from a chicken leg; then bury this under the eaves of the house and
the wart will leave.
6555. Warts are cured, if you take some corn (or as many grains of corn as you have warts), remove the kernels, rub each kernel on all the warts
(or one kernel on each wart), and feed these kernels as well as the outer husks to a cow.
6556. Wart blood put on a grain of corn and fed to a hog will remove the wart.
6557. You will get rid of a wart, if you rub it with a grain of corn and drop the corn into the privy.
6558. "Another thing, if you have a wart: take a grain of corn, rub over your wart, then throw the grain of corn in a body of water — the water
must be round like a pond; just any water, just so round --- to lose your wart."
6559. If a person pricks his wart with a grain of corn until it bleeds and drops the corn into a well, the wart soon disappears.
6560. One counts his warts, rubs them with as many grains of corn as he has warts, and lets the corn fall into a well as a cure.
6561. A wart is removed by rubbing it with a grain of corn and dropping this corn into a well while saying Here goes my wart."
6562. Take a grain of corn from a feed trough where a black horse has slobbered and, having rubbed some of the slobber over your wart, drop
the corn into a well. This cures the wart.
6563. If from a whole corncob you break or cut a piece about two inches long, whittle this cylinder into the shape and size of a spool of thread,
rub that over your wart, tie it up in a piece of paper, and drop the package at a cross- road; the wart will be transferred to the person picking up
the package.
6564. Fill a small white bag with corn meal, rub the bag over your wart, and let someone who does not have a wart throw the bag into a country
lane. You will get rid of the wart.
6565. As a wart cure, make three notches in a cornstalk, smear each notch with wart blood, and bury the cornstalk.

COUNTING
6566. Sometimes you lose your warts because someone has counted them off without your knowing anything about it.
6567. Your warts may be removed by letting someone count them off; but if the counter counts one wart too many, this cure will be ineffective.
6568. Healers when counting off warts will sometimes touch each wart as it is counted.
6569. "Never count anyone's warts; if you do, you will get them. I didn't have a wart, and one day I met a woman, her hands were just full of
warts. I just could not keep from counting them, I wanted to see how many she did have. I started to counting when someone made me stop; said
 152

I would get every wart I counted. I had already counted six. It was no time until I had six warts. Sure was glad I didn't count them all, for I
believe she had around twenty-five warts on her hands."

CROSSROAD
6570. A person may stand at a crossroad and rub his wart while saying Wart, wart, wart, go away; go to the first that passes by. The wart
will soon be gone.
6571. If you meet a stranger at a crossroad, grasp your wart and pretend to throw it at him as you say You can have this. The stranger will carry
away the wart.
6572. On reaching a strange crossroad near which there is a house, clutch your wart with the tips of your three fingers and go through the motion
of drawing it out and throwing it towards the house, saying the while You can have this wart. The wart will be transferred to somebody living in
that house.

DANDELION
6573. To cure a wart, rub a fresh dandelion stem over it each morning for three days.
6574. Juice from an early spring dandelion when applied to a wart on three mornings before sunrise is a remedy.

Dead: (6575-6610)Cemetery - Grave - Tombstone - Coffin - Corpse - Funeral Bell - Candle - Procession
DEAD
6575. After someone dies or has been buried, go to the cemetery and call on the devil to come and take away your wart.
6576. Dirt from a newly dug grave may be sprinkled on a wart as a cure.
6577. A method for removing a wart is to visit a cemetery and rub your wart over a tombstone three times.
6578. Cure a wart by taking a dead cat to the cemetery and leaving it there. Presumably the carried cat comes in contact with the wart.
6579. A wart may be removed, if you bury a dead cat in a graveyard at night.
6580. To drive away a wart, a black cat should be buried at midnight by the grave of someone who was wicked in life.
6581. As a wart cure, kill a black cat, take it to a graveyard at midnight, and rub the animal on your wart.
6582. If you catch a strange black cat, rub its nose on your wart, carry the animal to a graveyard after dark, kill it, bury it beside the road, the wart
will go away.
6583. Go to a graveyard at midnight with a black cat and swing the cat round over your head three times, then wipe your wart with the tail of the
cat, and the wart will soon be lost.
6584. The person who at night carries a dead cat --- passing through a cemetery on his way ---to a crossroad and there rubs the animal on the
wart, will be rid of the wart by morning.
6585. To cure a wart, take one standing by a coffin and rub it over the corpse.
6586. A person may lose his wart by stealing one of the pennies used in closing the eyes of the corpse, rubbing it over the wart, and throwing
the coin away.
6587. "I had three warts on my hand. I went to a dead woman's house, I knelt down and prayed for the dead, everyone else was praying, and
while praying I rubbed my warts over the coffin. My warts left. A woman told me to do this and it worked."
6588. Rub over your wart the rug that was used in washing a corpse and bury the rag under the eaves of your house where water will drip on it.
This will cure the wart.
6589. Years ago a wart was sometimes removed by wiping it with the cloth formerly laid over the face of a corpse and then hiding that cloth in
the coffin.
6590. The cloth used in washing a corpse may be rubbed over your wart three times and buried under a rock as remedy.
6591. If you rub three peas over your wart while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and lay them with the corpse in its coffin,
you will not have the wart long.
6592. A string tied round your wart for about fifteen minutes and then put in a coffin holding a corpse will take off the wart.
6593. A knot tied in a black string and rubbed over your wart will rid you of the wart, provided the string is laid in a coffin with a corpse.
6594. "A neighbor's little girl had a wart and when my little girl died and was laid out, she came over and wanted to know if I would let her rub
her wart over my girl. I let her, and she lost her wart."
6595. A wart rubbed on a dead person's face will soon leave.
6596. You can get rid of a wart by rubbing it on a corpse three times.
6597. The person saying the Three Highest Names as he rubs his wart three times on a corpse will soon lose the wart.
6598. A woman cures her wart, if she rubs it three times on a male corpse; a man, on a female corpse.
6599. For an effective cure, say some, a wart must be rubbed over a corpse, once only and on three separate occasions. This may be done the
same day or different days; it may be done during one visit --- by leaving and reentering the room — or during three visits.
6600. Just as the full moon begins to decrease, rub your hand on a corpse and then pass the hand over your wart. This will make the wart depart.
6601. The hand of a corpse is rubbed over a wart as a cure. This may be done by rubbing the wart on the dead hand or by picking up the dead
hand and rubbing it over the wart.
6602. Remove a wart by stroking it with the hand of a corpse while you say Wart, wart, go away; it is no good to me, and it will do you no harm.
6603. "I had several warts and did this and they left: take the front [index] finger of a dead person and rub it over your wart in the Three Highest
Names."
6604. When you see a funeral passing by you may wish your wart on the corpse and the wart will be taken to the cemetery.
6605. Just before the funeral procession starts from the house, rub your wart on the face of the corpse and say In the Name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, take my wart; after the body decomposes, a cure will follow.
6606. During the tolling of a church bell at a funeral, say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and make the sign of the cross three
times. This will take away a wart or a growth.
6607. While the bell is tolling, as a corpse is being taken from church, say Now the bells are tolling for to put the dead one in its grave, with this I
will wash my warts away; then, rub your hand over the wart, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and the wart will leave. The
word "wash" would indicate that the informant either had forgotten or did not know something here. See 6610 and the modernized version 6609.
6608. "My grandmother said if you have a wart, just as the bells at the church toll for a funeral, pull a hair out of a horse's tail, tie a knot in that
hair for every wart you have; then, saying the Three Highest Names, bury that hair under a rock where the water will run over it. You will lose
your warts."
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6609. Before a Catholic funeral leaves the church, stand by a sink and be ready to let the water run over your wart as soon as the procession
starts. While the water is running you must say three times As the dead sinks in its grave, so I will wash my wart away, and turn off the water.
6610. "I had a big wart on my first finger, it bother me all the time, until one day I saw a funeral passing the house. I got a pan of water and did
this: Hold your wart in the water and say What I see is a funeral passing by; what I wash is my wart, I wash away. Then say the Three Highest
Names. Then turn and throw the water out and don't look at the funeral any more. I lost my wart."

Dish Rag - Dog - Dress - Elder - Hair - Horse (6611-6675)

DISH RAG
6611. A greasy dish rag rubbed over a wart and burned up is a remedy.
6612. "I had three warts on my hand. I went to spend the day with a woman and at noon, when she was washing dishes she went to do something,
I stole her dish rag. When she started to washing the dishes again she said, 'Why, I just left my dish rag there. Mary, did you see it?' I said, 'No.' I
sure felt real sneaky, for I had it in my pocket. I just could not find any paper to put it in; sure felt guilty sitting there with her dish rag in my
pocket, for I had never stole anything before. I went home late in the afternoon and when I got home I started the cook-fire. Then I took the dish
rag out and rub over my three warts, then started to put the rag in the fire to burn, for it's an old saying: steal a dish rag, rub over your warts, then
burn it and you burn up your warts. Just as I was dropping the rag on the fire, my son came in and said, 'Mother, what are you doing?' I said,
'Mind your own business and go and get your wood in.' I still felt guilty. And I am eighty-seven, and I have never stole anything but that dish rag.
But I lost my warts."
6613. To get rid of a wart, rub it three times with a stolen dish rag and burn up the rag.
6614. To get rid of a wart, rub it with a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and bury the dish rag.
6615. To get rid of a wart, pick it until it bleeds, wipe the blood on a dish rag (a stolen one say some), and bury the dish rag.
6616. As a wart remedy, a dish rag may be rubbed over the wart and buried under a board. Some say you must steal the dish rag.
6617. You take off a wart by rubbing it with a dish rag and burying the rag under the eaves of the house.
6618. You take off a wart by rubbing it with a dish rag and burying the rag under the eaves of a house or barn, provided you lay a white rock on
top of the ground exactly over the buried rag.
6619. "I had one of those ugly May warts and I tried several things, then on Good Friday [it must be on this day] I pick my wart and stole my
neighbor's dish rag and rubbed over the blood, then buried it under the eaves of the house, and it was no time until that May wart left." A May
wart is sometimes called a dew wart; it breaks open and bleeds.
6620. Warts can be taken off, if they are rubbed with a dish rag that is afterwards buried under the doorstep. In this and the two following
beliefs, some say the front doorstep, others say the back doorstep. Sometimes the dish rag is merely laid under the doorstep.
6621. Wart blood wiped on a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and buried under the doorstep takes off the wart.
6622. If you steal a dish rag from a neighbor, rub it over your wart and bury the rag under that neighbor's doorstep, the wart will soon go away.
6623. Get rid of a wart by a dish rag rubbed over it and buried under a log in the woods. Some say if the log is moved, by you or anyone else,
you will keep the wart.
6624. For taking off a wart, rub it with a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and bury the rag under a rock. A white rock is sometimes specified.
6625. If you want to lose your wart, rub it with a strip torn from a dish rag and bury the strip under a rock; and if you have several warts, rub
each one with a separate strip torn from a dish rag and bury the strips under a rock. A white rock is sometimes specified.
6626. To lose your wart, tie round it a thread taken from a dish rag and bury the thread under a rock. A white rock is sometimes specified.
6627. You can lose your wart by cutting off one of the four corners of a dish rag, rubbing this over the wart, and burying the piece under a rock.
6628. The person who picks his wart until it bleeds, wipes some of the blood on a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and buries the rag under a
rock, will soon miss the wart.
6629. A cure for a wart is to rub it three times with a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and bury the rag under a rock.
6630. If you steal a dish rag, rub it over your wart in the Three Highest Names, take three grains of corn for each High Name — nine grains of
corn — lay the corn in the rag, bury the rag under a rock; the wart will be taken away.
6631. "I sure don't believe in those old signs; still, I don't like to hear a dog howl, and I will not sit down to a table where there is thirteen; not that
I am superstitious, but my mother would not. If I meet a black cat, I always go the other way; not that I think the cat will hurt me, but I just do. I
am getting away from the wart. I had several warts between my thumb and first finger. I didn't believe this --- if you have a wart, take a dish
rag, rub over your wart, then bury the rag under a red rosebush --- but I took my dish rag, rubbed over my warts good, then put my dish rag under
the red rosebush we had in the yard. Well, one day my warts were all gone, even if I don't believe in signs."
6632. "An old saying of my grandmother's was: to take a greasy dish rag, rub over your wart, then take that dish rag out in the woods, find an old
rotten stump, hide the rag in it; when the rag rots, your wart will be gone."
6633. After you have rubbed your wart with a piece of greasy dish rag and buried the piece near an old tree, you will not have the wart long.
6634. Someone's dish rag should be stolen, rubbed over your wart three times, and buried in a cemetery at midnight as a cure.
6635. You must steal a dish rag, rub it over your wart, chop that rag into small pieces with a hoe — only a hoe may be used --- and bury those
pieces to lose the wart.
6636. During the dark of the moon, rub a dish rag over your wart, bury the rag after dark, and the wart will be gone before the next dark of the
moon.
6637. Each morning for nine days rub your wart with a dish rag and finally bury the rag to get rid of the wart.
6638. Go to a neighbor's house and while she is not looking, pick up her dish rag, rub it over your wart, and put the rag back where you found it.
Your wart will soon leave.
6639. To take off a wart, rub it with a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and throw the rag away.
6640. To take off a wart, rub it with a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and throw the rag over your left shoulder. You must not look back.
6641. "What I did to lose my wart: wash your wart with a dish rag, then throw the rag in a barn lot."
6642. A dish rag (a stolen one say some) may be rubbed on your wart and thrown over the eaves of the house as a cure.
6643. You can get rid of a wart by making it bleed, wiping the blood on a dish rag, and throwing the rag over the house.
6644. If you wipe your wart with a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and drop the rag at the forks of a road, the wart will soon leave.
6645. Blood from your wart when put on a dish rag and dropped at a crossroad is a removal remedy.
6646. If you tear a strip off or cut a piece from a dish rag, rub this in your wart blood, and roll the strip or piece into a ball and drop it at
a crossroad, the wart will soon be lost.
6647. In curing a wart, rub it three times with a dish rag (a stolen one say some) and throw the rag over your shoulder. The left shoulder is
usually preferred.
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6648. Let a person wipe his wart with a dish rag, walk to a small hill, stand on one slope with his back to the ridge, throw the rag over the
left shoulder so that it will go over the ridge and fall on the opposite slope, then return home without looking back, and the wart will soon
disappear.
6649. You must walk backwards throughout the whole of the following wart- cure rite: carry a dish rag to a stump having standing water, dip the
rag into the water, wash your wart with the rag, and then return home.
6650. "My grandmother would say: take your dish rag after you get through washing your dishes at night, rub over your wart, then go to running
water and throw your dish rag in it for your wart to run away from you. This must be done after dark."
6651. A wart is lost by wiping it with a dish rag and dropping the rag into a well.

DOG
6652. A good wart remedy is to grease it with butter and let a dog lick off the butter.
6653. "I tried this myself after someone told me: take where a dog squats, take up the dry dung, rub over your wart, then throw that dung over
your left shoulder, and your wart will go. I sure lost my wart."

DRESS
6654. The first time you see a woman wearing a new dress, rub your wart on the dress and she will catch the wart.
6655. If a woman with a wart finds a ravel on her dress, she can get rid of the wart by rubbing it with the ravel and throwing the ravel away.

ELDER
6656. "I have tried this and my wart went: if you have a wart, pick it until it bleeds good, then get a elder stick and take the peth [pith] out of the
inside of the stick and rub over your wart, getting the blood on this peth, then bury the peth and your wart will soon go."
6657. "Years ago my hand was full of warts. My mother got a elder stick and laid it over my warts and made a notch in the stick; then told me to
go in the house and not watch where the cut would drop. Then she started to walking around the yard, cutting on the stick, without looking to see
where it [the various pieces cut off the stick] went; and when the stick was all gone, went in the house. In a few days my warts were gone."

HAIR
6658. Several strands of your combings may be tied round your wart and buried for a cure.
6659. For ridding himself of a wart, a person may rub it three times with a lock of his hair and bury the hair.

HORSE
6660. If you see a white horse, wish your wart on the animal and he will get it.
6661. If while standing at a crossroad you see a white horse, wish your wart on the animal and he will get it.
6662. If you see a man riding a white horse, wish your wart on the man and he will get the wart.
6663. If you see a man riding a grey horse, wish your wart on the man's buttocks and he will get the wart.
6664. "This is not so nice about a wart, and a man has to tell it to a woman, and a woman to a man. My son had a wart and he tried several
things and it didn't go away. One day a woman was at our house and said to my son, 'I will tell you something to get your wart to leave,' and
whisper in his ear. I asked him several times what she said, he would not tell me. I notice he was always watching his wart to see if it was leaving.
When one day it was gone, he said, 'Mother, it isn't nice, but I will tell you what Mrs. X. told me to do: said --- watch, and when you see two
people riding on a horse together, wish your wart in the behind of the person riding in the back. I watched, and when I saw two people on the
same horse, I sure wished it and you see I lost my wart'."
6665. If you count ninety-nine white horses and then a mule and wish your wart on the latter, he will take the wart away.
6666. While wishing to lose your wart, rub it with a bone from a dead horse; then throw that bone over your right shoulder, and the wart will soon
be lost.
6667. If you tie round your wart a hair from the tail of a horse and bury the hair, you will soon lose the wart.
6668. If you dip into vinegar a hair from the tail of a horse, tie this hair round your wart and then bury it, you will soon lose the wart.
6669. If you tie round your wart a hair from the tail of a black horse and bury the hair, you will soon lose the wart.
6670. To cure a wart, tie round it a hair from the mane of a horse. You must use a fresh hair each day until the wart is cured.
6671. Tie a horsehair round your wart and every morning for nine days pull the knot tighter; on the tenth morning the wart will be gone.
6672. Somebody does this for you. During the day, he ties round your wart a hair from the mane of a horse, cuts the hair off before night, and
waits one day before repeating the rite; after a hair has been tied round the wart three times --- on the first, third and fifth days — you will soon
miss the wart.
6673. Rub on your wart a piece of the frog from the hoof of a horse, put this piece of frog under a doorstep, and the wart will soon leave.
6674. If you rub over your wart a piece of dirt from the bottom of a horse's hoof and throw it over your shoulder, the first rain melting that dirt
will wash your wart away.
6675. Horse manure may be rubbed over your wart every day as a remedy.

Match - Meat - Milkweed - Moon - Nail (6676-6718)

MATCH
6676. Anyone can get rid of his wart by rubbing it with the head of a match and burying the latter.
6677. As a wart remedy, rub it three times with the dampened head of a match and bury the match.
6678. If you make your wart bleed, rub a match round in this blood In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and bury the match, the wart
will not stay with you long.
6679. To drive away a wart, rub it with nine matches and hide or bury them where they cannot be found.
6680. You will lose your wart within nine days, if you take nine matches, rub each match nine times over the wart, and bury or throw them away.
6681. The person who makes as many notches in a match as he has warts and buries the match will soon be without the wart.

MEAT
6682. If you rub a piece of meat or meat rind over your wart and bury the meat, the wart will soon vanish.
6683. If you rub your wart with a piece of stolen meat and bury the meat, the wart will soon vanish.
6684. If you rub your wart with a piece of meat and bury the meat under a rock, the wart will soon vanish.
 155

6685. If you rub your wart with a piece of stolen meat and bury the meat under the doorstep of the house where you stole the meat, the wart will
soon vanish.
6686. If you make your wart bleed, rub some of the blood on a piece of meat, and bury the meat, the wart will soon vanish.
6687. If you rub your wart with a piece of meat and throw the meat into the privy, the wart will soon vanish.
6688. If you rub your wart with a piece of meat and throw the meat out where some animal can eat it, the wart will soon vanish.
6689. "People may laugh at you for telling this, but it is so, for I tried it and my wart left. If you have a wart, steal a piece of meat rind, rub over
your wart, then bury the rind; when you think the rind is about rotten away, dig it up and rub over your wart again, then throw it away."
6690. In curing another person's wart, rub it with your finger, walk into the house backwards and get a piece of meat previously laid out so that
you can reach behind you and pick it up, come out of the house, and then bury the meat.
6691. "If you have a wart, let someone rub a meat rind over your wart, with your eyes closed. They should hold the rind behind them, backing
away from you, still keeping your eyes closed, so you can't see where they bury it to lose your wart."
6692. "Take fat meat, cut it all up, rub over your wart; but before you do this, dig a hole out in the yard. After you have your meat rubbed over
your wart, stand with your back to this hole and throw this meat over your left shoulder into this hole, and let someone else cover it up to lose
your wart.
6693. "My sister did this to her wart and lost it: rub raw meat over it, saying the Three Highest Names, then bury the meat."
6694. A fat piece of meat rubbed over your wart three times and buried under a log or an old stump removes the wart.
6695. Get up in the morning and, before speaking to anyone, rub a meat rind over your wart three times while saying In the Name of the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. Bury the meat under the eaves of the house and you will lose the wart.

MILKWEED
6696. Walk up to a milkweed, break off a piece of the plant and rub the juice on your wart, then throw the piece of milkweed over your
left shoulder without looking back, and the wart will soon be gone.
6697. As a cure, break a branch from a milkweed and rub the juicy end of this branch over your wart. You must then bury the branch.
6698. Three drops of milkweed milk applied to your wart cures it.
6699. One may remove a wart by rubbing it with milkweed milk thrice daily for three days.
6700. To lose a seed wart, burn a milkweed and put the ashes over the wart on three days.
6701. "I had thirty-five warts, they were all over my hands, and that is what I did: take a piece of new milkweed each morning for seven
mornings and rub all my warts, and in no time they were all gone."

MOON
6702. Pass your hand over your wart while looking at the new moon and say:
"you grow,
And you go."
Do this three times.
6703. On first looking at the new moon, wet your finger and rub it round your wart while saying What I see, grow; what I go around, I wish
away. Do this three times.
6704. This rhyme can be said while you rub your wart and look at the new moon:
"What I see is growing,
What I am rubbing is going."
Do this on three consecutive nights.
6705. A person says this rhyme while he rubs his wart and looks at the new moon:
"What I see is growing,
What I am rubbing is going."
Do this exactly at midnight on three successive nights.
6706. To rid yourself of a wart, rub it seven times with your finger while you look at the new moon and say Moon is increasing, wart decrease.
6707. If your wart is rubbed with a green bean during the decrease of the moon, the wart will vanish with the old moon.
6708. To cure a wart, rub it with a green bean leaf during the decrease of the moon while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
6709. You must keep your eyes on the new moon all the time you are working this wart cure. Go outdoors, look at the new moon, reach down to
the ground, pick up whatever you find, rub the article round your wart, and then throw it over your left shoulder.
6710. You must keep your eyes on the new moon all the time you are working this wart cure. Go outdoors, kneel down, look at the new moon,
count seven, reach behind you, pick up a handful of dirt, rub it over your wart, throw the dirt away, get up, and return to the house without
looking at the moon again that night.
6711. You must keep your eyes on the new moon all the time you are working this wart cure. Go outdoors, look at the new moon, stoop down,
pick up a handful of dirt from behind you, rub it against your wart, get up, turn your back to the moon, throw the dirt over your shoulder at the
moon, say three times New moon, take my wart away, and return to the house without looking at the moon again.
6712. During the full moon your mother's dish rag may be rubbed on your wart and buried in the center of a crossroad at midnight as a remedy.
6713. When the moon is waning, bite a radish in half, rub each piece on your wart, throw both pieces over your shoulder, and the wart will soon
leave.
6714. When the moon is waning, bite a radish in half, rub each piece on your wart, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, throw
both pieces over your shoulder, and the wart will soon leave.
6715. You must keep your eyes on the waning moon all the time you are working this wart cure. Walk outdoors, carry with you a small white
rock on which you know the moon has shone, look at the moon, rub the rock round your wart three times, say As you go away, take this I am
rubbing, throw the rock away, and return to the house without looking at the moon again that night. Do this three nights in succession and the
wart will be gone before the moon wanes again.
6716. "When Mrs. N. was a little girl, her mother took her to a man who said he could take warts away, but he told her she had to come on Friday
night and it had to be a moonlight night. So they went. And he took her out on the front porch in the moonlight and repeated In the Name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost three times, and in a week's time her warts were gone."

NAIL
6717. To get rid of a wart, rub it with a rusty nail and bury the nail.
 156

6718. "My daughter had her hand just full of little warts. One day we went out in the country to see her uncle. While there he said, 'What are you
doing with all those warts?' 'I got them because I can't get rid of them.' 'Do you want to sell them?' 'Sure do.' 'What will you take?' 'Anything to
get them to go.' Her uncle picked up a nail and said, 'Here, take this nail for your warts.' Nothing more was said about the warts. That night we
came back to Quincy. In about two months my daughter's warts were gone. And we went out in the country to see the uncle, to tell him, and he
had all her warts on his hands just like she had them."

Needle - Onion - Osage Orange - Paper (6719-6764)

NEEDLE
6719. "I always do this for a wart. Stick a needle through it, then hold that needle to a lamp, when hot stick it through again. You will lose your
wart."
6720. A wart is cured by heating a needle, thrusting it through the wart several times, and throwing the needle away.
6721. Do this for three mornings as a wart cure. Heat the point of a needle and thrust it into the middle of the wart before sunrise.
6722. After drawing blood from a wart by scratching it with a needle, burn up the needle and the wart will be cured.
6723. "Take a new needle and stick that needle in your wart. Then take nine matches, one at a time and light them, and hold the match to the eye
of the needle until it burns out. Then light another and hold to the eye of the needle, and when you get to the ninth match you can lift that wart
right out. I had a wart. I took a new needle and nine matches and burned each match to the eye of the needle until I used all nine. It sure did hurt
and burn, but when I got to the ninth match the wart came right out."
6724. Your wart can be taken off, if you scratch it with a needle until blood comes and bury the needle.
6725. If you pierce your wart with a needle until it bleeds and push the needle down into the ground near your front doorsteps, the wart will go
away after the needle rusts.
6726. "A man went to see a doctor. He had a very bad wart. The doctor wanted to burn the wart off. The man could not make up his mind, said
he would study about it, and left. Several people were in the office and one old man left at the same time. When he got outside he said to this man
that had the wart, 'I will tell you how to take your wart off without that doctor burning it off. You take a needle at sundown and stick your wart
until it bleeds, then go to the back door and stick that needle down in the ground so you can't see it.' This man told me here in this baker shop he
did just as the man told him and he lost his wart without going back to the doctor."
6727. The person who makes his wart bleed by running a needle into it, then wraps up the needle in paper and drops it at a crossroad, will soon
be rid of the wart.
6728. As a remedy for a wart, draw blood from it with a pin or needle, put some of the blood on a white rock, and throw the rock over your
shoulder.
6729. Warts may be scratched with a needle and the blood washed off in a puddle of snow-water as a remedy.
6730. If a person picks his wart with a needle for three mornings and covers it with baking soda on the fourth morning, it will come out on
the seventh morning.

ONION
6731. "Take an onion, cut in half, soak in vinegar three hours, then bind on your wart; it's the only thing that will take a wart off, I think."
6732. For a wart cure, make it bleed, halve an onion and rub each half over the blood, and burn up both halves.
6733. An onion rubbed on a wart and buried is a cure.
6734. A rotten onion may be rubbed on a wart and buried as a cure.
6735. Just like coring an apple, take the center out of an onion, rub this on your wart, put it back in the onion it is sometimes tied in place --- bury
the onion, and you will soon lose the wart.
6736. If you halve an onion, rub each half on your wart and bury both halves, you will soon find the wart gone. The two halves are usually
tied together when buried.
6737. To take off a wart, halve a white onion, rub each half on the wart, tie both halves together with a white string, and bury the reunited onion.
6738. A wart can be lost, if you halve an onion, rub each half on the wart three times, tie both halves together, and bury the reunited onion.
6739. "I did this and lost my wart. Take an onion and cut in two, rub over your wart, then bury the onion, then put a white rock over the dirt.
Don't tell anyone where you bury it."
6740. "I took off two warts this way. Take an onion, cut it in two, rub both halves over your wart, then bury it under the eaves of the house where
the water will drip on it."
6741. Cure a wart by halving an onion, rubbing each half on the wart three times, and burying the onion under the eaves.
6742. If a person halves a red onion, spits on each half, rubs both halves on his wart and buries them near a post he will not see again, the wart
will soon be gone.
6743. A wart remedy is to cut an onion into seven slices and rub one slice over your wart each morning for seven days and bury them.
6744. Your wart will soon leave, if you halve an onion, rub one half an your wart, put the two halves together, and bury the reunited onion while
saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
6745. "I know four people that did this and lost their warts. Steal an onion, peel it, then cut it in half, throw one half away; and the other half, rub
over your wart until it burns, then bury the half where no one sees you."
6746. One half of a freshly halved onion is rubbed on a wart and thrown away as a remedy.
6747. This may be done to lose your wart. Cut an onion into two unequal pieces, rub the smaller piece on your wart, throw the larger piece away,
and bury the smaller piece where water can drip on it.
6748. A wart can be removed by rubbing it with an onion and throwing the onion away.
6749. You may do this to get rid of your wart. Make it bleed, wipe some of the blood on an onion, and throw away the onion.
6750. The two halves of a freshly halved onion may be rubbed on a wart and thrown away as a cure.
6751. If your wart is picked until it bleeds and some of this blood is wiped on each half of a freshly halved onion which are then thrown away, the
wart will soon leave.
6752. An onion dipped into salt and rubbed over your wart is a cure, provided you afterwards throw away the onion.
6753. "My son had warts allover his hand and a man did this to his warts and they all left my son's hand. Take an onion and rub over your warts
until your warts turn red, then put that onion up in the fork of a tree."
6754. "My son did this and lost his wart. Cut an onion in two, rub the parts over a wart until red, then put the two pieces up high somewhere to
dry up, and your wart will dry up."
 157

6755. "I had a wart, tried this and it worked, lost my wart. Take an onion and a potato, rub both over a wart, then bury them both."

OSAGE ORANGE
6756. Some milk taken from an osage orange (also called hedge apple, hedge ball, or hedge orange) and applied three times to your wart is a cure,
but you must afterwards bury the osage orange from which you took the milk.
6757. Punch into an osage orange a hole about the size of your wart and, having twisted this hole over your wart three times in a circle, throw
the orange over your left shoulder without looking back. This will cure the wart.

PAPER
6758. After you have picked a wart until it bleeds, rub the blood (some say one drop only) on a piece of paper (some say white paper) and
bury the paper. The wart will soon disappear.
6759. A person can lose his wart by picking the wart until it bleeds, putting some of the blood on a piece of paper, and burying the paper
under the eaves.
6760. If you pick your wart until it bleeds, put some of the blood in an envelope, and drop this on a road, the person who finds that envelope
will get the wart.
6761. If you pick your wart until it bleeds, put some of the blood in an envelope, seal the latter, and drop this at a crossroad, the person
finding that envelope will catch the wart.
6762. If you pick your wart until it bleeds, put some of the blood on a piece of paper, go to a crossroad and throw the paper over your left
shoulder, whoever picks up that blood will soon have your wart.
6763. If you pick your wart until it bleeds, put some of the blood on a piece of paper, run down the road as fast as you can, and throw the paper
over your head while running and as you make a wish, you will lose the wart and also get your wish.
6764. "When I was a girl going to school I had several warts, and I put the blood on paper and folded it up, wishing my wart on a girl in school I
didn't like, and put the paper on her front gatepost so she could get it; and it was no time until my warts were gone and this girl got some warts on
her hands."

Pea - Peach - Pebble - Penny - Pin - Pork (6765-6821)

PEA
6765. To take off your wart, rub it with a green pea, drop this into a well, and walk away as soon as you hear the pea hit the water.
6766. To take off your wart, rub it with a dry pea, toss this into a well, and run away before you can hear the pea hit the water.

PEACH
6767. Each morning for seven mornings apply a hot poultice of fresh peach leaves to your wart as a cure.
6768. Peach leaves are rubbed on a wart and buried to cure it.
6769. You must rub three peach leaves over your wart and place them on the ground. Do this three times. The person who walks over these three
leaves will get the wart.
6770. To cure your wart, find a dead peach leaf lying on the ground, pick it up, rub the top side over the wart three times, put the leaf back
where you found it, and be sure the leaf is reversed so that the top side will now touch the ground.
6771. Your wart can be cured by rubbing it with peach leaves three times each day on three separate days, but these days must be separated from
each other by a waiting-period of three days; that is, the wart is rubbed three times on the first, fifth and ninth days.
6772. Cut in a peach tree a notch for each of your warts and never look at the tree again; when those notches grow together you will no longer
have the warts.
6773. The person who cuts three notches in the limb of a peach tree will lose his wart after the notches have grown together.
6774. Walk to a peach tree, scrape off some bark, cut several notches in the place from which the bark was scraped, and rub your wart on each
notch; after the bark grows back over those notches, the wart will be gone.
6775. Walk to a peach tree, strip a piece of the bark down but not off, make your wart bleed, put some of the blood on the inner surface of
the stripped-down bark, and tie the bark back in its original place against the trunk; after that strip of bark has grown to the tree again, the wart
will be gone.
6776. As a wart remedy, break a small limb off a peach tree, cut in this as many notches as you have warts, and bury it where water drips.
6777. If you cut a small fork from a peach tree, make your wart bleed, let one drop of the blood fall down in the place where the two prongs of
the fork join, and then bury that peach fork, you will soon be without the wart.

PEBBLE
6778. To remove a wart, rub it with a pebble and bury the pebble.
6779. To remove a wart, rub it with a pebble and bury the pebble under some- body's doorstep.
6780. "I did this --- pick up a small rock or pebble and rub my warts until they smart, then wrap that rock in paper and throw it in the road. I knew
the fellow who picked up the piece of paper I threw in the road, and he got the same two seed warts on his hand that I had, for mine left and he
had them. It was a mean trick, but I didn't want them and someone told me to do this."
6781. A cure for a wart is to rub it with a pebble and throw the pebble over your left shoulder.
6782. Several pebbles rubbed on your wart and put in a sack which must be thrown over your shoulder will cure a wart.
6783. If you tie up a handful of pebbles in a white rag, rub this package on your wart, and then throw it over your shoulder, you will soon lose the
wart.
6784. To be freed from a wart, rub it with a pebble, cross running water, stand with your back to the water, throw the pebble over your left
shoulder into the water, and go home another way.

PENNY
6785. A penny rubbed over your wart and buried takes the wart away.
6786. The person who rubs a penny over his wart and gives the penny to someone is giving that person the wart.
6787. If you rub a penny over your wart three times and throw the penny away, you are throwing the wart away.
6788. You can rid yourself of a wart by rubbing it three times with a penny and throwing the penny over your left shoulder.
 158

6789. "One day I stopped at a house and a little boy was just full of warts. I said to the little boy, 'I will give you a penny for your warts.' The
boy said, 'Mister, when are you going to take my warts?' I said to the little boy, 'Oh, sometime when you are not watching I will get them.' I
forgot all about the warts and the next season [the speaker sells fruit trees] when I stopped there, the boy said, 'O Mister, have you got all my
warts? For they are all gone.' I looked and sure enough they were gone."
6790. "Mrs. H. gave her niece a penny for each wart she had and in a week Mrs. H. had a hand full of warts."
6791. If you sell your wart for a penny and put that money away so that you cannot spend it, the wart will soon vanish; but if that coin is ever
spent --- even after the wart vanishes --- the wart will reappear.

PIN
6792. A wart will soon disappear, after you rub a pin over it and bury the pin in ground over which people will walk.
6793. If you stick your wart with a pin until blood comes and bury the pin, the wart will soon be gone.
6794. For taking off your wart, make it bleed by using a pin taken from a new package of pins and bury or hide the pin.
6795. Your wart will soon vanish, if you let someone pierce it with a pin which you yourself must then bury or hide.
6796. Either keep your eyes closed or do not look while performing this wart-removal rite: scratch your wart with a pin until blood comes and
bury the pin.
6797. "I know a woman that took off two warts this way: rubbed a pin over the wart, stuck the pin up in a post to rust; when the pin rusted, the
wart was gone."
6798. "I did this: stuck a pin in my wart until it bled, then stuck that pin in the ground by a post in a fence; I lost my wart."
6799. A wart can be cured by piercing it with a pin and driving the pin into an old stump.
6800. If a person sticks his wart with a new pin, walks backwards to a tree, puts his hand behind him, pushes that pin into the tree, leaves
without looking back; when the pin drops from the tree, he will no longer have the wart.
6801. To make a wart leave, gouge out a small piece of it by using a pin and bury this piece and the pin in rotten wood.
6802. Steal a pin, rub it over your wart, and thrush the pin into a rotten log as a cure.
6803. "I remember I had a large wart on my hand, it bother me all the time, and someone told me about the brass pin. I took a brass pin and
picked and picked until the blood was running down my hand. Then I walked over to the woods that was close to our house and throw it over into
the woods, not looking where it went, and went back to the house. And it was no time until my wart was gone."
6804. They say a brass pin stuck into a wart and thrown away makes the wart leave within three days.
6805. Blindfold the person who has a wart, let him stick it with a pin and throw the latter away, and the wart will soon go.
6806. As a method for removing your wart, stick it with a pin until blood comes and throw the pin over your shoulder.
6807. "My aunt came here from Kansas City [Missouri] and told my son if he would let her stick his wart with a brass pin until you get some of
the blood on it, then stick that pin in a piece of paper, giving the paper back to the person that you stuck their wart, telling them to throw the paper
over their head, when that paper rots away, your wart will be gone. And he did."
6808. Make your wart bleed by pricking it with a pin, throw the pin directly in front of you as far as you can, turn round and walk in the
opposite direction, and you will soon lose the wart.
6809. A pin stuck into your wart until blood comes and then dropped into someone's pocket will transfer the wart to that person.
6810. "I know several that did this to lose their wart: take a new pin out of a paper [of pins] that has never been used and pick your wart until
it bleeds, with the pin; then stick that pin in someone's clothes without them knowing it; when that pin rusts, your wart will be gone."
6811. "I had a big wart right on the end of my thumb. My aunt said one day, 'You don't want that wart, I will buy it from you.' She took out a
pin from her dress and gave it to me saying, 'I am buying your wart with this pin. Put the pin away so you will not lose it until the wart is gone,
and be sure you don't tell anyone about me buying it.' I did just what she told me and I lost my wart."
6812. "I had a bad wart. One day a woman came along and said, 'I will give you a pin for your wart.' She took a pin out of her dress and stick it in
my coat and said, 'I am buying your wart.' This may seem funny to you, but my wart went away. "
6813. "I used to live in Quincy at Ninth and Cedar. Our neighbor man had twenty-two warts, said he would like to get them off. I told him I
would buy them for a pin for each wart. I took twenty-two pins, would stick in a wart, then stick the pin on his coat until all twenty-two pins were
gone. Told him not to try and keep the pins; for if he did, he would keep his warts. The sooner he lost the pins, the sooner his warts would go.
And he lost all twenty- two warts."
6814. "I had two warts on my hand. A woman said to me, 'Do you want to lose those warts?' I said, 'Yes.' 'Well, here, take this pin out of
my clothes and stick it in your coat and wear it.' I did and my two warts went away."
6815. A woman may sell her wart for a pin and put the pin in the shoulder of her dress; when the pin is lost, she will lose the wart.
6816. A woman may sell her wart for a pin and put the pin in the lining of her petticoat; when the pin is lost, she will lose the wart.
6817. You may sell your wart for a pin and bury the pin; when the pin rusts, the wart will be gone.
6818. Sell a pin to someone for money and your wart will soon disappear.

PORK
6819. "I had about nine warts on my hand. One day I took a piece of pork meat and rubbed over my warts and gave the meat to the dog, and I lost
all my warts."
6820. Take the rib bone out of a piece of pork, rub the bone on your wart, throw the bone over your shoulder, and you will soon be rid of the
wart.
6821. Without speaking and by previous arrangement, go to someone, hold out your hand, and let that person rub a pork rind over your wart In
the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and bury the rind under a rock. This will cure the wart.

Potato - Raisin - Ring - Rock - Saliva (6822-6891)

POTATO
6822. A potato rubbed on a wart and buried is a remedy when the potato rots, say some; when it grows, say others.
6823. To lose your wart, rub it with a potato and bury the potato under the eaves of the house.
6824. To lose your wart, rub it with a potato three times and bury the potato under the eaves of the house.
6825. To lose your wart, rub it with a potato, tie a white string round the potato, leave the string on, and bury the potato under the eaves of the
house.
6826. With a white string cut a small potato in half, rub both halves and the string over your wart, tie the potato together with the string, and bury
the tied-up potato. You will soon lose the wart.
 159

6827. Halve a potato, rub each half over your wart, and bury the halves (they are sometimes tied together) under the eaves of the house as a cure.
6828. If you halve a potato, rub each half over your wart, put the halves together again and plant them at your kitchen door, the wart will leave as
the potato grows.
6829. Let someone halve a potato, rub each half over your wart, join the halves together by sticking a match through them, and bury the potato.
This takes off the wart.
6830. "This is an old saying of my mother's: take a potato, cut it in half, rub them over your wart, saying three times —
'Here, what I see, grow;
Here, what I see, go.'
Plant the two halves. If they grow, your wart will leave; for the wart will go into the potato."
6831. A person rids himself of his wart by quartering a potato, rubbing each quarter over the wart, tying the four quarters together, and
burying the potato.
6832. In getting rid of your wart, quarter a potato, rub each of the quarters over the wart, sprinkle salt on them so that they cannot grow, and bury
the four pieces at your front door.
6833. One slice from a potato may be rubbed on a wart and buried as a remedy.
6834. One slice from a potato may be rubbed on a wart and buried as a remedy, but you must do this on nine mornings and use a fresh slice each
time.
6835. Make your wart bleed, peel a potato and cut off one slice, rub this in the blood, bury it, and the wart will soon disappear.
6836. A potato peeling may be rubbed on a wart and buried as a cure, but the peeling must not have an eye.
6837. If you see someone peeling potatoes, steal one of the peelings, rub this on your wart, and bury it; the wart will soon be gone.
6838. If you see someone peeling potatoes, steal several peelings, rub these on your wart while saying the Three Highest Names, and bury them,
the wart will soon be gone.
6839. A potato peeling rubbed on your wart three times and buried under a rock is a cure.
6840. The person who cuts an eye from a potato, rubs this over his wart, buries it, soon loses the wart.
6841. If with a knife you cut across the top of your wart one way and then the other way (making a cross), do the same thing on a potato, and
bury the potato, the wart will soon leave.
6842. To cure a wart, halve a potato, rub one half on the wart and throw it away, and bury the other half.
6843. A wart will soon be gone, if it is rubbed with a potato morning and night for fourteen days. The potato may be buried or thrown away.
6844. Anybody can get rid of a wart by rubbing it with a potato and throwing the potato out where a hog can eat it.
6845. As a remedy for ridding yourself of a wart, rub it with a rotten potato and throw the potato over your left shoulder.
6846. The two halves of a freshly cut potato when rubbed on your wart and thrown over your left shoulder rids you of the wart.
6847. The two halves of a freshly cut potato when rubbed on your wart and thrown into a well rids you of the wart.
6848. "I had a wart and I took a potato and cut it in four pieces and put some blood from the wart on each piece, then put it together, then went
to the kitchen door and threw the potato as far as I could, and my wart left."
6849. Rid yourself of a wart by rubbing it with potato peelings and throwing them over your left shoulder.
6850. Potato peelings rubbed over your wart and thrown into an outside toilet will take off the wart.
6851. A potato peeling may be rubbed over your wart three times and thrown into an outside toilet for a remedy.
6852. While you are rubbing your wart with a potato peeling, say I wonder where you came from, I wonder when you will go away. Throw the
peeling away and the wart will soon vanish.
6853. In the morning or at night rub a slice of potato over your wart and throw the slice away. You must do this for seven days, using a fresh
potato each day, to remove the wart.
6854. Whoever slices a potato into nine pieces, rubs each piece over his wart, wraps them in a piece of white paper, ties this with string, and
drops it on the road, will lose the wart as soon as someone picks up that package.
6855. "I tried this and my wart went: take a potato, cut open, rub over your wart, then wrap the potato up in a white cloth, then carry it in your
pocket."
6856. A small potato may be rubbed on your wart and carried in your pocket as a cure; but every time you think of the wart, you must rub it with
the potato.
6857. To remove another person's wart, halve a potato which he has given you, rub both halves over the wart, and put one half in your pocket and
the other half in his pocket.

RAISIN
6858. Some people cure a wart by rubbing it with a raisin and burying the raisin.
6859. A raisin tied on your wart and left there nine days is a cure.

RING
6860. A wart rubbed with a gold ring will soon come off.
6861. On three consecutive mornings rub a wart rapidly with a wedding ring as a remedy.
6862. A wedding ring rubbed on a wart three times while you say the Three Highest Names cures a wart.
6863. You can get rid of your wart by rubbing it with a gold ring and then making over the wart the sign of the cross.
6864. "I know a woman that did this: spit three times on her wart, then rub a wedding ring three times double-crossed over it, and it will go."

ROCK
6865. As a wart remedy, one picks up a rock from a spring, rubs this over his wart, and replaces the rock in its original position.
6866. To drive away your wart, rub it with a rock picked up at midnight and then replace the rock in its original position.
6867. A rock rubbed over your wart three times and replaced in its original position on the ground is a remedy.
6868. For curing a wart, spit on it three times, pick up a rock and spit on the underside three times, and put the rock back in its original position.
6869. If you make your wart bleed, let some of the blood fall on a rock lying on the ground, pick up another rock, lay the underside of this second
rock on top of the first rock, and cover both rocks with dirt, you will soon be rid of the wart.
6870. Do this on nine mornings before breakfast to lose your wart: wash it with water that stands in a hollow rock.

SALIVA
 160

6871. Wet your finger with saliva when you first awake in the morning and rub on your wart as a cure.
6872. You can take off your wart by licking it with your tongue as soon as you awake in the morning.
6873. "I tried this and my wart went: take the first [index] finger and spit on it and rub over your wart. Do this every day and every time you think
of it."
6874. This will take away another person's wart: rush up and seize that person unexpectedly and spit on the wart.
6875. A wart can be driven away by wetting it with saliva three times on one occasion.
6876. If a person spits on his wart and rubs the spit with his finger going round the wart three times in a circular motion, he will soon be rid of the
wart.
6877. As a cure for a wart, go round it three times in a circular motion with your finger, and then wet the end of that finger and rub it on top of the
wart.
6878. For three mornings in succession lick a wart with your tongue before eating or drinking and its cure will soon be effected.
6879. Saliva may be applied to a wart for three mornings and three nights as a remedy.
6880. "I [a woman] had a bad wart over my eyes years ago when we were running a grocery store. One day a man came in the store and I was
picking at the wart. He wanted to know what was wrong. I told him my wart was bothering me. He said, 'Let me take it off, I can.' Then he wet
his finger with spit and rubbed over my wart, then said, 'I will see you tomorrow.' He came back the next day and the third day. On the third day
he said, 'Just forget about your wart.' And it was no time until my wart was gone. A man must do it for a woman to lose her wart, and a woman
must do it for a man."
6881. "I had a wart about five years ago and I met a man and he said, 'Do you want me to take your wart off?' and I said, 'Yes.' Then he spit on
his finger and rubbed it over my wart three times, then spit on his finger again and rubbed over my wart three times, then spit on his finger again
and rubbed over my wart three times again, and it was no time until my wart was gone."
6882. Someone must work this cure for you: spit on his finger and rub it on your wart three times while saying Go off this good person's hand and
go on some bad person's hand.
6883. Someone must work this cure for you: spit on his finger and rub it on your wart while saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
6884. "I [a woman] had a big wart on my face. One day a man said, 'What's that on your face?' taking his spit and rubbing over my wart in the
Three Highest Names. In about a week he came back, said, 'How's the wart getting along?' and rub some more spit over it. The third week he
came along, did the same thing. And the fourth week my wart was gone. But if you are a man, a woman must put her spit on."
6885. Three mornings in succession rub saliva over your wart while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, take my wart away.
6886. This wart-cure rite must be repeated for seven mornings: wet your finger with saliva and rub it in the form of a cross on your wart while
saying the Three Highest Names.
6887. "I had twenty-seven warts and that is all I done, was to spit on my finger and make the sign of the cross three times on each wart, and I lost
all twenty-seven warts."
6888. If on awaking in the morning you spit on your wart and do this for seven mornings, the wart will be gone by the fourteenth morning.
6889. Your wart can be taken off by spitting on your finger and spreading this saliva on the wart each morning for nine mornings.
6890. Your wart can be taken off by spitting on your finger, putting the finger in dust, and spreading this saliva-mud on the wart each morning
for nine mornings.
6891. Your wart can be taken off by spitting on it and rubbing salt over this saliva each morning for nine mornings.

Salt - Shoe - Soap - Snow - Spoon - Stick (6892-6906)

SALT
6892. Salt rubbed on a wart and then fed to a cow is a cure.
6893. To cure a wart, make it bleed and rub it well with salt. This is sometimes called salting down a wart.

SHOE
6894. Let a person rub his shoe over his wart, put on the shoe, and then take a walk. This is sometimes called walking your wart away.
6895. "My brother had his hands full of warts. He took the leather out of an old shoe and rub over his warts In the Name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, then buried the old piece of leather to rot; when it rotted away, his warts were gone."
6896. A shoe string stolen from someone's left shoe may be rubbed over your wart and buried for a remedy.

SOAP
6897. For getting rid of a wart, rub it with a piece of soap and bury the soap.
6898. If you rub over someone's wart a small piece of soap — he must not know what is being used --- and throw the soap away, the wart will
disappear after a rain washes the soap away.
6899. Wash your wart in a snow pile and the wart will go away after the snow melts.
6900. Wash your wart three times with water melted from the first snow and the wart will soon disappear.

SPOON
6901. A silver spoon rubbed over your wart every night just before you go to bed soon removes the wart.
6902. A brass spoon rubbed over your wart and buried soon rids you of the wart.

STICK
6903. "Years ago we were going through the woods to school and we had a neighbor girl that her feet was just full of warts, she could not even
wear her shoes. One day her sister held her and I took a pin and picked every wart until they bled, then picked up a stick and rub allover the
warts, getting the stick full of blood, with the girl howling all the time, then threw the stick away and went to school. It was no time until all of
the warts were gone and she could wear her shoes again."
6904. "I had a cousin that had twenty-one warts, she tried everything and nothing would take them off. I went to see her and she told me. I said,
'Don't worry, I will take them off.' I went out in the yard, got a crooked stick and cut twenty-one notches in the stick, then rubbed each notch over
a wart until I rubbed over all twenty-one, then buried the stick. And in no time all her twenty-one warts were gone."
6905. For each of your warts cut a notch in a stick and lay the latter near the house so that water can drip on it. The warts will vanish after the
first rain.
 161

6906. If you carve on a stick one notch to represent each wart and dip this into vinegar and rub these notches over the warts, you will not have the
warts long. The stick may be buried or thrown away.

Straw - String and Thread and Yarn - Teeth (6907-6975)

STRAW
6907. Break a wheat straw at one of the joints, rub this broken joint over your wart, and bury the straw; when it rots, you will be without the
wart.
6908. Slowly but firmly press the end of a straw against your wart so that a little piece of the straw will break off. This pressure must be
continued until the whole straw is broken into small pieces. Then bury these pieces and you will soon lose the wart.
6909. You may cut a small piece off both ends of a straw (three pieces; two small, one large), rub each end of the large piece round your wart
three times in a circular motion, and then bury this larger straw. Some day soon the wart will be missed.
6910. "When we lived over in Missouri my sister Ada was full of warts; she had about one-hundred of those little warts on one hand, about fifty
on the other. I don't know why, but years ago people was full of those old warts. We often went over to see old grandy that was an old woman
that lived across the creek from our farm. One day we were all sitting on a bench in front of her spring-house, it was just covered with green ivy,
sitting between four big trees --- the sun never did get to it, for it was in the woods. While we were sitting there grandy said to Ada, I can take
your warts off, but I can't do it all at one time, you have too many, will have to take them off of one hand at a time. Ada spoke up and said,
'Mother would sure be glad if you did.' Grandy went to the house, got a long straw out of her straw tick on the bed and came back. She counted
the warts on one hand, then she cut a little notch in this straw for every wart on that hand, then rubbed that straw three times over the warts, then
buried it under a stone. It didn't take them off the first time, because she had too many. Sister went back several times and Grandy cut notches in
straw until she lost every wart she had."
6911. This may be done to lose a wart: wrap a straw round your finger so that the wart is covered and then throw the straw over your shoulder.
6912. This may be done to lose a wart: tie a wheat straw round your finger so that it touches the wart, leave this on for three days, and then throw
the straw away.
6913. "My sister had a big seed wart on her knee and an old German woman told her to do this: get nine straws, make a knot in each straw, rub
each knot over your wart, make a cross over those nine knots of straw, then put them in an envelope, seal this envelope and put someone's name
on it, and drop it where someone can find it, and whoever picks it up will get your wart. She did this and lost her big seed wart on her knee."
6914. Each morning for seven mornings light the end of a straw and rub this charred end round your wart as a remedy.

STRING - THREAD - YARN

6915. If you tie a string — thread or piece of yarn — round your wart, leave it there, and do not look at it again, the wart will disappear after the
knot has been lost. You may use string or thread of any material and color, or yarn of any color.
6916. If you have a wart, knot a black-silk thread round it and each night thereafter add another knotted thread of black silk until the wart
vanishes.
6917. For losing a wart, rub it with a knot tied in a string and then wear the string round your waist until the string is lost.
6918. To take off your warts, let someone loop a piece of yarn round each wart and draw the loops into knots as you count them.
6919. Warts will soon leave, after you tie a knot in a string for each wart and burn up the string.
6920. If you break off a long piece of thread from the spool, light a match and burn this thread, rub over your wart these thread ashes, and wipe
the charred match on your wart, the wart will soon leave.
6921. Tie a string round your wart, take off the string, burn it to ashes, and bury the ashes as a cure.
6922. You can lose a wart, if you tie a knot in a string — thread or yarn — and bury the string. String or thread of any material or color, or yarn
of any color may be used. Colored material, especially red, is often preferred to black or white; they say it rots quicker.
6923. You can lose a wart, if you tie a knot in a string — thread or yarn — and rub the knot over the wart and bury the string. What was
said about material and color in the preceding remedy also applies here.
6924. You can lose a wart, if you tie round it a string — thread or yarn — and then bury this knotted string. What was said about material and
color in the two preceding remedies also applies here.
6925. If a knot is tied in a string for each wart and buried where you can walk over it, you will lose a wart each week until all of them have been
lost.
6926. "I had a big wart and I took a string and tied it full of knots, and then rub the knot over my wart and buried the string under a board, and
my wart left."
6927. The removal of a wart is accomplished by knotting a silk thread round it and burying the thread under a brick on the north side of the
house.
6928. As a remedy for a wart, tie a knot in a string and bury the string under the eaves of a barn.
6929. If you make a loop round your wart with a string, slip this loop off and pull it into a knot, bury the string under the eaves of the house, the
wart will be cured.
6930. The person who makes a knot in a string for each wart, rubs the knots on his warts, buries the string under the eaves of the house, will soon
be without the warts.
6931. A wart remedy is to tie a knot in a string and bury the string under an old log.
6932. A black thread in which a knot is made for each wart can be buried under a rock for a cure.
6933. You rid yourself of a wart, if you tie a white-silk thread round it and bury the thread under a white rock.
6934. To be freed from warts, you must make a knot in a string for each wart, chew this string in your mouth, and bury the string under a rock.
6935. Someone not having a wart must perform this cure for you: tie a string round your wart, slip the knotted string off your finger, and tell you
to bury the string under a white rock. Be sure the string is buried under a white rock; otherwise the operator himself will get the wart.
6936. In a black-silk thread tie a knot for each wart, rub these knots on the warts three times, and bury the string as a cure.
6937. A white string rubbed three times on your wart and buried under an old board is a remedy.
6938. Whoever makes three knots in a string looped round his wart and buries the string under the eaves of the house will soon be rid of the wart.
6939. "I did this and my wart went: take a white string, rub over the wart seven times and bury it."
6940. You may make a knot in a piece of yarn, tie this over your wart so that the knot will rest on top of the wart, let it remain there all night,
next morning bury the yarn, and the wart will soon be gone.
6941. If you tie a string round your wart, add three double knots so that they lie on the wart, and bury the string, the wart will soon vanish.
6942. Rub a string over your warts while counting them and then bury the string as a remedy.
 162

6943. If you hold a white cord string while counting your warts, then make a knot for each wart, and finally bury that string under the eaves at the
north corner of the house, the dripping water will soon wash away the warts. The string may be buried under the eaves at the north corner of the
chicken house.
6944. While tying a string round your wart, make a wish to lose the wart and then bury the string.
6945. While tying a silk thread round your wart, make a wish about something other than the removal of the wart and then bury the thread, and
you will not have the wart long.
6946. Do this three times: rub a string over your wart while wishing the wart away and then bury the string.
6947. Wart blood wiped on a string and buried is a cure.
6948. Wart blood wiped on a knot made in a string and buried under the eaves of the house is a cure.
6949. Wart blood, as in the two preceding beliefs, is a cure, provided you obtain the blood by tying the wart tightly with a string; but to complete
the cure, you must bury the bloody string under a rock.
6950. Cut your wart off with a string and bury the string as a remedy.
6951. To get rid of a wart, tie a string round it, rub the wart with fat, take off the string, and bury both string and fat.
6952. Warts will soon came off, after you go to the fireplace and put soot over them, sit in a corner (near, or close by, the fireplace) and tie in a
string a knot for each wart, return to the fireplace and rub soot on the knots, and then bury the string.
6953. If while tying a knot in a red string you say One and nothing else until you have buried that string, the wart will soon go away; and
similarly, for several warts, you tie as many knots and say One as many times as you have warts.
6954. "My daughter had several bad warts and I tied a string around each one and said O Jesus, take my warts away, and buried the strings and
they left."
6955. Three knots must be tied in a silk thread: the first while saying Father; the second, Son; and the third, Holy Ghost. Bury this thread
and your wart will soon disappear.
6956. "Another thing my brother tried for a wart was to take a black-silk thread, tie it around his wart, then make the cross over the wart three
times, saying the Three Highest Names, then take that string off and bury it."
6957. If you scratch your wart until it bleeds, make three knots in a string, rub these over that blood while saying In the Name of the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost, take my wart, and then bury the string as you repeat the same incantation, the wart will soon be cured.
6958. At late mass on Sunday morning while the priest is pronouncing the final benediction, tie a string round your wart as you say In the Name
of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, take my wart away; then, after you leave the church, immediately bury the string, repeating the same
incantation, and the wart will soon be gone.
6959. You can cure your wart by tying a knot in a white string, rubbing this knot over the wart, and throwing that string over your left shoulder.
6960. As a cure for a wart, make it bleed, wipe this blood on a knot made in a string, and throw the string away.
6961. Nine knots tied in a string, rubbed over your wart and thrown away, will remove the wart.
6962. Tie a knot in each of two strings, rub these knots on your wart and throw the strings over your shoulder, and the wart will soon leave.
6963. A string tied round a wart and then thrown into a well is a cure.
6964. While standing with your back to a well, tie a string round your wart, then throw the string over your shoulder into the water, and you
will soon lose the wart.
6965. For curing your wart, tie a string round it, slip off the string, hold the knot over the wart while saying In the Name of the Father, Son
and Holv Ghost, take my wart, and then drop the string into a well.
6966. Five knots made in a string may be rubbed in wart blood and thrown into a well as a remedy.
6967. A person may rub his wart with a knot tied in a string and then tie the string to an eave of the house so that water dripping off the roof
will run down the string and wash the wart into the ground.
6968. To make a wart leave, tie a string round it and then tie the string on a barn-loft rafter.
6969. A piece of yarn may be soaked in blood drawn from your wart, then rolled into a little ball, and finally wedged into a rafter crack as a cure.
6970. Make a knot in a black string, rub this knot on your wart and then on a piece of bacon, and lay the meat in a rat hole. A rat will soon eat
the bacon and get the wart.
6971. Warts are removed by making a knot in a string for each wart, rubbing these knots over the warts, and then plugging up the string in a hole
made in a tree.
6972. If you tie a black string round your wart, letting it remain for three days, then take off the string and wrap it about a cherry tree, leaving
it there for the same period of time, you will lose your wart, but the tree will die.
6973. During the spring, tie as many knots on a white cord string as you have warts, then cut a notch in a white oak tree for each wart; and by
autumn, when revisiting the tree, you will find its trunk covered with your warts.

TEETH
6974. Bite your wart by drawing it up to a point with your teeth and do this whenever you think about it. This is called biting off a wart.
6975. Each morning on getting up and before drinking or eating, rub your wart over your teeth; do this for nine mornings, then skip nine days,
and repeat the alternate procedure three times. At the end of the period your wart will be gone.

Tomato - Tree - Turtle - Water - Wishing (6976-7000)

TOMATO
6976. A rotten tomato rubbed on your wart and thrown over your left shoulder is a cure.
6977. Green tomato juice applied to your wart three times a day for seven days takes off the wart.

TREE
6978. Stroke a wart thrice with your hand and then rub your hand three times over a tree stump as a remedy.
6979. If you go frequently to an old stump that has been burned and rub some of the ashes on your wart, the wart w1ll soon be rubbed away.
6980. Water from an old stump may be used in washing away your wart.
6981. A wart may be washed off with water that stands in a white oak stump; a dead stump say some, a green one say others.
6982. To cure a wart, wash it with stump-water on three days. A white oak stump is often prescribed.
6983. To cure a wart, wash it with stump-water on three days. You must do this early in the morning and use stump-water on which the sun is
shining.
 163

6984. If you swish your wart in the water of an old stump and make a wish while doing this, the wart will leave as soon as the water evaporates
from the stump. You will also get the wish.
6985. As a remedy, a person may wash his wart in stump-water, wait seven days and wash it again, and wait seven days and wash it the third
time.
6986. Go before sunrise to a stump having water and wash your wart in this water as a cure. You must do this for seven mornings.
6987. Go before sunrise to a stump having water and wash your wart in this water as a cure. You must do this for nine mornings.
6988. Water found in the decayed root of an old tree is a good wart-curing lotion.
6989. The following rite will cure a wart: make it bleed, wipe the blood on a cloth, hide this in a hollow tree, and never look at that tree again.
6990. Bore a hole in a tree, make your wart bleed, wipe the blood on a rag, stuff this into the hole so that a small portion of the rag remains
outside, plug up the hole with a piece of wood, and then cut off the exposed part of the rag. This is called cutting off a wart.

TURTLE
6991. Turtle blood may be applied to a wart as a cure.
6992. The person who cuts off the head of a turtle and applies some of the head blood to his wart will soon be rid of the wart.

WATER
6993. A wart washed in a puddle of muddy water will vanish with the drying up of that puddle.
6994. A wart made to bleed and then washed in a puddle of rain-water will vanish with the drying up of that puddle.
6995. "I went and took some water and rubbed it good over my wart and threw the water over my right shoulder, and a drop of that water got on
my cheek and I got a wart on my cheek and didn't lose the other wart either."
6996. You can get rid of your wart by making a rhyme while your head is stuck in a rain barrel. Some say there must be water in the barrel;
also, that the wart will go when the barrel is empty.

WISHING
6997. "I had several warts and I wished them on my best girl I was going with. Of course that was a long time ago and it was a mean trick. I don't
know if she got them or not, for we fell out right after that; but I do I know I lost my warts after I wished them on her."
6998. "When my husband was a young man his hands were just full of warts. There was a girl in the crowd he didn't like at all, and one day,
when he met her face to face, he wished all of his warts on her ass. And it was no time until his warts were gone. And they say her backside was
just full of warts. Wish them on someone's backside you don't like, when you meet them, and they will get them."
6999. Make your wart burn by rubbing it with your left hand and then wish the wart on someone.
7000. You rid yourself of a wart by writing a wish on a piece of paper and taking the paper to a crossroad where it must be torn up and scattered
to the four winds.
Miscellaneous Wart Cures – One Each (7001-7051)
Beet - Menstrual Blood - Breath (7001-7003)
7001. If you go to somebody's garden, steal a beet, rub this over your wart, and bury the vegetable back in the place from which it was pulled,
you will soon be without the wart.
7002. "My husband had a big seed wart, and after he went to sleep at night, I would rub some of my monthly fluid over this wart; did this
the whole period, and he lost his wart."
7003. "I tried this just last week: blow over your wart three times, saying the Three Highest Names. And if my two warts are not gone in
three weeks, will try again and do it every three weeks until they leave."

Burning - Cow Manure - Cross sign (7004-7006)

7004. Warts pulled out and burned up will never return.
7005. Cow manure used as a poultice is a wart remedy.
7006. To remove a wart, make a cross over it at three different times on Friday and do this three Fridays in succession.

Dew - Dime - Dishwater - Elm - Fingernail (7007-7011)

7007. One gets rid of a wart by rubbing it with dew before sunrise on seven mornings.
7008. A dime rubbed over your wart and then lost is a cure.
7009. This wart-cure rite may be done only when you are washing the knives and forks after breakfast: sprinkle some of the dishwater over your
wart In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and do this on three mornings.
7010. If you cut a notch on an elm stick, make your wart bleed, rub the notch in the blood, and bury the stick, the wart will be gone when the
stick rots apart at that notch.
7011. Your finger-nails may be pared to the quick and rubbed over your wart; when they grow out again, the wart will be gone.

Fly-Flea-Flue - May Flowers - Friday - Frog (7012-7015)

7012. Here is an incantation that you may use when taking off a person's wart, but it must be said secretly to yourself while rubbing the wart: A
fly and a flea met in a flue. Said the fly to the flea, Let's fly. So the fly and the flea flew through a flaw in the flue. Then, speaking out loud for
the first time, you must say to the person When the flies and fleas are gone in the fall, your wart will be gone.
7013. During the month of May rub your wart while saying Beautiful flowers in May. After the May flowers have stopped blooming, you will be
without the wart.
7014. "We had some plasterers working at our house and one of them said to my daughter, 'Why don't you get rid of that wart?' Then he told her,
'Go out in the yard, rub your hand over your wart, saying Friday over and over'."
7015. To lose your wart, kill a frog and, while the legs are still twitching, cut off one of them, rub it over the wart, and then throw away the leg.

Grapevine - Hazel - Hickory - New House (7016-7019)

7016. A piece of newly cut grapevine may be rubbed on your wart and buried as a remedy.
7017. If you make a notch in a hazel stick, rub the notch over your wart, and bury the stick, you will not have the wart long.
7018. If you make a notch in a hickory stick, rub the notch over your wart, and bury the stick, you will not have the wart long.
7019. You can lose your wart by visiting a newly built house before it has occupants and rubbing the wart three times over the doorsill.
 164

Jimson Weed - Lamp Wick - Lemon - Lime (7020-7023)

7020. Jimson-weed leaves rubbed on your wart and buried are a cure.
7021. A person rids himself of a wart, if he rubs it with the burnt end of a lamp wick and buries the wick.
7022. The end of a lemon rubbed over your wart three times a day for three days cures the wart.
7023. For a wart remedy, steal some lime, and having rubbed this over your wart throw the lime away.

Liver - Negro - Nickel (Coin) - Nightshade (7024-7027)

7024. If you slice a chunk of liver into ten pieces, rub nine of them over your wart and throw the tenth piece away, you will soon get rid of the
wart.
7025. As a wart cure, let a Negro kiss it three times.
7026. "I had a friend that had a wart and she took a nickel, rubbed her wart good, then went right to the corner store and bought a five-cent ice
cream cone, so the nickel would start to passing through other people hands right away, to lose her wart."
7027. Just before beginning to thresh, rub your wart with a piece of night- shade and lay the plant where it will soon be covered by the straw
coming from the threshing-machine. This will remove the wart.

Pencil - Pin - Peroxide - Pine Board (7028-7030)

7028. "When I went to school I had seven warts. Someone told me to take a soft lead pencil and mark around them every morning, I would lose
them. I did and lost my seven warts."
7029. "I have tried this and it is good, your wart will go away: pick it with a pin until it bleeds, then put peroxide on it; do this for three
mornings."
7030. "I had two warts. I took a piece of pine board, cut a notch in it for each wart, and threw the piece of pine out on the sidewalk. I soon lost my
two warts. Whoever picks up that piece of pine will get your warts. My mother came to see me about a year after that and had a big wart on her
hand. I said, 'I will take it off real easy.' So I got a pine board, cut the notch in it. This time I forgot to throw it on the sidewalk so someone would
get it, but threw it in my back yard. Several weeks after that, forgetting all about the pine board, I was out in the back yard picking up old pieces
of kindling to start a fire and picked up the piece with the notch in, and I got my mother's big wart. This is so. And I got it in place she had it on
her hand."

Potato Bug - Rice - Rubber Band - Sand (7031-7034)

7031. Mashed potato-bugs may be applied to a wart as a remedy.
7032. Rice rubbed on your wart and thrown over your left shoulder is a cure.
7033. "I had a bad wart. I took a rubber band and tied it so tight over my wart that the end of my finger was all blue. Then I threw the rubber
band away and my wart left me."
7034. One grain of sand may be rubbed over your wart, put in a piece of paper, and dropped on the road; whoever picks up the package will get
the wart. For several warts, rub each of them with a grain of sand.

Sassafras - Scissors - Silver - Snail Shell (7035-7038)

7035. A piece of sassafras rubbed on your wart for nine mornings takes it away.
7036. If you rub your wart with a pair of scissors stolen from your mother and hide them where they will never be found, the wart will soon
vanish.
7037. A piece of silver, which someone must give to you, may be rubbed on your wart and buried as a cure.
7038. "I had several warts. I had tried several things, didn't do any good, when a man told me to find a snail shell, spit on it, then rub over
my warts, then lay the shell back the way I picked it up; if I did this, would lose my warts. Well, I found the snail shell and lost all my warts.
Don't know if this did it or not, but I do know I lost them after I tried it."

Soot - Sow Urine - Spider Web - Splinter (7039-7042)

7039. A wart rubbed on seven days with soot from a stovepipe will soon leave.
7040. You can prevent warts by washing occasionally with a sow's urine.
7041. A spider web may be put on a wart and burned off as a cure. Sometimes, to keep from burning your finger, a hole the size of the wart is cut
in a piece of leather so that the leather will fit around the wart and over the finger.
7042. To rid yourself of a wart, pick it with a splinter until blood comes and then throw the splinter away.

Suet - Sword - Silver Thimble - Toad Urine (7043-7046)

7043. "I had a very bad wart. It worried me all the time, so I thought I would try this. So I went to Mr. X's butcher shop and, when he was
not looking, took a piece of suet, rub it good over my wart, took it home and buried it under the eaves of the house where the water drip on it, and
it was no time until my wart disappear."
7044. If you wrap a wet cloth round a sword, wash your wart with that cloth and bury it, you will miss the wart after the cloth decays.
7045. A wart rubbed every night with a silver thimble just before you go to bed will soon be cured.
7046. Let a toad wet on your wart to cure it.

Toenail Parings - Toothpick - wild turnip (7047-7049)

7047. The parings from three toe-nails may be rubbed three times on a wart as a remedy, but they must come from the opposite sex.
7048. "What I did to lose my wart was to take a toothpick, rub over my wart in the Three Highest Names and bury."
7049. If you rub a wild turnip (also called Indian turnip, the root of jack-in-the-pulpit) over your wart for three mornings, you will not find
the wart on the fourth morning.

Own Urine - Green Walnut (7050-7051)

7050. "I did this to my warts and they left; rub them for three mornings in my own urine."
7051. You can take off your wart by rubbing it with a green walnut and burying the walnut.
 165

WHITLOW: FELON - RING-AROUND - RUN-AROUND (7052-7066)

7052. "My husband had a felon on his neck and I took the baby's manure, made a poultice, and it draw it right out."
7053. Cow dung heated and applied to a run-around is a cure.
7054. "New Year's Day I was eating a piece of candy and X's dog was standing there staring at me, and an old German woman said, 'You had
better give that dog a bite of your candy or you will get a ring-around on your finger. Never eat anything before a dog and he wants some and not
give him any; you will get a ring-around'."
7055. To cure an incipient felon, break a hole in the small end of a raw egg and thrust the aching finger into it. Hold your finger there until
warm. Repeat this process six more times, using a fresh egg on each occasion.
7056. For a remedy, spread raw potato scrapings on your felon, leave there several hours, and wash the finger thoroughly; then, stick your finger
through a hole made in the small end of a raw egg, and do this with twelve eggs.
7057. You lose a felon by pricking it with a needle and applying an ointment compounded from several eyebrow hairs, fresh hog lard, and one
drop of turpentine.
7058. If you bind a small live frog on your felon, the felon will be gone after the frog dies. Some say you must get the frog from a spring.
7059. Goose manure is a good salve for a felon.
7060. A treatment for a ring-around is to press your afflicted finger into mud while saying I bury thee, ring-around.
7061. It is impossible to cure a felon on the finger of a person who eats onions.
7062. A felon is caused by pointing your finger at a rainbow.
7063. The seventh son or the seventh daughter can remove your felon, if he or she squeezes it thrice while saying In the Name of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. This rite must be performed on three successive days.
7064. "I know this is so, for I had a bad one and tried it, and my ring-around got well right away: bathe it in your own urine."
7065. Tobacco boiled in stale urine makes a good poultice for a ring-around.
7066. In treating a run-around, rapidly dip the afflicted finger three times into boiling-hot water to which salt has been added.
WORMS AND RINGWORM (7067-7095)

WORMS
7067. A child that swallows a cat hair will get worms.
7068. Worms sometimes come from a cat breathing into a child's mouth.
7069. Children who bite their finger-nails have worms.
7070. Garlic in a sock laid on a child's navel is a worm remedy.
7071. To rid a child of worms, give it a head louse in a teaspoonful of jelly.
7072. You can cure worms in a child by dipping a rag into a manure puddle and rubbing the rag over the child's stomach.
7073. A child picking its nose has worms.
7074. A child picking its nose and eating what is picked has worms.
7075. Pigeon-manure tea cures worms.
7076. Whoever has worms can make them pass, if he takes a raisin for each year of his age, soaks these raisins in whiskey overnight and eats all
of them at one time.
7077. Any child that grits its teeth has worms.
7078. Let a child smoke tobacco in a pipe immediately after its first birthday and he will never have worms.
7079. Tobacco leaves wrapped in a rag and dipped into boiling water may be put on a child's navel as a worm remedy.
7080. Turpentine-and-lard salve is rubbed round a child's navel in a circular motion to cure worms.
7081. If a child has worms, mix a teaspoonful of turpentine and one-half teaspoonful of fresh lard, start to rub in the middle of the throat,
rubbing on down the body — never rub up, for the worms will go up and choke the child — until you reach the navel, then rub round the navel
nine times on nine nights; and you will kill the worms.

RINGWORM
7082. The person who has a ringworm will die, if the ends of the ringworm meet.
7083. A ringworm in the foot can be cured by walking barefoot in the dew every morning.
7084. From a piece of copper wire make a ring that will just circle the outer edges of your ringworm, twist this ring round the ringworm five
times to the right, then seven times to the left, and this will keep the ringworm from spreading and eventually effect its cure.
7085. Rub a gold (same say wedding) ring round a ringworm three times, then wait three days, keep repeating this alternate rite of rubbing and
waiting until the ringworm has been rubbed on nine occasions, each separated by a three- day period, and the ringworm will leave.
7086. Skunk grease can be rubbed on a ringworm as a remedy.
7087. "Years ago when people lived so far apart, when they had a funeral they would hang around the cemetery all day and visit with one
another, for they didn't get to see one another in those days. I remember one day I was at the cemetery with my folks and a woman had a very bad
ringworm on the side of her face, and another woman walked up to her and spit right in her face on the ringworm. The woman started to getting
mad and the woman said, 'Mollie, don't get mad at me, I only did it to make you lose that ringworm, and you will.' I [the informant was 89 in
1932] remember that as well as if it was today."
7088. A less violent remedy than the preceding one is to walk up to the person who has a ringworm, spit on your finger and, keeping your eyes on
the ringworm and without speaking, touch the ringworm several times.
7089. To lose a ringworm, rub it on three mornings with saliva and always with a circular motion in the direction the ringworm runs.
7090. A ringworm rubbed with saliva for nine mornings will soon disappear.
7091. If you moisten your index finger, rub it over the bottom of a sooty pot, then make a cross on the ringworm, the ringworm will soon be
cured.
7092. The mouth of a thimble pressed down tightly over your ringworm is a cure. You do this once only, but same say you must hold the thimble
down as long as possible.
7093. While pressing the mouth of a brass thimble down over your ringworm, twist the thimble round three times as a remedy.
7094. In curing a ringworm, rub a thimble round it seven times.
7095. As a remedy for a ringworm on your foot, bathe it with your own urine.
 166

YELLOW JAUNDICE AND GALLSTONES (7096-7114)

7096. To discover whether you are suffering from yellow jaundice, boil an egg hard, remove the yolk and wear it in a small bag on your breast: if
after a few days the texture of the yolk still remains firm and the color clear, you have the disease; but if the yolk stinks, your disease is not
yellow jaundice.
7097. The yolk of a hard boiled egg may be worn in a sack about the neck to cure yellow jaundice.
7098. "I know several people that tried this and it cure them. If you have yellow jaundice, take and boil two eggs hard and peel, then put under
your arms and sleep with one under each arm, and they will draw the yellow jaundice out. Put fresh eggs under your arms every night until the
egg stays all yellow. As long as you have any yellow jaundice in your body, the egg under your arm will be yellow in the morning."
7099. As a yellow-jaundice remedy, two eggs must be boiled hard, peeled, and then bound one in each armpit when you go to bed. Repeat this for
three consecutive nights and on the third morning burn the eggs.
7100. "I know a woman up here in the Bottom that had yellow jaundice bad, so bad the doctor said he could not help her, when an old German
woman made goose-manure tea and made her drink a cupful first, then after that not so much; and she got out of bed after she took that first cup,
and got well after the doctor said he could not help her."
7101. Tea made from the white part of goose manure is drunk for yellow jaundice. One informant who gave this remedy called the manure goose
corks.
7102. "I heard my mother tell of a woman about seventy years ago [1865] having yellow jaundice and they could not get anything to help them.
Then they got some lice from someone's head and put them in something to cook that this person ate, and the person got well."
7103. "A lady told me that her sister-in-law had yellow jaundice bad --- they gave her up at the hospital, sent her home to die --- and some old
lady told them about making pills out of sheep lice and flour and sugar; and they did and she got well."
7104. Three sheep lice eaten in some article of food will rid you of yellow jaundice.
7105. "My cousin had yellow jaundice, the doctor gave her up, when one of the neighbors said, 'Give her nine sheep lice on a spoon in milk.' She
took them and got well."
7106. Yellow jaundice can be cured by drinking tea brewed from sheep dung.
7107. If a person with yellow jaundice boils some sow bugs in water, adds enough corn meal to make a cake and places this in a hot oven, the
disease will disappear as soon as the cake is done.
7108. Scoop out the inside of an apple or a turnip, fill this cavity with your urine, then hang up the fruit or vegetable (some say upside down) to
dry; and when it has dried, your yellow jaundice will be gone.
7109. You should gouge out the top of a carrot and, having filled this hole with your urine, suspend the carrot (some say upside down) in a
chimney. Your yellow jaundice will vanish after the vegetable decays.
7110. "If you have yellow jaundice, take corn meal and let the person that has it urinate in that meal, then bake it like bread and let it burn
black, then take it out of the stove backward and walk to the door backward, then throw it out the door without looking where it goes. It is a good
cure."
7111. "If you have yellow jaundice, take and get a rock very hot, then get a chair without any bottom in it and put it over the hot rock, then sit
down on that chair with a blanket all around you, then take a leak [urinate] on that rock, and the steam will come up and cure you."
7112. "I knew someone that had yellow jaundice bad and they did this and it cure them. This is good. If you have yellow jaundice, take a shingle
and raise up your bedroom window, put the window down on the shingle, fix the shingle so the wind will blow on it, then, every night before
going to bed, urinate on that shingle so the wind will carry it, the urine, away. Start this the first day of the week."
7113. A case of gallstones is cured by drinking tea made from the lining of a chicken gizzard.
7114. "My father had gallstones and he took this mussel-shell powder and it cure him. Take the mussel shells off the river bank, dry them good,
then make a powder of them, put boiling water over this mussel-shell powder, stir good and let stand overnight, drain it off and let the person
drink like coffee or tea."
MISCELLANEOUS CURES (7115-7213)
Dead Bone - Diabetes - Dropsy - Drunkenness (7115-7126)
"DEAD BONE"
7115. "I had a dead bone in my wrist. I went to a dead baby under a year old, rubbed that bone over the baby three times, rubbing up, then
kneeled down at the coffin and said the Three Fathers."

DIABETES
7116. "Dr. X. has what she calls gangrene diabetes, but she is the picture of health. Her toes are all black underneath, eaten away. Now, she
doctors herself, and they come all right again. They swell with that. She can't wear her shoes. She hasn't had a shoe on her foot for three
years. She had a special pair of shoes made to order a month ago. She told me if she wasn't a doctor herself, she would have been dead years ago,
because she has to be up nearly every hour of the night to treat them. I told Z. [a man who has been a horse-doctor and healer] about Doctor X's
foot, and he told me to tell her to go to a butcher shop where they just killed a cow, and while the pouch was warm, she should put her foot in this
stomach. He said it was dirty, but it would cure her. I told her about it and she said there was nothing to it."

DROPSY
7117. Dropsy can be cured by drinking cow urine every morning.
7118. "I had the dropsy bad. My legs were all swollen up and my whole body. I took same elderberry roots and dry them, then scraped them
down, as the water in dropsy goes down. And you must never scrape up. Then I took a teaspoonful in a cup of water three times a day. And I am
well today."
7119. "This German woman told me that a woman gave her a pair of shoes and this woman who gave the shoes away had dropsy. She put the
shoes on one morning to go to work and that night her feet were so swollen she could not walk, and for several days her feet every night were so
swollen she did not know what was wrong, for her feet never did swell before. So she put on her own shoes and worked all day in them and her
feet were fine. She thought she was getting the dropsy from the shoes given to her, so she burned up the other woman's shoes and didn't have any
more trouble with her feet."
7120. An old colored woman said that years ago she had dropsy, having caught it from the man in the house where she worked: "I went to the
mill when the moon was going down, got nine pounds of wheat bran, urinated in it nine times, put it in a white sack, tied it up; then after dark, I
went out in the yard and took my left hand and threw it up in a tree, and did not look at that tree for seven years. Then I was well."
 167

DRUNKENNESS
7121. A man will soon stop drinking whiskey after you find the empty bottles and burn them.
7122. You can reform a drunkard by soaking an eelskin in the liquor he drinks.
7123. If scrapings from your finger-nails are soaked in the liquor a man uses, he will soon give up the drinking habit.
7124. As a method for reforming a drunkard, soak a small dead fish in his liquor.
7125. To sober a man who is drunk, let him drink milk from a sow.
7126. "A man on a farm by Clayton was always coming home and breaking up the dishes and running his family out --- he was a wonderful man
when liquor was out --- when one day a gypsy woman came along and told his wife about the chamber lye. So she saved it and put it in a gallon
of whiskey he had on the place. It sure made him very sick, but it broke him. I know this is so, for we lived on the next farm to them at that
time."

“Fallen Palate” - “Falling-Off” or “Flesh-Decay” (7127-7132)

“FALLEN PALATE"
7127. To prevent the palate of a child from falling or to put a fallen palate back in place, pull upwards on a lock of hair in the child's crown.
7128. Some Negroes tie knots in the hair of a child's crown, to keep its palate from falling.
7129. If the palate of a child falls, roll some of the child's hair into a small ball and put it under the palate as a cure.
7130. Black pepper sprinkled over molasses on the handle of a spoon is held against the roof of the mouth to raise a child's fallen palate.
7131. A fallen palate can be put back in place by letting salt on your tongue dissolve against the roof of the mouth.

"FALLING-OFF" "FLESH-DECAY”
7132. "If you have flesh-decay --- some call it falling-off --- take a certain outfit of clothes, wear them for nine days. You must turn them every
day so one day you will be wearing them right side out, the next day wrong side out. On the ninth night pull them off over your head, handing
them over your left shoulder to someone behind you. They are to take all those clothes to running water and throw in. When the clothes rot, you
will start to pick up."

Heart Trouble - Insanity - “Livergrown” (7133-7155)

HEART TROUBLE
7133. Rapid palpitation of the heart is cured with poultices of yellow clay on the soles of your feet.
7134. White clay may be eaten as a heart-trouble remedy.
7135. Garlic worn on your underclothes is good for heart trouble.
7136. Always sleep north and south, the direction in which water flows (drains in the Mississippi Valley), and you will have better heart action.
7137. A nutmeg worn in a sack over your heart relieves cardiac pains.
7138. Cardiac disorders may be avoided by keeping near the heart several rattlesnake rattles wrapped in a piece of silk cloth.
7139. In strengthening a weak heart, bind a black-silk string about the left arm.
7140. Babies weaned in the sign of the heart (Leo) will suffer from heart trouble.

INSANITY
7141. If a mother is insane, her daughter will inherit the insanity; if a father, his son.
7142. Masturbation is a cause of insanity.
7143. Persons sleeping where the moon can shine on them will soon go crazy. A growing baby sleeping in the moonlight goes crazy later in life.
7144. An insane person always becomes worse during the increase of the moon.
7145. Never sleep with an east wind blowing on you; you will eventually become insane.
7146. A person becomes insane by keeping his shoes beneath the bed.
7147. "A woman told me about a family that had had trouble in a house, the husband having lost his mind. This family moved and the house
remained vacant a long time. When the next family moved in, the husband also lost his mind."

"LIVER-GROWN"
7148. A baby whose resting posture is frequently changed by the mother will not be liver-grown. A "liver-grown" condition was believed to come
from letting a baby lie continually in the same position which, as formerly thought, makes the baby's liver adhere to some internal part of
the body, usually the back, since lying on the back is the normal posture of rest during infancy. Hence, as preventives against or cures for this
liver-grown disorder, all methods prescribe or imply a shaking loose of the liver.
7149. To keep a baby from becoming liver-grown, each morning its body while held upside down by the feet should be well shaken.
7150. "My mother did this: if a child is liver-grown, take the baby by the heels and hold it head down and shake it up and down; do this
every morning for nine mornings, will cure it."
7151. Turn a liver-grown child upside down by holding its feet and letting its head hang downward. Repeat this nine times each morning for nine
successive days and the disease will leave.
7152. As a remedy for a liver-grown child, hold its feet up in the air while swinging its body back and forth; and, at the same time, or between
swings, have someone rub the child downwards from the shoulder blades.
7153. A baby born liver-grown can be cured as follows: wet both your thumbs in sweet oil, put one thumb on each shoulder blade of the child,
rub downwards to the hips, and do this nine times each morning for nine days.
7154. In curing a liver-grown child, pass it backwards and forwards through a horse collar.
7155. Liver-grown children will get well, if they are passed round a table leg seven times to the right and then seven times to the left. Sometimes
the operator reverses these directions, beginning with the left and ending with the right.

Kernel - Wen - Mole (7156-7167)

KERNEL - WEN
7156. A person may rub on the bottom of a sooty kettle a finger moistened with saliva and then wipe this over his kernel as a remedy.
7157. Cure a kernel by marking it with a cross of soot.
7158. To get rid of a kernel on your leg, urinate on a bucket of live coals.
 168

7159. If you rub your kernel (or knot of any kind) in a circular motion over the face of a corpse, beginning at the forehead and coming down over
the chin, the kernel will soon disappear.
7160. As a cure for a kernel or wen, rub it over a dead person's eye three times.

MOLE
7161. You can get rid of a mole on the body by rubbing it with a bean and throwing the bean away.
7162. "My daughter was five years old and had a big mole on the side of her face, and after she went to sleep, every night during one of my
periods I rub the monthly fluid over this mole and it left."
7163. If with a grain of corn you walk backwards to the chicken yard, stand with your back to the chickens, rub the corn on your mole and throw
it over your shoulder, then leave without looking back, the mole will go away after a chicken eats the corn.
7164. While saying the Three Highest Names, rub the hand of a corpse on your mole as a cure; but to be effective, you must enter the room alone,
do this without telling anyone before or after, and not say anything except the incantation.
7165. Cottonweed milk rubbed on a mole thrice daily for three days is a cure.
7166. For taking off a mole, wipe it three times with a dish rag while saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
7167. A cure for a mole is to wash it on three successive mornings at five o'clock with water standing in an old stump.

Pain - Paralysis - Peritonitis - Poison (7168-7179)

PAIN
7168. To see the new moon through a windowpane will give you a severe pain.
7169. The person who keeps a bag of powdered alum in his bed will not have pains during the night. 5ometimes this bag is rubbed on a pain.
7170. Always rub downwards on a pain to make it pass out of your body through the hands or feet, for a pain rubbed upwards will never leave.

PARALYSIS
7171. The third paralytic stroke is always fatal.
7172. A person having frequent nosebleed never has paralysis.
7173. People with foot trouble are eventually stricken by paralysis.
7174. "About sixty years ago [1877] my uncle was living in Iowa. He was a notary public there. One morning when he was going to the office a
switch train ran over him, cut his arm off, and he got paralyze. He got so he could not get around. My aunt had to feed him like a baby. For over a
year he was just helpless when an old man told her, if she could get someone to get her a rattlesnake without it biting itself and to take the oil out
and rub over him, he would soon be able to use his limbs again. Then she got a man to go back in the cliffs up in Iowa and get her a big
rattlesnake. She said when he brought the snake she was so eager to get the oil that she started to cutting up the snake while still warm, for she
had tried everything anyone had told her and she wanted to try this rattlesnake oil. Just as soon as she got the oil she started rubbing her husband.
The second day he could wiggle his big toe. I don't remember how long it took before she got, him up and around, for I was a little girl when this
happen, but she got him up by using this oil. After he was up he made many a trip to Quincy to see my folks and he even made the trip back to
England [his birthplace] after his wife use the rattlesnake oil on him."

PERITONITIS
7175. "R. told me a man was very sick out on Thirty-second and State Street years ago with peritonitis. His wife went out and stood behind the
horse and caught the fresh droppings in her apron, squeezed out the juice, and gave it to her husband to drink. He got well. This is true, because
they know the people."

POISON
7176. Carry a piece of reddish amber and you will never be poisoned.
7177. To make yourself immune from poison, wear a diamond.
7178. Horse-flesh grease is administered in a case of poisoning.
7179. Sheep manure used in a poultice will draw out poison.

Rupture - Seasickness - Trainsickness - Stuttering (7180-7196)

RUPTURE
7180. Rupture can be healed by wearing a buckeye in a pocket that is on the ruptured side of the body.
7181. As a remedy for rupture, let the person urinate on a carrot and throw it away.
7182. "My husband had his arm all rupture from pitching hay. All he did was to use hot cow manure poulticed on it and it brought him right out
all right."
7183. On a dark night visit the woods with a hammer, brace and bit, bore a hole two inches long into a tree, take some hair from the ruptured part
of your body and put it in that hole; then find a stick, the diameter of which fits the mouth of the hole. As you start to plug up the hair, say at the
first hammer blow When this hole heals, my rupture will heal: In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This rite must be performed three
successive nights.
7184. "A baby was born with a rupture. Several years later a friend told his father to cut an elm tree down to the height of his son and split the
tree down the center, and place the boy over this and say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost over him, and he should do this three
times. The father did this and the boy was cured of rupture.
7185. "About forty-five years ago [1890] my nephew had a rupture, and his mother took him to a oak tree before sunup and pulled him back and
forth through that tree they had split down through the middle, and the tree died and my nephew got well."
7186. If a ruptured child is drawn back and forth three times through a split made in a white oak sapling, the rupture will be gone when that
split grows together.
7187. Some hair clipped off the crown of a ruptured child may be carried across water and buried under a willow tree as a cure.

SEASICKNESS - TRAINSICKNESS
7188. A piece of paper — brown paper, newspaper, and writing paper are separately prescribed --- is worn next to the skin of the chest or
stomach to prevent either seasickness or trainsickness.
7189. Stand tiptoe while eating sour pickles on board a ship and you will never be seasick.
 169

7190. A potato carried in your traveling bag prevents trainsickness.

STUTTERING
7191. Sometimes a person stutters because he was tickled during childhood.
7192. Never tickle a baby on the feet before it is a year old; the child will become a stutterer.
7193. The child whipped before it is a year old will always stutter in later life.
7194. Let a tongue-tied child wear a mole foot in a bag round its neck as a cure.
7195. A pebble kept under the tongue cures a person of stuttering.
7196. If while a person is stuttering you can push him backwards into a tub of water, he will soon be cured of the habit.

Sunstroke - Swallowing - Venereal Disease - Vomiting (7197-7213)

SUNSTROKE
7197. Avert sunstroke by keeping elder leaves in your pocket.
7198. "When I was first married, about sixty-five years ago [1870], my husband got sunstroke shocking oats. I saw him coming along the fence,
holding on, he was so sick. We went to help him to the house. The foam was just boiling out of his mouth. By the time we got him to the porch he
could not even speak, he was so bad. I was so scared, I said, 'Let's get a doctor.' Mother said, 'No, if I can't cure him, the doctor can't. Go and dig
up some horse-radish, roots and all.' I took the spade and went to the garden and got the horse-radish. We grated it. Then she put a poultice of it
on each pulse, some on each temple, some on the chest, and some on the bottom of both feet [seven places]. In about two hours he could speak to
us. And he got all right. If you ain't got the horse-radish, black pepper is just as good for sunstroke. This is an old German remedy."
7199. Sunstroke or over-heating is prevented in a man by keeping mule tail leaves in his hip pocket.
7200. You will never suffer from sunstroke, if you wear a rattlesnake rattle in your hat.
7201. As a sunstroke treatment, wind a wet cloth round the head, lay another one covered with salt on the back of the neck, and drop salt
behind the ears; then, having secured four mustard plasters, apply one each to the calves of the legs and the soles of the feet — seven places.

SWALLOWING
7202. Years ago a man swallowed a cat hair. He became so emaciated his friends suspected tuberculosis. Old Dr. X. of Quincy treated the ailment
for a long time, but it did not seem to improve. Finally, the doctor's wife, who felt sorry for the patient, asked her husband why he could not cure
him. Dr. X. answered, "That's the way I make my living. I could easily cure the man if I wanted to. All he would have to do is to eat a
whole herring head and tail, and he would get well." It so happened that the maid overheard this conversation, and also knowing the patient, she
told him what to do. The man ate a whole herring and soon recovered.
7203. "I knew a woman that her child was sick for almost a year. The doctor could not even find out what was wrong. I said to her one day,
'Maybe your child has a hair,' and told her about the mashed potatoes. So this mother gave her child the potatoes and oil, and in several days
when the potatoes passed, it was just full of hair. The child got well after that."
7204. Formerly many people believed a person drinking from a spring occasionally swallowed a young snake or a snake egg which eventually
grew to maturity in the stomach. This ailment had for symptoms, caused at first by the growing and then the mature snake, a voracious appetite,
poor health and an unusually large abdomen. A common remedy required the patient, after a long fast, to hold his head over a bucket of milk or
water so that the starved and thirsty snake, on seeing food or drink, would crawl out through the patient's mouth. But sometimes, in difficult
cases, a doctor was obliged to perform an operation and take out the snake — so they say. Stories about these operations were usually concerned
with young women.

VENEREAL DISEASES
7205. If the white part of a person's eyes is unusually white, it means he has a venereal disease.
7206. To discover whether a man has a venereal disease, turn down the sweat band of his hat: if the band springs back to its normal position, he
is healthy; if it remains down, he is diseased.
7207. A social disease may be cured by burying the patient up to his neck in a manure pile for several days.

VOMITING
7208. If a person is vomiting, give him tea made from the lining of a chicken gizzard and he will stop.
7209. "I knew a man that almost died from eating something out of a tin pie- pan and they gave him the tea from the white droppings of the
chicken to make him vomit. That is what save his life."
7210. "I always do this when I go to vomiting: lay down and put the large end of an egg in that hole in front of your neck; it will stop vomiting."
7211. As an emetic you can scrape your finger-nails, but they must be scraped away from and not towards the body.
7212. Tea from peach bark peeled upwards off the tree causes a vomiting; tea from peach bark peeled downwards off the tree stops a vomiting.
7213. A good emetic for poison is to let the patient drink his own urine.

DREAMS (7214-8376)

DREAMS MADE TRUE (7214-7239)

7214. If before going to bed you put a four-leafed clover under your pillow while wishing, what you dream that night will come true.
7215. To make anything dreamed during the night come true, place under your pillow the last garment just removed by your companion.
7216. If on first seeing the new moon you pick up some dirt from beneath your left heel and lay this under your pillow, your dream that night will
come true.
7217. If you keep beneath your pillow the dream-bone from a ham, what you dream will come true.
7218. You cause dreams to come true by removing nine pieces from the shoulder-blade of a rabbit and keeping them beneath your pillow.
7219. Anything you dream while sleeping on a piece of wedding-cake will come true.
7220. Count seven stars for seven nights and what you dream on the seventh night will come true.
7221. The first time you sleep beneath a new blanket or a new quilt your dream will come true.
7222. What is dreamed on the first night you stay in a new or strange house will come true.
7223. If you dream the first night in a new or strange house, tell the dream before breakfast and it will come true.
 170

7224. If on the first night in a new house you set a bucket of water under the bed so that it rests beneath your head, your dream that night will
come true.
7225. If just before getting into a strange bed for the first time you fill a glass of water half-full of salt and drink this as quickly as possible
without speaking thereafter, what you dream that night will come true.
7226. Something dreamed more than once always comes true.
7227. The same dream on two successive nights will come true.
7228. If the same thing is dreamed three nights in succession, it will come true.
7229. If you have the same dream thrice and on nights that are not consecutive, it will come true.
7230. If you dream the same thing three times in one night, it will come true.
7231. Tell your dream before seven o'clock in the morning and it will come true before eleven o'clock that morning.
7232. Dreams divulged immediately after eight o'clock in the morning will come true.
7233. Always reveal a dream before breakfast so that it will come true; a dream revealed after breakfast never comes true.
7234. Your dream will come true after telling it to someone of the opposite sex before breakfast.
7235. To have your dream come true, relate it before breakfast on Friday morning.
7236.
"Friday night dreams on Saturday told,
Always come true be they ever so old."
7237.
"Saturday and Sunday dreams told,
Come true before a month old."
7238.
"A Saturday night dream and Sunday told,
Is neither good for young nor old."
7239. Saturday night dreams come true before Sunday at noon.

GOOD AND BAD DREAMS (7240-7277)

7240. If you reveal your dreams, you will continue to dream; if they are concealed, you will stop dreaming. This is also a method for stopping
bad dreams. As a general rule, conceal any dream that you do not want to come true.
7241. To prevent a bad dream from coming true, do not relate it before breakfast.
7242. Never tell an unpleasant dream until after it happens; its effect will not be so bad.
7243. To sleep on your back is a cause of dreams; also, this causes bad dreams say some.
7244. If you sleep with your head to the east, your dreams will be good; if to the west, bad.
7245. You can secure pleasant dreams or ward off bad dreams by walking back- wards to bed.
7246. To turn your bed around after dark brings bad dreams.
7247. Bad dreams can be prevented by keeping your bed straight against the wall.
7248. A Bible beneath your pillow or the head of the bed induces good dreams or protects you against bad dreams.
7249. The person who has had a bad dream can cancel its effect by reading a verse from the Bible next morning.
7250. Let a black cat stay in the house at night and you will have bad dreams.
7251. Do not bite your finger-nails; bad dreams that night will be the result.
7252. If a bad dream wakes you, sit up in bed, raise your right hand several times straight above your head, and you will return to a peaceful
sleep.
7253. Defend yourself from bad dreams by wrapping a meat rind in a piece of paper and laying it under your pillow.
7254. Those who eat meat before going to bed will dream of the devil.
7255. You will dream of the devil, if you look into a mirror the last thing before going to bed.
7256. Money kept beneath your pillow at night give you bad dreams.
7257. Never lie where the moon can shine on your face while asleep; bad dreams will appear during the night.
7258. Protect yourself against bad dreams by sleeping with a needle in the hem of your nightgown.
7259. If you tear your nightgown before getting into bed, bad dreams may be expected.
7260. A person sleeping flat on the bed may expect bad dreams. Always use one pillow at least.
7261. Rattlesnake rattles sewed into the bedtick prevent bad dreams.
7262. Salt burned next morning will destroy the effect of a bad dream. Some say this must be done before you speak to anyone.
7263. As a protection against bad dreams, put scissors under your pillow.
7264. Sleep with open scissors beneath your pillow: you will never dream, say some; you will not have bad dreams, say others.
7265. If you play with your shadow on the wall at night, look for bad dreams.
7266. To guard against bad dreams or to produce agreeable ones, sleep on the wrong side of your sheets.
7267. "I have heard the old saying if you keep your shoes by the bed you will have bad dreams, but never paid any attention to it. I have always
kept my shoes near the bed so I could get into them in a hurry, and always had bad dreams until about a month ago we had company to come to
our house to stay several weeks. I had to give up my room and sleep in a very small room. So every night while I slept in that room I took my
shoes off in the kitchen and left them there the two weeks I slept in that room. I never had a dream. Now I am back in my own room I am keeping
my shoes on the other side of the room, not near my bed, to keep bad dreams away."
7268. Shoes set under the bed at night make bad dreams; some say this makes you dream of the dead.
7269. As a prevention of bad dreams, lay your shoes under the bed so that the toes point out; toes pointing in are the cause of bad dreams. The
same procedure is followed when shoes are laid near the bed; the toes should be pointed away from the bed.
7270. Both shoes beneath the foot of the bed keep you from having bad dreams.
7271. "I never go to bed at night without putting my shoes under the foot of the bed with the toes out and my socks over each shoe, and I never do
dream."
7272. You will not dream during the night, if on going to bed you reverse your shoes by setting the right where the left should be and the left
where the right should be.
 171

7273. "My wife when she has several bad dreams and don't want any more, she will take her shoes and cross them under the bed so she will not
have any more bad dreams."
7274. If just after taking off your shoes at night you rub your finger through one toe and smell it, and do this to three toes, bad dreams will
be avoided.
7275. People who snore are having happy dreams.
7276. Always empty the water in which you have washed your feet before going to bed; not to do this results in bad dreams.
7277. Set a glass of water under the bed and you will not dream that night.

INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS (7278-8376)

Sky - Water - Land (7278-7398)
SKY
7278. It is lucky to dream of the rising sun.
7279. A dream about the sun means poor health.
7280. The moon in your dream is a fortunate omen.
7281. Dreams about the moon bring good luck in love and money.
7282. To dream of the new moon indicates good luck according to some; bad luck or sorrow according to others.
7283. Health is an interpretation of a dream about the new moon.
7284. Look for prosperity and wealth after you dream of the full moon.
7285. If you dream of a waxing moon, expect some success; if of a waning moon, some misfortune.
7286. If you dream of a moon on the wane, a death is indicated.
7287. The person who dreams of the moon and shooting stars will have a death in the family.
7288. Night-time in your dream foretells money.
7289. A bright sky in your dream signifies something will make you happy; a dull sky, you will be made unhappy by a disappointment.
7290. Good luck comes from dreaming about a clear day.
7291. Interpret black clouds in a dream as a token of death.
7292. Lightning in a dream is followed by trouble say same, but others say good luck follows.
7293. A dream of lightning presages a family death.
7294. Thunder heard in a dream is a death warning.
7295. Dream of a storm and you will soon hear good news.
7296. To dream of a storm denotes a reconciliation.
7297. Whoever dreams of a severe windstorm will soon be very sick.
7298. By dreaming of a storm or windstorm you are warned of a death in the family.
7299. Death in the family is portended by dreaming of a cyclone.
7300. The head of your family will die after you dream of a cyclone blowing off the roof of a house.
7301. A death will follow a dream in which you are out in the rain.
7302. If you dream it is raining, you will soon be sick.
7303. Lots of rain in a dream; lots of dry weather at hand.
7304. It is a good omen for a sick person to dream of a rainbow; a bad omen for a well person.
7305. The meaning of a rainbow in a dream is death.
7306. Snow in a dream is a favorable omen.
7307. To dream of snow out of season causes good luck.
7308. If you dream of snow; you will gain something say some, you will lose something say others.
7309. You will suffer a disappointment after you have dreamed of snow.
7310. The person who dreams of being in a snowstorm will soon get a big surprise.
7311. After you have dreamed of snow, an important event in your life will soon occur.
7312. "An old saying of my mother was: if you dream you are caught in a big snowstorm, you will be in a big bunch of strange people."
7313. A dream during which you are caught in a snow drift is a sign you are going to be seriously ill; in fact you may not recover.
7314. Those who dream of being caught in a deep snowstorm will soon attend a wedding far away.
7315. If you dream of snow, news of a death will be received.
7316. Anyone dreaming of spring weather will soon be fortunate in something.

WATER
7317. Water in a dream means bad luck.
7318. A dream of running water is lucky according to some and unlucky according to others.
7319. It is fortunate to dream of water that is still and clear.
7320. To dream of clear water is lucky; of muddy water, unlucky.
7321. If you dream of washing your feet in clear water, good luck may be expected; if in muddy water, bad luck.
7322. The meaning of a dream in which you wash your hands is good fortune.
7323. When you dream of taking a long journey: if you cross water, you will soon have bad luck; if you do not cross water, good luck.
7324. The crossing of a bridge in your dream is a favorable omen; but if you fall through the bridge as you cross it, the omen becomes
unfavorable.
7325. If you dream of a river, there will be an improvement in your condition.
7326. A fountain appearing in your dream betokens prosperity and health.
7327. Those who dream of falling into a swamp will soon fall into poverty.
7328. Dreams of water foretell a journey.
7329. The person who dreams of clear water will take a long journey.
7330. Clear water in a dream denotes good news.
7331. The significance of a dream about clear water is money, but some say this body of clear water must be large.
7332. A dream of clear water indicates you will soon be happy.
7333. Expect wealth and happiness, if you dream of clear water and drink some of It.
 172

7334. To cross a clear river in your dream denotes some new and happy experience.
7335. Whoever in a dream crosses a broad and muddy river will soon encounter many difficulties.
7336. If you dream of a boat in clear water, it signifies happiness; if in muddy water, a disgrace.
7337. To discover muddy water near or across your path while climbing a steep hill means sorrow and disappointment.
7338. After you dream of taking a bath you will be disappointed.
7339. Sorrow is indicated, if you dream of steaming water.
7340. It is a portent of grief, to dream of walking in water.
7341. The person who dreams of muddy water will have a quarrel before the day is over.
7342. If you dream of bloody water, you will hear of someone shedding blood.
7343. Bloody water in a dream shows that you will soon have a fight.
7344. If you dream of a great amount of running water, you will lose a friend.
7345. Wash your hands during a dream and your enemies will soon be washed away.
7346. To dream of falling into a river discloses you have enemies attempting some mischief.
7347. The significance of a dream in which you go fishing and fall into the water is that someone wants to see you.
7348. Love and prosperity are denoted when you dream of blowing bubbles.
7349. The person who dreams of bathing will soon get married: if the water is too cold, much sorrow will come from this marriage; if the water is
too hot, the marriage will end in a separation or a divorce.
7350. If an unmarried woman dreams of wading in clear water, she will soon be happily wedded to the man of her choice.
7351. If you dream of stepping into water up to your hips, your sweetheart will turn you down.
7352. If a man dreams of drowning, it will bring him sorrow; if a woman, she will soon either get a new lover or be happily married.
7353. To dream of drawing clear water from a well reveals a speedy marriage.
7354. A person who dreams of water will soon be sick.
7355. Muddy water in a dream is an omen of sickness.
7356. If you dream of walking in muddy water, you will soon be sick; according to some you will have a long sick spell and perhaps die.
7357. Sickness may be expected after you dream of falling into a river.
7358. Interpret a dream in which you are on a ship and fall overboard as sickness and poverty for your family.
7359. To see muddy water in a dream is a boding of death.
7360. It warns you of a death, to dream of walking through muddy water.
7361. "The night before my mother died I dreamt I was standing in muddy water up to my neck."
7362. If you dream of crossing a stream of muddy water, there will be a death in the family.
7363. The person who dreams of a winding muddy river will have a family death.
7364. You will soon hear of a death after you have dreamed of crossing a stream or river.
7365. It portends a death, if you dream of a boat.
7366. A dream of high water forebodes a death.
7367. Dream that you have fallen into a river and you will receive news of a death.
7368. Those who dream of drowning will soon die.
7369. If you dream of a pond and see your face reflected in the water, a death will soon occur.
7370. To dream of water running off a house shows that someone in the family is going to die.

LAND
7371. A person who dreams of a volcano will have an acute sickness
7372. Mountains in a dream reveal coming pleasure .
7373. You will have a death in your family, if you dream of being on a cliff.
7374. To dream that you are on large rocks: if you can get off the rocks, you will have good luck; if you are unable to get off, bad luck.
7375. An earthquake in a dream discloses a sickness.
7376. Prepare for bad luck after you dream of yellow clay
7377. It is lucky to dream of earth.
7378. Bad luck follows a dream of earth freshly dug.
7379. Something bad will soon happen to the person who dreams of walking in yellow clay or mud.
7380. A dream about earth means poverty and misery.
7381. To dream of mud foretells a sickness.
7382. Sickness will follow a dream in which you wade through mud.
7383. It is an omen of sickness for you when you dream of walking in loose soil.
7384. To see a large amount of clay in a dream denotes a death.
7385. Dreams of black dirt mean death.
7386. When fresh earth is seen in a dream you may look for a death soon.
7387. A mound of fresh earth in a dream signifies a death.
7388. The person who dreams of mud will hear of a death.
7389. It is unlucky to dream of a hole in the ground.
7390. A dream of a hole in the ground is a presage of death.
7391. "I dreamt of digging a hole out in the yard, had everyone of the family to come and look in that hole while digging, and I lost my father and
everyone of us did look in a hole."
7392. A dream in which you go down into a hole in the ground indicates death for some member of the family.
7393. You may expect a death, if you dream of someone pushing you into a deep hole.
7394. It portends a death, to dream of a recently excavated trench.
7395. To dream of a pile of dirt just removed from a hole denotes a death.
7396. Look for a death after you have dreamed of plowing.
7397. The person who plows in a dream will soon be successful through hard work.
7398. "I dreamt one night about ten years ago I saw the man and woman, I was working for, come in from their garden after working in it; in
three months they fell out and separated."
 173

Flowers - Provender - Vegetables - Fruit - Trees (7399-7481)

FLOWERS
7399. It is unlucky to dream of flowers.
7400. To pick flowers in your dream is a token of good luck.
7401. A dream of flowers out of season betokens bad luck.
7402. Bright flowers seen in a dream indicate a pleasant life.
7403. If you dream of gathering flowers, it is an indication of a lasting friendship; of casting them away, despair and quarrels.
7404. Someone in the family will die after you dream of flowers.
7405. Expect the death of a friend, if you dream of flowers.
7406. There will soon be a death in the neighborhood when you dream of flowers.
7407. A large quantity of flowers in your dream is a death warning.
7408. The person who dreams of planting flowers will soon hear of a death.
7409. "Whenever I dream of white flowers there is always a funeral in the relations."
7410. "My husband had a token of his death before he died. One morning he said to me, 'I have dreamt of flowers for three nights straight, and
last night the flowers were on my grave.' After that he went to work and was only on the job about an hour when he fell dead."
7411. Daisies in a dream foretell your good fortune.
7412. It is a good omen to dream of lilies in season, but a bad omen to dream of them out of season.
7413. Dreams in which you see a rose are always favorable.
7414. If you dream of roses, it shows you have many friends.
7415. A woman who dreams of a red rose will soon receive an offer of marriage.
7416. A woman who dreams of a white rose has a faithful sweetheart.

PROVENDER
7417. You become lucky by dreaming of clover.
7418. Dream of a four-leafed clover and you will soon acquire money.
7419. To dream of gathering corn indicates you will be lucky in everything.
7420. Corn in a dream is an omen of wealth.
7421. If you see full ears of corn in your dream, you will have as many good years as there are ears of corn; if scanty ears, as many bad years.
7422. Look for an increase in your family after you dream of corn or a cornfield.
7423. Interpret a dream of a large grain field as a happy marriage.
7424. Those who dream of green grass will soon receive money.
7425. If you dream of a straw pile, it denotes that you are holding false hopes about something.

VEGETABLES
7426. "One night I dreamt I was out picking green beans, I had so many green beans I didn't know what to do with them, and in two days
my husband died."
7427. All your troubles will vanish after a dream in which you eat beets.
7428. If you dream of cabbage, some friend is very sick and not likely to recover.
7429. Sorrow follows a dream of eating cabbage.
7430. To dream of cabbage growing in a garden brings good fortune.
7431. Dream of a green cucumber and someone will die.
7432. Onions in your dream denote trouble and sorrow.
7433. The person who dreams of eating onions will have quarrels and domestic troubles.
7434. Fried onions in your dream indicate a friend is very ill but will recover.
7435. Bad luck may be expected, if you dream of digging potatoes out of season.
7436. After dreaming of potatoes you may look for an unexpected gain.
7437. It is an omen of plenty, to dream of potatoes. Some say you must dream of a lot of potatoes to have plenty.
7438. When you dream of a big potato, someone wants to tell you a secret.
7439. "I have also heard, to dream of potatoes in a gunny sack, you will hear of someone's secret. I dreamt the other night of seeing three
gunny sacks full of potatoes, so I will hear of three secrets. I have already heard of one secret, will hear two more."
7440. A dream of potatoes signifies you have secret enemies of whom you are unaware.
7441. To dream of a row of potatoes protruding from the ground is a sign of death.
7442. It brings good luck in love affairs and business, to dream of preparing or eating tomatoes.
7443. Expect family troubles after you dream of eating turnips.
7444. Those who dream of being in a garden will soon experience some joy.
7445. Bad luck follows a dream in which you see your garden growing well; similarly, the same thing is said of a well-kept garden seen in a
dream.
7446. To see a fine garden growing in your dream portends a death.
7447. Vegetables eaten in a dream bode a misfortune.
7448. If you dream of gathering vegetables and eating them, a loss in business is denoted.
7449. Quarrels follow a dream in which vegetables are gathered.

FRUIT
7450. Good luck comes from a dream concerned with red apples.
7451. Whoever dreams of gathering ripe apples off the tree and eating them will soon be lucky.
7452. It is fortunate to dream of a sweet apple tree; unfortunate, a sour apple tree.
7453. An apple tree in your dream betokens good news.
7454. Trouble will soon be encountered by those dreaming of blackberries.
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7455. "I dreamt my nephew took two tubs of blackberries up to Lima to sell. He had a stroke in two weeks after I dreamt about the blackberries
and died."
7456. Blackberry pie in your dream is a death warning.
7457. Dreams about red cherries are lucky.
7458. Cherries in your dream denote health.
7459. If you dream of picking and eating cherries, expect an increase in your finances; but if you pick cherries and throw them away, a financial
loss.
7460. If you dream of cherries on the tree, you are deceitful; but if you dream of picking the cherries, some female friend is deceitful.
7461. Someone loves the person who dreams of cherries.
7462. If you are about to be married and dream of dates, your engagement will be broken.
7463.
"To dream of fruit out of season,
Is trouble without reason."
or
"If you dream of fruit out of season,
you will bear trouble without a reason."
7464. "My mother said she could always tell when someone was going to be sick, because she always dreamt of a tree of fresh fruit."
7465. Grapes in your dream indicate pleasure.
7466. If you dream of picking and eating grapes, you will gain something; if of picking grapes and throwing them away, you will lose
something.
7467. You will receive money after you dream of making grape pies.
7468. A large sum of money will be received by the person who dreams of an orchard.
7469. It is a good omen, to dream of oranges on a tree.
7470. When you dream of eating peaches you will soon entertain visitors from a distance.
7471. "One night I dreamt we had a table full of fine plums. That next morning I said to my son, 'We are going to have a death in the family,
because I dreamt of plums last night.' My son said, 'Mother, you are always looking for something.' That was Monday morning. Tuesday my son
took sick and died Friday of the same week."
7472. To dream of strawberries foretells a new love and a happy marriage.
7473. A dream of a tree in bloom is a token of joy and gain. If you dream of blooming trees, you will soon get money.
7475. "A year ago I dreamt that an apple tree bloomed in the fall, that's a death in the family, and my brother shot himself three months after I
dreamt it."
7476. Many green trees in your dream are an indication of great wealth coming to you.
7477. "I dreamt one night of pulling a little tree up by the roots and took it right through the house. The next day I got a telegram my cousin
was dead."
7478. The person who dreams about an oak tree bearing a large number of acorns will be slandered.
7479. Acorns gathered in your dream is the sign of a legacy.
7480. Dream of a willow tree and you will soon wear deep mourning.
7481. If you dream of standing on a pile of leaves, some danger lies ahead.

Insects - Worms (7482-7517)

INSECTS
7482. "I always have some bad trouble every time I dream of bedbugs."
7483. Good luck follows a dream in which you see bees at work.
7484. "My father-in-law dreamt of a lot of bees swarming, that's bad luck, and he took sick and lay for a long time, almost died."
7485. It is unlucky to see a beehive in your dream.
7486. After you dream of bees you will be successful in business.
7487. Bees in your dream foretell riches.
7488. Some large fortune is coming to the one who dreams of bees leaving their honey.
7489. To dream of butterflies is lucky.
7490. You have good luck by dreaming of a white butterfly, but bad luck by dreaming of a black butterfly.
7491. When a woman dreams that a ring slips from her finger onto the wing of a butterfly which immediately flies away: if she is engaged, the
engagement will soon be broken; if she is married, she will soon be deserted by her husband.
7492. Misfortune comes from dreaming of caterpillars.
7493. Caterpillars in your dream signify secret enemies.
7494. Sickness is the meaning of a dream about many flies.
7495. To dream of a lot of flies is a death warning.
7496. "One night I dreamt that my head and body was just full of lice and that week I got a lot of money."
7497. It is the sign of money when you dream of lice; the more lice, the more money.
7498. To count the lice seen in your dream means a "big piece of money".
7499. A dream of lice denotes a big loss.
7500. If you dream of lice, there will be a scandal in your family.
7501. The meaning of lice in a dream is a serious quarrel.
7502. Lice in your dream betoken poor health.
7503. You will soon have a sick spell, if you dream of lice on your head.
7504. Whoever dreams of combing lice from someone's head will soon hear of a relative being sick.
7505. To dream of lice portends a death.
7506. "Just the other night I dreamt my head was full of lice and I was combing them on the floor. My best friend died the next day. Sure is a
death sign every time, if you dream of combing lice out of your head and they are falling around you."
7507. Good luck follows a dream in which you see a spider.
7508. If a spider appears in your dream, you will soon get money; provided you do not kill the spider.
 175

7509. A large sum of money will be received after you dream of a spider spinning a web.
7510. Success in love is the interpretation of a dream about spiders.
7511. To have a dream of a spider crawling on you reveals you are the victim of a treacherous act.
7512. Beware of danger, if you dream of wasps.
7513. Wasps in your dream indicate enemies who are going to injure you.

WORMS
7514. The person who dreams of worms will soon catch a contagious disease.
7515. You will soon become sick when you dream of a large number of worms.
7516. "I dreamt of lots of worms one night, they were just everywhere, and I lost my little girl right after that."
7517. A dream in which you tread on a large number of worms foretells the death of someone you love.

Fish - Frog - Toad - Turtle - Snake (7518-7561)

FISH
7518. Good luck is denoted when you dream of fish.
7519. A person who dreams of seeing fish at the bottom of the water will have good luck.
7520. It is lucky to dream of a big fish; unlucky to dream of a little fish.
7521. To dream of catching a large fish indicates gain and profit.
7522. If you dream of hooking a large fish and land it, you will obtain something expected; if the fish is not landed, what you expect will not
be obtained.
7523. Dream of catching a fish and you will soon hear good news.
7524. Money is the meaning of a dream in which you catch fish.
7525. Someone will cheat you out of money, if you dream of fishing.
7526. A large fish caught in your dream foretells poverty.
7527. The person dreaming of fish will soon lose something.
7528. After a dream in which you go fishing you may expect trouble and sorrow.
7529. If you dream of catching fish, someone will soon be gossiping about you; the larger the fish, the greater the gossip.
7530. If you dream of a fish, some heart will be after you soon; similarly, if you dream of a fish, you will make a catch --- get a lover.
7531. A dream of fish is followed by an increase in the family. Similarly, a woman who dreams of a fish will soon be pregnant.
7532. The woman who dreams of a catfish is pregnant.
7533. You may look for a death, if you dream of fish.

FROG AND TOAD

7534. If you dream of a frog croaking, it signifies you will succeed in life just as soon as you quit your grumbling and buckle down to work.
7535. Dreams in which you kill a toad indicate you have gained or will gain a victory over some enemy.
7536. After you have dreamed of a toad you will soon perform some act that will make you disgusted with yourself.

TURTLE
7537. A person dreaming of a turtle will have a long and successful life.

SNAKES
7538. Bad luck and trouble follow a dream of snakes.
7539. If you dream of a snake and kill it, you will have good luck; but if it escapes, bad luck.
7540. If you dream of being bitten by a snake; it means good luck say some, bad luck say others.
7541. To dream of a snake indicates your house will catch fire.
7542. Look for a disappointment after you have dreamed of a snake.
7543. Explain a dream about snakes as an approaching quarrel; in the family according to some, with your best friend according to others.
7544. If you dream of a snake and kill it, you will have a quarrel; if it escapes, you will not have the quarrel.
7545. If you dream of a snake crawling in a pile of something, someone is coming to your house to quarrel with you.
7546. If you dream of a snake, you have an enemy; if you see more than one, you have as many enemies as snakes seen.
7547. If you dream of killing a snake, it indicates you have conquered an enemy; but if you do not kill the snake, an enemy will harm you.
7548. If in your dream you kill a sleeping rattlesnake before it awakes, you will conquer an enemy; but if the rattlesnake awakes before it can
be killed, the enemy is unconquerable.
7549. If you dream of a short snake, your enemy is a short person; if of a long snake, a tall person.
7550. If you dream of a blacksnake, your enemy is a colored person.
7551. If you dream of a light-colored snake, your enemy is a light-haired person; if of a dark-colored snake, a dark-haired person.
7552. To dream of a writhing snake denotes danger and imprisonment.
7553. A snake that writhes in your dream is a sign of sickness.
7554. You may expect a sickness after you dream of a snake twining around your body.
7555. The person who dreams of a snake will be hanged.
7556. "One night I dreamt a big blacksnake was on my bed and another big blacksnake was trying to get on the bed. The next morning at ten
o'clock my niece was playing around a tub of hot water and fell in and died before they could get a doctor."
7557. When a snake in your dream makes a noise it is a token of a family death soon.
7558. "I dreamt this one night, of seeing a snake winding and winding in a cellar, sign of an accidental death, and the next day my son fell off a
ladder and died right away."
7559. To dream of a snake biting you is a death warning.
7560. "I believe in dreams. One night I dreamt of a tall man standing on one side of a path, he was my brother and he was a little bad, and on the
other side of the path was a big snake. I said to him, 'that snake will kill you.' He reach over, took the snake by the head and kill it. I woke up.
And the next morning I got a telegram saying my brother passed away when about the time I saw him killing the snake in my dream. I believe he
 176

went to heaven, for the snake was the devil and he kill it. If the snake had of got away, I am afraid the devil would of got him, but he conquered
the devil."
7561. "Just before one of my neighbors died, I dreamt of her coming to see me that night in the shape of a big blacksnake. Her head was there and
her body a big blacksnake, so large it could not get in the house. She died the next day."

Bird - chicken - Duck - Goose - Pigeon - Turkey (7562-7626)

BIRDS
7562. The person who dreams about birds will be lucky.
7563. Birds in your dream are bringing you friends and fortune.
7564. Dream of a bird and you will hear hasty news.
7565. After you dream a bird flies through the house, hasty news will be received.
7566. News is the interpretation of a dream in which you catch a bird: if you hold the bird, good news; if the bird escapes, bad news.
7567. A large gain of some kind is meant for the person who in a dream catches a bird.
7568. Whoever dreams of singing birds will gain and succeed in his or her undertakings.
7569. You will soon go on a journey when you dream of birds; a long journey according to some.
7570. Those who dream of catching a bird will soon experience some pleasure.
7571. If you dream of birds, expect a wedding that will displease you.
7572. To dream of birds with beautiful plumage is a marriage omen: if a woman did the dreaming, it denotes a rich husband; if a man, a rich
wife.
7573. Dreams about a caged bird signify a wedding.
7574. Somebody always dies after you have dreamed of a bird.
7575. If you dream of a bird flying out your front door, you will soon carry a corpse out that door.
7576. If you dream of a blackbird, you will hear bad news; of any other bird, good news.
7577. Blackbirds in your dream are a portent of a death in the family.
7578. A flock of blackbirds flying away from you in your dream foretell a death far away.
7579. "Dream of a buzzard flying across the moon, Is a sure sign of sadness coming soon."
7580. Happiness is in store for those dreaming of a canary in a gilded cage.
7581. A dove in your dream means happiness at home.
7582. It is an omen of good news, to dream of a white dove.
7583. To hear a dove calling in your dream portends a death.
7584. An eagle flying over you in your dream is a favorable omen.
7585. Sickness will follow a dream in which you see gray-backs.
7586. Look for approaching trouble when you dream of an owl.
7587. Anyone dreaming of an owl will soon attend a funeral.
7588. If you hear an owl hooting in your dream, there will be a death among your relations.
7589. To dream of a parrot denotes a deceitful lover.
7590. If you dream of a flock of quail, an increase in the family may be expected.
7591. The girl who dreams of a redbird will see her sweetheart on Saturday.
7592. A dream of a robin brings you joy.
7593. Some great misfortune is presaged by a dream in which you see a stork.
7594. It presages a death soon, when you dream of a grey swan.

CHICKEN
7595. To dream of contented hens is an excellent omen.
7596. A crowing cock in your dream is announcing good news.
7597. If you dream of cooking a chicken, good news will soon be heard.
7598. Chickens in your dream foretell wealth.
7599. The person who dreams of little chickens or of hens with their chicks will soon receive money.
7600. A large number of cackling hens in your dream indicates a large fortune.
7601. It is a token of happiness, to dream of hawks catching your chickens.
7602. To see a scrawny chicken in your dream means an enduring friendship.
7603. If you dream of a half-starved chicken, someone supposed to be your friend is actually an enemy.
7604. Those who dream of a black rooster will be tormented by someone.
7605. After you dream of a brown rooster you will take a journey; visit a strange town say some.
7606. Love is the meaning of a dream about a red rooster.
7607. Girls who dream of a crowing rooster will get new lovers.
7608. A girl dreaming of chickens will marry her sweetheart before the chicks become chickens.
7609. Baby chickens in your dream denote an increase in the family.
7610. "One night I dreamt my best friend was standing on a hill with black-and-white chickens everywhere around her --- if you dream of
chickens that's a sure sign of death among your friends --- and she died the night I dreamt this. I got the word the next morning."

DUCK
7611. The person dreaming of an emaciated duck will soon commence an important task.
7612. If you dream of a half-starved duck, someone who pretends to be a friend is actually your enemy.
7613. An increase of fortune soon is denoted when you see a duck flying in your dream.
7614. It is a sign of plenty, to dream of a swimming duck.

GOOSE
7615. Profit and pleasure come from dreaming of a goose.
7616. To dream of cackling geese means profit in business.
 177

7617. A dream in which you see a swimming goose is an omen of plenty.

7618. Your fortune will increase, after you dream of a flying goose.
7619. If you dream of a white goose flying, an angel is coming for someone in the family.
7620. After you have dreamed of a goose looking at you, do not expect to live long.

PIGEON
7621. Dreams of a pigeon are lucky.
7622. The person who dreams of a pigeon will soon be reconciled to an estranged friend or alienated lover.
7623. A dream of a white pigeon is a death warning.
7624. If you dream of pigeons flying, it warns you of a death.

TURKEY
7625. A person dreaming of a turkey has enemies but will overcome them.
7626. To see a turkey in your dream reveals a large amount of money.

Eggs - Feathers (7627-7650)

EGGS
7627. A dream of eggs causes misfortune.
7628. If you dream of unbroken eggs, you will have good luck; if of broken eggs, bad luck.
7629. If you dream of handling eggs and accidentally break one, you will be lucky; if you do not break any, you will be unlucky.
7630. Good luck follows a dream in which you find the nest of a hen.
7631. To dream of a nest full of eggs is a portent of trouble.
7632. In your dream a nest filled with broken eggs means good luck.
7633. Dream of a rotten egg and you will be unfortunate.
7634. The person who dreams of eggs is trying or will try to do something impossible.
7635. Happiness is foretold by a dream of eggs.
7636. "If I dream of eggs, I know I am going to have a fuss with someone." Some say, the quarrel requires your dreaming of a lot of fresh eggs.
7637. If you dream of a large number of broken eggs, you may expect a quarrel.
7638. To see eggs in your dream foretells you will get a good beating.
7639. You will soon receive a present, after you dream of broken eggs.
7640. "I dreamt I found a nest with five eggs in, one night, and the next day I got ten dollars for a present."
7641. A dream of eggs is a token of money; the greater the number of eggs, the larger the amount of money.
7642. The girl who dreams of eating a raw egg will get a hard drinker for a sweetheart or husband.
7643. If you dream of gathering eggs, a baby will be born in your family.
7644. To dream of finding a nest of eggs is an omen of sickness.
7645. Death is the interpretation of a dream about eggs.
7646. "My mother said if you dream of eggs in a nest and count them and there is less than twenty-four eggs in the nest, you will have a funeral
in the family.
7647. "One night I dreamt I saw my mother breaking up eggs and sealing them in a jar. My father took sick in two weeks and died. It's a sure sign
of death to dream you see someone breaking up eggs."

FEATHERS
7648. If you dream of a flying feather and it passes to your right, good luck may be expected; if to your left, bad luck.
7649. Anyone dreaming of black feathers will have bad luck and losses.
7650. It is a sign of happiness, to dream of white feathers.

Animals - Ape - Bear - Cat - Cow - Dog (7651-7694)

ANIMALS
7651. Small animals in your dream denote bad luck.
7652. Good luck follows a dream about a black animal.
7653. The person who dreams of horns will soon meet the devil face to face.

APE
7654. Deceit is the meaning of an ape seen in your dream.
7655. A dreamer who sees an ape has an enemy.
7656. If you dream of an ape, trouble with a black man is portended.

BEAR
7657. Either you have bitter enemies or some dangerous person is looking for you, if you dream of a bear.

CAT
7658. Some say it is lucky to dream of cats; others say it is unlucky.
7659. A dream of a black cat is followed by misfortune.
7660. Trouble can be expected, after you dream of a playful cat.
7661. If you dream a cat jumps on you, you will soon receive money from a relative; but if the cat in jumping fails to reach you, bad luck will
follow.
7662. The girl who dreams of a kitten purring at her feet will soon get a letter from a young man.
7663. After dreaming of a colored cat, you will be obliged to help some friend out of a difficulty.
7664. You will soon be quarreling with your best friend, if you dream of a cat.
7665. Dream of a cat and there will be a quarrel in the family.
 178

7666. A dream about a cat shows you have a very deceitful friend.
7667. If you dream of a cat, expect to be harmed by a friend.
7668. To dream of a friendly cat coming to you signifies someone will soon harm you.
7669. Danger threatens the person who dreams of a black cat crossing his path.
7670. Sickness will follow a dream in which you see a cat.
7671. The person dreaming of a black cat will soon die.

COW
7672. A dream about a herd of cows is lucky.
7673. If you dream of a cow with clean milk running out of her udders, it signifies good luck; if of dirty milk, bad luck.
7674. To dream of a large herd of cattle grazing in a grassy meadow indicates contentment.
7675. It is a sign of laziness in the dreamer who dreams of cows.
7676. A calf in your dream foretells certain gain.
7677. You will receive money, after you dream of cows.
7678. Dreams about a cow are a token of prosperity.
7679. "One night I dreamt of three cows; two were standing still and one jumped over me. The next day I had a big fuss with a woman."
7680. There will soon be a scandal in the house of the person who dreams of cattle.
7681. A dream of cows indicates excitement: if the animals are standing still, the excitement is for someone else; if they start to chase you, you
will have the excitement.
7682. "One night about thirty years ago I dreamt I was fighting a red-and- white cow. If you dream of a red-and-white cow, you will soon hear
of excitement. The next night our neighbor's house got on fire and we were all fighting fire; that was sure excitement."
7683. A person dreaming of cattle will soon hear of a marriage.
7684. To dream of seeing cattle while you are riding in a wagon denotes a woman's death.

DOG
7685. It is lucky to dream of a dog.
7686. The person who dreams of being bitten by a dog will be unlucky.
7687. If you dream of a dog and he bites you, you will have good luck; if he does not, bad luck.
7688. Whoever dreams of a dog has a faithful friend.
7689. If you dream of a dog and he snaps at you, you have a bad friend; if he does not, a good friend.
7690. If you dream of a friendly dog, you will soon gain something; if of an unfriendly dog, you will soon lose something.
7691. If in your dream a dog growls at you, you will either have or hear of trouble; this misfortune will come from the direction toward which
the dog looks while growling.
7692. A dream in which you try to chase away a mad dog denotes a quarrel.
7693. When you dream of a mad dog, someone in your family will soon be very sick.
7694. A black dog in your dream is a portent of death for some member of your family.

Donkey - Elephant - Goat - Hog - Horse (7695-7733)

DONKEY
7695. Look for a family death to follow a dream in which you see a donkey.

ELEPHANT
7696. To see an elephant in your dream shows the devil is after you.

GOAT
7697. Prosperity is signified for the person who dreams of a white goat.
7698. A black goat in your dream reveals a sickness; it is uncertain whether you will recover.

HOG
7699. It brings good luck to dream of hogs.
7700. To dream of a pig is an indication of assured gain.
7701. Dream of hogs and you will have a lawsuit.
7702. "I know this is so. I had a neighbor dream about pigs and I told her the meaning of it: if you dream of pigs, some sluggish person wants to
live off of you. And it was no time until some of her no-account relatives came and lived off of her all winter."
7703. A dream of hogs is an omen of sickness.
7704. If you dream of hogs chasing you, you will hear of a man's death.

HORSE
7705. To see a horse or horses in your dream is a fortunate omen.
7706. One who dreams of a bay horse will have good luck.
7707. Some say it is unlucky to dream of a black horse; others say it is lucky.
7708. A white horse in your dream foretells good luck according to some; according to others, bad luck.
7709. It is unlucky to dream of a running horse.
7710. When you dream of a stampede among horses, you will soon encounter bad luck.
7711. The person dreaming of a horse accompanied by a dog will be lucky.
7712. Success comes from dreaming of a horse.
7713. Dreams in which you see a black horse mean partial success.
7714. You may look for prosperity, after you have dreamed of a horse.
7715. If you dream of riding a horse, you will rise in the world.
 179

7716. The interpretation of a dream in which you fall from a horse is misfortune and disappointment.
7717. Disappointment follows a dream of a black horse.
7718. Dream of a horse and you will soon make a new friend.
7719. "I always get a letter the next day, after I dream about a bay horse."
7720. "When I dream of a black horse I always get a letter and the letter has bad news in it."
7721. If you dream of a grey horse, you will either receive a letter or hear good news.
7722. A dream of a white horse denotes a letter and usually one containing good news.
7723. The person who dreams of a white horse will get money and often by means of a letter.
7724. "I dreamt the other night I had four white horses and the next day got a letter from my brother with five dollars in it. If you dream of
seeing several white horses, you will receive good news from an absent relative."
7725. You will hear bad news, after you dream of two horses hitched up and running.
7726. A wedding is foretold by a dream concerned with a grey horse.
7727. "Just last Sunday I dreamt of a white horse and in three days I went to a wedding."
7728. If you dream of a white horse, you will hear of a wedding in the family.
7729. "I dreamt one night that I saw my uncle go by the house with a white horse; and if you dream of seeing a man and a white horse going by
your house, that's the sign of a big accident. Right after that my uncle fell off the house he was working on, broke his leg, and was in bed for a
long time."
7730. Sickness may soon be expected, when you dream of a black horse.
7731. The person dreaming of a black horse will have a death in the family.
7732. A dream of a white horse is a warning of death.
7733. "It would worry me to death, if I dreamt of horses hitched up to a carriage; sign of death."

Lion - Mice - Mule - Rabbit - Rat - Sheep (7734-7749)

LION
7734. Good luck will come to you, after you dream of a lion.
7735. If you dream of a lion, you need not fear anyone.
7736. The person who dreams of a lion may expect treachery from a friend.

MICE
7737. Mice in your dream indicate dangerous friends.
7738. "Just this week I dreamt of two mice: if you dream of mice, sign someone will come soon and eat off of you that you don't want; and the
number of mice will be the number of people. The next day a man and a woman came to my house and eat off of me, and I didn't want them at
all."

MULE
7739. You will soon have an accident, if you dream of a mule.
7740. A mule in your dream reveals that you will succeed in business through determination and perseverance.
7741. A death in the family is presaged by dreaming of a black mule say some; of a white mule say others.

RABBIT
7742. It is an omen of trouble, to dream of a rabbit.
7743. Persons dreaming of a rabbit will have pleasure and gain in something about to be undertaken.
7744. A dream of a rabbit is a sign of a love letter containing a proposal; accept it, for it means happiness.

RAT
7745. The meaning of a dream about rats is as follows: bitter enemies, many enemies, or secret enemies.
7746. If you dream of rats, someone will soon steal something from you.

SHEEP
7747. Sheep in your dream are an omen of great pain.
7748. If you dream of sheep, someone in trouble needs your assistance.
7749. Anyone who dreams of a lot of dead sheep will soon have some great misfortune.

Birth - Baby - Children (7750- 7771)

BIRTH - BABY - CHILDREN
7750. Dreams about a baby are lucky.
7751. Good luck will come to the woman who dreams of having a baby.
7752. Trouble is boded when you dream of a baby.
7753. If you dream of a laughing baby, it will bring good luck to your house; if of a crying baby, bad luck or some deep sorrow.
7754. Sorrow and trouble will soon assail those dreaming of their birthday.
7755. To dream of children is a presage of happiness.
7756. If you dream of sickly twins, it is a token of sorrow; if of healthy twins, success in business.
7757. Women giving birth to twins in a dream will soon hear good news.
7758. Look for money after you dream of a child.
7759. Old maids who dream of babies will soon be disappointed.
7760. If you dream of a baby (a newborn one say some), it foretells a quarrel next day.
7761. There will be a separation in the family, after a woman dreams of having a baby.
7762. A girl who dreams of a baby will soon get a new beau.
7763. A girl who dreams of babies will soon marry.
7764. A girl who dreams of having a baby will never be a mother; a married woman who dreams of having children will be childless.
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7765. A girl who dreams of having a baby will be married and have a child within a year.
7766. The birth of a child in your dream is a marriage omen.
7767. Another child may be expected in the family, after you dream of a birth or baby.
7768. A woman who dreams her mother has had a child will herself soon have a baby.
7769. Death in the family is betokened by dreaming of a birth or a baby.
7770. To dream of dressing a newborn baby foretells a death in the family.
7771. If you dream of a birth or baby, you yourself will soon die.

Man - Woman - Negro - Family - Blood (7772-7821)

MAN AND WOMAN
7772. Dreams about a man or men indicate good luck according to some; bad luck according to others.
7773. An elderly person who dreams of being young again will be fortunate.
7774. It is unlucky to dream of a man and have him strike you.
7775. A dream of the opposite sex will bring you some gain.
7776. The person who dreams of a man will soon entertain a visitor.
7777. According to a Negro, one of his race dreaming of a white man will soon be broke.
7778. To see a dark-complexioned man in your dream shows you will soon be the object of disgrace.
7779. Anyone dreaming of an old man will soon receive an honor.
7780. When you dream some old person is young, you may look for that person's death.
7781. You are warned of a death soon, when you dream of an old man with a long white beard.

NEGRO
7782. It is lucky to dream of Negroes say some; unlucky say others.
7783. The person who dreams of being frightened by a Negro will have good luck.
7784. If in your dream you see a smiling Negro approaching you, trouble is not far away.
7785. Good news will be received, after you dream of a Negro.
7786. Dream of a Negro and you will soon be disappointed.
7787. If you dream of coming face to face with a Negro, some good gain will soon come to you.
7788. Money losses are denoted by a dream about a Negro.
7789. A person dreaming of a Negro has a false friend.
7790. If you dream of a Negro, you will be angry next day.
7791. If you dream of a Negro, you will have a serious quarrel or a fight; one in which blood may be shed, say some.
7792. To dream of a mulatto signifies success in love.
7793. "Whenever I dream of colored people I always hear of a death in the family."

FAMILY
7794. Good luck will follow a dream in which your father comes and talks to you.
7795. It is unlucky to dream of striking your mother.
7796. Expect trouble as the result of a dream about your father.
7797. Dream of your mother and you will hear of trouble before the week is out.
7798. Sorrow may be expected, after you dream of your mother.
7799. Joy follows a dream in which your brother appears.
7800. If you dream of your mother and have a friendly talk with her, it is an omen of happiness.
7801. Whatever your mother tells you in your dream will come true.
7802. The wife who dreams of her husband will soon receive money.
7803. After you dream of your mother, you will get a letter from a relative.
7804. "If you dream of your [dead] father, you will wake up and it will be raining; it always does for me."
7805. "When I dream of my [dead] mother it will just pour down rain the next day."
7806. A wife dreaming that she leaves her husband will soon be separated from him.
7807. A dream about your brother will be followed by a sudden death in the family.
7808. To dream of a relative indicates the death of a relative.

BLOOD
7809. Blood in your dream denotes bad luck.
7810. If you dream of blood and it does not run, good luck may be expected.
7811. Sorrow is the meaning of a dream about blood.
7812. One who dreams about blood will soon be disappointed: if the quantity of blood is small, expect a small disappointment; if large, a large
disappointment.
7813. To dream of blood and step in it is an omen of a serious quarrel in the family.
7814. You will get a letter from an enemy, after you have seen blood in a dream.
7815. If you dream of a small quantity of blood, you will receive a small amount of money; if a large quantity, a large amount.
7816. A dream in which blood is running from you is a presage of a lot of money.
7817. The person who dreams of blood and does not see blood next day will have a lie told about him.
7818. Sickness is foretold by a dream about blood.
7819. "I believe in dreams. One night I dreamt my daughter was in an accident and the blood was all running down her leg and face, was all cut
up. In three days she had an accident in Chicago in a car and was all cut up, lay in the hospital for three months. My dreams always come true."
7820. Dream about blood that runs from you and you will hear of a death.
7821. A dream of clotted blood shows someone in your family will be or has been killed.

Eyes - Face - Feet - Hair - Skin - Teeth (7822-7854)

 181

EYES
7822. You will have bad luck, after you dream of seeing your own eyes.
7823. If you dream of someone spitting into your eyes, your feelings will soon be hurt.

FACE
7824. If you dream of an old woman's face, good luck is indicated.
7825. If you dream of a black face, you have a bad enemy.
7826. If you dream of a sad face, trouble and sickness are coming.
7827. If you dream of painting some woman's face, it reveals that woman as a deceitful person.

FEET
7828. Bad luck is caused by dreaming of feet.
7829. It is unlucky to dream that your feet are large.
7830. To dream of being barefoot means bad news.
7831. If you dream of going somewhere barefoot, your life will be free from cares.

HAIR
7832. Misfortune will soon overtake you, if you dream of your hair.
7833. Long hair in your dream is a fortunate omen.
7834. You become unlucky by dreaming you comb your hair.
7835. If you dream of cutting your hair, you will sustain a loss in a business deal.
7836. Some misfortune is portended by a dream in which you lose your hair.
7837. The man who dreams he has long hair will be deceived by a woman.
7838. "I dreamt this twice, of a blond-headed boy; you are sure to have a bad accident. And I got in a bad car wreck."
7839. If you dream of combing your hair and it falls out, death will soon cause someone to fall out of your family.

SKIN
7840. If you dream of a large red spot like a burn (love bite?) on your body or on some other person's body, it shows that someone loves you.
7841. A dream in which your body has a burning sensation warns you that your reputation will be endangered.

TEETH
7842. Some say a dream about teeth is unlucky; others say lucky. The former interpretation is the usual one.
7843. If you dream of having a tooth pulled or of a tooth falling out, you will lose a friend say some; but others say you will soon get a new
friend.
7844. If you dream your false teeth fall out, you have false friends.
7845. After you dream about one of your teeth falling out or about having one of them pulled, you will soon be sick.
7846. Teeth in your dream portend a death.
7847. A dream in which your teeth fall out is a death warning.
7848. The person who dreams that a tooth falls out will soon die.
7849. Look for a death, after you dream of breaking a tooth.
7850. "Years ago I had a very sick brother. We were living out in the country and the doctor told us one night, if he was no better the next day, to
come in town and he would change the medicine. The next morning Charlie was no better, so my mother said to my father, 'After breakfast I want
you to go to town and get some medicine from the doctor.' My father said, 'It is no use of me going to town, I am taking the trip for nothing, for
you know whenever I dream of pulling a tooth we have a death, and last night I dreamt I was pulling my tooth.' At last my mother got my father
to go for the medicine, still saying he was making the trip for nothing, so sure brother would die. He got in town, got the medicine, and stopped at
the post office and found a letter from his folks that his sister was dead. So the dreaming of the tooth was for his sister and not his son as he
thought."
7851. If you dream of pulling a young person's tooth, a young person will die; if an old person's tooth, an old person.
7852. If you dream of a tooth being pulled and it does not hurt, there will be a death.
7853. If you dream of having a tooth extracted and it pains, expect the death of a close relative; if it does not pain, a distant relative.
7854. A tooth lost in your dream is an indication of a death; also, the location of the tooth indicates how closely you are related to person who
will die: if the "front tooth", father or mother, or husband and wife; if the "second tooth", brother or sister; if the "third tooth", a cousin; and if
the "fourth tooth", a friend. The front tooth is one of the two interior incisors, the right for father or husband and left for mother or wife; the
second tooth is one of the two exterior incisors, the right for brother and left for sister; the third tooth is a canine, the right for male and left for
female cousin; and the fourth tooth is a bicuspid, the right for male and left for female friend. These meanings are for upper or lower teeth.

Sickness and Health (7855-7885)

SICKNESS AND HEALTH
7855. Family worries are imminent for those who dream of having a bellyache.
7856. To have something bite you in your dream warns you of sorrow.
7857. If you dream of a person biting you, someone is very jealous.
7858. If you dream of being blind, you will soon be very poor.
7859. It is lucky to dream of a blind man regaining his sight.
7860. The person who dreams of a crazy person will receive a present.
7861. A cripple appearing in your dream is a lucky omen.
7862. If you dream of being cut, some member of your family will be injured.
7863. To dream of a doctor means good news.
7864. Expect a severe loss, after you dream of a foot amputated.
7865. If you dream of a corn coming off your foot, you will receive money unexpectedly.
7866. If you dream of someone who is healthy, that person will soon be sick; if sickly, that person will keep well.
 182

7867. Good luck is the meaning of a dream about a hospital.

7868. Anyone who dreams of having the itch will soon get some money.
7869. Money will come to the person dreaming about a nosebleed.
7870. There will be a quarrel in the family, if you dream of breaking your ribs.
7871. A dream about sickness is always a bad sign.
7872. To dream you are unable to sleep denotes trouble and sorrow.
7873. A person who dreams of having a swollen tongue will soon be sick.
7874. Dream that you suffer from a toothache and you will hear of a death.
7875. If you dream of urinating in bed, you have a weak bladder and will actually urinate in bed.
7876. Those who dream of vomiting will soon become ill.
7877. A person dreaming of warts is loved by someone but does not know it.
7878. Money may be expected, after you dream of having warts on your nose.
7879. If in your dream you see someone who is actually sick, that person will never recover.
7880. If in your dream you see a sick person who looks much improved, his death is foretold.
7881. If in your dream you see a sick person jumping out of bed, his death may be expected.
7882. If in your dream you see a sick person getting out of the house or running away, he will soon die; but if you find and bring him back into
the house, he will get well.
7883. If while a person is sick you dream of someone going away, the patient will soon be dead.
7884. If while someone is sick you dream of his death, it means a complete recovery for the patient.
7885. If while someone is sick you dream of hearing him call you, you may expect his death.

Anger - Fight - Quarrel - Friend (7886-7900)

ANGER
7886. Anger against you in your dream shows that you will soon be angry with the person displaying it.
7887. Good news follows a dream in which somebody was angry at you.

FIGHT AND QUARREL

7888. To dream of a fight or quarrel with an enemy is lucky.
7889. If you dream of quarreling, it is a sign of happiness. Some say you will be made happy by the person with whom you quarreled.
7890. A duel in your dream means a quarrel with your lover.
7891. If you dream of fighting or quarreling, you will hear good news. Some say this news will be heard unexpectedly.
7892. The person who dreams of a big fight will hear bad news.
7893. The person who dreams of someone in a fight will either hear of or witness an accident.
7894. After you dream of a quarrel, you will hear of someone being sick.
7895. To dream of a quarrel foretells a birth in the family.

FRIEND
7896. "Dreams of old friends, Brings news of them."
7897. If you dream of losing a friend, you will soon lose a friend by death.
7898. If in your dream you and a friend with whom you quarreled long ago become reconciled, that former friend is going to die.
7899. The girl who dreams of going out with a boy friend will soon be a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding.
7900. If a woman dreams of being asked to marry and she refuses the proposal, the man will soon be very sick; and if she accepts, he will soon
die.

Crying - Laughing - Singing - Kissing (7901-7921)

CRYING
7901. It is lucky for you to see someone crying in your dream.
7902. A dream in which you shed tears is a sign of pleasure.
7903. To weep and grieve for a departed friend in your dream signifies happiness.
7904. If in your dream you see someone crying, you will soon hear joyful news.
7905. Dreams in which you cry and are miserable denote an important change in your affairs.
7906. You will hear of a wedding, after a dream in which you have cried.
7907. "My sister always said: if you dream you cry in your sleep, you will hear of a death far away."
7908. To dream of a crying child portends a death in your family.

LAUGHING
7909. Dream of laughing and you will soon be crying.
7910. Persons dreaming of laughter and joy will soon lose something.

SINGING
7911. To hear singing in your dream is lucky.
7912. Look for a death after you have heard singing in your dream.
7913. "I dreamt this not long ago. I was in church singing, and the next week, June 8, 1946, my cousin up in Augusta [Illinois] died."

KISS
7914. If you dream of kissing and embracing a beloved person, you will have good luck; an unknown person, bad luck.
7915. To kiss someone in your dream betokens an unexpected visitor.
7916. Disagreeable visitors are denoted by a dream in which you have been kissed.
7917. A person who dreams of kissing or loving someone seen but once will never see that person again.
7918. Kiss a stranger in your dream and you will go on a speedy journey.
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7919. Any dream in which you kiss a stranger is the sign of falling weather.
7920. If you dream of kissing a stranger, you will soon be married. 7
921. To dream of kissing someone means a disappointment in love.

Naked - Clothes - Personal Ornaments (7922-7977)

NAKED
7922. "One night that was all I dreamt about, was seeing naked people. If you dream of someone being naked, you will hear of some slander in
your family soon. And the next day my husband got arrested and was sent over the road [over the railroad to the penitentiary]. Maybe you think
that was not slander in the family."
7923. If you dream or someone lying naked on the ground, an accident is indicated.
7924. "Last week Mrs. X. dreamt she saw little Harry in a large crowd without any clothes on. She said the next morning, 'Harry is going to get
hurt or be in an accident, for if you dream of a crowd and someone in that crowd without their clothes on, sure sign of an accident.' Sure enough,
that morning when his mother took him to school she ran into another car about eight-thirty and smashed the other car, and brought her boy home
with a cut on the head and the blood running down his race, and glad he wasn't hurt any more."
7925. If you dream of someone half-naked on the street, sickness may be expected.
7926. If you dream of sitting naked somewhere, you will soon lose something.
7927. If you dream of a naked woman, it means honor and joy.
7928. If you dream of a naked woman, you are going to be married.
7929. If you dream of a naked person, expect an increase in your family.
7930. "My wife always said if she dreamt of seeing someone naked, there would always be a death in the family."
7931. Nudity in your dream is a death token: some say you must see a nude woman; others say a nude man.
7932. If you dream of a naked man, you will hear of a woman's death; if a naked woman, a man's death.
7933. If you dream of a naked man, you yourself will soon die.
7934. To dream of being naked is a death warning.

CLOTHES
7935. A person who dreams of wearing an apron will soon be obliged to shield a friend.
7936. To see in your dream a person wearing a new dress is the sign of marriage.
7937. It is lucky to dream of someone dressed in white; unlucky, dressed in black.
7938. Some great sorrow follows a dream in which you are dressed in black.
7939. Bad luck will come to the woman who dreams of lending a black dress.
7940. A sick person dreaming of a black dress will get better.
7941. If you dream of someone dressed in white, a death is portended.
7942. "My aunt had a token of her death. She dreamt three woman were standing at her door all dressed in black and they kept beckoning her to
come on, and she died the next night."
7943. A dream in which you see someone exceptionally well-dressed indicates death for the person seen.
7944. To dream of being half-clothed denotes trouble and sadness.
7945. If you dream of losing any of your clothes, you will soon lose a close friend.
7946. Dream of soiled clothes and you will have bad luck.
7947. You will have a quarrel, after you dream of dirty linen.
7948. The person who dreams of unclean clothing will soon receive money.
7949. Clean clothing in your dream means good news.
7950. After you dream of washing clothes, you will move to another house.
7951. If you dream of hanging up your clothes, you will soon hang them up in a new house.
7952. Expect good fortune or honor and prosperity, if you dream of wearing gloves.
7953. Concerning a dream of gloves: if they are new, you will have much pleasure; if they are old and soiled, a disappointment.
7954. A woman dreaming that someone sends her a pair of gloves will soon get something she was not looking for.
7955. Girls who dream of getting a new hat will soon meet a new sweetheart.
7956. If you dream of a shawl, someone is going to flatter you.
7957. Your lover will jilt you, after you dream of losing your shawl.
7958. It is unlucky to dream of ironing a man's shirt.
7959. To dream of shoes is an indication of good luck.
7960. If you dream of new shoes, it is lucky; if old shoes, unlucky.
7961. You have bad luck by dreaming that you lose a shoe.
7962. The person who dreams of losing shoes will be very poor.
7963. Financial troubles may be expected by the person dreaming of shabby shoes.
7964. Dream of "threadbare" shoes and you will soon lose a dear friend.
7965. A shoe lost in your dream signifies the loss of a friend.
7966. When you dream of shoes, you will soon hear of a fight.
7967. Those who dream of buying shoes will soon go on a journey.
7968. A girl dreaming of shoes will soon get a new beau.
7969. If you dream of losing your shoes, you will lose someone in the family.

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS
7970. A woman who dreams of having or receiving jewels will soon lose something highly valued by her.
7971. It is lucky to dream of a gold ring.
7972. Anyone dreaming of a gold ring that is broken will have an unpatchable quarrel with a friend or sweetheart.
7973. To dream of a gold ring is the sign of a wedding.
7974. "I have dreamt this six different times, of putting a ring on someone's finger, and every time we had a death in the family."
7975. A ruby in your dream denotes bloodshed.
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7976. The person who dreams of dropping a watch will soon have trouble.
7977. If you dream of breaking a watch, trouble is signified.

Wedding - House - Household Equipment (7978-8054)

WEDDING
7978. Some say a dream about marriage is an indication of good luck; others say, bad luck.
7979. Happiness is an interpretation of a dream about a marriage.
7980. Dream of a wedding and you will inherit money.
7981. Persons dreaming of a marriage will never marry.
7982. The girl who dreams of an elopement will receive an offer of marriage.
7983. You will soon be sick, after you dream of a wedding.
7984. If you dream of dancing at a wedding, it foretells a severe sickness.
7985. A wedding in your dream portends death for some member of your family.
7986. "I dreamt three different times I was being married --- if you dream you are getting married, sure will have a death in the family --- and
each time we had a death: the first time, my son died; the second time, my uncle, and the third time, my sister-in-law."
7987. If you see a wedding in your dream, the person being married will die.
7988. If you dream of your own wedding, the person married to you in your dream will die before the year is out.
7989. "One night I dreamt I was getting ready to be married all in white, that is bad luck. Then, as I started to the church, I step in mud with
my white slipper and that is bad luck. Then, I put my foot on a stump to clean my slipper, and that is bad. And the man I was to marry came along
and wiped the mud off my slipper, and that was another bad sign --- your future husband seeing you in your wedding clothes. Then we started to
church and halfway there I met my sister coming toward me all dressed in her pink wedding dress that she had been married in, another bad sign.
And in a week's time I was called home, my sister was sick; and she died and was buried in her pink wedding dress."

HOUSE
7990. If you dream of helping to build a new house, you will soon move into a new house.
7991. To dream you are in a large house reveals a change in your affairs.
7992. A woman who dreams of a burning house will soon have a lover that would go through fire for her.
7993. If you dream your house burns down, someone in the family will die before the year is out.
7994. Prepare for unexpected company, after you dream of a dirty house.
7995. When you dream of having a dirty house: if the dirt is dark, a dark person will become sick; if light, a light person.
7996. Those who dream of being in a vacant house will soon have a death in the family.
7997. A dream in which you move from a house is a sign of trouble.
7998. "Every time I dream of moving we do move in a few weeks."
7999. "Whenever I dream of moving I always have a fuss with someone."
8000. "Several months ago I dreamt someone was moving and they stop right in front of my house, and they were so poor; about all they had was
an old table, bed, and several chairs on the wagon. If you dream of seeing someone moving and they are real poor, that is the sign someone will
lose their job and want to move in with you. Right after that, someone in our family lost their job and wanted to move in with us."
8001. Sickness and death are foretold by a dream in which the plaster falls from a ceiling.
8002. Dream of a cellar and you will soon be very sick.
8003. If in your dream you hear someone knocking at the door and find no one there, it is very unlucky.
8004. "One night my father dreamt someone was knocking at the door --- if you dream you hear someone knocking at the door and ask them to
come in, sure sign of death --- and he said, 'Come in,' and it was my little brother. And the next day we got word my brother got killed."
8005. To dream of passing through a door is always a fortunate omen.
8006. A person who dreams of swinging back and forth on a gate will soon hear bad news.
8007. Hate and anger are signified by a dream about a key.
8008. If you dream of holding a bunch of keys, your affairs will soon be settled.
8009. It is an excellent omen to dream that you are in a kitchen.
8010. To dream of walking down a stairs signifies trouble.
8011. Someone will accuse you falsely, after a dream in which you pass through a window.
8012. Domestic happiness is the meaning of a dream about a window.
8013. It is unlucky to dream of a broken windowpane.

HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT
8014. To see an ax in your dream denotes bad luck.
8015. If you dream of a full basket, you will be lucky; an empty basket, unlucky.
8016. Whoever dreams of standing near a bed will soon meet trouble.
8017. There will be a death, after you dream of a bed.
8018. An empty bottle in your dream bodes sickness.
8019. Dream of empty wine bottles and you will soon be prosperous.
8020. Domestic troubles follow a dream in which you see an upset pile of bottles.
8021. It is lucky to dream of a chair.
8022. To dream of breaking dishes foretells trouble.
8023. Bad luck may be expected, if you dream of firing a gun.
8024. The report of a gun fired in your dream will bring you bad news.
8025. If you dream of a gun, it is the sign of danger.
8026. Dreams in which you see a knife are unlucky.
8027. A dream about a knife indicates anger and a quarrelsome dispute.
8028. Interpret a dream in which you find a pocketknife as follows: if the blade is open, you will have bad luck; if closed, good luck.
8029. Dream of a ladder and you will soon encounter trouble.
8030. Trouble follows a dream in which you walk under a ladder.
 185

8031. If you dream of going up a ladder, good luck may be expected; if coming down a ladder, bad luck.
8032. If you dream of ascending a ladder, you will rise in life; if descending a ladder, you will sink into poverty.
8033. If you dream of climbing a ladder, trouble is denoted; but if you are able to climb down the ladder, you will survive the trouble.
8034. To dream of a light is lucky.
8035. If you dream of lighting candles which stay lighted, you may look for good luck; but if they go out, bad news.
8036. The person who lights a lamp in his dream will have sorrow and suffering.
8037. Dream of a lamp and there will soon be a birth in the family.
8038. New lumber seen in a dream is an indication of sickness.
8039. If you dream of new lumber, it means someone will die: the nearer the lumber to you, the sooner the death say some; the closer the person
to you, say others.
8040. A dream in which you throw lumber down a hill is a token of your own death.
8041. If you dream of piling up lumber, you will soon get a large sum of money unexpectedly.
8042. The significance of a dream in which you are looking into a mirror is treachery.
8043. A person dreaming of a mirror will soon be slandered.
8044. To see a pair of scissors in your dream denotes a quarrel with your sweetheart.
8045. An abundance of food is the meaning of a dream about a table.
8046. You become lucky by dreaming about a table set in white.
8047. To decorate a table in your dream foretells an invitation to a wedding dinner.
8048. Those who dream of a thimble will never be married.
8049. An umbrella in your dream is a good omen.
8050. Concerning a dream about an umbrella: if it is raised, you will have good luck. if lowered, bad luck --- but some say this will not amount to
much.
8051. Anybody dreaming of an umbrella will soon receive something nice.
8052. Dreams about an umbrella betoken money.
8053. Prosperity is denoted by a dream in which you borrow an umbrella.
8054. A woman who dreams of holding an umbrella in a storm will get a new lover.

Fire-Stove - Smoke - Ashes - Matches (8055-8076)

FIRE - STOVE - SMOKE - ASHES - MATCHES
8055. When you dream of a fire: if you see bright flames, you will be lucky; if smoke only, unlucky.
8056. It is unlucky to dream of a dying fire.
8057. Whoever dreams of a fire will soon win some money.
8058. After you see a sparkling fire in your dream, money will be received.
8059. If you dream of a stove having a fire, you will live in wealth; but if without a fire, in poverty.
8060. To dream of a stove without a fire signifies a lawsuit.
8061. Somebody is talking about or will lie about the person who dreams of a fire.
8062. Dream of a raging fire and you will be separated from a friend.
8063. You will hear hasty news, after you dream of a fire.
8064. A dream in which your own house is on fire foretells speedy news.
8065. A fire in your dream is a sign of a fire.
8066. Dreams in which a fire is blazing furiously mean danger.
8067. Fire in your dream indicates a coming joy.
8068. To dream of a fire denotes sickness; often a sickness attended by fever.
8069. "I know we always have a death in the family when I dream of fire."
8070. It causes bad luck to dream of smoke.
8071. Smoke appearing in your dream presages a death.
8072. Look for trouble and sorrow, if a large pile of ashes or clinkers appears in your dream.
8073. A dream about ashes foretells the loss of a very dear friend.
8074. After you dream of ashes, you may expect a death.
8075. If you dream of an opened match box and the matches are burning, you will have good luck; if a closed match box, bad luck.
8076. Wealth will come to the person who dreams of matches.

Food and Drink (8077-8121)

FOOD AND DRINK
8077. Biscuits in your dream indicate good fortune.
8078. A pleasant and prosperous journey is foretold by a dream about biscuits.
8079. To eat hard white bread in your dream is lucky.
8080. "I dreamt two weeks ago I ate a whole loaf of bread, and the next day took sick and was sick for a week."
8081. The woman who dreams of kneading light-bread will have a miscarriage.
8082. Someone will die after you dream of a lot of bread.
8083. To dream of breaking bread forbodes a death.
8084. Bread dropped on the stairs during a dream presages a death: if you drop it halfway up, someone in the family will die; if at the top of the
stairs, you yourself will be the corpse.
8085. "One night I dreamt that I saw my cousin and her father eating supper, and all they had on the table was pork sausage and bread. My uncle
had a slice of bread in his hand, and my cousin was eating some of the pork sausage. If you dream of meat and bread, that is the sign of a wedding
and a death: who is eating the meat will marry, and who is eating the bread will die. When I woke up the next morning I said, 'There is going to
be a death and a wedding out in the country.' It was no time after that my cousin got married, and her father died soon after the wedding. That was
my dream coming true.
8086. After you have dreamed about butter, you will receive money from a woman.
8087. Pleasure is indicated by a dream in which you are making candy, confections or sweets.
 186

8088. One who dreams of eating candy will have an unpleasant experience.
8089. Cheese eaten in your dream foreshows some gain.
8090. The meaning of a dream in which you are drunk or see liquor is a change in your fortune for better or worse.
8091. If you dream of eating with an enemy, you and that enemy will soon become friends.
8092. "Whenever I dream I am eating a lot I always get a sick spell right after that."
8093. "Every time I dream of a big meal I am sure to go to a funeral soon."
8094. "One night a woman dreamt her husband brought home a sack of flour. She told me about her dream. I told her it was death. And they lost
their little girl right after that.
8095. The person who dreams of being hungry will soon have more than plenty to eat.
8096. It portends a death in the family, to dream of starvation.
8097. Bad luck follows a dream about meat.
8098. White meat in your dream means good luck.
8099. Black meat in your dream is a sign of danger.
8100. To dream of a large quantity of meat brings a disappointment.
8101. Good news will be heard after you dream of fresh meat.
8102. "My mother dreamed one night that my father brought her home some spoiled beef and the next day her brother got in jail."
8103. Whoever dreams of a butcher cutting bloody meat will hear some scandal.
8104. A dream about meat signifies a wedding.
8105. To see a butcher slaughtering an animal in your dream indicates the death of a friend or relative.
8106. If you dream of white meat, a white person will die; if brown meat, a very brown person; and if black meat, a very dark person.
8107. If you dream of fresh or sweet milk, you will soon fall in love; if sour milk or buttermilk, you will soon fall out of love.
8108. If you dream of milk, someone will soon reveal a love for you.
8109. Great happiness will come to the person who dreams of eating nuts.
8110. Peanuts in your dream signify poverty.
8111. To dream of opening and eating walnuts is a sign of money.
8112. A person dreaming of a nutmeg will rise to a high position.
8113. The person who dreams of grating a nutmeg will go up in the world.
8114. If you dream of a nutmeg, you will soon be sick; however, if you dream of grating the nutmeg, you will overcome your sickness.
8115. Dream of pepper and you will have a quarrel or fight.
8116. If a man dreams of eating pickles, he will be loved by a vinegary old maid; if a girl, she will be kissed by a crabby old bachelor.
8117. If you dream of a piece of pie, someone will soon lie about you.
8118. Everything will go wrong after you dream of spilling salt.
8119. Dreams about vinegar denote family misunderstandings and quarrels.
8120. Those who dream of wine will soon see blood.
8121. A dream in which you are drinking wine is the sign of trouble and disappointment.

Waving - Climbing - Crawling - Falling - Flying (8122-8138)

WAVING
8122. If you dream of someone waving at you, good luck is betokened.
8123. The person who dreams of waving at someone far away will soon hear of a death.

CLIMBING
8124. To dream of climbing shows you will rise to a high position and honor.
8125. If you dream of climbing up a hill, it is lucky; if of coming down a hill, unlucky.
8126. If you dream of ascending and then descending a hill, you will have bad luck.

CRAWLING
8127. "I am just getting over a month sick spell. For three nights before I took sick I dreamt I just could not walk, just had to crawl everywhere. I
told a neighbor lady I was going to get sick over that dream and did, for that's an old German saying: you will have a long sick spell, if you
dream you can't walk and have to crawl everywhere you go."
8128. A dream in which you crawl under a fence means danger.

FALLING
8129. If you dream of falling or that someone else falls, bad luck may be expected.
8130. If you dream of a friend falling, you will fall into good luck; if of yourself falling, a friend will fall ill.
8131. If you dream of falling, you will soon rise --- there will be a sudden improvement in your condition say some.
8132. Dishonor and shame will be yours after you dream of falling.
8133. The person who dreams of falling will soon fall into debt and go bankrupt.
8134. Persons who dream of falling will soon fall in love.
8135. Whoever dreams of falling out a window will have an accident.
8136. If in your dream you are on top of a hill and fall off, you will soon be sick.
8137. A dream of falling through the air and striking the ground, or not to awaken before reaching the ground, portends the death of the dreamer.

FLYING
8138. The significance of a dream in which you fly or float through the air like a bird is a journey soon to be taken.

Riding - Running - Traveling - Walking (8139-8149)

RIDING
8139. One who dreams of riding will soon hear some unpleasant news.
 187

RUNNING
8140. It is a good omen to dream of running. Concerning a dream in which you run a race: if you lose, it will bring you trouble; if you win,
all your troubles will be surmounted.
8141. "We had a woman in bur neighborhood dream one night that her daughter run away, and she said she just kept calling her back and she
would not come; and in a week's time this girl did run away and they could not get her to come back. I believe in dreams."

TRAVELING
8142. The person who dreams of planning or getting ready to go somewhere and then fails to make the journey will be unlucky.
8143. To dream of staying in a hotel means bad news.
8144. If you dream of taking a long trip, you will soon have company from out of town.
8145. If you dream of coming home from a long trip and emptying your traveling- bag (or throwing your clothes) on the floor, good luck may be
expected.

WALKING
8146. To dream of walking shows that you will soon change your residence.
8147. A dream in which you walk at night brings misfortune.
8148. A person who dreams of walking on stilts is proud.
8149. If a woman dreams of walking in the woods with a man, it is a sign of her own death.

Vehicle - Road - Lost - Crowd - Meeting (8150-8173)

VEHICLE
8150. Success in business comes to those dreaming of an automobile.
8151. The purchase of a new automobile during a dream brings an invitation to a party.
8152. Proposal of marriage will be offered to a girl, after she has dreamed about driving an automobile.
8153. A black coach in your dream is a death warning.
8154. If you dream of riding on a fast train, you will meet with bad luck.
8155. Those who dream of riding on a fast train will soon move.
8156. To dream of a train means you will soon move to another town.
8157. After you dream of riding on a train, you will see an absent friend.
8158. If you dream of a train coming towards you, it is bringing you trouble; if the train is going away from you, it is taking your trouble away.
8159. If you dream of a train coming towards you, you will hear good news; if the train is going away from you, bad news.
8160. To dream of a train running over a person means a death.
8161. "I believe in dreams --- one thing I sure believe in. If you see something drive up to your house and stop, you will sure have a death in
the house. I remember one night I saw a big wagon drive up to our house and stop in the front. We were living on a farm out here about ten miles
from Quincy at the time. My cousin was working for us. Several weeks after the dream I saw X's big wagon drive up and take my cousin away.
That was the death. X. was the undertaker."

ROAD
8162. Roads in your dream are lucky.
8163. If you dream of traveling a straight road, you will have good luck; if of traveling a crooked road, bad luck.
8164. If you dream of going some place and returning by the same road, it is lucky; if of coming back another road, unlucky.

LOST
8165. If a married woman dreams of being lost, she will soon be separated from her husband; if an unmarried woman dreams of being lost,
she will soon have a baby.

CROWD
8166. A dream of seeing or being in a crowd betokens a death.
8167. Dream of a crowd singing and you will soon hear of a death.

MEETING
8168. To meet someone in your dream is an indication of prosperity.
8169. If you dream of meeting someone, you will either hear or receive a letter from that person next day say some or soon say others.
8170. A dream in which you meet someone not met for a long time is a token of that person's death.
8171. If you dream of meeting a person not seen for a long time and he looks at you and smiles but does not speak, it is an omen of his death.
8172. If you dream of meeting an enemy who speaks to you and you pass by him without answering; good luck may be expected.
8173. If you dream of meeting someone you want to see, do not go near the place where you saw that person in your dream or you will have
trouble.

Letter - Mailman - Telegram - Money (8174-8215)

LETTER - MAILMAN - TELEGRAM
8174. The person who dreams of getting a big letter will be fortunate.
8175. If you see a bundle of letters in your dream and get them, you will have bad luck.
8176. If you dream of a mailman putting in someone else's mailbox a letter that should have gone into yours, you will be very unfortunate.
8177. Happiness will come to the person who dreams of receiving a bundle of letters.
8178. "I have heard my mother say if you dream you write a letter, good news is coming to you."
8179. To dream of a mailman brings you a letter.
8180. A person dreaming of a letter will soon meet a new friend.
8181. To receive a letter in your dream denotes money; especially if the letter comes from a relative.
 188

8182. "Not long ago I dreamt of getting a telegraph [telegram] and signing for it; in three weeks after, I got a lot of money I was not looking for.
If you dream of getting a telegraph and signing for it, will bring you some very good luck."

MONEY
8183. Those who dream of paper money will meet with a misfortune.
8184. Some say it is lucky to dream of silver money; others say it is unlucky.
8185. A dream in which you find money, particularly silver money, brings you good luck according to some; according to others, bad luck.
8186. If you dream of finding a small piece of money, you will be unfortunate; if a large piece, fortunate.
8187. If a person dreams of finding a small amount of money, it is an unfavorable omen; if of a large amount, a favorable omen.
8188. To dream of finding a lot of money indicates a lot of trouble that year.
8189. If you dream of finding a roll of (paper) money, good luck is denoted; if of loose (metal) money, bad luck.
8190. Fortune will soon favor anyone who dreams of finding a purse full of money.
8191. If you dream of finding money that can be kept and you feel cheerful about the find, it signifies good luck; but if this money must be
restored to the owner and you are dejected over the restoration, bad luck.
8192. If you dream of losing silver or gold money, expect good luck; if paper money, bad luck.
8193. If you dream of losing your pocketbook, bad luck may be expected; but if the pocketbook is restored, you will soon get a large sum of
money.
8194. To have someone give you money in your dream denotes good fortune.
8195. If you dream somebody gives you less than a dollar, bad luck is signified; if more than a dollar, good luck.
8196. Good luck follows a dream in which you inherited a large fortune.
8197. "Mother always said if you dream you inherit money, you are going on a long trip soon."
8198. Those dreaming of borrowed money will be lucky.
8199. Bad news will follow a dream of money.
8200. You will be disappointed by a dream of inheriting money.
8201. Dream of paper money and you will suffer a loss.
8202. Persons who dream of throwing away money will come to want.
8203. Money matters will worry the person who dreams of money.
8204. If you dream of finding money, you will lose money; if of losing money, you will find money.
8205. A purse found in your dream is a sign you will soon find money.
8206. To dream of receiving a check means the loss of money.
8207. Silver money counted in your dream foretells an inheritance.
8208. "If I dream of money, I know I am sure going to have a fuss with someone."
8209. After you dream of loaning money, you will have a serious quarrel.
8210. Marriage is a meaning of a dream about money.
8211. A dream about money or riches will be followed by sickness.
8212. Paper money in your dream forbodes a death.
8213. Dreams about finding money are death tokens.
8214. "I once dreamt I took some money — if you dream you steal money, that is a sign of death in the family — and my father died in three
months after the dream."
8215. "My sister said, to dream you borrow someone's money, that's the sign of death in the family. When she would dream this, the next
morning she would throw salt on the stove to burn, trying to break the death spell. She was very superstitious."

Thief - Policeman - Prison (8216-8225)

THIEF - POLICEMAN - PRISON
8216. When you dream about robbery, burglary, and theft: if it occurs in the daytime it is lucky; if at night, unlucky.
8217. A dream in which you steal something sharp indicates bad luck.
8218. To dream of burglars entering your house means some great loss according to some, but according to others profit and honor.
8219. If you dream of robbing or being robbed, riches may be expected.
8220. If in your dream someone robs you, you will soon receive a gift.
8221. A dream concerning robbers signifies danger.
8222. If you dream of kidnappers kidnapping your child, your child will become sick.
8223. The person who dreams of a policeman will soon have trouble.
8224. A policeman in your dream is a warning to beware of false friends.

Pastimes (8226-8248)
PASTIMES
8226. Some consider card playing in your dream unlucky; by others this is considered lucky.
8227. Whoever dreams of being in a card game will receive money.
8228. You will soon have a quarrel, after you dream of playing at cards.
8229. According to some a dream of being at a dance or dancing denotes good luck; according to others, bad luck and trouble.
8230. Pleasant news will be heard by those who dream of dancing.
8231. If you dream of attending a masquerade, it reveals deceitful friends.
8232. The woman who dreams of dancing all night will soon have a new sweetheart.
8233. If a woman dreams of being at a dance with a man friend, he will ask her to marry him before the year is out.
8234. A dream in which you play with dice will be followed by some disgrace.
8235. The person who dreams of dice has an unfaithful sweetheart.
8236. If you dream of gambling and are a winner, it is lucky; if a loser, unlucky.
8237. Persons who dream of hunting will soon lose their hair.
8238. Dreams of music foretell the coming of a welcome visitor.
8239. After you dream of music, you will hear good news.
 189

8240. If you dream of a band playing (inside your own house according to some), it denotes a death.
8241. "I dreamt the band was playing and someone was singing in my aunt's front room, and in a week's time another aunt died in St. Louis; they
brought her to this house and her funeral was from that front room where I heard the band and singing. If you dream of a band playing and
someone singing, there will be a funeral from that place."
8242. Dream of someone playing a fiddle and you will soon be happy.
8243. Whoever dreams of playing a guitar and singing will be lucky in love.
8244. To hear a harp in your dream shows your best friend will soon play a harp in heaven.
8245. Expect a death to follow a dream in which someone plays on an organ.
8246. If you dream of attending a Halloween party, a witch is trying to harm you.
8247. If you dream of going to a picnic, you will soon have trouble with your lover.
8248. To dream of being in a theatre is unlucky.

Religious Matters (8249-8269)

RELIGIOUS MATTERS
8249. Angels appearing in your dream signify someone will die; and according to some, this death will occur in as many days as the number of
angels seen.
8250. An angel in your dream is a portent of your own death.
8251. Those dreaming of Christmas will be successful in love.
8252. Anyone who dreams of seeing a church or attending one will soon be involved in a family quarrel.
8253. Dreams of a church reveal unknown enemies trying to harm you.
8254. To dream of a church warns you to change your habits and to live a better life.
8255. After you dream of a church, a death will follow.
8256. "I dreamt one night I was in church and they were praying over me --- dream of being in church and they are praying over you, sign of bad
luck and death — and that week my child was stillborn, and some of the people at church prayed over me."
8257. "One night I dreamt of a big cross in the east. I tried in my sleep to get my mother to see the cross, but could not get her to look, and in
a week's time my mother died."
8258. "Two nights before my mother died I dreamt of a red cross in the heaven and it came down and touch the ground, and I woke up, and my
mother died in two nights after that."
8259. It is lucky to dream of the devil.
8260. A dream of the devil reveals a successful journey soon to be undertaken.
8261. If you dream of the devil, an enemy will worry you.
8262. The devil seen in your dream is an omen of trouble and sickness in your family.
8263. "I dreamt I died and went to hell. I went to a big door and the devil was standing there with his pitchfork turning over the dead on the fire.
The devil said to me, 'What do you want?' I told him I wanted to come in. He said, 'Go back, I don't want you.' I knew then that I should change
my ways and do better, for I was not doing right, for even the devil did not want me."
8264. Sickness is the meaning of a dream about heaven.
8265. If you dream of someone offering you incense to smell, you will soon be smelling trouble.
8266. One who dreams of a preacher will soon get married or hear of a marriage.
8267. There will soon be a funeral in your house, if you dream of a preacher.
8268. A dream about spirits or ghosts indicates something previously concealed from you will soon be revealed.
8269. To dream of Sunday foretells an approaching sickness for you.

The Dead - Coffin - Grave - Cemetery (8270-8343)

THE DEAD
8270. Look for good luck, after a dream of the dead.
8271. If you dream of seeing dead people and talk to them, it is lucky; if you do not talk to them, unlucky.
8272. If you dream of your dead mother and she talks to you, good luck may be expected.
8273. A dream in which you see your dead father foretells misfortune.
8274. In dreaming that you are dead you will know that your troubles are over for the present.
8275. Dream of the dead and rain will soon fall.
8276. If you dream of the dead, it will rain within three days.
8277. To dream of a dead person is the sign of a big storm.
8278. If you dream of a dead person, he is asking for your prayers; if you dream of your dead father, he is in purgatory and must be prayed out.
8279. If you dream of the dead, you will hear from the living.
8280. If you dream of the dead, you will get a letter.
8281. If you dream of a dead relative, good news will soon be heard.
8282. If you dream of a funeral, within three days a letter will be received from a relative.
8283. If you dream of a corpse in the house, someone far away wants to see you.
8284. A dream of the dead shows you will soon meet someone whom you have not met for a long time.
8285. One who dreams of the dead will soon receive a visit from the living.
8286. If you dream of burying someone from your house, next day you will have a strange visitor you do not want to see.
8287. To dream of a dead person calling you foretells a long journey soon to be made.
8288. After you dream of the dead, you may expect money.
8289. If you dream of your dead mother, you will inherit a fortune.
8290. If you dream of a death, you will hear of a birth.
8291. If in your dream you see someone dying, a baby will be born in the family.
8292. To dream of a dead person or a death means a marriage; one restricted to the family say some.
8293. If you dream of a funeral, you yourself will be married.
8294. If you dream of a dead friend, a living friend will soon marry.
8295. A dream in which you are walking behind a corpse indicates news of an accident.
 190

8296. A dream of death means a sickness.

8297. If you dream of talking to someone who is dead, there will be a serious sickness in your family.
8298. Those who dream of a dead person coming to life will hear of sickness.
8299. If you dream of a funeral while some member of the family is sick, the patient will recover.
8300. "I had a very sick man friend. Everyone thought he would die. I was to see him one night when very low, and that night I dreamt he was
going to die. I was by his bed side and told him goodby. The next morning at the table I told my wife that Charlie was going to get well; for, if
you dream someone is dying that is sick, sure sign they will get well. I never tell a bad dream, for I believe dreams come so. I only tell good ones.
Just as soon as I had breakfast I went to see my friend. He had had a turn in the night for better, and he got well."
8301. To dream of a death is a death warning.
8302. If you dream of death three times, you are warned of a death.
8303. Death will follow a dream in which you see your dead sister or dead mother.
8304. If you dream of arguing with a dead person, there will be a death in the family.
8305. If you dream a dead person leads you into a flower garden, a death is portended.
8306. "I always have a warning of death in the family. I always dream the same thing --- getting ready to go to a funeral and putting on the same
black hat with a long black veil. I have dreamt this four different times and we always have a death right after my dream in the family."
8307. "One night I dreamt I was sweeping the front porch off, and my neighbor came along and I said, 'How's your wife?' He said, 'She is dead.' It
worried me and I said to the folks while eating breakfast, 'Just as soon as I sweep the porch I am going over to see that neighbor, because she is
not even sick.' But my dream was so real it worried me. And before I got the porch done, this neighbor came by and I said, 'How's your wife this
morning?' And he said, 'She died last night.'"
8308. Some years ago a man and his son worked at the lime kilns near Marblehead, the former on the night and the latter on the day shift.
One afternoon the father dreamed that a rock fell on his son and killed him, and so real was the dream, he felt a stifling weight on his chest. He
awoke thoroughly frightened. Within a few minutes someone came to tell him that the son had just been killed by a large rock falling on his
chest.
8309. If you dream of having an accident while attending a funeral, you will go to a funeral that week.
8310. To dream of a funeral or a funeral procession means a death.
8311. The person who dreams of a hearse will have a death in the family.
8312. If you dream of an undertaker, you yourself will soon die.
8313. "I started to eat my breakfast last week. I happened to put my hand to my face; it smelled like a corpse. I said, 'I wonder who's going to
die.' And the smell left right away; that is a sudden death. If the smell stays, it will be longer. That day I had a call. My cousin died when I was
eating my breakfast. If it is the left hand that smells, it's a lady; right hand, a man."

COFFIN
8314. Bad luck is denoted by a coffin in your dream.
8315. It is lucky to dream of a coffin containing a corpse; it is unlucky to dream of an empty coffin.
8316. If you dream of going to see a corpse (in its coffin say some), bad luck is indicated.
8317. To dream of a black coffin that is empty foretells money.
8318. To dream of a coffin in your house signifies an increase in the family.
8319. If you dream of seeing your father or mother laid out in a coffin and ready for burial, it denotes an approaching marriage either in your
immediate family or among your relatives.
8320. If in your dream you put someone in a coffin, you will soon marry and have a home of your own.
8321. If you see a coffin in your dream, you will marry but not live long.
8322. "Every time I dream of a casket [coffin] we have a death in the family. Just before my mother died I dreamt of a casket, and just before my
sister died I dreamt of a casket."
8323. The death of a dear friend is presaged by a dream in which you see a coffin.
8324. "This I dreamt. I thought someone called me to come and go to a funeral, and when I got there my daughter was in a coffin all dressed in
white wool with white fur on the bottom of her dress. If you dream of someone in a coffin, the person in that coffin will die. And the next day I
got word my daughter was dead."
8325. To dream of a corpse in a coffin foretells the death of a relative far away.
8326. If you dream of laying out a corpse or putting it in a coffin, some member of the family will die.
8327. "Just twenty-eight years ago my neighbor said one day to me, 'I had a terrible dream about you last night. I will tell you if you don't worry.
I saw in my dream a wagon back up to your house, and then saw them carry out a little white coffin.' We laughed over the dream, for no one was
sick at that time. In two weeks my little girl died and they did carry a little white coffin out. I have always believed in dreams since that. "
8328. "One night I dreamt of seeing a coffin on the steps of a church out in the graveyard and my dead grandfather sitting on the coffin — if
you dream of a coffin sitting on the steps of a church in the graveyard and you see someone of your dead folks in that coffin, that is the sign of
death in the family — and in twenty-four hours after that my grandmother died."
8329. "I had a friend that dreamt one night of seeing two white caskets and one grey; in three months time they had two children to die and
the grandmother."

GRAVE
8330. It causes bad luck to dream of someone digging a grave.
8331. The person who dreams of a grave will prosper in life.
8332. Expect a wedding soon, when you dream of a grave.
8333. An open grave in your dream is a token of sickness.
8334. Death is denoted by dreaming of an open grave.
8335. "A week after my mother died I dreamt of the funeral all over, and saw my mother's coffin at the cemetery and a man digging another grave
right by my mother's coffin as fast as he could dig. I knew it was going to be my father, because it was right by my mother's grave. My father died
seven months after that."
8336. If in your dream you see yourself digging a grave, there will be a death in the family.

CEMETERY
 191

8337. To dream of a cemetery is considered lucky by some and unlucky by others.

8338. It is lucky to dream of being in or visiting a cemetery.
8339. Those who dream of a well-kept cemetery will have good luck.
8340. Anyone dreaming of a cemetery will soon be wealthy.
8341. The person who dreams of a cemetery will live a long life.
8342. A cemetery in your dream forebodes a death in the family.
8343. "One night my aunt dreamt that she crawled out to the cemetery on her hands and knees and dug up her little boy, and the very next week
her other boy burn up playing with matches and died."

Murder - Hanging - Headless (8344-8349)

MURDER
8344. Whoever dreams of murdering a person has false friends and is in danger.
8345. A dream of murder presages a death in the family.

HANGING
8346. If you dream someone dies by hanging, you will rise to great honor.
8347. If you dream of yourself dying by being hanged, it is a sign of success in all your affairs.

HEADLESS
8348. "I dreamt one night my husband had his head cut off where he was working and the men in the shop put it back on his head again. The next
morning I said to my husband, 'Be careful today for you are going to get hurt.' About three o'clock in the afternoon I heard the police-wagon
going out Eighth Street. I said to my daughter, 'Your father is in that wagon.' And in about fifteen minutes they came and took me to the hospital.
He was hurt and almost dead."
8349. "I believe in dreams. Whenever I can remember a dream all the way through, they are always a death. I will tell you two dreams I had.
One night I dreamt of my father that was dead, I could see him so plain, shaving with a razor, when all at once he cut his throat and his head fell
off. The next morning I told my husband, he laughed at me. I said, 'I will hear bad news, for whenever I remember my dream all the way through,
I do.' It worried me all day. That night I got word my sister got killed in a railroad accident. It never fails me. Another time I dreamt my little boy
was way up high on a mountain holding his hands out to me standing at the bottom holding my hands up to him. There was a big stone wall
between us, he had a crown over his head, and I could not get to him. The next morning I told my dream to my husband again, he only laugh
again. I said, 'Something will come of my dream.' That very day my boy took with a spasm and died in one of them. So the stone wall keeping me
from getting to him was death."

Miscellaneous Dreams (8350-8376)

MISCELLANEOUS
8350. It is unlucky to dream of a beggar.
8351. If you see yourself a beggar in your dream, wealth is indicated.
8352. A dream about a disappointment means you will meet with success and good fortune.
8353. If you see a lot of dung in your dream, shame and misery will come to you through dissipation.
8354. The person who dreams of an explosion will make many new friends before the end of the year.
8355. To make excuses in your dream shows you will soon tell a lie.
8356. The meaning of filth in your dream is money.
8357. An American flag in your dream is a sign of death.
8358. To dream of a fool is lucky. 8359. One who dreams of gold will live from hand to mouth.
8360. If you dream of holding gold, stop any plan concerned with money for you will suffer a loss.
8361. Those dreaming of gold and silver will have good luck.
8362. A dream about any kind of grease denotes a death.
8363. If you dream about a large number of things, good luck may be expected; if of a small number, bad luck.
8364. To dream of quilting portends a death in the family.
8365. The significance of a dream about old rags is shame and misery.
8366.
"A dream out of season,
Trouble out of reason."
or
"Dreams out of season,
Trouble without reason."
or
"Dreams of things out of season,
Bring trouble without reason."
8367. "Three months before the Civil War broke out my uncle dreamt of seeing a cannon in the sky with blood on it." Similarly but from a
different informant: "In the late year of 1860 my father dreamt he saw a big cannon in the sky; the larger part was dark like blood. That is the sign
of war. And the Civil War broke out in a few months."
8368. "Seventy-six years ago my brother dreamt of seeing gold letters in the sky saying Love God. The next day he told mother he would die. In
three weeks he was dead. I was only a little girl four years old at the time, but my mother often told my brother's dream." Similarly but from a
different informant: "When my father was thirty- eight years old he dreamt one night he saw big gold letters in the sky saying Love thy neighbor
as thyself. The next morning he said, 'I had a token of my death last night.' In three months he was dead. Gold letters are always a bad token."
8369. To dream of a bad smell signifies you will be annoyed by someone.
8370. If you dream of being snubbed, someone will soon do something nice for you.
8371. "I dreamt one night my mother would die when the Soldiers Home [State institution at Quincy] whistle blew. It was just four months after
that she did die just when the Soldiers Home whistle was blowing."
8372. A dream about something white is lucky.
 192

8373. The person who dreams of something white will soon receive a letter.
8374. If you dream of something white, you will soon see a shroud or hear of a death.
8375. A dream in which you make a will is a bad omen.
8376. To dream of making a will means you will live a long time — and be successful in business add some.

WISHES (8377-8798

GENERAL PRINCIPLES (8377-8387)

8377. When you see something or do anything permitting a wish, you must make the wish before speaking. The slightest exclamation or gesture
of surprise will break the charm.
8378. After you have made a wish, some say you must count ten before you speak.
8379. If you tell anyone about your wish, you will not get it.
8380. As a general rule, after you have wished on some object, you must not look at that object again.
8381. To discover whether you will obtain your wish, take a deck of cards and turn over one card at a time: if a red ace comes up first, you
will secure your wish; if a black ace, you will not.
8382. Whether or not a wish will come true can be discovered by letting someone hold concealed three straws of different lengths: if you draw
the shortest straw, your wish will be fulfilled.
8383. Another method for discovering whether a wish will come true after it has been made is to write the wish on a piece of paper and lay it
under your pillow. If you dream about your wish that night, it will come true.
8384. The person who fails to get a wish will have bad luck.
8385. Wishes made on the last day of the year do not come true. Some say a wish made at this time will come true, provided it is repeated on the
following day.
8386. Some say it is unlucky to make a wish on New Year's Day; others say New Year's Day and any of the immediate days following. It is
further said, the longer you wait, the better your chance for getting the wish.
8387. Leap year is a bad year for wishes.

WHEN A WISH MAY BE MADE (8388-8798)

Sun - Moon - Star (8388-8432)
SUN
8388. Wishes for money should be made when the sun is brightest.
8389. You may wish on a sunset, but you must turn your back to the sun while wishing and then walk away quietly without glancing back.
8390. "A sky of red mixed with blue, Make a wish with closed eyes, And it's sure to come true."

MOON
8391. The first appearance of the new moon is a time when you are permitted to wish.
8392. A wish made when you first look at the new moon will come true, provided you refrain from looking at the moon until it becomes new
again.
8393. If the first time you see the new moon it is seen through the branches of a tree, you may make a wish.
8394. Some say you may wish while looking over your right shoulder at the new moon for the first time; others say, the left.
8395. Three wishes may be made while peering over your right shoulder at the new moon for the first time.
8396. As soon as the new moon is seen for the first time, spit over your left shoulder while wishing.
8397. After you have located the new moon the first night of its appearance by searching for it over your left shoulder, you may make a wish
while taking three steps forwards.
8398. At the first appearance of the new moon, whirl around three times while making a wish.
8399. If on the first night of a new moon a person bows to it three times, a wish may be made.
8400. The first time you see the new moon, bow to it seven times and make a wish.
8401. A person throwing a kiss to the new moon and wishing the first night of its appearance will not only obtain the wish but also good luck.
8402. "I have tried this and I always get my wish. When you see a new moon through the clear, make a wish saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Do this three times and you will get your wish."
8403. "I did this and got my wish. If you see the new moon over your right shoulder, say New Moon, new, this is the first time I have seen you:
"I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I make tonight."
8404. This couplet may be said the first time the new moon is seen:
"I see the moon, the moon sees me;
The moon sees some body, I would like to see."
Then make a wish and say Johnnie longlegs.
8405. Anyone may look at the new moon for the first time and make a wish while holding on to something --- such as a tree, post, gate — with
both hands.
8406. It is permissible to wish the first time you see the new moon, if you hold something in each hand.
8407. On seeing the new moon for the first time, show it a piece of silver and make a wish.
8408. "My sister held a silver dollar in one hand and bent over and picked it out of her hand with the other hand, making a wish and looking at
the new moon all the time, and she got her wish."
8409. When you see the new moon for the first time, take a silver coin out of your pocketbook and spit on it while making a wish.
8410. Money should be wished for during the increase of the moon.
8411. During the light of the moon you may visit a crossroad and make a wish.
8412. You may sit on the ground and look at the moon while wishing: if on getting up, your shadow falls in front of you, the wish will be granted;
if in back of you, it will not.

STAR
 193

8413. A wish made on seeing a bright star above the new moon comes true before the next new moon.
8414. Make a wish when you see the morning star.
8415. The first star of the evening may be wished on, but some qualify this by saying you must remain silent until another star is seen.
8416. The following rhyme may be spoken when the first star appears:
"I see stars,
And stars see me,
I wish I may,
I wish I might,
Get this wish,
I wish tonight."
8417. One may use this rhyme at the appearance of the first star:
"I see stars,
And stars see me,
I wish I will see,
Somebody tomorrow night,
I am not expecting to see."
8418. After the first star has appeared, this may be said:
"Star, star, star,
First star I've seen tonight,
Wish I may, wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight."
8419. While looking at the first star you may speak as follows:
"Starlight, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Bring true the wish I wish tonight."
8420. Walk towards the first star while you recite:
"Starlight, star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight" ---
then stop, look at the star, make a wish, and continue walking, stopping,
reciting, until the rhyme has been recited three times.
8421. Look at the first star while saying:
"Starlight, star bright,
First star I saw tonight,
I wish my wish will come true tonight" ---
turn away, and count seven other stars without looking at the first star again.
8422. On seeing the first three stars, make a wish and say to the first:
"I wish I may, I wish I might,
I wish my wish would come true tonight."
Then, say to the second:
"Needles and pins."
And finally, say to the third:
"Shakespeare. "
8423. A wish may be made while you throw three kisses to the first star.
8424. For three consecutive nights make a wish when you see the first star and by the end of the third night it will come true.
8425. Count seven stars for seven nights in succession and make a wish on the last night.
8426. If seven stars are counted for seven successive nights and the same wish made each night, on the seventh night the wish will be granted.
8427. The person who counts the seven stars in the Big Dipper for seven nights straight and makes the same wish nightly will secure the wish
before the seventh night ends.
8428. It is unlucky to see a shooting star, unless you make a wish immediately.
8429. If a person wishes before a shooting star disappears, the wish will come to pass.
8430. A wish for money may be made when a shooting star is seen. If you can say Money, money, money, before the disappearance of the star,
extra money may be expected.
8431. Wish In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, when you see a shooting star.
8432. In making a wish when a shooting star is seen, this rhyme may be used:
"Starlight, star bright,
First star I've seen tonight;
Wish I may, wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight."

Thunder - Lightning - Rain - Rainbow (8433-8437)

THUNDER - LIGHTNING - RAIN
8433. A time during which a wish may be made is the first thunder of spring.
8434. If while it thunders and lightens during the first storm of spring you catch a glass half-full of rain and drink it, you may make a wish.
8435. If a person out in the rain looks up and a large raindrop falls on his face, a wish may be made.

RAINBOW
8436. A rainbow appearing in the sky is a time for wishing.
 194

8437. It is lucky to wish when you see the first rainbow in the spring .

Water - Bridge - Reflection in Water (8438-8450)

WATER AND BRIDGE
8438. On excursion boats out of Quincy, wishes are frequently made as the boat goes through the draw of the bridge. This is No.6476 of the first
edition, 1935. A few years later this bridge over the Mississippi was torn down and replaced by a drawless railroad bridge. The old bridge had
also been a wagon bridge.
8439. You may make a wish while crossing a railroad bridge, but after the wish is made you must not speak until the bridge has been crossed.
8440. To have a wish fulfilled, make it on a bridge while counting twelve.
8441. "A woman told me you could throw anything you wanted in the water when crossing a bridge, making a wish, and you would get your
wish."
8442. "My mother said, if crossing a bridge, make a wish and throw a raw potato in the water while making your wish; will come true."
8443. While on a bridge you may spit into the water and make a wish.
8444. If a person walking over a bridge spits into the water, he may make a wish on reaching the opposite side.
8445. The first time you cross a bridge you may drop a penny into the water and make a wish.
8446. A wish may be made the first time you pass over a strange bridge --- one you have never seen before.
8447. A wish may be made the first time you pass over a new bridge --- one recently built.
8448. A wish made three times while passing over a new bridge for the first time will come true.

REFLECTION IN WATER
8449. Whoever sees his reflection in water may make a wish.
8450. Your reflection appearing in muddy water permits you to make a wish but the wish must be made after dark and on three consecutive
nights.

Well and Drinking Water (8451-8455)

WELL
8451. Any wish made while you are looking into a well for the first time will come true.
8452. The person who looks into a well before sunrise on the first of May and makes a wish will get it.

DRINKING WATER
8453. If you see someone drawing water from a well and ask for a drink, you may make a wish just before the dipper or glass touches your lips.
8454. A person drinking immediately after someone else and from the same glass of water may make a wish.
8455. Put a pan of water under your bed at night while you make a wish; if you dream of your wish, it will come true.

Plant Life (8456-8506)

PLANT LIFE
Double Almond - Apple - Beans or Peas (8456-8462)
8456. Let two persons make wishes while dividing a double almond; when they next meet, the first one to say Philippino will have his wish.
8457. "It's an old saying of my mother, to get an apple core from a kid that is eating on it, when just through eating, put it in a sack, making
a wish, then hang the sack on a nail; when the core rots, your wish will come true."
8458. If you wish on an apple core and sleep with it under your pillow for three nights and then under the foot of the mattress for another three
nights, you will get your wish. You must eat the apple and lay the core under your pillow just before getting into bed on the first night; transfer
the core from pillow to mattress just before getting into bed on the fourth night; and repeat the wish each of the six nights.
8459. After you have peeled an apple in one continuous peeling, whirl the latter around your head several times while wishing and then let it fall;
if the peeling does not break during the whirling or falling, you will get the wish.
8460. The person who can put an apple seed between the first finger and thumb and shoot it against the ceiling may make a wish.
8461. Each seed from an apple you are eating may be counted and wished on as you cast it over your shoulder.

Boy Britches - Clover - Corn - Dandelion (8463-8484)

8462. After you have dampened dried beans or peas, tightly corked them in a bottle, and made a wish: if they sprout in the bottle, your wish will
come true; if they rot, it will not.
8463. The first boy-britches (Dutchman's-breeches?) found in the spring may be stuck in your shoe and wished on.
8464. A wish may be made while picking a four-leafed clover.
8465. Do not pick a four-leafed clover, but make a wish; as the clover grows, so will your wish grow.
8466. The person who picks a four-leafed clover may make a wish and toss the clover away.
8467. A four-leafed clover may be picked and thrown over your left shoulder while you make a wish.
8468. After you have found a four-leafed clover, you may pluck it and make a wish while holding the clover above your head.
8469. If you find a four-leafed clover, make a wish while putting it in your shoe --- the right say some, the left say others; in the heel according to
some, in the toe according to others. Sometimes the wish is made when the clover is pulled and not when it is put in the shoe. Occasionally they
say the wish will not come true until the clover is lost.
8470. The first four-leafed clover seen in the spring may be plucked, kissed, wished on, and then laid in your shoe; this not only gives your
wish, but also makes you lucky.
8471. On finding a four-leafed clover, pull it, kiss it, wish on it, lay it in your shoe, and then remove the clover the day you want the wish to
come true.
8472. The person who finds a four-leafed clover may pick it, spit on it while making a wish, and then stick it in his shoe.
8473. If you pick a four-leafed clover, you may make a wish while shoving it down into your stocking.
8474. A wish may be made when a four-leafed clover is eaten as follows: wish and then eat the clover, chew up the clover and swallow it while
making a wish, or roll the clover up into a pill and make a wish during the swallowing. Some say this applies only to the first four-leafed clover
of spring.
8475. The finding of a five-leafed clover is unlucky, but this bad luck can be averted by plucking the clover and making a wish.
 195

8476. You may make a wish while plucking a five-leafed clover, provided the clover is then tossed away.
8477. A person may make a wish while plucking a five-leafed clover and tossing it over the left shoulder.
8478. A five-leafed clover may be plucked, spit on, wished on, and then tossed away.
8479. If a person plucks a five-leafed clover and puts it in his shoe, a wish may then be made.
8480. Persons finding a grain of corn may make a wish and bury the corn.
8481. When a grain of corn is found, make a wish and count ten while burying the corn.
8482.
8483. Make a wish when you see a wagon loaded with corn.
8484. A dandelion seed-ball may be picked, wished on, and then blown against; if the seed come off with the first blow, your wish will be
granted.

Flower - Fruit - Hay - Lettuce - Lilac (8485-8498)

8485. By wishing when you pick the first flower of spring you will get not only your wish but also good luck.
8486. Always wish while eating the first fruit of the season.
8487. On seeing a haystack you may make a wish, but you must not look at that haystack again.
8488. Failure to make a wish while passing a load of hay will cause you bad luck — a serious sickness and perhaps death, say some.
8489. The following rhyme is frequently heard:
"Load of hay, load of hay,
Make a wish and look away."
or
"Load of hay, load of hay,
I will make a wish and turn away."
or
"Load of hay, load of hay,
Take my wish and go away."
8490. Some say a wish on seeing a load of hay is allowable only when the hay-wagon comes towards you and before it passes you.
8491. If a person wishes when meeting a load of baled hay, the wish will come true after the bales are broken.
8492. Two loads of hay seen on the street is an occasion for wishing.
8493. Some say you may wish on only one load of hay for the day; others say you may the same day wish on each load of hay.
8494. A person meeting a load of hay may make a wish, count thirteen, and then look away.
8495. If a load of hay is met at a crossroad, cross your fingers and make a wish while looking in the opposite direction.
8496. Before sunrise on three successive days you may make a wish in a lettuce patch just beginning to grow.
8497. While swallowing a five-petaled lilac blossom you may make a wish.
8498. Nine lilac buds may be swallowed while a wish is made.

Love Vine - Maple - Onion - Peach (8499-8502)

8499. A wish while laying a piece of love-vine on an elder bush will come true, provided the love-vine grows.
8500. To make a wish come true, it may be made when you pick a leaf from a maple tree during the new moon and repeated while putting the
leaf in a book.
8501. A time for making a wish is when you burn up onion peelings.
8502. If the grocer is placing canned peaches on his shelves when you are in the store, lift up one of the cans and set it upside down while making
a wish.

Persimmon - Potato - Vegetable - Wheat (8503-8506)

8503. A persimmon seed cut open in a certain manner will reveal the shapes of a knife, fork and spoon. You may make a wish while doing this.
8504. If you make a wish when you peel a potato and then bury the peeling, your wish will come true after the peeling rots.
8505. You are allowed to wish while eating the first vegetable in season.
8506. As a method for making a wish come true, make it while putting seven grains of wheat under your pillow and then sleep on the wheat
seven nights.

Insects: Butterfly - Lightning Bug - Spider (8507-8512)

INSECTS
8507. The first butterfly of spring gives you a chance to wish.
8508. One may make a wish while holding a butterfly which is then turned loose.
8509. One may make a wish while holding a lightning-bug which is then turned loose.
8510. A spider coming down in front of you may be caught in a piece of paper and wished on.
8511. The person who catches and puts in his pocket a spider that has dropped down in front of him may make a wish.
8512. As soon as you see a spider dropping down on a web in the room, catch it with as much of the web as possible and put both on the outside
door while making a wish: if the spider runs up the door, you may expect the fulfillment of your wish and also a letter; if down the door, company
only.

Frog (8513)
FROG
8513. If you are outdoors when you hear the croaking of the first frog of the season, walk backwards into the house and whirl around three
times while making a wish.

Birds: (8514-8541
Bluebird - Buzzard - Owl - Redbird - Robin - Dove - Whippoorwill - Woodpecker
BIRDS
 196

8514. The first two birds trying to mate in the spring is an opportunity for wishing.
8515. If you locate a bird nest in the woods and it happens to be that of a bluebird, you may make a wish.
8516. A wish made when you see a buzzard in flight will come true, if the bird does not flap its wings until out of sight.
8517. You may make a wish when you hear an owl hoot, but the wish must be made before you speak.
8518. Whether the redbird is sitting or flying, you may make a wish when you see one.
8519. If you see a redbird at rest and can make a wish before the bird flies, your wish will come true.
8520. If you see a redbird at rest and can make a wish and count three before the bird flies, your wish will come true.
8521. If you make a wish on seeing a redbird at rest and the bird flies to the right, your wish will come true.
8522. If you make a wish on seeing a redbird at rest and the bird then flies to the right, your wish will come true; but if the bird merely flies to the
ground nearby, your wish will not come true.
8523. If you see a redbird in flight and are able to spit three times at the bird before it disappears from sight, your wish will come true.
8524. Cross your fingers and make a wish when a redbird is seen.
8525. On seeing a redbird you may say:
"Redbird, redbird,
If you will be true,
I will see someone soon,
I am not expecting to."
Then wish to see this person and your wish will be fulfilled.
8526. While looking at the first redbird in the spring, think of a place where you would like to live and you will soon be living there.
8527. A redbird and a bluebird seen close to each other is an occasion for making a wish.
8528. When you see a robin you may make a wish.
8529. At the sight of a robin, wet your right thumb with your tongue and wipe the spit in the palm of your left hand, making a wish, and then hit
the left palm with your right fist. This hitting of the spit is called stamping, which is generally done in a simpler fashion --- by wetting the right
thumb and pressing it against the left palm.
8530. Stamp one hundred robins before summer arrives and then make a wish.
8531. The call of the first turtledove is a time when a wish may be made.
8532. As soon as you hear the first turtledove of the season, walk three times around the tree in which the bird is perched and make a wish.
8533. The person who walks three times backwards around the tree in which the first turtledove of the season is calling may make a wish.
8534. Whoever hears the first turtledove of the season may whirl around three times while making a wish.
8535. If the first turtledove of the season is heard while you are outside, go inside and make a wish while whirling around three times on your
heel.
8536. The appearance of the first whippoorwill of the year gives you the privilege of making a wish.
8537. While the first whippoorwill of spring is calling you may turn around on your heel three times and make a wish.
8538. After you have heard the first whippoorwill of the season, take three steps backwards and pick up whatever lies beneath your left heel, and
then make a wish.
8539. "I tried this when I was a girl and it is so. The first whippoorwill you hear in the spring, lie right down on the ground, looking up in the
sky, making a wish and turning over three times, and you will get your wish."
8540. On hearing the first whippoorwill of the season, turn over the money in your pocket and wish for more.
8541. If a woodpecker pecks on your house before daybreak, a wish may be made.

Chicken: (8542-8559)
Gizzard - Heart - Egg - Wishbone
CHICKEN
8542. A chicken gizzard which you cleaned while making a wish may be hung up to dry; after the gizzard has dried, the wish will come true.
8543. You may cut a chicken gizzard into three pieces and swallow each piece whole while wishing and saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost, give
me this wish.
8544. Some say you may make a wish while eating a chicken heart; others say the wish is to be made while you are swallowing a chicken heart
whole.
8545. To procure a wish, make it while throwing a rooster heart over your left shoulder. This also brings you good luck.
8546. A wish will come true, if it is made while you face south and throw a chicken heart over your left shoulder.
8547. The first egg a hen lays may be wished on and thrown over the house.
8548. "I have heard my grandma say, to write your sweetheart's name on an egg and make a wish while doing it, then hide it in an old stump, and
it will come so."
8549. Drop the white of a fresh egg into a glass of cold water while making a wish: if the white of the egg goes to the bottom of the glass
and stays there, you will get your wish; if it bubbles and comes to the surface of the water, you will not.
8550. Never break a wishbone with anyone without making a wish; you will the become unlucky. Conversely, always make a wish before you
break a wishbone with anyone and you will have good luck.
8551. Each of the two persons wishing before breaking a wishbone together will get his wish.
8552. Only one of the two persons breaking a wishbone together will get his wish; the holder of the longer piece say some, the shorter piece say
others.
8553. The one who holds the larger piece of a broken wishbone will get his wish; the other, holding the smaller piece, will be married first.
8554. The shorter piece of a broken wishbone means its holder will be the first of the two breakers to marry; the longer piece, its holder will
have the better dinner.
8555. If two persons break a wishbone during a meal, bad luck may be expected by the person getting the shorter piece.
8556. A wish made by you while breaking a wishbone with someone will come true, provided you lay your piece over a door. Some say it must
be over an outside door; others say the wish will not come true until your piece of the wishbone has decayed.
8557. The piece of wishbone secured by you when wishing and breaking a wishbone with someone should be buried in the ground; after this
bone rots, your wish will come true.
8558. A whole wishbone may be wished on and buried in the ground. Some say you will not get the wish until the bone becomes rotten.
8559. Three wishes made while burying a whole wishbone in the ground will come true after the bone decays.
 197

Cat - Dog - Horse - Mule (8560-8594)

CAT
8560. A person seeing a grey cat may look at its forepaws while making a wish. The wish will come true, if the cat is never seen again.
8561. After a black cat has crossed your path, make a wish, turn around, and take ten steps backwards.
8562. The girl who finds a black cat in her room may stroke its back seven times and make a wish with each stroke. The cat must then be put out
of the room.
8563. While rubbing a penny over a cat's back seven times you may make a wish.

DOG
8564. You may make a wish when you meet a dog doing his business.

HORSE AND MULE

8565. When you see a white horse you may make a wish. Some say this wish will not come true, if the horse is seen again.
8566. The first white horse seen in the spring is an opportunity for wishing.
8567. Make a wish when you see a white horse, turn around and face the south, and then walk away without looking back.
8568. "Another thing I did when I was a girl was to wet my index finger and stamp it in the palm of my hand making a wish, whenever I would
see a white horse, to make my wish come true."
8569. On meeting a white horse, you may stamp your foot and make a wish for money.
8570. If you meet a white horse, make a wish after saying:
"White, white, horse,
Ding, ding, ding,
Where I go,
I’ll find something."
8571. Anyone meeting a white horse may spit at it and make a wish.
8572. The person who meets a white horse may make a wish while spitting over the little finger --- of the left hand say some.
8573. Snap your fingers when you see a white horse and make a wish.
8574. "I do this every time I see a white horse, make a wish and clap my hands three times."
8575. As soon as you see a white horse, whirl around three times while wishing.
8576. Two white horses met in the same block may be wished on.
8577. A team of white horses or two white horses near each other in a pasture may be wished on.
8578. Two white horses pulling a load of hay may be stamped and wished on.
8579. A wish is permitted the person who meets three white horses on the same day.
8580. Whoever meets three white horses and then a red-haired woman may make a wish.
8581. After you have met seven white horses the same day, you may wish on the seventh horse.
8582. If you count seven white horses, you will meet a red-haired woman; after you have met her, a wish may be made.
8583. If you stamp every white horse you meet and make a wish each time, the wish will come true after you have stamped the twentieth horse.
8584. A wish may be made after you have seen fifty white horses and then a load of hay.
8585. One hundred white horses may be counted and a wish made on the hundredth horse.
8586. This must be done to ninety-nine white horses and then a white mule --- kiss your hand and make a wish on seeing each one.
8587. Regardless of the color, you may stamp five hundred horses and then make a wish. A mule counts for ten horses.
8588. "My mother said she did this when she was a girl. If you see a mule and horse hitched together, make a wish and it will came true."
8589. The first team of mules seen in wartime is good for a wish.
8590. "Another silly thing we did, was, if you see a black horse, wet your fingers and slap your hands together three times making a wish."
8591. The meeting of a brown horse permits you to wet your right index finger and stamp it on the back of your closed left hand while wishing.
8592. If you see a grey horse, kiss the back of your hand while making a wish and then spit.
8593. A woman on seeing a spotted horse may make a wish, but she must not look at that horse again.
8594. During the spring you may wish when you see the first colt.

Mouse - Rabbit - Squirrel (8595-8599)

MOUSE
8595. A mouse seen as it enters the house may be wished on.

RABBIT
8596. You may make a wish while a rabbit is running across your path.
8597. The person who carries a rabbit foot may kiss it three times while making a wish.
8598. If you kill a rabbit and cut off the left hind foot, you may make a wish while rubbing this foot behind a Negro's left ear.

SQUIRREL
8599. If a squirrel starts up a tree and a wish can be made before the animal reaches the top branches, your wish will come true.

Human Body (8600-8798)

HUMAN BODY

Hunchback - Ear - Eyelash - Face (8600-8606)

8600. You may make a wish while touching the hump of a hunchback, provided you can do this without attracting his attention.
8601. If your right ear begins to burn or ring, hold a nickel against the back of the lobe while making a wish.
8602. If there is an eyelash on someone's cheek, let him make a wish and guess which cheek has the lash; if he guesses correctly, the wish will
come true.
 198

8603. If you find a loose eyelash or one that has fallen on your person, lay it in your palm, make a wish, and then blow against your hand; if the
hair goes with the first blow, you will get the wish.
8604. A loose eyelash found in your eyebrow may be wished on and thrown over your left shoulder.
8605. If a black spot or a soot smudge is found on your face, touch it without looking and make a wish.
8606. A wish may be made while washing your face outdoors before sunrise.

Head - Hair - Combing - Red-Headed Woman (8607-8619)

8607. To get a wish, make it while scratching the head of a Negro man.
8608. "Just the other night I was in a car and when I got out I accidentally bumped my head against a man in the car. Everyone laughed and said,
'Make a wish and you will get it, for if you don't make a wish you will have bad luck. If a man and woman accidentally bump heads, make a wish
and it will come true. I made the wish."
8609. As you untangle your hair, a wish may be made.
8610. The dropping of your comb permits you to make a wish.
8611. After your comb has dropped, step on it and make a wish before picking it up. Some say the wish will come true that day.
8612. The person who drops a comb while combing hair after dark may step on the comb and make a wish.
8613. "If you drop a comb, step on it with your big toe, And make a wish and it will come so."
8614. A comb dropped while combing your hair may be picked up and turned teeth down as you make a wish.
8615. When a comb is dropped, make a wish, step on the comb, and then pick it up and kiss it.
8616. Step on a fallen comb while making a wish and then pick up the comb and kiss it three times.
8617. "I remember one time the school teacher that was boarding with me up here in the North Bottom lost her watch. She didn't know if she lost
it on the road coming home or not. The next morning while combing her hair she drop her comb. I said, 'Spit on it, then step on it, make a wish.'
She did. After breakfast I started out in the yard, when I saw one of our neighbors got off his wagon and pick up something. I said, 'Look, I
believe that's your watch he is picking up.' And it was. She said, 'That is just what I wished, I would find my watch on the way to school.' So her
wish came true, for she started right up the road and the man gave her the watch."
8618. An occasion for making a wish is when you see two red-haired girls walking together.
8619. Each time you see a red-haired woman, make a wish and stamp; the wish will come true after one hundred red-haired women have been
seen.

Hand and Fingernail (8620-8624)

8620. If your hand itches, spit on it and rub it on your hip while making a wish.
8621. If your left hand itches, spit on it while making a wish, then lay it on your hip, and finally: "Rub it on wood, And it will come good."
8622. A person may spit on the back of one hand, wipe it off with the palm of the other hand, turn around three times, and then make a wish.
8623. Spit into the palm of your hand, make a wish, and hit the spit with your opposite index finger: if the spit pops or some of it splashes out
of your palm, the wish will be fulfilled.
8624. If you bite the nails of your two little fingers until they hurt and can make a wish and put them together before they stop hurting, your wish
will come true.

Blister - Bruise - Bump (8625-8626)

8625. If you have a blister on your heel, spit on a piece of cotton while making a wish and then tie the cotton on the blister; after the blister
heals, your wish will be granted.
8626. If you find a bruise or lump and do not know how you got it, a wish may be made.

Wooden Leg - Toe - Tooth - Sneeze (8627-8637)

8627. You may wish when you see a man with a wooden leg. Some say you must not look at the man again; others say you must make the wish
while looking at the wooden leg.
8628. A person meeting a man with a wooden leg may make a wish and spit.
8629. On stubbing your toe you may kiss your thumb and make a wish.
8630. After you have stubbed your toe, kiss your thumb, make a wish, and whirl around three times.
8631. Tie your two big toes together and wish while walking backwards to bed.
8632. If two girls tie their big toes together, make separate wishes, and go to bed without laughing or speaking, the one having the longest piece
of string attached to the big toe next morning will get what she wished.
8633. A wish may be made while tossing your pulled tooth over your head or shoulder.
8634. Your pulled tooth may be wished on as you throw it over the house.
8635. A wish made while dropping your pulled tooth down through a crack between the boards of a porch will come true.
8636. Anyone who has sneezed may make a wish.
8637. If you are about to sneeze, make a wish quietly; if you do not sneeze, your wish will be granted.

Simultaneous Speech (8638-8644)

SIMULTANEOUS SPEECH
8638. If two persons say the same thing at the same time and each makes a wish before speaking again, both wishes will come true.
8639. Two persons uttering the same thing at the same time may each make a wish, touch wood, and then touch something blue.
8640. A simultaneous word or expression by two persons is an occasion for interlocking each other's little finger while making a wish.
8641. When the same thing is spoken simultaneously by two persons, they should interlock each other's little finger and make a wish. Then one of
them says a word and the other must give its opposite. For example: the first person begins with Salt, the second person replies Pepper; or if the
first word is Man, the second word could be Woman. After saying two such words, both persons repeat together When a man marries his troubles
begin.
8642. The following words are to be repeated alternately by two persons who have said the same thing at the same time:
"Red,
Blue,
Needles,
 199

Pins,
Shakespeare,
Longfellow."
Then each is permitted a wish. Throughout this rite the little finger of one must be kept interlocked with the little finger of the other.
8643. After two persons speak the same thing at the same time, the little finger of the one is held crooked about the little finger of the other and
these words spoken alternately:
"Needles,
Pins,
Triplets,
Twins,
When a man marries,
His troubles begin,
What goes up the chimney,
Smoke,
Knives,
Forks,
Longfellow,
Shortfellow."
They then make a wish and together say Thumbs.
8644. The same thing uttered at the same time by two persons permits them to crook each other's little finger together and make a wish, after
which the following words must be alternately recited:
"Knives,
Forks,
Needles,
Pins,
What goes up the chimney,
Smoke,
I wish your wish and my wish would,
Never break."

Clothes (8645-8693)
CLOTHES

Dress: Turned Up - Backward - Wrong Side Out (8645-8654)

8645. If the hem of your dress turns up, make a wish before turning it down. This will give you either your wish or good luck.
8646. If the hem of your dress turns up, make a wish and kiss the hem before turning it down. Some say the hem should be kissed before the wish
is made.
8647. If the back of your dress turns up, kiss the hem three times while making a wish and then turn down the hem.
8648. A dress put on backwards should not be changed until you have made a wish. This will avert bad luck and bring you your wish.
8649. To avoid the bad luck indicated by putting on a dress backwards, three wishes must be made before you change the dress.
8650. "I remember once I had a beau and I put my petticoat on wrong side out and I made a wish. I always do. I wished he would kiss me that
night and he did."
8651. "Just last week I put my skirt on wrong side out when I got up. That night when I was pulling it over my head I wished I would win at
bingo. The next night my wish came true, I got $5.00."
8652. If you put on your dress wrong side out, make a wish while letting someone else take the dress off over your head.
8653. A woman who puts on her dress wrong side out may spit on it and make a wish after she has taken it off.

Hat - Shoe - Shoestring - Stocking - Garter (8655-8666)

8654. Clothes put on wrong side out must not be taken off until eleven o'clock that morning; then you may take them off while making a wish.
Some say twelve o'clock noon.
8655. After you have counted twenty-one straw hats, you may make a wish. Some say twenty-one straw hats in succession; for if any other type
of hat is seen while you are counting, the charm will be broken.
8656. The first time you wear a new pair of shoes you may make a wish.
8657. Spit on a new pair of shoes while wishing.
8658. You may make a wish while counting the eyelets in your sweetheart's shoes.
8659. A wish may be made while you are burning an old right shoe.
8660. If you light an old shoe in the stove and take it out in the yard, you may make a wish for luck while whirling around three times. Then take
the shoe back into the house and burn it up.
8661. A person whose shoe string comes untied may make a wish before tying it, or while tying it, or after it is tied.
8662. One may make a wish while tying some other person's untied shoe string.
8663. Make a wish and sleep with your right stocking wrapped twice about your neck.
8664. If a woman makes a wish while turning her right stocking wrong side out, and then closes her eyes while putting it on her left foot, her wish
will come true. But this must be done for five mornings.
8665. The person who on New Year's morning dresses the right foot first and puts it on the floor first may make a wish.
8666. "I know a woman that put on her right stocking first, then her left stocking, then her right garter, then her left garter, then her right shoe,
then her left shoe, and made a wish — did this for over twenty years and always wished the same thing, wishing a certain man that had left town
years ago would come back some day and marry her. They were sweethearts when young. And after twenty years he did come back and marry
her, after her wishing all these years he would."

Pin - Hairpin - Ring (8667-8693)

 200

PIN
8667. "I make a wish for luck when I find a pin with the point toward me, then pick the pin up and keep it, and I always have luck after I picked it
up."
8668. A pin found with the point toward you may be picked up and stuck into your dress or coat while making a wish. Sometimes the wish is
made before picking up the pin or just before sticking it into your dress or coat. It is occasionally said you must find the pin in the morning.
8669. If you find a pin pointing toward you, pick it up and make a wish while sticking the pin into the shoulder of whatever article of clothing
you are wearing; after the pin is lost, your wish will come true.
8670. If while talking to someone you see a pin lying on the floor and it points toward you, do not say another word, pick up the pin with your
right hand, make a wish, and stick the pin into the right shoulder of whatever article of clothing you are wearing.
8671. If you find a pin pointing toward you, pick it up with your right hand, stick the pin into the left shoulder of whatever article of clothing you
are wearing, make a wish while doing the latter, let the pin stay there for a while, and then take out the pin and give it to someone.
8672. If you find a pin on the ground and it points toward you, pick the pin up, make a wish, prick yourself with the pin, and then push the pin
down into the ground up to the head.
8673. If a pin in your dress sticks you, take it out while making a wish and then replace the pin; if it stays, you will get your wish.
8674. A woman finding a pin in her dress may take it out, put it in her mouth while making a wish, and replace it in her dress.
8675. On finding a pin in your dress you may pull it out with your teeth while making a wish.
8676. A wish may be made when a pin drops and sticks in the floor.
8677. You may make a wish while hanging up a hairpin which you have found. It is sometimes said the hairpin must be hung up higher than your
head.
8678. After you have found a hairpin, a wish may be made as you hang up the hairpin on something sharp --- usually a nail. In the latter case,
some say this will also bring you a letter. Frequently a rusty nail is recommended.
8679. If you find a hairpin, hang it on the wire of a fence while making a wish.
8680. If you find a hairpin with the prongs toward you, turn them away from you and make a wish.
8681. A hairpin when found may be used in the manner of pulling a wishbone: you must hold one prong while your sweetheart holds the other,
pull while making a wish, and then throw the bent hairpin over your left shoulder.
8682. The person who finds a safety pin may make a wish, provided the safety pin is then worn where it can be seen.

RING
8683. Always make a wish when you put a ring on a person's finger.
8684. Your sweetheart may make a wish with your ring and then slip the ring on your engagement finger.
8685. Make a wish while putting a ring on a friend's finger and tell your friend to take off the ring about the time you desire your wish to come
true. If the ring is taken off before the appointed time, the charm will be broken.
8686. A wish may be made while slipping a ring on a friend's finger. Your friend must take off the ring three days later at the same time.
8687. You may wish while turning a ring with a setting around three times on the finger of a friend. The wearer must not take off the ring until
so instructed by you.
8688. While turning a ring around eighteen times on someone's finger, you may make a wish.
8689. If you make a wish while turning thirteen rings (each on the finger of a different friend), your wish will come true on the thirteenth day.
8690. To get their wishes, two persons may put on each other's rings, turn them five times while making a wish, and then wear the rings five days
before reexchanging them.
8691. Never remove a ring from anyone's finger without first making a wish; you will have bad luck.
8692. A woman may take off her wedding ring, make a wish, and replace the ring.
8693. Just before going to bed, take off your wedding ring, make a wish, and replace the ring; next morning look at your ring while counting
seven, then count seven backwards, and you will soon get your wish.

Household Matters (8694-8741)

HOUSEHOLD MATTERS

Going to Bed and Getting up (8694-8706)

8694. A wish is permissible on the night you sleep in a strange or new bed.
8695. Immediately before going to bed you may make a wish while reading the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John.
8696. Wish just before you go to bed and then sleep with a Bible under your head.
8697. If you wish before opening a Bible at random and then see the words It came to pass or And it shall come to pass, you will get the wish.
This may be done anytime, but it is occasionally tried just before getting into bed.
8698. On going to bed you may turn your pillow over three times and make a wish.
8699. While the whistles are blowing and bells ringing at midnight on New Year's Eve, turn your pillow over and make a wish.
8700. Two sticks may be laid crossed at the foot of your bed at night and wished on.
8701. A person sleeping on a piece of wedding cake may make a wish.
8702. If you awake in the morning and it is too early to get up, raise the window shade, make a wish while looking out the window , pull the
shade down, and then go back to sleep. This must be done without leaving your bed.
8703. On waking up in the morning and before speaking or doing anything, face the east and make a wish, repeating the latter three times.
8704. When you make a bed in the morning, lay one pillow down and set the other one up while making a wish.
8705. Let two persons wish while folding a sheet; if the last fold comes out even, they will get their wishes.
8706. As a time for a wish, make it while burning bluestone in your bedroom.

Sweeping - Broom - Mop (8707-8711)

8707. If you let a broom fall, make a wish before picking it up.
8708. If you let a mop fall, step on it and make a wish before you pick it up.
8709. Either before or after jumping over a broom you may make a wish.
8710. After you have finished sweeping, spit on the dirt while making a wish and then throw the dirt into the fire.
8711. After you have swept your room, take the dirt outside and throw it up into the air while making three wishes.
 201

Eating - Birthday Cake - Pie - Coffee - Tea (8712-8720)

8712. A person invited to eat at a house in the country should before beginning the meal make a wish for luck.
8713. Whoever has a birthday may make a wish before cutting the birthday cake.
8714. A wish made before blowing out the candles on your birthday cake will come true, provided you can blow out all the candles with one
breath.
8715. The person whose candle burns out first at a birthday party may make a wish.
8716. In eating a piece of pie, eat the point last while making a wish.
8717. "Here's what you can do when you eat a piece of pie: gut the tip-end of the pie off, put it on the side of the plate, then eat the [piece of]
pie, eating the [tip] end last. While eating the end, make a wish and turn the plate three times to get your wish."
8718. If while making coffee you can count the first three bubbles coming to the surface and make a wish before any more bubbles appear, your
wish will come true.
8719. If coffee grounds are left in your cup, set the cup upside down on the saucer, put your thumb on the handle, and make a wish while turning
the cup around three times.
8720. If tea leaves are left in your cup, put them in a pan and set this outdoors while making a wish; if it does not rain into the pan for three
days, you will get your wish.

Dish Rag - Towel - Knife - Fork - Spoon (8721-8729)

8721. Do not throw a worn-out dish rag away; bury it while making a wish.
8722. A wish may be made while burying a stolen dish rag.
8723. Either before or after picking up a dropped dish rag you may make a wish. Some say you will have bad luck, unless the wish is made
before you pick up the dish rag.
8724. A person dropping a dish rag may step on it, make a wish, and then pick up the dish rag.
8725. If a dish rag is dropped, it may be picked up and thrown over your left shoulder while making a wish.
8726. The person who drops a teatowel may pick it up and shake it three times while a wish is made.
8727. "I am trying this myself this week every time I wash dishes, to get a wish I want real bad. When you are washing dishes, wash your knives
first, then your forks, then spoons, making a wish."
8728. A fork that falls to the floor may be wished on before you pick it up.
8729. When you find a broken caseknife, pick it up and make a wish while laying the knife away. Some say this makes you lucky.

Saw - Scissors - Thimble - Salt - Pepper (8730-8736)

8730. You should always make a wish when giving a sharp-pointed article to anyone, for failure to do this means a broken friendship.
8731. If a saw falls and sticks in the floor, make a wish before you pull it out. You must then hang up the saw.
8732. A pair of scissors falling and sticking in the floor is an occasion for wishing.
8733. For three days carry in your pocket a thimble wrapped in a piece of silk and make a wish each time you enter or leave the house.
8734. If you spill salt, make a wish and throw some of the spilled salt over your left shoulder. Occasionally the right shoulder is specified.
8735. Salt and pepper mixed and thrown into the four corners of a room while making a wish will cause good luck.
8736. Just before going to bed you may drop a pinch of salt on the fire and make a wish. Do this for three nights.

Coal - Match - String - Lamp - Letter (8737-8741)

8737. Anyone may make a wish while spitting on a live coal.
8738. When you open a new box of matches, burn one of them at once and make a wish.
8739. Light a match as you make a wish; if you can hold the match until it burns out, the wish will be fulfilled.
8740. A piece of string may be wrapped several times around a lamp chimney while making a wish and then one of the ends lighted: if the string
burns up, you will get your wish; if the fire goes out, you will not.
8741. "I did this last week: Whenever you write a letter, make a wish. It sure came true."

Going Forth (8742-8798)

GOING FORTH

Automobile - Baseball - Button - Your double (8742-8748)

8742. Whoever meets a red automobile may make a wish.
8743. If you meet a red automobile, stamp it and make a wish.
8744. A person meeting a red automobile may make a wish while pinching someone.
8745. As soon as you see a red automobile truck, pinch yourself while wishing.
8746. The first baseball game you attend in the spring is an occasion for making a wish.
8747. You may make a wish when you find a button.
8748. It is lucky to meet your double; especially so, if you make a wish when meeting him.

New Friend - Three Hour Service - Hill Climbing (8749-8753)

8749. A wish may be made when you are introduced to a new friend.
8750. The first time a boy takes out his first girl he may make a wish.
8751. If you make a wish while attending the Three Hour Service in a Roman Catholic Church on Good Friday and stay the whole three hours,
you will get the wish.
8752. On Good Friday, when the Three Hour Service ends at three o'clock, say three Our Fathers and three Amens while making a wish.
8753. Wish just before you begin to climb a hill and do not look back while climbing.

Horseshoe - Strange or New House - Forgetting (8754-8774)

8754. When you find a horseshoe, turn it around the other way and make a wish. You must not lift up the horseshoe while turning it.
 202

8755. The person finding a horseshoe may pick it up and throw it over the shoulder while making a wish — the left shoulder say some, the right
say others. It is usually required that the prongs point toward the person and that the horseshoe be picked up with the right hand. Sometimes the
wish is made before picking up the horseshoe, at other times after.
8756. If a horseshoe is found, pick it up, spit on it, make a wish, and then toss the horseshoe over your shoulder — the left say most people.
8757. On finding a horseshoe you may pick it up, spit on it, make a wish, and throw the horseshoe over your head or shoulder; if the calks on the
prongs remain up, your wish will be granted.
8758. Let the person who finds a horseshoe pick it up, spit on it three times while wishing, and then throw the horseshoe down and never look at
it again.
8759. At sunset stand with your back to the sun and throw a recently found horseshoe over your head while making a wish; if the prongs of the
fallen horseshoe point toward the sun, your wish will come true.
8760. To have a wish come true; find a horseshoe, lay it at the foot of the stairs, and make the wish every time you go up the stairs.
8761. If you find a horseshoe, hang it over your back door with the prongs up; then put a wishbone in the center of the horseshoe and make a
wish.
8762. The first person to pass under a horseshoe which you have hung above a door may make a wish.
8763. You may make a wish when passing through any door having a horseshoe over it. You need not be the first one to pass under the horseshoe
as in the preceding saying.
8764. A wish may be made when you walk through a strange doorway.
8765. The first time you enter a strange house or one newly built you may make a wish.
8766. On entering a strange or newly built house for the first time, step into it left foot first while making a wish.
8767. The person who enters a strange or newly built house for the first time may make a wish while walking in backwards.
8768. As soon as you go or move into a strange or newly built house, look at the kitchen and make a wish.
8769. You may make a wish at the first meal you eat in the house of newlyweds.
8770. The first night you move into a house, wish as you name the four posts of your bed.
8771. Before going to bed a person sleeping at a strange house for the first time may make a wish after one shoe has been laid in a corner of the
bedroom and the other shoe in the corner diagonally opposite.
8772. If the first time you sleep in a strange room a wish is made in each of the four corners, the first corner looked at next morning will be the
wish to come true.
8773. After you have slept in a strange house for the first time, next morning make a wish on the first thing seen in the room.
8774. The person who forgets something and must return home for it may count ten and make a wish.

Key - Lucky Strike - Nail - Negro Wedding (8775-8783)

8775. A person finding a key on the ground or sidewalk may pick it up, make a wish, and lay the key back just as it was.
8776. If an empty package of Lucky Strikes (cigarettes) is seen on the street, step on it and make a wish.
8777. When you find a nail on the ground, turn it around the other way and make a wish. The wish may be made before or after or while turning
the nail. You must not lift up the nail.
8778. "A lady friend of mine found a rusty nail one day, picked it up and made a wish. She only went a half block and found $8.00."
8779. A nail found while you are walking along may be picked up, wished on, and thrown away. A rusty nail is usually specified.
8780. On finding a rusty nail which points toward you, pick it up and make a wish, and throw the nail over your left shoulder.
8781. "Another one I tried when a girl. If you see a nail with the point toward you, pick it up, making a wish and sticking it under the bark of
an oak tree; your wish will come true."
8782. If a nail is found, drive it into something while making a wish.
8783. You may make a wish when you see the bride and bridegroom at a Negro wedding coming out of church.

Penny - Dime - Machinery - Schoolhouse - Sidewalk (8784-8791)

8784. If you find a penny on the street, look at the date while making a wish and then throw the coin over your shoulder. Some say this merely
brings good luck.
8785. A penny when found on the street may be stuck into your right shoe while you make a wish. After the penny is lost, your wish will be
granted.
8786. To have a wish come true, make it while kissing a dime three times and then wear the dime in your shoe.
8787. When someone gives you a dime, you may make a wish while putting the dime under your pillow.
8788. You may make a wish on a borrowed penny and sleep with it beneath your pillow for three nights. But a man making the wish must borrow
the penny from a woman; a woman, from a man.
8789. Make a wish the first time you work with power machinery.
8790. If you count the schoolhouses met on a trip out into the country and make the same wish each time, the wish will be fulfilled.
8791. Before you step on a newly built sidewalk for the first time, you may make a wish.

Park Bench - Freight Train - Wagon - Woman or Man (8792-8798)

8792. An occasion for a wish is when you see three men sitting on a bench in a park.
8793. A wish may be made when you see a freight train.
8794. Whoever sees a freight train may make a wish and say Yes, no; maybe so until the train can no longer be seen. The word spoken, either yes
or no, as the train disappears, shows whether your wish will come true.
8795. You may make a wish while crawling under a boxcar.
8796. While passing a loaded wagon you may make a wish. If you pass the wagon a second time, the wish will not be fulfilled; moreover, you
will have bad luck.
8797. A load of empty barrels going by is an opportunity for wishing.
8798. The fisherman who on his way home meets a woman before a man may make a wish.

LOVE BELIEFS AND RITES (8799-9894)

FROM SKY AND WATER AND LAND (8799-8912)

 203

Moon and Stars (8799-8829)

MOON
8799. Any night a full moon is shining, go to a place where you will have an unobstructed view of the moon, stand still, then take three
steps forwards and four steps backwards, keeping your eyes on the moon, and in the moon you will see the face of your future mate.
8800. "I can remember when I was a girl before the Civil War, my mistress went out in the yard at the first new moon and looked over her right
shoulder, making a wish and looking at the moon all the time. She stood there so long, until the tears run down her face, but she saw a man, and
she married a man that looked just like the man in the moon."
8801. At the first appearance of a new moon the girl who looks at it over her right shoulder and makes a wish will dream of her appointed mate
that night.
8802. Each night for seven nights a girl may look at the new moon while saying New moon, what is my husband's name? and on the seventh
night he will be dreamt about.
8803. What fate has in store can be learned by the girl who looks at the new moon while thinking of her beau and saying:
"New moon, true moon,
Let me hear a cow bawl;
And if I can't hear a cow bawl,
Let me hear a rooster crow."
If a cow bawls, she is loved by her beau; if a rooster crows, she is not.
8804. This may be said when a new moon first appears:
"New moon, true moon, hail on me,
Who my true love is to be:
If I am to marry, let me hear,
A dog bark near;
If I am to marry far away,
Let me hear a cow low;
If I am not to marry,
Let me hear my coffin beat."
8805. On seeing the new moon, a girl may look over the left shoulder and recite:
"New moon, true moon,
Dressed in blue,
If I should marry a man,
Or he should marry me,
What in the name of love,
Will his name be."
She must then make a wish for him to be seen that night in her dream.
8806.
"Another thing my girls say when they see a new moon:
'New moon, true moon,
Tell me who my love shall be;
Black or white,
Let me dream of him tonight'."
8807. Girls may look at a new moon and use this incantation:
"New moon, new, pray let me see,
Who my future husband is to be,
The color of his hair,
The color of the clothes he is to wear,
And the happy day he is to wed me."
8808. While looking over the left shoulder at a new moon, these words may be spoken by a girl:
"New moon, new moon, let me see,
Who my future husband is to be,
The color of his hair,
The clothes he is to wear,
And the happy day he is to wed me."
8809. During this rite a girl must look steadily at the new moon as she walks about repeating:
"Come, new moon,
Come, true moon,
Come, tell unto me,
Who my future dear love will be;
The color of his eyes,
The color of his hair,
And the happy day and hour,
When he shall be married to me."
She must repeat these words three times, stop walking on the last word, pick up whatever lies beneath her foot, lay this under her pillow, and that
night she will dream of her future husband.
8810. To discover her fortune in love, a girl may look at the new moon while reciting:
"New moon, true moon,
Fair and bright,
Let the man I am to marry,
Let me dream of him tonight;
The color of his hair,
The clothes he is to wear,
 204

And the happy day I am to wed him."

If she is to be married, that night she will see the future husband in her sleep.
8811. Her prospects for marriage can be discovered by the girl who looks at the new moon and uses this rhyme:
"New moon, true moon,
Bright and fair,
Tell me the color of my old man's hair."
Then in silence she must walk into the house and go to bed. During the night she will dream about the color of his hair; that is, if she is going to
be a wife.
8812. As a method for discovering her future husband, a girl may look at the new moon and pronounce these words:
"New moon, true moon,
The first time I see you tonight,
I wish I may see someone tonight,
I wish to meet tonight."
If she then goes to bed without talking, that night in her dream he will be seen.
8813. The girl who wants to see her future husband may look at the new moon and speak as follows:
"New moon, true moon,
This is the first time I saw you.
If I ain't your bride to be,
Let your back be turn on me;
And if I am your body to embrace,
Let me meet you face to face."
She must then go to bed without uttering another word and that night in her dream he will appear.
8814. Let a girl hold a cloth before her face and look through it at the new moon while speaking:
"New moon, true moon,
This is the first time I saw you.
If I ain't your bride to be,
Let your back be turned to me;
If I am your bride to be,
Let me meet you face to face."
Then silently she must go to bed backwards. The next time she leaves the house she will meet her future husband face to face, if she is to marry;
if to remain single, she will see his back.
8815. The following words may be recited by a girl when looking at the new moon:
"New moon, true moon, say unto me,
Who my lover is to be.
If he loves me as I love him,
Let his face be to me and his back unseen;
If he don't love me as I love him,
Let his back be to me and his face unseen."
She must then make a wish to her future husband that night in her dream: if his face is seen, she will be married; if his back, she will stay
unmarried.
8816. "If you see a new moon, make a wish over your right shoulder and say:
'I wish I may, I wish I might,
Meet someone tonight,
I don't expect to meet;
If I am his bride to be,
Let his face be turned to me.'
I tried this one night and met someone that night I didn't expect to see, face
to face, and I married him."
8817. A new lover may be expected by the girl who sees on the first night they appear three new moons in succession.

STARS
8818. "I was in love with a man. He didn't know it because he was married. I made up my mind I wanted him. So one night I walked to the front
door in my nightgown, naming the first star after him, then walked backward to bed, and dreamt of him. Then I knew I would get him. Three
years passed away. You see this old man here. Well, he's the man. I got him. His wife died."
8819. As soon as she sees the first star a girl may look at it over her left shoulder and repeat:
"Starlight, starlight,
Oh how you shine tonight;
Be he black or be he white,
Let me dream of him tonight."
8820. This couplet may be used when the first three stars are seen:
"Three stars in a row,
Send me tonight my beau."
A wish then made to see him that night in your dream will be fulfilled.
8821. A girl sitting down on the sidewalk and counting the first seven stars will marry the first man who passes by.
8822. The girl who counts the first seven stars on seven consecutive nights will the last night dream of the man destined for her.
8823. "It took me a year before I could count nine stars straight and just twenty minutes after I counted on the ninth night, a swell-looking man
went by our yard. My chum said, 'You will never marry that man. He is too swell for you.' Just the same, I met that man and married him in less
than a year." She will dream about him on the ninth night say some.
8824. For nine successive nights let a girl count nine stars and then put a mirror under her pillow; in a dream on the ninth night her future
husband will be revealed.
 205

8825. Thirteen stars counted every night for thirteen nights in succession will on the last night cause you to dream of the person you will marry.
8826. If you count forty-two stars before going to bed, that night you will dream of the mate appointed for you.
8827. To learn the identity of her future husband, a girl may count one-hundred stars and then look to her left.
8828. Soon after she has seen a star shoot, a girl will be kissed by her beau.
8829. A shooting star is the sign of a wedding in your family.

Water in: Glass - Pan - Cup - Tub (8830-8853)

WATER IN A GLASS PAN, CUP OR TUB
8830. Here is what happens when a girl puts a glass of water under her bed: that night she will dream of falling into water and of her future
sweetheart or husband coming to pull her out.
8831. A pan of water kept beneath the bed at night and looked into next morning will reflect your future mate's likeness.
8832. On Halloween set a basin of water at the side of your bed, turn off the light, get into bed, rise up quickly and look into the water, and you
will see the face of your prospective mate.
8833. After a girl on Halloween sets a glass of water under the bed and goes to bed backwards, she will dream of her future husband: if he hands
her a drink of water in a glass, he will be wealthy; if in a cup, poor; and if he does not offer a drink, she will be an old maid.
8834. By setting under the bed a glass of water with a piece of wood across the rim you will dream of your future mate bringing a drink of water:
if in a glass, you will be rich; if in a tin cup, poverty will be your lot; and if in a delft cup, you will live in moderate circumstances. This must be
done on Halloween.
8835. If you lay a small piece of wood across the rim of a glass of water and place this under your bed, you will dream of your future mate
crossing a bridge.
8836. Drop a small stick of wood into a glass of water, which is then placed under the bed, and you will dream of meeting your future mate on
a bridge.
8837. The girl who hangs her undershirt wrong side out on the back of a chair at the foot of the bed, then places a pan of water with a stick over
it under the bed, will dream of her future husband walking across a bridge.
8838. "A girl was working for my grandfather and she wanted him to tell her how she could find out who she would marry. He said, 'This is an
old German saying. When you go to bed tonight, put on your nightgown, then take hold of the hem and pull it off over your head, then hang your
gown on the foot of the bed, then take a dishpan full of water and push under the bed. At midnight you will see your future husband.' About
midnight that night grandpa heard the kraut-cutter going back and forth. He wondered what Lena was doing up cutting cabbage at that time of the
night. Then he heard her crying and groaning. Then he called, 'Lena! Lena! What is the matter?' She didn't answer. Then he called the second
time. She answered. He told her to come in where his wife and he were. She said she could not move. Then grandfather went in. He couldn't see a
darn thing wrong. He got her up. She went in and slept on the floor in their room. But she would never tell what she saw, but said she would
never try to find out who her future husband was again."
8839. If a girl writes each letter of the alphabet on a separate slip of paper and drops these slips into a pan of water beneath her bed, the first letter
found on top of the water next morning will be her future husband's initial.
8840. Just before going to bed on the last night of April, lay the letters of the alphabet in a pan half-full of water, shove the latter under the
bed, put out the light, and stir the letters around with your hand. During the night you must wake up and stir the letters a second time in the dark.
Next morning, the first of May, before getting out of bed and without looking at the pan, stir the letters a third time, and then look at them. The
initial of your future mate will be seen floating on the water.
8841. "I never tried this but my friend did. Use two sets of the alphabet in a pan of water under the bed to see what letters will turn up for
your future husband. And the two initials H. H. turn up and she did marry a man that's name was H. H. out here in Clayton."
8842. A girl writing the names of boys on slips of paper and dropping them into a pan of water will marry the boy whose slip rises first to the
surface.
8843. Slips of paper on each of which you have written the name of an admirer are to be rolled up and dropped into a pan of water just before you
go to bed. The slip that remains unrolled next morning will bear your future mate's name.
8844. Let a girl write her beau's name on one slip of paper and hers on another, roll up the two slips, and walking backwards drop them into a
basin of water placed on a chair in the center of the bedroom: if next morning the beau's name is face-upwards, she will marry; if her own, she
will remain single.
8845. "Take three grains of green coffee and cut a [different] knot [notch] in each grain so you will know it and name each one a boy. Put this
coffee in a cup of water and walk to bed backward and not speak, and the one sprouted next morning you will marry. If not any, you will never
marry any of the boys you name. That is what we did in my young days."
8846. Water in a shallow pan left beneath the eaves of the house on New Year's Eve will evaporate or freeze during the night and by morning the
initials of your future mate will be deposited on the bottom of the empty pan or frozen in the ice.
8847. Provided the moon is shining, this rite may be tried on Halloween. Leave a large bowl of water outdoors where the moon can shine on it
and, as the clock strikes twelve, look into the water; a reflection of your future mate will be in the bowl.
8848. At midnight on Halloween set a glass of water on the dresser, turn your back to it, hold a mirror so that the glass is seen over your left
shoulder, and reflected in the water will be your future mate's picture.
8849. "About eighty-five years ago, before the Civil War, my mother's two sisters were at a Halloween party and they tried this. Set a glass of
water on a dresser in front of a looking-glass, do this backward, then take another [looking-] glass and look in it over your shoulder into the other
glass [the dresser mirror], and you will see your future. One of her sisters said she saw a man riding on a white mule up to the house. The other
sister took the glass and screamed and said she saw a coffin, and fainted. It broke up the party that night. And it was not six months until she died.
Two years after that the other girl was standing on the front porch and she saw a man riding up the lane on a white mule to buy some cattle from
her father. She laughed and said, 'That is the man on the white mule I saw at the Halloween party.' Time went on and she did marry the man on
the white mule."
8850. "I never will forget when I tried this. It has been a long time, for I am near eighty. We only had one looking-glass, and one morning
I thought I would try this, we lived near the timber, so I took a glass of water and the looking-glass. I found a low stump, I set my glass [of
water] on the stump, then I went to sitting down myself. You sit down with your back to the stump, holding the looking-glass up so you can see
what is in the glass [of water]. It took me several minutes to get all ready. And when I looked into the glass I saw a big lizard crawling over the
stump. I threw away the glass and ran to the house. 'That day no one could find the looking- glass. They looked everywhere for it, but I would not
tell them I threw it away. When my father went for the cows that evening he found the glass of water on the stump and brought it home. He also
 206

found the looking-glass; it was broke, so he could not bring it home. So I told what I did. I was too old to give me a whipping, but they sure told
me a plenty."
8851. "If two single people will take a tub of water and sit it down by a stove that has a fire, then each one put a foot in the tub and wash it, then
each one take a piece of red coal out of the fire and drop in this tub of water, wishing you will find the colors of your future mate's hair in this
coal, then put your other foot in and wash it, then, after you take out that foot, pick up the piece of coal out of the water and break it open; you
will find the color of your future mate's hair. Years ago my mother told me about washing your feet to find the color of your beau's hair, so one
day my brother and I thought we would try it, and we did. We done just what mother told us to do. And when I opened my piece of coal I found
the black hair just like the man I married; and brother, light just like the woman he married."
8852. Into a pan of water on the table drop a button, coin, nut, ring and stone; then blindfold yourself and with a spoon attempt to scoop out one
of the articles from the pan — three trials being allowed: if you lift out the button, you will live in single blessedness; if the coin, you will
acquire wealth; if the nut, you will toil for a living; if the ring, you will marry; and if the stone, you will travel a rocky road. Halloween is the
usual time for this divination.
8853. Having set three cups on a table and filled the first with milk, the second with vinegar, and the third with water, blindfold yourself and dip
a finger into one cup: if it contains milk, your married life will be happy; if vinegar, your husband or wife will have a sour disposition; and if
water, you will never marry.

Molten Lead in Water (8854-8857)

MOLTEN LEAD IN WATER
8854. Lead melted and poured into a bucket of water at midnight on New Year's Eve will assume various forms: if a crown is formed, you will
marry during the coming year.
8855. If on New Year's Eve you melt lead and pour it on something, your future mate's picture or initials will be seen in the molten metal.
8856. A girl melting lead on Halloween and pouring it into a pan of water (sometimes through the hole in the handle of a key) will see the molten
metal outline her future husband's initial.
8857. If on Halloween a girl melts lead and pours it into a pan of water through the hole in the handle of a key, it will shape a tool
symbolizing her future husband's occupation.

Drinking Water: Swallowing - Spilling - Throwing (8858-8866)

DRINKING WATER
8858. Girls who can walk around the block while holding a mouthful of water will be married before the year ends.
8859. On Halloween a girl may walk around the block with her mouth full of water: if she meets a man, she will marry; if she does not meet a
man, she will never marry. In this rite, as in the preceding one, to swallow the water while walking will break the spell.
8860. If while drinking water you keep looking over the rim of the glass at someone, it indicates you want to flirt with that person.
8861. To spill water when taking a drink shows your sweetheart is thinking of you.
8862. A girl spilling water when she drinks will soon quarrel with her lover.
8863. The girl who strangles while trying to drink water and talk to her beau at the same time will soon know the true state of his affections: if
he takes the cup and pats her on the back, he is deeply in love; if he fails to take the cup, he is not.
8864. Throw a dipper of water over your head while wishing to marry within a year and you will get your wish.
8865. Never drink water from the glass used by your sweetheart or mate without rinsing it; a separation will soon follow.
8866. If a number of girls out walking see a well and run to it for a drink, the first girl drinking will be the first bride.

Well - Spring - Running Water (8867-8895)

WELL OF WATER
8867. "Years ago when I was a girl I was going with a young man, had went with him over a year, and I thought I would take a glass on the
first day of May at noon and look in a well. And I saw my beau holding another girl by the arm. This girl had a big hat on with red roses. And it
was no time until he went back on me and married that girl I saw on his arm in the well. The next year I thought I would look in the well again on
May the first. And this time I saw a man holding a baby. I said to my girl friends, 'I know I am not going to marry a man with a baby. ' But I did.
My first husband died and I tried again on May the first to see if I would get a second husband. I was going with a farmer, and I saw him in the
well sharpening a file. That night I said to my beau, 'What was you doing at twelve o'clock today?' He said, 'I was plowing, and I stop to file
something on my plow.' And I knew I was going to marry him and I did."
8868. "After I was married, some girls were trying their fortune by looking in a looking-glass and holding it over a well. I said, 'Let me hold the
glass and see my future.' They laugh and said, 'You are married, you have your beau.' But I took the glass and looked in, holding it over the well.
And what do you think? I saw a high-chair with a pretty baby sitting in the chair. They sure did laugh. And it was no time until I did have a baby
sitting in a high-chair."
8869. "I had a friend and she looked down in a well on the first day of May at sunrise, and she saw a man riding on a white horse and she married
a man with a white horse."
8870. "My two aunts years ago tried their fortune on the first day of May by holding a looking-glass over an old well. My one aunt saw a coffin
and in three months she was dead, the other saw a man dressed in a soldier's suit and she married a soldier. My mother often talked about her two
sisters trying their fortune."

This is probably the commonest of all rules concerned with looking into a well; you will see your future husband or your coffin.
Sometimes this rule includes a third possibility; you will see your future husband, your coffin, or a ball of fire — meaning the devil will get you.
Occasionally the coffin mentioned in the preceding divination is for someone else, as in the following experience:
8871. "You have often heard about looking in a well with a looking-glass. I always wanted to try it, but my mother always kept me from it. We
only had one little glass, didn't have one for every room like everyone has now. I don't know if my mother thought I would break it or see
something that would scare me. My husband was dead and I had several children. I wanted to see if I would get the man I was going with. We
had an old well right by our back porch. Mother kept this looking-glass hanging on the porch over an old bench so everyone could see how to
wash and comb, as she kept the washpan on this bench. Well, one day when mother was not home I took this looking-glass down, went over to
the well, and looked into the well. I don't know to this day why I didn't drop the glass. I didn't see the man I wanted to see, but I saw a coffin,
with two people standing by it with their hands up to their face like crying. Two months after that my mother and I stood by the coffin of
 207

my little girl with our hands over our face crying just like I saw it in the well. My mother said I didn't see the coffin in the well, it was only
imagination; but I did see it, and it was a token of my little girl's death."
8872. "I had always heard my grandmother say, if you would take a looking- glass on the first of May and look in an open well, you would see
your future husband. We lived over in Missouri ten years ago, so on the first of May just ten years ago I thought I would look on our open well
out in the orchard and see what I would see. I saw a man with a blue shirt on helping to carry a coffin. They were coming from the direction of
the old maiden-blush apple tree in our orchard. It sure scared me, because I saw the coffin, thinking I would die and never marry. Two months
after that I went to the little country church in our neighborhood to a funeral and the same man I saw in the well was carrying the coffin in his
blue shirt. We went together and we were married before the year was out, and have been living here in Quincy for nine years."

According to the general principle, when you look into a well to see your fortune, either your future husband or a coffin will be seen;
but in the following illustration, an unusual one, both possibilities are combined:
8873. "My mother years ago took a looking-glass and held it so she could look down into a well to see what she could see, and she saw a man
with two horses and a wagon of wheat, he was sitting on the wheat. She kept looking and looking, for she thought she was seeing things. She kept
turning the glass around and around, but every time she saw this man on the load of wheat. Time went on and my mother married a man that
looked just like that man on the wheat. Time went on and my mother had four children by this man. And one day he was hauling wheat and the
horses ran away with him on a load of wheat and killed him. And my mother said the horses looked just like the ones she saw in the well years
before."

Another exceptional example will illustrate a different aspect of the connection between well and death mentioned in the three
preceding stories:
8874. "My mother and a girl on the first day of May went to a well with a piece of smoked glass and looked into the well. My mother saw a man
and she got married. The other girl saw her coffin and she died inside of a year."
8875. If a girl looks into a well on the first of May and sees a face, she will be happily married; but if someone from the waist down is seen, she
will marry a deceitful person and have an unhappy life.
8876. "We tried this on Halloween night just at twelve o'clock, looking into a looking-glass over a well, and you will see your future." Some
say you may look into a well at midnight on any night, either with or without a mirror.
8877. Lie down on your back by a well on Halloween and hold a mirror over your head so that you can see the bottom of the well: if you are to
marry, the picture of your future mate will appear in the mirror.
8878. On Halloween hold a lighted lamp over a well and above the lamp hold a mirror so that it reflects the bottom of the well: if a picture
appears in the mirror, it will be that of your future mate; if the lamp goes out, you will never get married.
8879. While looking into a mirror, walk backwards to a well on Halloween: if you see a face in the glass, you will marry that person; if you do
not see anything in the glass, a single life will be your fate.
8880. If you look into a mirror while walking backwards to a well on the first of May, when the well is reached your future mate will appear in
the glass.
8881. About dusk walk backwards to a well while looking over your right shoulder into a mirror and you will see your future mate.
8882. "I knew a man that did this. If you will walk ten steps backward, then go and look in a well, you will see your future. And he saw a coffin,
and his wife died in two weeks' time — that was her coffin he saw in the well."
8883. You can see the image of your future sweetheart or mate by looking into a well on a cloudy day.

SPRING OF WATER
8884. This rite must be done in silence. A girl may get up before sunrise on the first of May, visit a spring, look into the water, and there she will
see her future husband.
8885. Before sunrise on the first of May look over your left shoulder into a mirror that reflects a spring and in the water you will see your
future husband's face.
8886. A girl who on the first of May looks into a mirror held over a spring will see in the water a reflection of her future lover or husband. What
he is doing will be his occupation.
8887. "On the first day of May fill a bottle out of a spring, do this before sunup, then set the bottle on a hillside where you can see through it, then
lay down below it where you can look up through it, as the sun comes up over the hill; you will see your future husband or coffin. My mother was
scared and didn't see anything, but her friend that tried it saw a coffin and she died before the year was out."
8888. "Another thing we did on the first day of May was to fold our hands, holding them over a looking-glass, looking up, saying the Lord's
Prayer, then look down, opening your hands so that the glass will fall on the water, and your future will come in the circle of made by the glass."
This is usually done at a spring or running water. Sometimes a mirror is not used: with folded hands, one looks up to heaven, says the Lord's
Prayer, and then looks down into the water.
8889. Go to a spring on Halloween, fill your mouth with water, walk home backwards, get into bed backwards, then swallow the water, and that
night your future mate will give you a drink in your dream. This entire operation must be done without speaking.

RUNNING WATER
8890. If you go to a river, turn your back to it, and hold a mirror so that you can see the water over your left shoulder, the image of your future
sweetheart or mate will be seen in the glass. This is sometimes tried on Halloween at midnight.
8891. Let a girl name six marbles after men she likes, go to a river, throw one marble at a time into the water while calling the name of the man
it represents, and before the end of the year she will marry one of the six men.
8892. If you write your name on a piece of white paper, cork it up in a bottle, and toss the latter into running water, you will marry the person
who finds the bottle. A love letter may be written and substituted for the name on the paper.
8893. The young man who rescues a girl from drowning will soon marry her.
8894. Never stand and watch water running off a roof; your sweetheart or married mate will soon run away from you.
8895. If on a rainy night it rains through an open window or water leaks from the ceiling into a girl's bed and she is too lazy to close the
window or move her bed, she will marry a drunkard.

Ground - Pebbles - Sand (8896-8912)

GROUND
 208

8896. "One morning early in the spring I set down on the ground and reached behind and got a handful of dirt, and found a black curly hair in
the dirt, and I married a man with black curly hair."
8897. In the hole you make by turning around three times on your right heel will be a hair like that of your future mate's.
8898. A girl taking three steps backwards and whirling around thrice on the right heel will see in the hole made a hair like that of her
future husband's.
8899. "I have tried this myself and know of others, and they always found hair there. Walk back five steps, dig a hole under your left heel, and
you will find a hair of your future husband."
8900. To discover the color of her future husband's hair, a girl may step backwards five steps, whirl around on her heel three times, making a
hole, and in it will be discovered a hair like his.
8901. After walking backwards six steps, reach behind you and pick up a handful of dirt; in the latter will be seen a hair revealing the kind of
hair your future mate will have.
8902. If nine steps are taken backwards, a hair like that of your future sweetheart's can be dug out of the last footprint.
8903. A girl who walks backwards nine steps on a dusty road and then raises her left heel will find beneath it a hair like the hair of the man she is
to marry.
8904. On the first night of a full moon in May walk backwards nine steps, sit down and dig into the ninth step, and in this hole a hair like that
of your future mate's will be found.
8905. If a girl on the first night of a new moon takes nine steps backwards, reaches behind her, picks up anything touched, and lays this under her
pillow, next morning she will find beneath the pillow a hair like that of her future sweetheart's.
8906. "I tried this. Take ten steps backward, then dig at the back of your heel, and you will find the color of the man's hair you will marry. I
found light hair and I married a blond man."
8907. If on a moonlight night a girl walks ten steps forwards, then five backwards, and looks under her right toe, she will find a hair like the
hair of her next sweetheart's. This must be done barefoot.
8908. Anytime the sun shines during a rain, lift up a stone and beneath it you will see a hair the color of your future husband's hair.
8909. When you see a rainbow, look under a rock; there a hair the color of your future mate's will be seen.
8910. Beneath a board picked up on a rainy day you will discover a hair the color of the hair of the person you are to wed.

PEBBLES AND SAND

8911. The following divination may be used by a girl in discovering whether she is loved: let her name a handful of pebbles for the man she loves
and throw them away one at a time while saying He loves me and He loves me not to alternate pebbles; the last pebble will reveal her fortune.
8912. Under the head of your bed set a dish full of sand; if that night you have a dream, next morning the initials of your future mate will be
written in the sand.

LOVE SAYINGS AND PLANTS (8913-9080)

Clover (8913-8943)
CLOVER
8913. A girl finding a one-leafed clover will receive a letter from her lover.
8914. The girl who finds a one-leafed clover will see her beau before sunset.
8915. To find a two-leafed clover is a token you will be kissed by your sweetheart.
8916. The day a girl finds a four-leafed clover she will meet a beau.
8917. Whoever finds a four-leafed clover will marry before the end of the year.
8918. Three four-leafed clovers found in succession signify a wedding in the family.
8919. If a four-leafed clover is picked by a girl and kept, she can get any man she wants.
8920. Anybody wanted for a beau or husband can be secured by a girl picking a four-leafed clover and keeping it in a book.
8921. You may hang a four-leafed clover over the door; if the first person coming through that door is unmarried, your wedding will occur within
twelve months.
8922. If a girl hangs a four-leafed clover over a door, her future husband will be the first man to enter.
8923. A four-leafed clover when found by a man may be carried in his hat; he will marry the first girl he kisses.
8924. While plucking a four-leafed clover, say I pluck thee, four-leafed clover, and lay thee next to my heart, so grant me my dearest wish and let
me see my future husband tonight in my dreams.
8925. To dream of your future mate, sleep with a four-leafed clover beneath your pillow.
8926. A girl may pick a four-leafed clover and put it under her pillow while making a wish; if that night she dreams of a man, a new beau may be
expected within a week.
8927. The night you sleep with a four-leafed clover beneath each corner of the sheet you will dream of your future mate.
8928. The girl who finds a four-leafed clover and sticks it in her shoe will that night see her future husband in her dream.
8929. If you find a four-leafed clover and wear it in your right shoe, you will marry the first person of the opposite sex with whom you walk.
8930. The first four-leafed clover found in the spring should be worn in the heel of your shoe; the first person you meet of the opposite sex will
be the one you are to marry.
8931. If a girl plucks a four-leafed clover and lays it in her shoe while making a wish, she will marry the first man passing her on the right side —
provided he speaks to her.
8932. A girl wearing a four-leafed clover in her left shoe will marry the first man to whom she speaks.
8933. Put a four-leafed clover in your left shoe and shake hands with the first person met: if this person is of your sex, you will never marry; if
of the opposite sex, you will be married.
8934. As a method for meeting a lover, a girl may wear a four-leafed clover in her shoe; but immediately after she has met him, the clover must
be taken out of the shoe and worn over the heart so that their love will run smoothly.
8935. If she desires a beau, let a girl find a four-leafed clover, kiss it, and put it in her shoe.
8936. To get herself a new sweetheart, a girl may find a four-leafed clover and spit on it.
8937. By swallowing a four-leafed clover you may marry whom you desire.
8938. The girl who swallows a four-leafed clover while thinking of a desirable man will soon obtain him.
8939. Either swallow whole or chew up and swallow the first four-leafed clover found in the spring, and the first person kissed after that will
be the mate allotted to you by destiny.
 209

8940. The first person met after you have eaten a four-leafed clover will be your future husband or wife.
8941. The finding of a five-leafed clover gives you the privilege of marrying anyone desired.
8942. Do not keep a five-leafed clover; your sweetheart will soon be lost. 8943. Eat a five-leafed clover and you will marry the first person met.

Weeds Mostly (8944-8963)

WEEDS MOSTLY

Cattail - Dandelion - Mayapple - Milkweed (8944-8952)

8944. A cat-tail seed spike may be pulled from a pond, allowed to dry, and held over a fire: if it burns on all sides, you will be happy in love; if
only one side burns, unhappy.
8945. To the first dandelion blossom in the spring say Hello, Sunny, and a new sweetheart will soon appear.
8946. If you blow a dandelion seed-ball, the direction towards which the last seed go will indicate where your sweetheart lives. Some say this
will be the direction from which your future mate is coming.
8947. The number of seed left after blowing a dandelion seed-ball three times will reveal how many sweethearts you are going to have.
8948. After you have blown a dandelion seed-ball once, the seed remaining will enumerate the years before your wedding.
8949. If all seed from a dandelion seed-ball can be driven off with one breath, your sweetheart loves you. A thistle seed-ball will supply the
same information.
8950. Marriage is a certainty for the person who can with one breath drive away all the seed of a dandelion seed-ball.
8951. The woman who carries a May-apple in her pocket will marry the first man she meets.
8952. To find out where your future or next sweetheart is living, break a milkweed and the stalk will fall over towards his or her house.

Mistletoe - Holly - Plantain - Mullein - Thistle (8953-8963)

8953. Anyone standing beneath mistletoe may be kissed.
8954. Look for a wedding soon, when two persons kiss beneath mistletoe.
8955. Two leaves of mistletoe may be named for a boy and girl and then laid on a hot stove; if the leaves jump towards each other, there will be a
marriage between that boy and girl.
8956. Name holly leaves and throw them into a fire; the leaf named for the one who loves you best will pop out first.
8957. If a piece of mistletoe or holly is placed over the door on Christmas Eve, the first person walking through that door will be married before
next Christmas.
8958. Whoever is met first after you have put a plantain leaf in your shoe will be the mate appointed for you.
8959. As many "strings" (conducting tissues) as are found at the end of a plantain stem a girl breaks from the plant, so many will be the number
of her beaus.
8960. A girl may bend the top of a mullein over to the ground, but the plant must be bent towards her beau's house: if in the bending the stalk
breaks and stays down, he loves her; if it flies back and becomes erect again, he does not. Similarly when the stalk is broken: if the plant lives and
grows, he loves her; if it dies, he does not.
8961. A girl may name a mullein her beau and bend the top of the plant over to the ground, but not towards her beau's house as in the preceding
rite: if in the bending the stalk breaks and stays down, he loves her; if it flies back and becomes erect again, he does not. Similarly when the stalk
is broken: if the plant lives and grows, he will marry her; if it dies, he will die out of her life.
8962. Her name and that of a man she likes may be written on a mullein leaf by a girl, the leaf then being hidden and the rite kept a secret: if he
cares anything for her, he will soon come or write.
8963. Whether you are loved can be ascertained as follows: gather some thistle buds and to the bottom of each one pin a slip of paper with an
admirer's name, put the buds in a pan of water under your bed, and next morning the bud representing the person who loves you will be blooming
and floating on the surface.

Flowers (8964-8984)
FLOWERS

Bouquet - Daisy - Hollyhock - Ivy (8964-8972)

8964. For three successive nights a girl may tie a bouquet to the back of a chair, pin on the flowers a note addressed to her lover, telling him how
much she loves him: if during the third night she dreams of him, she must then keep the bouquet three weeks and he will soon be her husband.
8965. To ascertain whether she is loved, a girl may plant a flower or vine named for a man: if it grows, he loves her; if it dies, he does not.
8966. A boy who wears a flower to school is lovesick.
8967. If a girl gathers a handful of daisies, names each for a boy, and throws them away one by one while repeating He loves me, he loves me
not, her fate will be disclosed by the last flower thrown away. This may also be done with dandelions.
8968. If a girl while picking the petals from a daisy repeats He loves me, he loves me not, the last petal and its corresponding sentiment will show
her destiny. Any flower with petals may be used.
8969. While pulling petals from a daisy, a girl may say He loves, he loves not, he is indifferent, he is true, he will come if he can, and the last
petal will reveal her fortune.
8970. Let a girl name a daisy her beau and begin to pull off petals, saying when she pulls off the first petal, One I love; the second, Two I love;
the third, Three I love, I say; the fourth, Four I love with all my heart; and the fifth, Five I cast away. She must then blow once against the
remaining petals as hard as possible: the petals left will be the years before she marries; but if no petals remain, she will not marry him.
8971.
"Where the hollyhocks grow,
The beaus won't go."
8972. An ivy leaf or a piece of ivy may be pinned over a girl's heart and kept there for three days: if at the expiration of this time the first
person with whom she shakes hands is a bachelor, she will marry within a year; if a woman, there will be no marriage that year.

Live-For-Ever and Love Vine (8973-8977)

 210

8973. A piece of live-forever may be named a beau by a girl and stuck into a crack of a loghouse: if the vine grows up towards the roof, he loves
her; if down towards the ground, he does not. This describes the original form of the rite, but the disappearance of the loghouse has necessitated
a change: the plant is now put against something --- bush, corncrib, and the like --- where it can grow upwards or downwards.
8974. A girl may name two pieces of live-forever, one herself and the other her beau, and lay them separated a short distance on a log or in a
crack over the door of a loghouse: if they grow together, she will marry him; if apart, she will not. Here again, as in the preceding rite, since
the loghouse door has disappeared, any door has been substituted.
8975. Put a piece of live-forever over your door: if a single person enters first, someone in the house will soon marry; if a married person,
someone in the house will soon be divorced.
8976. Name a piece of love-vine and lay it on a bush (the elder is often prescribed): if it grows (begins to grow within three days say some), the
person named loves you.
8977. If you can tie a knot in a love-vine without breaking it, you are loved by your sweetheart. Some say two knots must be tied.
8978. "During the Civil War there was a plant that grows in the garden called old-man-plant [old-man's-pepper? = yarrow], and if you would
take a piece of that and a horseshoe and hang them both over your door, your man was sure to come under that door you would marry."

Old-Man-Plant - Rose - Sunflower - Zinnia (8978-8984)

8979. A yellow rose given to someone of the opposite sex is a sign of jealousy. The person who wears any kind of yellow flower is jealous.
8980. How much a girl loves a sweetheart can be observed when she hands him a rose: if any of the petals fall off in the handing, her love is
growing cold; if they stay on, her love is deep.
8981. Any girl able to pop a rose petal named her sweetheart is loved by him.
8982. If a girl while walking down a road slowly picks petals from a rose, she will marry the first single man met --- provided all petals have not
yet been picked.
8983.
"Where sunflowers grow,
The beaus don't go."
8984. The girl who plants three zinnia seed, naming each seed for a man, will marry one of the three men before the year ends.

VEGETABLES
Vegetables:
Beans - Cucumber - Cabbage - Onion (8985-8990)
8985. Beans may be strung on a string and thrown up into the air; the initial formed by the beans on the ground or floor will be that of your future
mate's.
8986. Your cucumber vine blooming in the spring and again in the fall means you will marry a sickly person.
8987. Three blindfolded girls may go into a vegetable garden and each pull up a cabbage: if the root is straight, her husband will be handsome;
if crooked, ugly; and if a considerable amount of dirt clings to the root, wealthy.
8988. After a cabbage head has rotted off, a girl may pull up the root and lay it in her shoe while wishing for the man she wants: if he loves her,
he will soon come.
8989. Four onions may be named and laid under your bed: if next morning one of them has a sprout, you are loved by the person represented; if
none sprouts during the night, you are not loved by any of the four persons.

Peas - Potato - Sage - Turnip (8991-9004)

8990. Four onions may be named and laid on the stove: if next morning one of them has sprouted, that will be the name of your future mate.
8991. If the first peapod found on the vines is put over the door, the first person entering that door will be your future married partner.
8992. At midnight pick a peapod in the garden, open it, count the peas but do not hull them, tack the opened pod over the door, and the first
person to walk through that door will be your future sweetheart.
8993. Five peas in a pod when found in five different pods while hulling peas are a sign you will marry before the year is out.
8994. Hold a green pod containing seven peas while making a wish and then put the pod over a door: if the first person to pass through the door is
of the opposite sex, you will marry that year; if of the same sex, you will be an old maid or bachelor.
8995. If the first pod picked has nine peas, you can get anyone you want that year.
8996. To discover whom you are to marry, hang over the door a pod containing nine peas; the person will be the first eligible one walking
through the doorway.
8997. Nine peas in a pod hung over the door will tell a girl how soon she is going to marry: if an unmarried man comes in first, she will be
married that year; if a woman, that year there will be no marriage.
8998. On finding a pod with nine peas, lay it over the door: if the first person to enter that door is unmarried, you will marry before the next
pea crop; if married, sorrow will be your lot until the following pea crop.
8999. Her future husband can be discovered by the girl who wraps nine peas in a piece of paper on which she has written Come in, come in, my
dear and lays them under the doormat; he will be the first unmarried man passing over the mat.
9000. Always count the potatoes you are going to have for dinner on Sunday and you will marry a person with money.
9001. A girl may halve a potato, write a beau's name on one half and hers on the other, and then wrap the two halves together and put them under
her pillow; if he loves her, he will make love in her dream that night.
9002. You can obtain a new sweetheart by planting some potatoes near the house and watering them before sunrise for five consecutive
mornings.
9003. Before sunrise on the first of May go out into the garden and begin to pick sage, and soon you will see your future mate picking sage at
your side.
9004. If you pare a turnip into one continuous paring, whirl the latter around three times over your head while saying I wish to see my true
love's initial, and then let the paring fall, the desired initial will be formed.

Grain - Hay - Straw: Corn - Rye - Wheat (9005-9020)

GRAIN - HAY - STRAW
 211

9005. On Halloween a girl as she walks around the house may sow grain while calling her sweetheart's name: if he appears and follows her with a
scythe, pretending to reap, he loves her. This divination, apparently now obsolete, is one of the earliest dateable love rites discovered in
the county, going back to the 1840 decade.
9006. The person who finds an ear of red corn will be married within a year.
9007. If the first ear of corn you see in the season is red, you will hear of a marriage before hearing of a death.
9008. Grains of popcorn may be named for boys or girls and laid on a hot stove; the first grain popping will disclose the name of the one you are
to marry.
9009. A girl may give initials to six grains of popcorn and drop them into a pan of water; the first one sinking to the bottom will reveal the initial
of her future husband.
9010. If a girl names six grains of popcorn and lays them on the ground near a chicken, the first grain eaten by the chicken will be the name of her
future mate.
9011. If a girl draws a large circle on the ground and within it writes in the dirt the names of seven boys, puts a grain of corn over each name, and
then sets a chicken in the middle of the circle, the first grain eaten by the chicken will be the name of her future mate.
9012. Three loads of hay seen at the same time are a token you will be married thrice.
9013. A man by giving a girl's name to a stalk of green rye with buds, which must then be worn in his hair or hatband, can discover whether he
is loved: if the buds continue to grow and open out, she loves him; if they wither, she does not.
9014. To find a straw in your hair means a new sweetheart soon.
9015. If in the spring when frost covers the straw-pile you spread a white cloth on the frost and return next morning, the initials of your future
mate will be found on the cloth.
9016. Count the wheatstacks on the farms you pass when out in the country and you will marry someone with wealth.
9017. "When I was a girl I put my handkerchief out at midnight on the growing wheatfield and on the first of May before sunrise I went to see
what my future husband's initials were. There were letters on the handkerchief but I could not make them out." The handkerchief may be laid on a
gooseberry bush or on the grass under a tree.
9018. If before sunrise on the first of May a girl lays a handkerchief on growing wheat, a bush, or the grass, and examines the handkerchief just
before sunset, she will find on it the image of a man, a dog, or a coffin: if the image of a man, she will marry; a dog, she will be an old maid; and
a coffin, she will die before the next first of May.
9019. On the last night of April walk backwards to a wheatfield, reach behind you and lay your handkerchief on the wheat, return home and go to
bed, and next morning before sunrise revisit the wheatfield: if you find initials on the handkerchief, you will be married; if you do not, you will
always remain single.
9020. You will meet your future mate by walking around a wheatfield before sunrise on the first of May.

Berries: Gooseberry - Colored Berry - Twin Berry (9021-9024)

BERRIES
9021. The girl who can eat eight green gooseberries without making a face can get any man she wants.
9022. Near your bed any night leave three berries of the following colors --- white, red and black — and next morning, before speaking or doing
anything, close your eyes and choose a berry: if the white one is chosen, you will be married within a year; the red one, you will soon be engaged;
and the black one, you will be unmarried all your life.
9023. The finding of a twin berry, fruit or vegetable, signifies your wedding is at hand.
9024. A girl sleeping on a twin berry or fruit will marry the man of whom she dreams.

NUTS
Nuts: (9025-9034)
Acorn - Buckeye - Beechnut - Chestnut (9025-9029)
9025. The following rite, to be done in silence, may be tried by an odd number of girls, not over nine, on the third night of any month
between September and March. Each girl must string nine acorns, wrap them around a stick of wood, lay the latter in the fire at midnight, wait
until the acorns have burned to ashes, then rake out these ashes and go to bed, and she will dream of her future lover.
9026. "I have heard my grandmother say, if you are going out with a boy for the first time and think you want to go with him again, carry three
buckeyes in your pocketbook."
9027. Two beechnuts named for sweethearts may be wet with saliva and one of them laid over each eye; the nut staying on the longer will tell
which sweetheart loves you the better.
9028. As many chestnuts as she has beaus may be named by a girl and put near an open fire or on a grate; the nut jumping first will indicate
which one loves her most. Apple seed may be used instead of chestnuts.
9029. To learn how many beaus will pop the question, a girl on Halloween may drop a handful of chestnuts into the fire; for each chestnut that
pops, the question will be popped by a beau.

Coconut - Hazelnut - Nutmeg - Walnut (9030-9034)

9030. Any girl contemplating marriage and being uncertain about the man's ability to make her happy may set a coconut on the floor and break it
open: if the nut breaks into large pieces, the marriage will be a success; if small pieces, a failure.
9031. A row of hazelnuts may be laid in the hot ashes along the edge of the fireplace on Halloween and named (alternately say some) after boys
and girls: if any two nuts representing respectively a boy and girl jump towards each other, that boy and girl will become husband and wife; if the
two nuts jump away from each other, there will not be any marriage between the boy and girl.
9032. On Halloween a girl may name two nuts, one for herself and the other for her beau, and place them on a grate or stove: if they burn well
and do not hop, she will marry her beau; if the nut named her beau hops away from the nut named herself, he does not love her. This is sometimes
done with two apple seed instead of nuts.
9033. Her future husband's occupation can be learned by a girl who grates three nuts — a hazelnut, nutmeg and walnut — mixes these grated nuts
with butter and sugar, makes pills of this paste, and swallows nine of them on going to bed: if she dreams of wealth, she will marry a gentleman;
of white linen, a clergyman; of darkness, a lawyer; of noises, a tradesman or laborer; of thunder and lightning, a soldier or sailor; and of rain, a
servant.
9034. If the first three walnuts you crack in the fall are good, you will marry before the next walnut crop.
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Apple - Lemon - Trees (9035-9080)

APPLE
9035. The ability to break an apple apart gives you the privilege of getting anyone desired.
9036. Girls with strength enough to break an apple in two will be old maids.
9037. Let somebody name an apple for a person you love; if you can break the apple in half, the one named will become your sweetheart.
9038. The person who is able to break an apple apart will when married never be bossed by the other partner.
9039. Anybody able to eat a crab-apple without making a face can get whatever person is wanted.
9040. If a girl sits in front of a mirror on Halloween while eating an apple, her future husband will come and look over her shoulder.
9041. If a girl with a lighted candle in her hand eats an apple while standing before a mirror at midnight, she will see the reflection of her future
husband.
9042. You may name an apple suspended from a string on Halloween; if you succeed in biting the fruit, you are loved by the person named.
9043. Bobbing for apples, the usual name for the rite, has always been a favorite pastime at a Halloween party. The boy or girl who can bite into
and lift out one of the apples floating in a tub of water is certain to be married.
9044. After apples have been dropped into a tub of water on Halloween, the first person lifting out an apple with his or her teeth will be the first
one of that group to marry.
9045. At a Halloween party write the names of boys on apples, drop the latter into a tub of water, and let a girl having her hands held or tied
behind her try with her teeth to raise up an apple by the stem: if she succeeds in raising it out of the water, the name borne will be that of her
future mate.
9046. "I often do this to my husband to make him jealous of me; put an apple core in his pocket without him knowing it."
9047. A girl may peel an apple into one continuous peeling and throw the latter over her left shoulder: if the peeling breaks, she will not see
her sweetheart for a long time; if it remains whole, he will be seen before the end of the week.
9048. An apple paring removed from the fruit without a break and thrown over the left shoulder will form the initial of your future mate. This
rite, when reserved for the first of May, is usually performed before sunrise. On rare occasions a vegetable such as a potato or turnip has been
substituted for the apple.
9049. A continuous apple or peach peeling named for the man she loves best and tossed over the left shoulder will show a girl what to expect; if
the peeling shapes his first initial, her love is returned.
9050. If while looking over your right shoulder into a mirror you can remove the skin from an apple, so that it forms an unbroken spiral, and
then toss the latter over your left shoulder, you will see your future mate reflected in the glass. Midnight or Halloween are the usual times for
this rite.
9051. To find out whence her new beau is coming, a girl may whirl around her head three times an apple peeling peeled into a continuous spiral,
and then let it go; he will come from the direction towards which the peeling goes."
9052. Let a girl whirl a continuous apple peeling around her head three times and drop it back over the shoulder: if the peeling outlines an
initial, that will be the first letter in her future husband's last name; if an initial is not outlined, she will always be husbandless.
9053. Six seed in the first June apple eaten by you denotes you will be married before the next crop of June apples.
9054. While cutting open an apple, name it someone you love; if the apple contains twelve seed, you will marry that person.
9055. Name a large apple for someone loved and count the seed: if there are as many seed as letters in the name or more, you will marry that
person; if less, you will not.
9056. Count apple seed and say:
"One, I love,
Two, I love,
Three, I love, I say,
Four, I love with all my heart,
Five, I cast away,
Six, he loves,
Seven, she loves,
Eight, both love,
Nine, he comes,
Ten, he tarries,
Eleven, he courts,
Twelve, they marry."
Occasionally the verses end as follows:
"Thirteen, a happy life,
Fourteen, a happy wife,
Fifteen, a lot of fun,
Sixteen, a little one."
Sometimes, but rarely, the rhyme closes with this ending:
"Thirteen, they live happily together,
Fourteen, they part,
Fifteen, she died of a broken heart."
9057. If two apple seed are named, wetted with saliva, and stuck on your eyelids, the one adhering longer will reveal the name of your future
mate.
9058. After a girl names two crab-apple seed, wets them with saliva, sticks them on her eyelids, and winks her eyes, the one falling off first will
disclose the name of her future husband.
9059. Five apple seed may be named, wetted with saliva, and laid on your face; the first seed dropping off will indicate your future mate's name.
9060. Eat an apple and count the seed: if the number is even, throw them away; if odd, name the seed and stick them on your forehead. The one
remaining longest will designate the person you are going to marry.
9061. How much time will pass before you see your sweetheart can be ascertained by pressing against your forehead the seed from an apple; the
number of those which do not fall off at once will enumerate the days.
9062. An apple seed put on a red-hot stove will pop in the direction toward which your future or next sweetheart lives.
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9063. Three apple seed may be named and laid on a hot stove-lid; the seed jumping first will signify the name of your future mate. Some say he
or she will come from the direction towards which the seed jumped; others say you may use two or more apple seed.
9064. If by using the index finger and thumb a person shoots an apple seed up into the air, it will fly in the direction from which his or her future
or next sweetheart may be expected. This and the two following rites usually require the wetting of the seed with water, to make the shooting
easier.
9065. To discover how she is regarded by her beau, an apple seed may be given his name and shot towards the ceiling; if it touches the ceiling, he
loves her.
9066. If you name three apple seed and shoot them towards the ceiling, the one hitting the ceiling will represent the person who loves you.
Sometimes two or more seed are used; in which case, as many as hit the ceiling, so many love you.

LEMON
9067. As a method for learning whether her beau or husband is trifling with someone else, a woman may cut a lemon in half, rub both pieces on
the four posts of the bed, and lay the two halves under her pillow: if she dreams about him that night, he is faithful; if she does not, he is faithless.
9068. There are three variants for the rite which requires a girl to carry all day two lemons, one in each pocket of her apron, and that night peel
or halve and rub them on the four bedposts: (1) if she dreams about her beau and he holds out two lemons (one say some), they will be married; if
she does not dream about him, she will never be his wife. (2) Should the girl have no sweetheart — if in her dream she sees a man, she will
marry; if she fails to see a man, she will be an old maid. (3) This is also tried when discovering an unknown future lover, who will or will not
appear with the lemon or lemons in the girl's dream. 9069. If two lemon or orange peelings are carried in your pocket during the day and slept on
that night, you will dream of your future mate.

TREES
9070. An apple tree blooming in your yard during November foretells your marriage in December.
9071. Anytime a cherry tree blooms twice the same season, pick off three blossoms and throw them away, so that you will be married that year.
Some say it is unlucky to marry the year a cherry tree blooms twice.
9072. Tie a knot in a young cedar limb and name it; if it grows, you are loved by the person named.
9073. Oak trees are unlucky for lovers say some; poplar trees, say others --- especially when they grow in the yard.
9074. The first tree a man cuts down in the spring may be named for a girl and burned: if it burns slowly, she loves him; if quickly, she does not.
9075. A girl may pull a leaf off a tree, name it her beau, and throw it up into the air while wishing to know whether she is loved: if the leaf
falls rough side up, he loves her; if smooth side up, he does not.
9076. The girl who walks backwards out of the house to a peach tree, breaks off a small branch, returns to the house backwards, drops the branch
into the fire, and goes backwards to the door while the branch is burning, will on reaching the door be grabbed by her future husband.
9077. Three straight twigs may be named and bent or broken at the center; the one remaining straightest will indicate the name of your future
mate. Toothpicks may be used.
9078. If five sticks of different lengths are named and laid under your pillow, the first stick you draw out next morning will bear your future
mate's name.
9079. A girl may lay five sticks of different lengths under her pillow while making a wish: if next morning she draws out the shortest stick,
she will get her wish and a short man; if the longest stick, a tall man and no wish.
9080. Before sunrise on the first of May gather one twig from seven different kinds of fruit trees, tie these seven twigs in a bundle and sleep with
them beneath your pillow that night, and you will dream of your future mate.

ANIMALS AND LOVE BELIEFS (9081-9216)

Insects: (9081-9094)
Butterfly - Measuring Worm (Caterpillar) (9081-9084)
9081. A butterfly getting on a girl is a sign she will get a new beau soon.
9082. If the first butterfly you see in the spring is white, you will attend a wedding before the end of the year.
9083. Two white butterflies seen together mean you will meet your future mate before next butterfly-time.
9084. A measuring-worm (caterpillar) on a girl's clothing may be named a beau: if the worm then continues to crawl, it is taking her measure for
a new dress which the beau will buy for their marriage; if the worm stops crawling, she will not become his wife.

June Bug - Lightning Bug - Mosquito (9085-9087)

9085. "My mother did this eighty-seven years ago. If you see a mound of dirt up high on the ground, stop and say June-bug, June-bug, I am on
top of your house; if John (give the name of the beau) loves me, come out: and if one bug comes out, John loves you; if several come out, you
have several fellows; and if no bug comes out, no fellow likes you."
9086. By naming the first lightning-bug of the season someone you love, that person will become yours.
9087. To get the man she loves, let a girl give his name to the first mosquito found in the house.

Spider - Tumble Bu - Wasp (9088-9094)

9088. It is very unlucky for a girl to kill a spider in her hands; she will never have a sweetheart.
9089. To find a spider on a girl's neck shows she has a secret lover.
9090. Whoever finds the letter M in a spider web is certain to be married.
9091. As soon as a girl sees a spider web on the ceiling, she should sweep it down to obtain a beau — some say a new one.
9092. A beau will leave and never return, if he finds a cobweb in his girl's house; hence the couplet:
"Where spider webs grow,
The beaus don't go."
9093. "My mother did this eighty-seven years ago. If you see a tumble-bug rolling its ball in the road, run around in front of it and say your
beau's name, like If John loves me, fetch that ball to me; and if he don't, turn it the other way: if the bug brings the ball to you, he loves you; and
if it don't [that is, if the bug turns the ball "the other way"] he does not."
9094. "When I was young I was going with a young man. I was just crazy about him, so I looked and looked for a wasp nest. It's an old saying, if
you will wear a wasp nest in the hem of your best dress when going with a young man, you will get him. Well, at last I found it. I was very
happy, for I thought I would get the young man. I sewed it in the hem of my best dress and wore that dress whenever I went out with him. He
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soon proposed and we were married. The old saying came true. Lady, I wished many a time that I had never found that wasp nest." "Lady" =
Minnie Hyatt Small. It is also said, if a girl puts a wasp nest in the hem of her dress, she will marry the first man with whom she walks.

Snail - fish - Frog - Toad - Snake (9095-9102)

SNAIL
9095. If you lay a snail on corn meal, either in a pan or sprinkled over a piece of paper, it will by crawling about write the initials of your future
mate. Sometimes, instead of these corn-meal markings, the slime from the snail makes the initials, in which case the snail must be laid on some
hard substance: a slate, the bare ground under an inverted tub, a piece of paper (occasionally covered by another), or a board set out in the sun
(supposedly to increase the slime). This rite is reserved for the first of May before sunrise.
9096. A girl should always examine the first snail seen on the first of May: if it has a shell, she will marry a man with a house; if no shell, a poor
man.

FISH
9097. In your palm put a large fish scale, but do not close the hand: if the scale curls up, you are loved by your sweetheart; if down, you will
soon be jilted.
9098. While fishing let a girl name a worm a beau and then bait a hook; if she catches a fish with the worm, she will marry that man. They also
say; if a fish is caught, the person named is true to her.

FROG AND TOAD

9099. If you are thinking of a man when you hear the first frog, you will marry rich; if of a woman, poor.
9100. "It was an old saying in my days to catch a live frog, put it under your pillow and sleep on it, and the first fellow that comes in the house
the next day you will marry. I found a frog, put it under my pillow to sleep on, and in the night the old frog went to croaking, and I got mad and
threw it out the window, so didn't see who I was to marry."
9101. A toad hopping across the road in front of a girl indicates she will see her beau that day. Some add he will come from the same direction.

SNAKE
9102. Two snakes coiled together betoken a wedding.

BIRDS
Birds: (9103-9143)
Canary - Dove - Hawk - Humming Bird (9103-9119)
9103. An unmarried woman should never keep a canary with an even number of feathers in its tail; she will remain single all her life.
9104. The direction in which a girl hears the first dove is the direction from which a new beau may be expected.
9105. A person on hearing the first dove may take two steps forwards and one backwards, pick up a handful of dirt, and in the latter will be found
a hair like that of his or her future mate's.
9106. As soon as you hear the first dove, walk forwards three steps, then backwards two steps, lift up a handful of dirt with your left hand, and
in this dirt you will find a hair like the hair of the person to whom you will be married.
9107. If a girl while listening to the first dove takes three steps forwards and then spins around on her left heel, in the hole made she will discover
a hair like that of her future husband's.
9108. While the first dove is cooing, sit down, take off a shoe (usually the right), and in it a hair the color of your future mate's will be seen.
9109. The first time a dove calls during the spring, sit dawn and remove your shoes and stockings, and in the heel of one stocking (generally
the right) will be a hair resembling the hair of the person whom you will marry. As a rule the stocking is turned wrong side out.
9110. To learn the characteristics of your future husband's or wife's hair: during the call of the first dove, spin around three times and then look
into the left shoe; it will contain a hair of the same color and texture as his or hers.
9111. A girl who whirls around three times, then takes off her shoes and stockings, will see a hair like that of her future husband's in the heel
of one stocking. This must be done when the first dove calls.
9112. "When I was a young girl I tried this. When I heard the first dove in the spring holler, I turned around on my left heel three times, sit
down and took off my shoe, and found three hairs in my shoe — meaning I would marry three times. I found a golden hair, a grey hair, and a
black hair. I have been married twice: the first time, a golden-haired man; the second time, a grey-haired man. I am waiting now for my third man
with the black hair."
9113. "I tried this to find the color of my beau's hair, when I heard the first dove in the spring, ran around the house all out of breath three
times, then sit dawn and took off my shoe, and found a black hair."
9114. If a girl throws her right shoe over her right shoulder while the first dove is calling, a hair like that of her future husband's will
be discovered in the shoe.
9115. "Years ago I was walking down the road out by Liberty with some young folks and we met a pair of turtledoves. Just as soon as we got
home I went right out to the privy, took off my stockings and found a hair in the heel. And I did marry a man with the same color of hair. The
reason I went out in the back yard, I didn't want the rest to know I was looking in my stocking. You have to meet two doves."
9116. A white dove near your door means love is approaching.
9117. If you catch a dove, bite off its head, and throw the latter over your left shoulder, you will marry the first person met.
9118. After a girl hears the call of a hawk, her beau will soon appear.
9119. You can get anyone you want by catching a humming bird and holding it in your hand.
Owl - Redbird - Robin - Turkey Buzzard (9120-9139)
9120. A woman who sits beneath a tree in which an owl is hooting will never be married.
9121. Always carry the heart of an owl and you can have whom you desire.
9122. If a girl sees a redbird, the first man she meets thereafter will be her lover.
9123. A girl seeing a redbird in the morning will meet her beau before night.
9124. The girl who sees a redbird today will see her sweetheart tomorrow. This belief is often confined to seeing a redbird on Saturday (in the
morning say some) and the sweetheart on Sunday.
9125. A redbird seen on Sunday morning signifies you will lose your sweetheart.
9126. Two sweethearts meeting a redbird will soon quarrel and never make up.
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9127. Expect a pleasant surprise with a new sweetheart, after you see a redbird.
9128. To have a redbird fly across your path denotes you will be kissed twice before sunset.
9129. On seeing a redbird in the morning (in a tree say some), throw it a kiss and wait; if the bird flies towards and not away from you, before
night your sweetheart will be seen.
9130. When you see a redbird, you may say:
"Redbird, redbird, I see you.
See your lover at half-past two."
9131. There is another rhyme about redbirds:
"See a redbird and watch him out of sight,
You will see your sweetheart before tomorrow night."
Before the redbird flies away you must name it the person desired.
9132. The singing of a redbird is an omen that you will see your sweetheart before the end of the week.
9133. Never kill a redbird; you will remain unmarried all your life.
9134. As soon as a girl sees the first robin, she may sit down and take off the left stocking; if it contains a hair, her beau will soon pay a visit.
9135. If a girl on hearing the first robin sits down and takes off a stocking, in it she will find a hair like that of her future husband's.
9136. A robin singing near your window on a Wednesday morning in spring is a token that someone loved by you will soon arrive.
9137. If on Wednesday (Sunday say some) a robin sings near the window of a girl who is being courted, she will marry that man.
9138. The first man a girl meets after she has stamped one-hundred robins will become her husband.
9139. You may use this rhyme, when you see a turkey buzzard sailing through the air:
"Sail, sail, lonesome turkey buzzard,
Sail to the east and sail to the west,
Sail to the one that I love best,
Flap your wings before you fly out of sight,
That I may see my sweetheart before Saturday night."

Whippoorwill - Unspecified Birds (9140-9143)

9140. A girl on hearing the first whippoorwill of the season may take off a shoe; in the heel a bunch of hair the color of her future husband's will
be found.
9141. The first person to see a bird that has flown into the house will marry before the year ends.
9142. If a bird getting into a house flies towards the west, someone in that house will soon be married.
9143. To ascertain your fate, after you have discovered a bird nest: if it is empty, you will never marry; if it has eggs, each egg will enumerate a
year's delay until your marriage.

POULTRY
Poultry: Chicken - Goose - Peacock - Pigeon - Turkey (9144-9174)
9144. If a chicken comes into the house with a piece of straw in its beak and lays it down, that house will soon have a wedding.
9145. Put your name and address on a egg when packing eggs for shipment: if the person getting the egg writes, you will marry; if the person
does not write, you will never marry.
9146. At midnight on New Year's Eve a girl may break an egg into a dish of water: if the yolk stays whole, she will be a bride; if it bursts, an
old maid.
9147. "When I was a girl, one night when the bells were ringing out the old year and the new one in, I got out of bed and got a glass one-half
full of water and put the white of an egg in it, and set the glass in the window, did not say a word, then went back to bed. In the morning when I
got up, I found a perfect ship in the glass and I married a sailor." Some say a girl may do this any night, and by morning the egg will have formed
a pattern showing her future husband's occupation.
9148. "I had a friend that was so in love with a man and said, 'I am going to see if I can get him.' She was cleaning a chicken and she took the
heart and tried to swallow it. It's an old saying, if you can swallow the heart and keep it down, you will get who you want; if it comes back up,
you will not. She just tried and tried to keep it down, but it would not stay down and she never got him." The same thing is said about a wild-duck
heart.
9149. Let a girl name a chicken heart the man she loves and then swallow it; if she does not choke or cough while the heart is going down, she
will marry him.
9150. The girl who swallows a chicken heart will be married that year.
9151. A girl having swallowed a chicken or turkey heart will marry the first man she meets.
9152. A girl swallowing a chicken heart will marry the first man who kisses her.
9153. To dream about your future mate, swallow a chicken heart.
9154. If you stand on your head in the corner of a room and swallow a chicken heart (some say it may be a cooked one) and go to bed
backwards, your future mate will appear in your dream.
9155. "My grandma wanted a certain man years ago when a young woman and she did this. Get a chicken heart and put it on a string about
one-and-a- half foot long and hold the string so you won't swallow it, then drop that down in your mouth up to the end of the string, wishing you
will get whoever you want. Do this three times and you will get them. She most choke to death, but she got her man."
9156. If a girl lays a chicken or turkey wishbone over a door, she will be kissed by the first man entering that door.
9157. If a girl wishes with someone, breaks the wishbone, and gets the larger piece and puts it over a door, the first man to pass through that
door will kiss her.
9158. A wishbone may be hung over a door: if the first man to come in the door is married, you will remain unmarried another year; if single, you
will marry that year.
9159. A girl may break a wishbone with someone and place her portion over a door; the first man who enters that door will be her future husband.
Some say a girl may do this only when she gets the shorter end of the wishbone.
9160. Between Christmas and New Year's Day a girl may hang a wishbone over a door; the first man passing through that door will be her future
husband.
9161. The first man who passes through the door over which a girl has placed two wishbones will marry her.
 216

9162. "Another old story about a wishbone, if a girl put one over the door; the first man wearing a red necktie to come under, she will marry,
is grandmother's old saying."
9163. If a girl hangs her part of a broken wishbone over a door, she will marry the man who finds it.
9164. If a wishbone is laid over a door and the first person to walk under it is a blonde woman, she will soon be a bride.
9165. The girl who wraps a wishbone in a silk handkerchief and sleeps with it beneath her pillow will dream of her future husband that night.
9166. Two girls may pull a wishbone; the one getting the shorter end will marry first, the one getting the longer end will have the more money.
9167. "This is how I got my old man. Take a goose wishbone, put it in some man's pocket you like real well. You will marry that man. I did."
9168. On seeing a flock of twenty white geese a girl who says Oh, how pretty you are will be married within a year.
9169. Peacock feathers should never be kept in the house; the daughters of the family will be old maids.
9170. If a strange white pigeon approaches the doorstep, sits near a house, or flies around the house or barn, someone living there will be married
before the year ends.
9171. Whoever sees two pigeons sitting on a barn and making love will soon hear of a wedding.
9172. Two pigeons perched together are a sign of two weddings soon --- within a month say some.
9173. Look for a wedding soon, after a pair of strange pigeons fly into your house.
9174. If a pair of pigeons circle above a girl and her sweetheart while walking, it indicates they will be married --- and live happily add
some. Others add a time requirement; the pigeons must do this on Wednesday.

Rabbit - Cat - Dog - Cow - Horse - Mule (9175-9216)

RABBIT
9175. A rabbit crossing your path is a sign you will soon meet your future mate.

CAT
9176. Girls fond of cats will be old maids.
9177. Anyone who likes cats will make an excellent husband or wife. This is also said of liking dogs.
9178. Let the girl anxious for marriage feed a cat from her old shoes.
9179. If a girl in love finds a strange cat in her bedroom at night, she will be lucky in her love.
9180. "One night my sweetheart and I were going home from a dance when we met a black cat. I said it had green eyes. He said it didn't. And we
quarreled all the way home over that cat's eyes and didn't speak for a long time after that." To meet a cat with green eyes is an indication of a
lover's quarrel.
9181. The first person at whom a cat looks after washing its face or licking itself will be the first one to marry.
9182. "I remember during the Civil War every time the cat would wash its face and look at mother, she would say, 'We will hear from the
menfolks at war.' When a cat does that, you will hear from someone you love."
9183. A number of girls may put a cat in the center of a quilt and toss it; the girl towards whom the cat goes while trying to climb out of the quilt
will never be married.
9184. "When we were girls we would always try to get some cat to follow us to church so we would have a beau home from church."
9185. "They say if a strange cat you never saw before rubs against a girl's knees she will not marry until late in life. I guess a cat must of rub
against my knees when young, for I never married until I was a good old maid."
9186. The person who accidentally steps on the tail of a cat will marry within a year.

DOG
9187. If a dog looks up into the air while howling, there will soon be a wedding in your house.
9188. To see a dog scratching his rump along the ground means a marriage.
9189. The woman whose path is crossed by two running dogs has an untrustworthy husband; she had better watch him.
9190. A dog that follows a girl home is brining her a handsome husband.

COW
9191. If a woman while in the country sees a man milking a cow, he will be her second husband. To see a man milking a cow was not a common
sight; women usually milked the cow.
9192. The lowing of a cow at night is a token of a wedding in the near future.

HORSE AND MULE

9193. After you have met a white horse, you will soon be invited to a wedding.
9194. The girl who spits when she sees a white horse will see her future beau or husband the same day.
9195. If a girl stamps a white horse while wishing to meet her future husband, the first unmarried man she meets thereafter will be he.
9196. Stamp a grey horse and your sweetheart will be seen next day.
9197. A girl passing a team of white horses may name ten different colors; she will marry the first man to pass her --- provided he wears a necktie
of the last color named.
9198. Two or more grey horses passed on the road gives you the privilege of marrying whom you please.
9199. A girl may count three white horses, then cross a bridge while wishing, and repeat this rite three times --- counting nine white
horses, crossing three bridges, and making the same wish. She will marry the first man met after the last bridge is crossed.
9200. The first man to kiss a girl after she has counted ten white horses will be her future husband.
9201. If a girl counts ten white horses and then spits, her future beau will be the first man she meets.
9202. By stamping ten white horses a girl can discover her future husband; he will be the first man she sees thereafter who is wearing a red
necktie.
9203. Each time you see a grey horse, make a wish, and when you have done this for twenty grey horses you will meet someone with red hair.
The next person met will be your future mate.
9204. The girl who counts ninety-nine white horses will marry the first man she meets with a red necktie.
9205. If you can count one hundred white horses within a year, you will be married that year.
9206. Any girl able to count one hundred white horses within a year will be a wife; but if she begins the counting and cannot complete the
number within a year, she will always remain single.
 217

9207. A girl counting one hundred grey horses will marry on the day the last horse is counted.
9208. Count one hundred white horses and you will marry the first unmarried person you meet.
9209. If a girl counts ninety-nine white horses and the hundredth white horse is driven by a man, that man will be her future husband.
9210. If a girl counts one hundred white horses and the next white horse is ridden by a man, that man will be her future husband.
9211. Let a girl count one hundred white horses and mules; if she does not marry the first man seen after the hundredth white horse or mule has
been counted, she will be an old maid. A white mule counts as ten white horses.
9212. As a method for discovering her future husband, a girl may count one hundred white horses, spitting after each horse is counted; he will be
the first man she then meets.
9213. If a girl stamps one hundred white horses and then sees a red-haired woman, she will marry the first man seen.
9214. After you have stamped ninety-nine white horses and then one black horse, the first person met will be your future mate.
9215. A girl may count one hundred white horses and lay a wishbone over the door; her future husband will be the third man coming through that
door.
9216. As many horses as there are in some pasture passed by you, so many will be the weddings attended by you that year.

HUMAN BODY AND LOVE-LORE (9217-9333)

Head - Hair - Eye - Ear - Nose (9217-9247)

9217. A boy and girl bumping heads together will become lovers.
9218. If the top of the head itches, your sweetheart is thinking of you; if the back of the head, of someone else.
9219. Tangles in a girl's hair mean another girl is trying to steal her beau.
9220. A hair may be jerked from your head (and named for your sweetheart say some) and pulled between thumb against index finger: if it curls,
you are loved; if it does not curl, another person is loved. Frequently these interpretations are reversed.
9221. You may jerk a hair from your head and pull it between thumb and index finger while naming your sweetheart; if the hair twists up, he or
she is jealous.
9222. To discover the texture of her future husband's hair, a girl, having combed her hair on Saturday night, may take one of the loose hairs from
the comb, lay the hair in the palm of her hand, roll with one finger the hair into a ball, and then, using the same finger, try to straighten out the
hair still lying in her palm: if the hair stays straightened out, he will have straight hair; if it keeps curling up, curly hair.
9223. When a girl finds a hair on her beau's coat, she may put it in the palm of her hand: if the hair curls up, he is trifling with her; if it
remains straight, he is deeply in love with her.
9224. The girl who puts in her stocking a hair from her head and walks down the street will marry the first man to whom she speaks.
9225. They say a woman should never give any of her combings to another woman; the latter will soon take away the sweetheart or husband of
the former.
9226. Never leave any combings in a comb; the next person removing them to use the comb will also remove your sweetheart or husband.
9227. It is unlucky for a girl to let a beau have a lock of her hair; they will soon break up.
9228. If a beau combs his hair while visiting his girl, he is jealous of her.
9229. A beau's hair should never be combed by his girl; a serious quarrel will soon follow.
9230. "My mother years ago would never let us girls comb our hair before a man; said it was in her days the sign you wanted him to insult you. I
am eighty-two years old, so you see this is old."
9231. If a girl drops the comb while combing her hair, she will see her sweetheart before her hair is mussed.
9232. To drop a comb and accidentally step on it signifies that a "mansion of stone" is being built for you.
9233. A hair found in food you are eating will be the same color as that of your future mate's.
9234. If your eye quivers, your sweetheart is thinking about you.
9235. After her eyes jump, a girl may expect her beau on horseback.
9236. An itching right eye foretells your sweetheart will soon be seen.
9237. To wink your right eye at someone shows you want to meet that person.
9238. If a girl winks the left eye at her lover, she is jealous of him; if the right eye, she is trifling with him.
9239. The winking of the right eye at anyone is a token of affection; of the left eye, of indifference.
9240. Heavy eyebrows set closely together denote you will marry a rich person.
9241. For luck and contentment in love, wear in your shoe an eyelash from your sweetheart's eyebrow.
9242. Let a girl name one of her loose or plucked-out eyelashes a beau and blow it away; if the eyelash cannot be found, she is loved.
9243. How many times you will marry can be discovered by frowning and counting the wrinkles between your eyes.
9244. A sweetheart is thinking about the person whose left ear burns.
9245. The itching of your left ear indicates news of a wedding.
9246. When a man's nose itches, his girl friend is in danger.
9247. If there is an itch on the inside of your nose, someone in town loves you; if on the outside, someone out of town loves you.

Nosebleed - Sneezing - Cheeks - Teeth (9248-9259)

9248. Whoever has a nosebleed is in love.
9249. Someone loves the person who wants to sneeze and cannot.
9250. A girl about to sneeze may touch the upper lip (the philtrum) while thinking of her beau; if he loves her, she will not sneeze.
9251. There are several beliefs about a girl sneezing on a weekday and seeing her beau next day: if she sneezes on Monday, she will see him
before Tuesday night; if on Wednesday, on Thursday; and if on Saturday, on Sunday.
9252.
"Sneeze before you eat,
See your sweetheart before you sleep."
9253. A sneeze before breakfast will bring your sweetheart before Saturday night.
9254. Two sneezes before breakfast betoken a new sweetheart that week.
9255. The person who sneezes on Sunday after breakfast will soon attend a wedding.
9256. After you have sneezed twice in succession, you will soon be kissed.
9257. To sneeze three times in succession means you will never marry.
 218

9258. When a girl's cheeks burn, her lover is talking about her.
9259. A conversation about teeth is a wedding omen.

Hiccough - Blister - Kiss - Chin - Shoulder (9260-9276)

9260. Let a girl with hiccough think about her beau: if it stops immediately, he loves her; if it continues, he does not.
9261. If a girl can stop her hiccough by taking seven drops of water while thinking of her beau, she is loved by him.
9262. A fever blister on your lips shows that someone has kissed you.
9263. The girl who kisses a boy the first time she goes out with him will soon be jilted.
9264. If the first kiss a girl receives from a man is remembered, he will eventually ask her to become his wife.
9265. Never kiss your sweetheart on stairs or steps; it is very unlucky.
9266. If a man approaching from behind kisses his girl on the neck, he is jealous.
9267. If a man kisses his sweetheart on the eyes or forehead, he has another girl in mind.
9268. If a man kisses his girl behind the ear, he will have bad luck. Some say it is a sign of a five-dollar fine.
9269. If a man kisses his girl on the cheek, he is disgusted with her.
9270. If a man kisses his girl on the nose, he may expect trouble.
9271. If a man kisses his girl on the mouth, he is very much in love.
9272. If a man kisses his girl on the right hand, she is deeply loved.
9273. If a man can kiss a girl's hand, he will get her.
9274. Cupid on touching a person's chin leaves a dimple; hence a dimpled chin is a mark of being in love.
9275.
"A dimple on the chin,
Many lovers you will win."
9276. By looking at someone over your left shoulder you indicate a desire to meet that person.

Breast - Belly - Mole - Shiver - Skin (9277-9281)

9277. The itching of a girl's breast signifies she is being trifled with by her lover.
9278. They say of an itching belly: "If your belly itches, you will get a strange piece" --- or "If your belly itches, you will ride or be rode."
9279. Three moles on your back denote you will be married three times.
9280. To shiver when not cold is an indication that you are in love.
9281. If you press anyone's skin firmly with your thumb and a red mark appears, that person is jealous.

Elbow - Hand - Fingers - Fingernails (9282-9319)

9282. A girl who always has dirty elbows will marry a poor man.
9283. If the lines in the palm of your hand form the letter M, you will marry a rich person.
9284. Whatever letter the lines in the palm of your right hand resemble, that will be the first initial of your future mate's name.
9285. A lover washing his hands at his girl's house is stingy.
9286. "If a man tickles a girl's palm, he wants to sleep with her."
9287.
"Cold hands, warm heart;
Cold feet, no sweetheart."
9288. The significance of an itch on the right hand is news of a wedding.
9289. While your left hand is itching, rub it on the sole of your right foot to marry money.
9290. If a girl pulls her fingers until they crack, the number of cracks will show how many boy friends she is going to have.
9291. The ability to make your index and little finger meet, when crossing them over the two fingers between, gives you the privilege of marrying
anyone desired.
9292. Anyone able to join the index and little finger as in the preceding belief will rule the household after marriage.
9293. If on folding your hands and interlocking your fingers you always lay the right thumb over the left, you will be the boss of your future
household.
9294. If while sitting a girl keeps the thumbs outside the hands, she will rule her future husband; if inside, she will be ruled by him.
9295. Do not crook your little finger when drinking from a cup; you will always remain single. The crooking of the little finger while holding a
cup was once considered dainty, if that's the word; one of those former customs like leaving a little food on your plate for "manners sake" when
eating away from home.
9296. The girl who cuts her finger is in her beau's thoughts.
9297. "I cut my hand by opening a can and I lost my fellow. They say when you cut your hand you will soon cut out a friend or be cut out."
9298. To cut your finger while carving meat means you will hear of a wedding or attend one.
9299.
"A scratch up and down,
Is a lover found;
And a scratch across,
Is a lover lost."
9300. If while passing or reaching for something at the table one of your hands crosses the other, you will marry within a year. Someone else at
the table will be married that year is an alternative interpretation.
9301. If two persons cross hands as they pass or reach for something at the table, one of them will soon marry.
9302. If your right hand crosses the left when shaking hands with someone, it is an omen of a wedding.
9303. If three persons try to shake hands at the same time or a third person tries to shake hands with two other persons shaking hands, thus
forming a T, one of them will be married that year.
9304. If four persons shaking hands happen to cross each other's hands, one of them will marry before the year ends.
9305. If two unmarried couples who have not met for a long time meet and shake hands, one couple across the hands of the other couple, one of
the couples will be man and wife before the year is out.
9306. If four persons shake hands so as to form a cross, there will soon be a wedding in one of their families.
 219

9307. A white spot on your little finger-nail reveals you have a sweetheart.
9308. The appearance of a white speck on your little finger-nail foretells a new sweetheart.
9309. As many white marks as are on a girl's finger-nails, so many lovers will she have.
9310. How many times a girl will marry can be discovered by counting the moons on the finger-nail of her engagement finger.
9311. The white spots on a girl's finger-nails may be named for men she likes; the spot remaining longest will reveal the name of her future
husband.
9312. It is lucky for a girl to trim her beau's finger-nails. Some say this should be done on Wednesday.
9313. The girl who manicures her finger-nails on Saturday will see her sweetheart on Sunday. According to another interpretation, she will
meet her sweetheart at church on Sunday morning.
9314. A girl whose finger-nails are pared on Sunday will lose her beau before the following Sunday.
9315. "Mother used to say: Never cut your nails on Whit-Monday; you will be unlucky in love."
9316. By cutting your nails on nine successive Sundays you can get anyone you want.
9317. A girl trimming her nails nine Sunday mornings in succession will see her future husband on the ninth Sunday.
9318. If a girl pares her finger-nails just before going to bed, drops the parings into the lamp chimney, and then spreads her "bloomers" over the
stove, the likeness of her future husband will appear on the wall or in the mirror while the parings are burning.
9319. "0ne night just before I went to bed, I trimmed my finger-nails and put them in the lamp to burn, hung my shirt over the cookstove, and the
next morning when I got up, there was a perfect picture of a man's face on the windowpane [in the frost], and it stayed there until noon. About
four years after, I married a man that looked just like that picture on the window-glass."

Toenails - Knee - Leg - Feet - Big Toe (9320-9333)

9320. "My mother told me about an old maid. She was taking care of a little girl and she had a big dog. One night after dark they were sitting in
front of the fireplace and the old maid told the little girl not to speak, she was going to try her fortune. They say if you will trim your toe-nails,
sitting in front of the fireplace after dark, not speaking and bury them in the ashes, your future husband will come in and dig them out. So she cut
her toe-nails and put them in the ashes. They were waiting for the man to come when the little girl spoke. That broke the spell. So the old maid
cut some more nails off and put them in the ashes again. And the child spoke again. The little girl promised, if she would cut them again, she
would not speak. So for the third time she put the nails in the fireplace. They sit there for a while. And mother said the old dog went over to the
fireplace and started to scratching in the ashes. The old maid could not call him, for that would break the spell again. But the old dog scratched
the nails out, so the spell was broke for the third time. And the old maid died an old maid. Mother said this is true; only this is old, for I am an old
woman and this was in mother's time."
9321. The girl who laughs when tickled on the knee likes men.
9322. A cut on a girl's knee is a sign her sweetheart will soon be lost.
9323. If a girl sits on her lover's right knee, she is jealous; if the left knee, she will soon lose him.
9324. Girls with hairy legs always get rich husbands.
9325. A girl whose left foot itches will soon catch a fellow.
9326. Never sit on your foot; you will remain unmarried all your life.
9327. If a girl crosses her feet while talking to her beau, she has been and still is unfaithful to him; if a man crosses his feet while talking to his
girl, he is jealous of her.
9328. If a man's big toe is longer than the second toe, he will be the master in the house; if shorter, he will be henpecked. If a girl's big toe is
longer than the second toe, her future husband will rule the house; if shorter, she will be the ruler.
9329. Two girls occupying the same bed may tie their big toes together; the first girl going to sleep will be the first to marry.
9330. Two girls occupying the same bed may tie their big toes together: the girl having the string attached to her toe next morning will marry
first; if neither has the string, both will be old maids.
9331. Two girls occupying the same bed may tie their big toes together; the girl with the shorter piece of string attached to her toe next morning
will marry first.
9332. Two girls occupying the same bed may tie their big toes together: if the girl having the longer piece of string attached to her toe next
morning walks in her nightgown across water, she will meet her future husband.
9333. If a girl names her big toes for two boys and ties each toe with a separate long string so that both loose ends can be tied to something or
held in her hands, the toe still untied next morning will denote which boy likes her better.

SIGNS FROM LOVE ITSELF (9334-9344) LOVE AND MARRIAGE

Love and Marriage:
Loving Same Man (9334)
9334. An old colored woman said that during slavery: "If two women were in love with the same man and wanted him, their master would give
each woman a whip and they would start to whipping each other; and the woman that could hold out the longest got the man. That was called
lap-jacket."

Thinking of Beau - First Date (9335-9337)

9335. If on Friday morning you wake up suddenly thinking of someone loved, that person loves you; if on any other morning, that person does
not love you. Similarly, if on Friday morning you wake up suddenly thinking of someone formerly loved, that person still loves you.
9336. A girl letting a man make his first date with her on or for Friday will never be dated by him again.
9337. It is unlucky for a girl taken home the first time by her first sweetheart to ask him into the house; a death in her family that year may
be expected.

Lovers’ Quarrel - Three Weddings - First Marriage (9338-9344)

9338. The absence of lovers' quarrels foretells fights after marriage.
9339. Unless a morning quarrel with your sweetheart ends in a reconciliation before dark, you will have bad luck.
9340. Sweethearts who quarrel on New Year's Eve will never become reconciled.
9341. One of the two girls quarreling about the same man will never marry.
9342. Never tell anyone about a quarrel you have had with your sweetheart; that person will soon take him or her away from you.
9343. If a girl hears of or attends three weddings in one month, she will be the next bride.
 220

9344. "My sister had three children: the first one to marry, married poor; and the other two both married very poor." As the first marriage in a
family goes, so go the rest.

LOVE LETTER
Love Letter (9345-9373)
9345. To hold a man's affections a girl should never write to him after dark; he will soon be lost.
9346. A love letter written on Wednesday will be appreciated by the person receiving it.
9347. The writing of a love letter on Sunday is unlucky.
9348. Do not write a love letter with a pencil; it means your love is growing cold.
9349. By using blue ink in a love letter a girl tells her beau she is true to him.
9350. Red ink used in a love letter is a sign of passionate love.
9351. Anyone whose three initials spell a word should never sign them to a love letter; it will cause a misfortune.
9352. The first letter in the new year to be received by a girl from a man gives her the privilege of making a wish. She will then marry a rich
husband.
9353. It is unlucky to preserve old love letters.
9354. They say it is unlucky to tear up love letters; they should be burned as a protection against bad luck.
9355. "An old saying of my grandma's was; if you burn your love letters, you are burning your lover's love."
9356. If a girl confesses her love for a man by writing it out on a piece of paper, which must then be torn up, she will get him; but if she fails to
tear up the paper, she will not. The same rite may be used for holding a sweetheart's affections.
9357. The girl who sleeps on a love letter from her beau will soon hear from him again.
9358. Let a girl fold up the last letter from her sweetheart and wear it next to the heart for three days and nights: if on the third night she dreams
of beautiful trees, he is true; if of water, false.
9359. Years ago before hand cancellation of postage stamps was superceded by the present automatic machine, which requires that the stamp be
placed at the upper right-hand corner near the outer edge of the envelope, writers of love letters sometimes affixed the stamp in various ways to
send a secret message. At the present day, since a letter improperly stamped can be returned to the sender, since letter-writing is no longer a
special event, and since other interests have replaced this old pastime, only a few of the former practices survive. Even these are rare. A list of
them follows.
9360. If a stamp is in the normal position on the upper right-hand corner of an envelope, it means Write again; if on the upper left-hand corner,
Do not write again.
9361. A stamp a half-inch or more from the upper right-hand edges of the envelope bears the news Expect me tonight.
9362. The person who receives a letter with the stamp at the upper left-hand corner of the envelope is cautioned to Be careful of how you
answer.
9363. By putting the stamp on the lower right-hand corner of the letter a girl warns her sweetheart that Father has caught on.
9364. Interpret a stamp centered at the top of an envelope as I want the correspondence to continue.
9365. The meaning of a stamp lengthwise on an envelope is I will wait for an answer.
9366. Sometimes when lengthwise on an envelope, the top of the stamp is pointed right by a girl and left by a boy to express I want a kiss.
9367. Usually an inverted stamp on an envelope is interpreted I love you, but other interpretations are occasionally given: I want a kiss, I am
thinking of you with joy, You are very careful, Do not answer, and I hate you.
9368. Whoever attaches a stamp cater-cornered to an envelope is saying I love you.
9369. If you tear or cut a stamp in half and paste the two halves at the upper right-hand corner of the envelope so that they are separated by a
small space, it signifies Our friendship is at an end; if at the upper left-hand corner, You have broken my heart.
9370. Two one-cent stamps side-by-side on an envelope denote My love for you has doubled; one above the other, I will see you tonight.
9371. To use a second two-cent stamp on a letter requiring only one is a sign My love for you will stop at nothing.
9372. The significance of a circle at the end of a letter is a hug.
9373. A cross or an X at the end of a letter indicates a kiss.

HOUSE AND ENVIRONS AND LOVE (9374-9832)

THE BUILDING
The Building (9374-9396)
First Night in House - Bedroom - Papering - Stairs (9374-9384)
9374. The first night you sleep in a house the corners of your bedroom may be named; whoever of these four persons is dreamt about loves you.
9375. Let a girl give the names of four boys to the corners of a room the first night she sleeps in it: some say the first corner looked at next
morning will reveal the name of the one loving her best; others say, of her future husband.
9376. In whatever direction a girl first looks next morning, after she has slept in a room for the first time, that will be the direction from which a
new sweetheart may be expected.
9377. On the first of May before sunrise you may look out the bedroom window; if you see any person or animal-life, you are going to be married
--- each living thing seen will enumerate a year until your marriage.
9378. "I was working for a woman a few years back and a man was papering. I said, 'Why do you take the side off first?' He said, 'Lady, do you
want me to fallout with my best girl? I would give up this job if I had to take the border off first, for I don't want to lose my girl'."
9379. Most people say stumbling up the stairs delays your marriage a year, but a few say seven or ten years.
9380. As many steps as a person tumbles up while on stairs, so many will be the years before marriage.
9381. If you trip on the stairs and fall backwards, you will never marry; if forwards, you will --- the higher the tripping, the sooner your
marriage. In the latter case it is also said: if about the middle of the stairs, soon; if at the top, immediately.
9382. A girl should never go up the stairs two steps at a time; she will be an old maid.
9383. Unless you stop when meeting someone on the stairs and let that person pass, you will never be married.
9384. If two persons meet on the stairs, the one going up will marry first.

Through Window - Cellar Door - Rain Barrel (9385-9389)

9385. Never climb through a window; you will always remain single.
9386. Some say girls who walk across or step on a cellar door will not get married for seven years; others say they will become old maids.
 221

9387. If a girl walks across three cellar doors within one block and names each door the same man, he will be met before she reaches home.
9388. After a girl has walked across nine cellar doors, she will marry the first man to whom she speaks.
9389. On the first day of spring shout into a rain-barrel at the corner of the house; if you hear an echo, you will marry the first unmarried
person coming around that corner.

Circumambulating House - Gate - Fence (9390-9396)

9390. If a girl runs around the house after dark while repeating a man's name, he will appear before she stops running.
9391. If a girl calls her beau's name three times while running around the house after dark, she will see him before sunset next day.
9392. If a girl touches the same rock each time: she runs around the house and does this three times, a hair like that of her future husband's will
be found --- beneath the rock say some.
9393. If on the first of May before sunrise a girl in a nightgown runs around the house three times, her future mate will arrive while she is
making the third circuit.
9394. At the same time each night for nine nights a girl may make a notch in the gate; on the last night her future husband will meet her there.
9395. "This is another old saying we did when I was a girl. Start the first morning in May and do this for nine straight mornings: go to the
front gate before sunup and cut a notch in the gate every morning, and on the ninth morning your future mate will be there, waiting at the gate,
cutting a notch."
9396. "When you see two women hanging on a fence talking, you will hear of a double wedding soon, is an old saying of my mother' s."

HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT
Household Equipment (9397-9476)
Bed - Candle - Chair - Clock - Ladder (9397-9423)
(1) BED
9397. The girl who looks under her bed before getting into it at night will be an old maid.
9398. A girl naming the posts of her bed will dream of her future mate that night.
9399. The first time a girl sleeps in a room she may name the bedposts, then put on her nightgown, leave the room, and reenter it walking
backwards; the man dreamt about that night will marry her.
9400. If the bedposts are named by a girl, the post on which her hand rests next morning will reveal her future husband's name.
9401. When two girls occupy the same bed, each for the other may give the names of men to the posts; the first two posts seen next morning will
identify their respective future husbands.
9402. Let a girl name the two posts on the right side of her bed for one man and the two posts on the left side for another man; the side from
which she gets out of bed next morning will reveal which of these two men is going to marry her. Sometimes the four posts are named for four
men; in which case, the post towards which her feet point when getting out of bed will represent him.
9403. To dream of her future husband, a girl may say the following rhyme before going to bed on Friday night, but she and the bed must be in
white:
"Tonight, tonight, is Friday night.
Here I lay all dressed in white.
I hope to see my future husband tonight."
9404. The man of whom a girl dreams on the first night she sleeps beneath a new quilt will be her future husband.
9405. After a girl has gone to bed on Christmas Eve, she may turn her pillow over while wishing to dream about her future husband that night.
9406. A Bible kept beneath your pillow for three successive nights will cause you to dream about your future mate.
9407. Before getting into a strange bed for the first time, a girl may open a Bible to the wedding service (contained in some Bibles), wrap her left
garter around the page and say, "With this ring I three wed," and that night her future husband will be dreamt about.
9408. Put a key in a Bible, letting the head extend beyond the edge of the pages, and rest the tip of a finger on the key while saying, "And Ruth
said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my God [Ruth 1:16]." Then continue by repeating the alphabet. The letter upon which the key turns will
be your future mate's initial. Among the several informants who gave this divination no two of them gave the complete rite or quotation.

(2) CANDLE
9409. A lighted candle may be blown out by a girl: if the flame is extinguished on the first attempt, she will be an old maid; if on the second, she
will marry once; and if on the third, she will have two husbands.
9410. At midnight a girl may enter a deserted house, light a candle, and stick a pin into it; when the candle burns down to the pin and the latter
falls out, her future husband will make his appearance.
9411. After she has made ready for bed, a girl may set a lighted candle on the floor in the center of the room and step over it; she will see the
shadow of her future husband reflected upon her nightgown.

(3) CHAIR
9412. A man always choosing a straight chair to sit on will soon marry.
9413. The man who keeps moving about on his chair and does not know what to say is in love.
9414. To stumble over a chair means your sweetheart is thinking of you.
9415. As a general rule, the house in which someone knocks over a chair will not have a marriage that year; but some say the chair must be
knocked over when a person arises from the table, and others say the omen applies only to the person knocking over the chair.
9416. If an unmarried woman upsets her chair, she will quarrel with her beau that day; if a married woman, with her husband.
9417. A girl whose chair falls over when she gets up will be an old maid.
9418. Upset a chair three times during your life and you will never be married.
9419. The significance of a woman upsetting her chair when arising from the table at a party is as follows: if unmarried, she will marry that year;
if married, there will be a birth in the house within a year.
9420. On entering a strange house for the first time, a girl may name the rocking-chairs; the first chair to rock will disclose her future
husband's identity.

(4) CLOCK
 222

9421. While winding the clock a girl may think of her beau; if the clock stops before the mainspring runs down, he does not love her.

(5) LADDER
9422. Never walk under a ladder; you will always remain unmarried.
9423. If in climbing a ladder you cannot reach the top, count the rungs above and the number will denote how many years are going to pass
before your wedding.

Lamp - Mirror - Paper and Naming - Photograph (9424-9454)

(6) LAMP
9424.
"Two lighted lamps in the room,
There will be a bride soon."

(7) MIRROR
9425. "My girl-friend was engaged to a man. He gave her a nice looking-glass. They say never let anyone give you a looking-glass; you will sure
fall out. And they fell out before a month and never married."
9426. An unmarried person who drops a looking-glass and breaks it will never marry.
9427. You can dream about your future mate by sleeping with a mirror beneath your pillow. Some say this is true only on the first night you
sleep in a house.
9428. If you keep a mirror beneath your pillow for three nights, you will dream about your future mate on the third night.
9429. For seven nights keep a mirror beneath your pillow and on the seventh night you will dream about your future mate.
9430. "One night about three years ago we took my brother's dirty shirt [the last article of clothing taken off is the usual requirement] without
him knowing it and put it around a looking-glass, then put that under his pillow; they will dream of their future mate and see them, and they will
come to their bed. And about twelve o'clock that night he jump out of bed and ran down the stairs screaming. The next morning we asked him
what was wrong with him and he said a blonde woman touch him and it woke him up, that she was standing by his bed. And he married a woman
with blonde hair."
9431. On Halloween lay a mirror face down under your pillow and at midnight get up and look into the mirror; in it the picture of your future
mate will be seen.
9432. At midnight on New Year's Eve go into a dark room and look into a mirror: if you see anyone in the mirror, it will be your future mate; if
you do not, you will never marry. Latterly this rite has been reduced to any midnight.
9433. "My grandmother did this on Halloween at midnight, walked upstairs to bed backwards looking in a mirror, and said she saw a man that
looked like the man she married when she reached the top." It is not necessary to reach the top of the stairs before the image appears in the
mirror.
9434. With a candle in one hand lighting up a mirror held behind you in the other hand, so that you can look over your shoulder into the mirror,
walk backwards down the cellar steps; before you reach the bottom of the steps a picture of your future mate will appear in the glass. Formerly
this rite was confined to Halloween, but in later years it has been tried on any night and sometimes without the candle.
9435. A variant of the preceding Halloween rite requires a sheet worn as a robe, a pillowslip over your head, and the mirror nailed at the top of
the inside cellar steps so that it will be lighted up by the candle held in your hand and where you can look into it while walking backwards down
the cellar steps: if you are to marry, your future mate will approach from behind and blow out the candle; but before this happens, you will see his
or her face in the glass.
9436. You may go down into the cellar at midnight, stand near a window where the new moon can shine on a mirror held in your hand, and recite
three times:
"New moon, true moon,
Come unto me and tell me,
Who my true love shall be."
In the glass you will then see the face of your true love.
9437. On a moonlight night a girl may walk backwards around the house while looking into a mirror held in her hand; her future husband will
look over her shoulder into the mirror.
9438. The girl who sweeps her room backwards on New Year's Eve while looking into a mirror will see in the latter as the clock strikes twelve
the image of her future husband. Some say the "parlor" must be swept backwards.
9439. They say years ago a young man when calling on a girl always looked into the mirror to see whether it was clean; by this test his girl's
ability as a housekeeper could be determined.
9440. Two lovers looking into the same mirror at the same time is the sign of a wedding.
9441. To get a sweetheart, look over someone's shoulder into a mirror.
9442. If someone is looking into a mirror and another person peers over the former's shoulder, one of the two will marry before the end of the
year.

(8) PAPER AND NAMING

9443. A girl may write a man's name on a piece of paper and put it under her pillow; if he loves her, she will dream about him that night.
9444. If a girl writes a man's name on a piece of paper, keeps it beneath her pillow seven nights, and does not dream about him within that time,
she will never be his wife.
9445. The name of a man may be written on a piece of paper by a girl, wrapped up in a handkerchief, and laid beneath the pillow; if she dreams
about him that night, he loves her.
9446. Let a girl write the names of three men, make an X opposite the one liked best, and lay this paper under the pillow; that night the man she is
to marry will bring her food in her dream.
9447. Having written the names of three boys on separate slips of paper, a girl may place them under the pillow, and then remove one before
entering the bed and another when getting up next morning; the slip left will bear the name of her future husband.
9448. "I tried this, took seven slips of paper, wrote the names of five boy friends on five slips, on the other two wrote on one old maid, the
other stranger, put them under my pillow, and each morning pulled one out. The last morning I pulled out the slip stranger on and I married a
man that was a stranger to me at the time."
 223

9449. Flour sprinkled on a piece of brown paper and set outside the house overnight will next morning show your future mate's initials formed by
the dew.
9450. "Years ago we would write our beaus' names on a piece of paper, then light the paper: if the paper burned up, he did not love us; if it would
burn just around the name and not burn the name any, he would love us."
9451. After you have written the names of a boy and girl, cross out the letters which are the same in each name and speak the following words
over the remaining letters: love, friendship, hatred and marriage. The word spoken on the last letter will reveal the relationship between the boy
and girl. 9452. In each corner of a square piece of paper and at the center a girl may write the name of a different boy, turn it over and ask
someone to add the words love, hate, friend, courtship and marriage similarly placed so that they will be above the five names on the opposite
side, and then lay this under her pillow; next morning whatever word is opposite to a boy will indicate her fate with him.

(9) PHOTOGRAPH
9453. A girl should never let her sweetheart's picture hang crooked; he will soon be lost.
9454. To dream of her absent lover, a girl may keep his picture beneath her pillow.

Knife - Fork - Spoon - Table (9455-9476)

(10) KNIFE - FORK - SPOON
9455. A knife dropped by a girl means her beau is coming. They say the same thing about a tablespoon.
9456. The girl who drops a spoon will be kissed by her beau before night.
9457. If a knife in falling hits the floor blade first, a wedding may be expected.
9458. A knife dropping and lying on its back is a token of a wedding in the family.
9459. If a girl drops two forks at the same time and they lie pointing west, she will marry a sailor.
9460. The significance of two fallen knives crossing each other on the floor is a marriage.
9461. Two knives or two forks laid at the same plate, or two spoons put in the same saucer or vegetable dish, denote a wedding --- in that house
say some, in the family say others. Various times are given for this event, but it will occur within a year. According to some, the person laying the
implements will be the one to marry; according to others, the person finding them at his or her place.
9462. As an opposite interpretation for two knives at the same plate foretelling a marriage, it is sometimes said two forks foretell a single life.
9463. The meaning of two knives and two forks at the same plate (four implements instead of two as in the preceding beliefs) is a wedding in
that house.
9464. Whoever lays two knives at one plate and two forks at another may expect a wedding in the house before the end of the year.
9465. The setting of two knives at one plate and two forks at another signifies a wedding and a funeral for the family.
9466. If a man finds two forks at his plate, "he will sleep with two women" (an old expression for having two wives); if a woman finds two
knives at her plate, "she will sleep with two men." Occasionally these statements are reversed: the man must find two knives; the woman, two
forks. But the finding of two spoons indicates a second marriage for either a man or woman. Similarly the woman who puts two knives or two
forks at the same plate will be married twice.
9467. Do not drink from a glass having a spoon in it; you will stay single all your life.

(11) TABLE
9468.
"If you sit on the table,
you'll marry when able."
9469.
"If you sit on the table,
You'll marry before you are able."
9470. To sit on a table will keep you unmarried seven years longer.
9471. The person who sits on a table (used in preparing food say some) will never marry.
9472. A married woman sitting on a table with both her feet off the floor will have a second husband.
9473. For a girl to discover whether she will get a husband, let her sit on a table: if it tips when she gets off, marriage is indicated; if it does
not tip, a single life.
9474. If three unmarried persons with the same Christian name meet at the same table, one of them will marry within a year.
9475. A young man and girl sitting together between two married persons at a table will soon marry.
9476. Never sing at the table; you will marry a crazy person.

Match and Fire (9477-9494)

MATCH AND FIRE
9477. If a girl on opening a new box of matches takes one, names it a man, lights it, and lets it burn out, she will soon see him.
9478. A girl may name a match and strike it; if it lights, she is loved by the person named.
9479. While striking a match, a girl may think of a boy; if it burns from end to end without breaking or going out, he loves her. The usual method
for performing this and the similar rites which follow is to hold the match vertically, burning it as near as possible to the hand; then spit on the
index finger and thumb of the other hand, grasp the burnt head, and turn the match upside down so that the rest of it will burn. As a variant, the
lighted match is occasionally laid on the stove or some inflammable object.
9480. Let a girl give a man's name to a match and light it: if it burns to the end without breaking, he loves her; if it breaks in the middle, she
will marry him.
9481. A girl, knowing where a man is, may stand with her back to that direction while holding a lighted match named for him: if the match
burns straight, he does not love her; if it bends, he does; and if the bent match points towards her, she is actually in his thoughts at the moment.
The breaking of the match will invalidate the rite.
9482. A lighted match held by a girl until it burns out will bend towards the place where her sweetheart lives.
9483. The man who strikes a match on the bottom of a chair will lose his girl.
9484. If a fire made by a girl fails to burn or goes out during the day, her beau is lazy, asleep, or not busy.
9485. A girl whose fire burns well is being thought of by her sweetheart. This is the usual interpretation, but some say the opposite; he is thinking
of her when the fire does not burn well or goes out.
 224

9486. A girl's fire not burning well indicates her sweetheart is out of humor.
9487. If a woman can make a good fire, she is loved by her sweetheart or husband; if she cannot, she is not loved. Similarly, with the unmarried
woman --- if the fire burns brightly and continues that way, he loves her; if it begins brightly and then dies down, he is trifling with her. Also
likewise, a man able to start a hot fire easily in the morning is loved by his wife.
9488. On starting a fire a girl may name it a man and express a wish: if the fire burns, he loves her and the wish will be fulfilled; if it refuses to
burn, he does not love her and the wish will be unfulfilled.
9489. Good fire-makers always marry well --- as some say, get a smart man or woman. The converse is also said.
9490. To ascertain what kind of husband she will have, a girl may build a fire and name it a man: if the fire burns well, he will be thrifty; if it fails
to burn, "he will not be worth a damn."
9491. The girl who starts a fire three times and has it go out will marry a drunkard.
9492. A wood ember or a burning log that falls from the fireplace may be spit on by a girl, named her sweetheart, and replaced in the fire; if it
stays there, he will arrive before it burns up.
9493. Men chopping wood on Sunday will soon lose their wives.
9494. Several girls about to sleep together may set a chair near their bed and on the seat of the former put a sieve containing wood ashes;
then, having gone to bed, each girl in turn, according to a rotation previously agreed upon, must reach out and shake the sieve so that a small and
separate pile of ashes is made on the chair seat. Next morning each girl's pile of ashes will display the initials of her future husband. The whole of
the rite must be done silently.

FOOD AND DRINK

Food and Drink (9495-9548)
9495. If a boy and girl reach for the same thing at the same time while eating, they will soon be sweethearts.
9496. A girl taking the last portion of food from a plate --- biscuit, piece of bread, cake and pie are generally specified --- will become an
old maid. This also applies to a man becoming a bachelor, but less frequently. Latterly the belief has been extended to the next to the last portion.
9497. Never take the last portion of food from a dish; your wedding will be delayed another year.
9498. The girl who takes the last biscuit, piece of bread, cake or pie from a plate will marry a handsome man. This is occasionally said of the next
to the last portion of food.
9499. "I have been at dinners where the woman of the house will lay the first piece of cake off so no one will get it; for they say if you take
the first piece of cake out of a cake, you are going to be an old maid." They say the same thing about taking the slice of cake sometimes lying on
top of a cut cake.
9500. A girl may name the three corners of a piece of pie for boys, make a wish concerning the latter, and then start to eat by beginning at the
center; the corner reached first will be the boy with whom the wish will come true.
9501. If you dip cake into coffee, you will never be married.
9502. The dropping of a biscuit by a girl is a sign she will marry a poor man.
9503. Wives baking large biscuits will have or can get second husbands.
9504. While stirring a cake, a girl may name it a prospective beau: if it rises in the oven, he loves her; if it falls, he does not.
9505. Dough left in the mixing-bowl by a girl making biscuits signifies her future husband will be a drunkard.
9506. The significance of bread or a cake bursting open in the oven is a wedding.
9507. If a girl burns biscuits, bread or a cake, she is being thought of by her sweetheart.
9508. If a girl burns biscuits, bread or a cake, her beau is angry.
9509. If a girl burns biscuits, bread or a cake, she is unfit to be a wife.
9510. If a girl burns biscuits, bread or a cake, she will be an old maid.
9511. If a girl burns biscuits, bread or a cake, her marriage will be a failure.
9512. If a girl burns biscuits, bread or a cake; she will get a shiftless husband say some, a good husband say others.
9513. The ability to blow out with one breath all the candles on your birthday cake means you will be married before the end of the year.
9514. Let a girl stand out in the sun and hold a piece of butter beneath her chin; if the latter shows a yellow reflection, she is loved by her beau.
9515. Coffee upset by a girl, either when drinking or making it, indicates her beau is thinking about her.
9516. Never burn up coffee grounds; you will be disappointed in love.
9517. After a girl has drunk her coffee, she may turn the cup upside down, twist it around three times in the saucer while wishing to see her love
fortune, tap the bottom of the cup three times, and then examine the grounds; if they show the figure of a man, she will have a husband and that
figure will be his picture.
9518. Tea leaves shaken up in your empty cup will form the initial of your future mate.
9519. The girl who finds tea leaves floating on her cup of tea will soon find a new sweetheart.
9520. On finding tea leaves on her cup of tea a girl may stir them and then hold the spoon down in the center of the cup; if a leaf touches the
spoon, she will soon be married. Some say the stirring must be done for three minutes.
9521. Each tea leaf found on your cup of tea will enumerate a year until your marriage.
9522. As many tea leaves as float on a cup of tea handed to a girl, so many husbands will she have.
9523. A girl may put on the back of one hand some tea leaves taken from her cup and then slap the wrist with the other hand: if all leaves fall off,
she will marry within a year; if several attempts are required to dislodge them, each slap will denote a year before she marries.
9524. To leave tea in your cup is a wedding omen.
9525. Whoever looks into a boiling coffeepot will never marry.
9526. If a girl lets the teakettle boil, "all her beaus will be boiled away," say some; "her beau will go up the chimney," say others. It is also said
she will be an old maid.
9527. A girl letting the coffeepot boil dry will not be happily married.
9528. The future husband of a girl who spills flour on her dress while baking will be a shiftless man or a drunkard.
9529. It is usually said a girl who spills flour on her dress while baking will marry a poor man; but occasionally they say the opposite, a rich
man.
9530. Fondness for certain foods, generally beets or pickles, is a sign of being in love.
9531. The wishbone from a boiled ham may be kept beneath your pillow for nine nights; on the last night you will dream about your future mate.
9532. A girl can marry any man she wants by standing on her head and chewing and swallowing a piece of wit leather --- a piece of gristle from a
beef neck.
 225

9533. Never eat onions on Saturday night; you will not see your sweetheart on Sunday.
9534. The girl who burns potatoes while boiling them will not get a rich husband.
9535. If a girl drops the rolling-pin, her sweetheart is coming.
9536. The upsetting of salt at the table is an indication that you will not marry that year.
9537. To discover whether she is loved, a girl may lay four pods of red pepper on a hot stove and name them her beau; if they burn up, he loves
her.
9538. Let a girl sprinkle pepper and salt on a hot stovelid and name each I. pile her beau; if they burn up, she is loved by him.
9539. As a similar method for learning her beau's feelings toward her, a girl may put a spoonful of pepper on a cold stovelid, then a spoonful of
salt, and repeat this alternate process three times; next, name one pile for herself and another for her beau until the six piles have been alternately
named; and finally, start a fire in the stove: if the three piles representing the beau blaze up and burn, he loves her. Instead of six piles, sometimes
two or four are made.
9540. If you spill sugar, your sweetheart is thinking about you.
9541. A girl spilling sugar will soon receive a visit from her sweetheart.
9542. The person who spills sugar will soon be kissed.
9543. After a girl or a woman has spilled sugar, she will soon lose her sweetheart or husband. Same say this applies only to the upsetting of
the sugar bowl.
9544. Bubbles caused by dropping a lump of sugar into your coffee are a sign of a kiss.
9545. "I had to laugh the other day. We had company for dinner and a woman spill some sugar as she was going to put it in her coffee. She jump
up, pick up some of the sugar, and threw it in the stove. I thought she had gone crazy. I said, 'What's wrong?' She said, 'Oh, I just want to see if
my husband is true: if you spill sugar, pick up some right away and throw it in the fire; and if it makes blue flames, your husband is going with
another woman.' I sure had to laugh."
9546. Do not set sugar and salt side by side on the same shelf; your sweetheart will quarrel about you.
9547. Salty soup means the cook is in love.
9548. If you are eating soup which contains the letters of the alphabet made from dough (these are small and come in a package), the first
letter lifted up in your spoon will be the initial of your future mate.

"DUMB SUPPER" OR "SILENT SUPPER"

“Dumb Supper” or “Silent Supper” (9549-9584)
SET-TABLE VARIANT
(1) Set-Table Variant (9549-9561)
9549. A dumb supper or silent supper is a rite in which a meal is prepared silently by a girl to discover her love fortune. There are various
methods for performing this ceremony, one of the simplest being' as follows: on the first of May before sunrise --- anytime after midnight of the
preceding day --- a girl may cook a meal and eat it while thinking of the man she wants; if she does not speak or laugh, she will get him.
9550. "When I was a girl, one night six of the girls I run with thought we [seven girls] would have a silent supper and see who would come and
sit by us. Our house had one of those wide halls that went right through the house, and we girls thought we would set the table in that big hall and
leave both doors open so our beaus could come in at either door. We did everything backward in the dark and did not say a word. We then sit
down at the table backwards to wait for our future husbands. When all at once a big storm came up and just as the clock was about to strike
twelve there was a loud crash of lightning that just made the whole house tremble, and at the same time the cat and dog out in the yard had a fight
and the dog ran the cat through the hall right over us. We did not know at that moment it was the dog and cat fighting. We thought it was the
devil after us. Maybe you think we were not a bunch of frightened girls. We never did see our future husbands that night. We were too scared."
9551. On Midsummer Eve let a girl set a table by laying on it a clean cloth, bread and cheese; then open the outside door, sit down at the table,
and pretend to eat: if she does not speak during this rite, her future husband will walk into the room.
9552. "Years ago I went walking backwards to the cupboard on Halloween and took three things [articles of food] out, then sit down backward to
wait for my beau to come and eat. I sit there a little while and the geese hollered and the wind blew so hard that I got frightened and didn't wait
for my beau to come to eat."
9553. "My mother tried this dumb supper on a summer night [Midsummer Eve]. After nine o'clock let girls set a table. There must be an odd
number of girls and they must do everything backward and have nine different kind of things to eat. Leave the door open so you can hear. When
the wind hollers and the chickens crow and the birds start to sing, after this your future mate will come in and sit next to you. Do all this in the
dark without speaking. Mother said five girls tried this one summer night at her house, put the table right up near the door so they could hear
good and their fellows could walk in. She said you could hear a pin drop, when a bird started to singing in the old walnut tree in the yard. Some
of the girls got scared and went to screaming and jumping up. That broke the spell and their future mate didn't come in and sit down at the table."
9554. "My mother said all the girls in her time tried this. Set a dumb supper in a house on a hill on All Ghost Night [the only example of this
name found] and then invite in your mind all the men you know to the house on the hill; and after you get the table all ready, go out and run
around the house six times; and the first man you see coming up the hill you will marry. And she did marry the man that she saw coming up the
hill when she had the dumb supper."
9555. "Years ago my mother told that one Halloween she and some other girls set a dumb supper trying to find out about their future. When girls
set a dumb supper to see their future, if you find a rooster on the place dead next morning, one of those girls will get a drunkard for a husband.
And the next morning my mother found the old red rooster dead, and one of the girls in that party got a drunkard."
9556. Several girls may prepare a meal in the dark by doing everything backwards without speaking; next, having opened the outside door, put a
pan of water and a towel on the doorstep, leaving the door open; and finally, set a chair at the table for each girl and opposite her another one.
After the girls have sat for a while, their future husbands will appear, wash in the pan of water, dry with the towel, sit on the empty chairs, and
eventually disappear.
9557. "I am an old woman but I have heard my mother tell it often about some young girls setting a dumb supper to see who their future husband
was to be. There were three girls trying it. They were sitting there and just at twelve o'clock something drop a knife in one of the girl's plate. The
other two girls run out of the house, hearing the noise; only, they didn't know it was a knife, and this other girl didn't tell it. This girl put the knife
away where no one could find it. Several years after that, this girl married a man and she never told him until one evening he found the knife.
They had started to church and had forgot the Bible. He went back to get the Bible on the shelf and in some way the husband found the knife. He
wanted to know right away where she got the knife. Then the wife told him about the dumb supper. 'Do you know, when I had this knife I was in
hell.' And in time this man killed his wife with the same knife that had been drop in her plate when trying to find out her future."
 226

9558. "I have heard my grandma tell about three girls setting a dumb supper at twelve o'clock on Halloween to have their beaus come and eat,
and this is what happen: one beau came in and lay a knife down by his girl's plate, the other beau a Bible, and the other a coffin; so the girl that
got the knife, she married her beau and one day he got angry and killed her with a knife, the girl that got a coffin died before she ever married,
and the one that got the Bible married and lived very happy."
9559. "I started to do this several times when I was a girl --- set a dumb supper at twelve o'clock at night and do everything backward: if to
marry, nothing will come; if to die, a coffin will float in and drop in front of you. But I would always get scared, afraid I would see my coffin and
would speak, for that would break the spell."
9560. Let several girls silently and in the dark set a table, each putting at her own place a plate, knife, fork, spoon, glass of water and chair,
and then stand behind her chair: if she is to marry, her future husband will soon enter and drink the water; if she is going to be an old maid, a
coffin will slide onto the chair before her.
9561. "This happen out around Newton when my mother was a girl, so this is around ninety years old. It was an old saying, set a table on
Halloween for as many as there are girls in the crowd. Each girl has to put something on the table and do it backwards. Then, after the table is set,
each girl must put a chair by the stove with the back of the chair to the stove. Then each take off their chemise and dip it into a tub of cold water
that is setting near them. They hang their chemise over their own chair to dry. Then each girl goes backward to a bed and lie down and watch
their own chair. This is done about eleven-thirty, for at twelve o'clock you are to see your future. So my mother and six other girls did this one
Halloween night. While lying on the bed you must not speak, if you do, will break the spell. My mother told me the first thing they saw was a
soldier come in with a sword and sit in one chair. Then just a man that looked like a farmer sit in another chair. The third thing that came in was a
coffin and it floated right under one of the girl's chair. They all screamed. That broke the spell and the rest didn't get to see what would happen at
their chair. One girl did marry a farmer, and the one that the soldier sit in her chair married a soldier, and the one that the coffin went under died
before the next Halloween night."

EGG VARIANT
(2) Egg Variant (9562-9575)
9562. Just before midnight let two girls silently set four places at the table, cook four eggs, put them on the plates, and then sit down; as the clock
is striking twelve, their future beaus will come to help them eat the eggs.
9563. "I am eighty-seven. I did this when young to see who my future husband was to be: take and boil an egg, take off the shell, then
swallow the egg whole; you will dream that night of your future."
9564. "I took an egg and fill the half of the shell with salt and eat it, and in my dreams that night I went to a spring on horseback, and a man was
at the spring on horseback, and gave me a drink out of a cup, and I married a man that looked just like the man at the spring."
9565. "About twenty-five years ago on the first of May I took an egg and boil it hard, and took the yellow out and filled it with salt, then eat it
and went to bed. That night I dreamt I went down to the spring and took up the old can we had there to drink out of. Just as I was getting the
water, a man step up and took the can out of my hands, and reach for the water and gave it to me. In six years after that I married that man."
9566. "My mother tried this not so many years ago, for I am only twenty years old now. Take a small egg, cook it, then cut in half, take out
the yellow, fill one half with salt, eat, go to bed backward without speaking or drinking; your future will bring you a drink. She dreamt of her best
girl friend's beau, that was engaged to her girl friend, giving her one dipper after another of water that night. The next day my mother told her
chum what she dreamt. Her chum said, 'That is only an old saying, only a dream, will do you no good, for we have an understanding and are
going to marry.' Time went on and my mother married the girl's beau she dreamt of just the same."
9567. "Another girl and I tried this: two girls drop an egg in a kettle together, take it up together, cut it in half together; then each take a half, take
out the yellow and fill with salt, then eat; while eating it, walk backward to bed, not speaking, drinking, and you will dream of your future. I
dreamt I saw a man out at my uncle's house in the country. My uncle had an old well and you had to come down some steps from it. I saw a man
at this well pumping water and he came down those steps bringing me a half-pint tin of water, with light hair and blue eyes. He came right up to
me and offer me a drink. Several years after that I married a man that looked like the man I saw in my dream. My girl friend dreamt she went to a
spring and drank out of the spring alone, and she died an old maid."
9568. Everything concerned with the following rite is to be done backwards without speaking or drinking: let a girl cook a hard-boiled egg, cut it
in half, take out the yolk, fill the cavity with salt, join the two halves and eat the egg; then she must sit down on something upon which she has
never sat before, get up and go to bed. She will dream that night of her future husband offering her a drink.
9569. "My chum and I tried this one night. Let two girls fix an egg, boil it, then take out the yellow and fill with salt, you must cut it in half
first, then put the two halves by the bed where you can get them, then sit on the bed and take a long white string, tie your two big toes together,
then each eat the half of your egg, not speaking, talking or laughing, roll over in the bed, and that night your future will bring you a drink. Well,
we tied our big toes together, eat one half of the egg, rolled over in bed. After awhile I said, 'Man or no man, I am going to get a drink while
getting's good, not waiting for some man to bring it to me in my sleep.' My chum said, 'That's just like you, breaking the spell and not waiting for
your future man to bring it.' I didn't care right then if I ever got a man, the salt was making me sick."
9570. Any night without speaking a girl may boil an egg hard, halve it, take out the yolk, fill one of the halves with salt, and eat that half just
before going to bed; she will dream of her future husband giving her a drink: if in a tin cup, he will be poor; if in a china or gold cup, rich.
9571. Two girls may lay an egg on a spoon, carry it to the teakettle, and drop it in while making a wish; then, when the egg has boiled hard, they
must lift it out, peel off the shell, remove the yolk, and fill the halves with salt --- thus far, both girls touching the egg, holding the spoon, using
the knife, and handling the salt --- and finally, each girl must eat one-half of the egg and go to bed. That night they will dream about their future
husbands handing them a drink: if in a tincup, he will be poor; if in a glass tumbler, rich. The whole rite is to be done silently.
9572. "About ten years ago I took an egg and put it in red-hot ashes and roasted it, then took the yellow out and put salt in, then eat it and went
to bed without drinking; your future husband will bring you a drink: if you see his face, he is a fine man; but if you see him from his waist down,
he is very deceitful. That night I saw in my dream a person from the waist down and I sure married a very deceitful man."
9573. Let two girls at midnight roast in the fireplace two eggs, each an egg for herself, halve it, eat the yolk, fill the cavity with salt, tie the
halves together, and return the eggs to the fireplace: if they then hear a rap on the door, both girls will get husbands; if a rap is not heard, a coffin
will float into the room and indicate their deaths before marriage. Silence must be observed during the rite.
9574. "If you want to find out if you are going to marry a man, take an egg and take a cord string and wrap that string around and around that egg.
Put on all the cord string you can get on it, then put that egg on the fire to burn. Name it the man you love. If the string burns off, you will marry
the man; if it don't, you will not marry him. Do this on Halloween. Years ago when I was a girl, I was going with a fellow that I thought a great
deal of, so I took an egg on Halloween and wrapped a string around and around it, put all the string I could get on the egg, named it my beau, and
put it on the fire to burn. I was very much put out at the time, for the string would not burn; and it was no time until we fell out, and I married
another man."
 227

9575. "When I was a girl, two of my friends came over to stay all night with me on Halloween night and we thought we would try putting the
three eggs up in front of the fireplace and naming them our beaus. One of the girl's egg pop all to pieces and she never did marry; the other girl's
egg turn dark and red, looked like blood, and she died in a little over the year; and my egg was pretty and clear, not even a bit of smoke on it, and
I married before the year was out."

SALT VARIANT
(3) Salt Variant (9576-9584)
9576. "I tried this when I was a girl, ate a teaspoonful of salt one Friday night before going to bed, to see my future husband bringing me a drink.
I dreamt of a young man in our neighborhood bringing me a cup of water over a bridge. I thought I was walking toward him. When I woke up
in the morning I was just sick, for I thought this young man way down beneath me and me way so high that I was just sick to think I dreamt of
him. Well, several years went by and I married him."
9577. The girl who eats a thimbleful of salt without drinking water and goes to bed backwards will dream of her future husband offering her a
drink.
9578. A girl can dream of her future husband by eating a thimbleful of salt and walking down the stairs backwards before she goes to bed. She
must not drink any water.
9579. If you eat a thimbleful of salt for three nights in succession and go to bed without drinking or speaking, you will dream of your future mate
on the third night. Some say two nights out of three.
9580. On Halloween hold your mouth full of salt as long as you can; the first letter in the first word you speak thereafter will be the initial of your
future mate.
9581. "This has been in our family over a hundred years: make a cake of equal parts of flour and salt, bake it on the hearth, eat and not speak a
word after you eat it or drink, and the man you dream of will be the one you marry."
9582. With salt, using just enough flour and water to hold it together, a girl may make a cake --- called a salt cake --- then, while wishing, eat
one- half of this cake and put the other half under her pillow; that night she will dream of receiving a drink from her future husband.
9583. If just before midnight a girl sets a table for two, then bakes a cake of salt, flour and her urine, and puts this on the table: her future husband
will appear as the clock strikes twelve, sit down in the chair opposite, and help eat the cake.
9584. To dream of her future husband, a girl may put a thimbleful of salt under her pillow.

CLEANING
Cleaning (9585-9625)
Bath - Dish Water - Mop - Broom and Sweeping (9585-9619)
(1) BATH
9585. A bath taken by a girl on Sunday will bring her a new beau.
(2) DISH WASHING
9586. If a girl lets her dishwater boil, her sweetheart will go up the flue.
9587. Girls letting their dishwater boil will not marry that year.
9588. Never let dishwater boil and then wash dishes in it; you will not be married for seven years. This misfortune can be counteracted by letting
the water cool and reheating it.
9589. The girl who lets her dishwater boil will be an old maid.
9590. A girl splashing dishwater (or the water with which she is washing clothes) over her apron or dress will marry a drunkard. Some add "and
he will beat her up."
9591. If while a girl is washing dishes a man pulls the dish rag from her hand, it means he loves her.
9592. If a girl and her sweetheart are washing dishes and she lets him take the dish rag out of her hand, they will have a serious quarrel and he
will soon be going with another girl.
9593. If a girl and her sweetheart are washing dishes and he takes the dish rag out of the pan, wipes the table off and puts the rag back in the pan,
and she then picks up the rag and washes some more dishes, she will marry him.
9594. A dish rag or tea towel dropped on the floor by a girl is a sign her beau is coming.
9595. "My girl friend said never wash your dish towel out after dark; if you did, you would be disappointed in love."
9596. The significance of dropping a cup is as follows: if it breaks, you will never be married; if it does not break, you will be invited to a
stranger's wedding.
9597. A pan falling and resting upside down on the floor is an indication that the girl who dropped it will soon see someone she loves.
9598. Let a girl name a pan of soap bubbles her sweetheart: if they do not burst, he loves her; if they do, he does not love her.

(3) MOP
9599.
"If you drop a mop,
You'll get a new pop."
9600. Do not step over a mop handle lying on the floor; you will never be married.

(4) BROOM AND SWEEPING

9601. The woman who finds her broom lying on the floor will be insulted by a man.
9602. A girl in whose house a broom falls down will not marry that year.
9603.
"If you drop a broom,
You'll soon get a groom."
9604. In whatever direction the handle of a broom dropped by a girl points, that will be the direction from which she may expect a sweetheart
soon.
9605. For the girl who drops a broom across the door, crossed love is indicated; she will soon be jilted.
 228

9606. "This is another old saying in my young days: if a young man at a party would lay a broom down across the door without any girl knowing
it, the girl that pick it up he will marry. I remember I was at a party one time and a broom was across the door. Several girls step over it and one
girl pick it up, and the boy that put it there married her in time."
9607. If a girl drops a broom and it falls across the door, the first man stepping over the broom will marry her.
9608. To step over a broom lying on the floor denotes you will never be married say most, but a few say you will soon marry. This applies
whether the stepping-over occurs accidentally or deliberately.
9609. By walking over a broom your marriage is delayed a year say some, seven years say others.
9610. "I drop my broom one day and step over it without stepping backward over it. The neighbor next door said to me, 'You will have trouble
with your beau, you will not see him tonight.' I said, 'Oh, he will come.' But he didn't come that night. So the next morning I went and put the
broom down and step backward over it to bring him back, and he came that night."
9611. If an unmarried woman is sweeping when a visitor comes, she will not marry that year; if a married woman, she will lose her husband that
year.
9612. Never walk in front of a person using a broom; another year will pass before your marriage.
9613. If someone is sitting on a chair and you sweep in front of that person's feet, around or under them (in the latter case, when held up),
under or completely around the chair, or touch the feet with your broom; the person will not be married that year say some, will never be married
say others. Either of these misfortunes also happens by touching the feet of a person standing or walking. With regard to sweeping under or
around the chair, a rocking-chair is occasionally mentioned.
9614. To sweep under the feet of someone sitting on a table signifies that person will marry before the year ends.
9615. Do not let anyone sweep entirely around the chair on which you are sitting; you will remain single seven years longer.
9616. The person under whose chair you sweep will marry once say some, twice say others --- soon after his or her mate dies.
9617. If you sweep your own feet, you will never get married.
9618. Whoever breaks a broom handle will soon break someone's heart.
9619. For luck in love, a woman may wet the bushy part of her broom and sprinkle the water about the house.

Washing Clothes - Ironing - Bed Making (9620-9625)

(5) WASHING CLOTHES
9620. Some say a woman able to lift washed clothes out of a steaming boiler with her fingers will make a good housewife, others say she will
never marry a drunkard.
9621. A woman who gets her dress or stomach wet while washing clothes (on Monday according to some) will marry a drunkard. However, after
her marriage, she can reform him by always hanging on the clothesline all his shirts wrong side out.

(6) IRONING
9622. The scorching of any clothes shows the ironer's sweetheart is thinking about her.
9623. If a girl scorches anything while ironing, she will be an old maid.
9624. A girl should never iron a man's shirt tail; she will not marry him.

(7) BED-MAKING
9625. Any girl unable to make a bed well may expect a worthless husband.

SEWING:
Sewing (9626-9681)
Thimble - Thread - Ball of Yarn - Needle (9626-9646)
(1) THIMBLE
9626. If a girl's thimble comes off repeatedly, her sweetheart is thinking about her. 9627. Girls using a thimble on the left hand will never
become wives.
(2) THREAD
9628. A girl whose thread tangles is being thought of by her sweetheart. His thoughts, add some, are tangled by an uncertainty about his love for
her.
9629. Let the girl whose thread knots name it for her sweetheart; if the knot can be unloosened, she is loved.
9630. To knot her thread while making a garment means the sewer will marry before the finished garment wears out.
9631. The knotting of her thread is a token that the sewer will soon attend a wedding --- tying the knot being a common expression for marriage.
9632. A white thread hanging on a girl's dress foretells a new beau.
9633. If a girl's beau asks her to patch his shirt or pants, she may say with each knot Love me, hate me not; her fate will be revealed by the
last stitch.
9634. After a number of girls have finished a quilt and taken it from the frame, the first girl to put a corner of the quilt over her head will be
the first one married in that group.

(3) BALL OF YARN

9635. On a dark night a girl may visit a lonely house, and, holding the loose end, drop a ball of yarn in the yard; then, begin to walk around the
house while repeating I wind, who holds: before she has made the first circuit about the house, her future husband will appear.
9636. If after dark a girl goes to a deserted house on a hill, enters and raises a window, throws out a ball of yarn --- keeping the loose end in
her hand --- and says repeatedly I hold, you wind; her future husband will pick up the ball of yarn and wind until he reaches the window.
9637. To discover her fortune in love, let a girl walk to a vacant house at midnight, throw a ball of yarn out a window, and start to rewind it while
saying three times I wind, who holds the ball: if she gets no answer, she will be an old maid.
9638. Just before noon let a girl go to a well, hold in one hand the loose end of a ball of yarn, with the other hand cast the ball into the well at
twelve o'clock, and call out I wind, who holds the other end: if she is to marry, she will hear her future husband calling her name.
9639. At midnight on Halloween a girl may throw a ball of yarn into a well: if while rewinding the yarn she feels something pull, that will be her
future husband; if she does not feel anything pulling, she will die unmarried.
9640. "My mother and her sister went on the first day of May to a well, dropped a ball of white twine into the well, holding on to one end; as
you start to wind it up, keep saying your sweetheart's name; at the end you will see either a coffin or the image of a man. My mother's sister saw a
 229

coffin and died before the year was out; my mother saw the image of a man and married the man she was thinking about before the year was
out."

(4) NEEDLE
9641. The significance of a bending needle is a hug for the sewer.
9642. A sewer whose needle breaks will soon be kissed.
9643. If a needle is broken by a girl making a garment, the first time she wears that garment she will kiss the first man met.
9644. A girl breaking her needle will soon break someone's heart.
9645. If a girl breaks a needle, her beau will soon be lost.
9646. The girl who drops her knitting-needle will not marry that year.

Scissors - Pin - Hairpin - Safety Pin - Button (9647-9681)

(5) SCISSORS
9647. If a girl's scissors fall and stick in the floor, she may make a wish while pulling them out and then cut a new piece of cloth; this will bring a
new sweetheart before the end of the week.
9648. Whoever sits accidentally on a pair of scissors will be happily married.

(6) PIN
9649. If a girl tries on a dress pinned for a fitting and one of the pins catches in her petticoat or slip, she will be married that year say some; she
will not, say others.
9650. If a girl tries on a dress pinned for a fitting, each pin catching in her petticoat or slip will represent a kiss before the day is over.
9651. A pin coming undone indicates someone you love is thinking of you.
9652. On seeing a pin about to fall from her dress, a girl may touch the pin each time she says a letter of the alphabet; the letter said as the pin
falls will be her future husband's initial.
9653. To have a pin in her dress stick a man signifies the girl will soon lose him.
9654. Before going to bed on January 21, a girl may tear off a row of pins (from a new package according to some) , say Let me see my future
husband tonight as she pulls out each pin, and then stick them in the sleeve of her nightgown; that night he will be seen in her dream.
9655. If a pin found on the floor or street is picked up and stuck in your coat, you will have a date before the week ends.
9656. The girl who finds and picks up a pin pointing toward her will see her beau that day.
9657. A girl finding and picking up a pin will be dated that night; the man will come from the direction towards which the pin points.

(7) HAIRPIN
9658. The sweetheart of a girl who loses a hairpin will soon be lost.
9659. Some say the girl who finds and picks up a hairpin will get a new beau (or soon see her usual beau); others say, especially when the pin
has been found on the street, she will lose her beau.
9660. Some say the girl who rinds a hairpin with the head toward her and picks it up will get a new beau; others say, with the prongs toward her.
He will come from the direction in which the prongs are pointing.
9661. If a girl finds a hairpin and keeps it, she will receive a proposal of marriage within six months say some, within a year say others.
9662. After a girl finds a hairpin on the street and puts it in her shoe, the first man she meets will be her future husband.
9663. The girl who finds a hairpin on the street and puts it in her shoe will marry the first man she sees wearing a red necktie.
9664. To find and pick up a hairpin betokens a letter from someone you love.
9665. If a straight hairpin is found by a girl, she will soon have a new boy friend; if a crooked hairpin, a new girl friend.
9666. For luck in love a girl may secretly put one of her hairpins in her beau's left hip pocket; this is also supposed to hold him.
9667. It is unlucky for a girl to go out riding with a man in whose automobile she finds a hairpin.
(8) SAFETY PIN
9668. The finding or a safety pin by a girl is an indication of her approaching marriage.
9669. If while walking along you pick up a large safety pin and name it a man you want to see, he will soon be seen; if a small safety pin and
name it a girl, she will soon be seen.

(9) BUTTON
9670. "About sixty-five years ago the girls would ask every man they see for one button off or their clothes and would put the button on a string
--- it was called a memory string --- and the hundredth button you got was to be your future husband. I remember I had a memory string when I
was a girl and I asked a fellow for a button and he said, 'I hope this is the hundred.' It happen to be. And in about three months after that I was
engaged to that fellow, but I didn't marry him --- we had trouble and broke up."
9671. "I have often heard, if you are talking to a man and a button on his clothes come undone, sign he wants to make a date with you." Some
say, "wants to sleep with you."
9672. A button coming unfastened on a girl's dress means she has a secret lover.
9673. "My mother used to say your sweetheart would not be true to you, if you sewed buttons on his clothes."
9674. As many stitches as a girl takes in sewing a button on a man's shirt before she marries him, so many quarrels will she have with him after
marriage.
9675. If a girl sews a button on a strange man's shirt, she will marry him before the end of the following year.
9676. The girl who buttons up a man's overcoat or helps him button it up will soon quarrel with him.
9677. To divine her future husband's occupation, a girl may count the buttons on any article of clothing she is wearing and say: "Rich man, poor
man, beggar man, thief; Doctor, merchant, lawyer, chief." The button counted on the last word will be his occupation. This rhyme is also used for
the same purpose while skipping rope.
9678. "Another old saying my sister did was to count the buttons on her dress to see what kind of a house she was going to live in when she got
married, saying Brick house, frame house, log house, cabin, then start over, and the last one would be the kind of a house you are to live in."
9679. If a button off a man's overcoat is found by a girl, she will soon receive a letter from him.
9680. A girl finding a four-holed button that came off a man's pants will soon be his wife.
9681. The significance of a girl finding a button that dropped off a man's shirt is a new sweetheart.
 230

CLOTHES:
Clothes (9682-9759)
Dress - Pants - Shirt - Necktie (9682-9712)
(1) DRESS
9682. The omen to be drawn from a girl putting on her dress wrong side out in the morning is as follows: if she wears it that way all day, she will
acquire a new beau; if she changes it, the beau she has will be lost.
9683. A girl who drops her dress on the floor while dressing to meet her beau will soon have an unreconcilable quarrel with him.
9684. Some say the girl whose dress turns up or underskirt shows by hanging lower than the dress will soon obtain a beau; others say a new beau,
often because she is going to lose her old one. This and the similar beliefs following generally assume the turning-up or showing occurs in back.
9685. The turning-up of a woman's dress is a sign some man will ask her to be his paid mistress.
9686. A turned-up hem on a girl's dress denotes she will soon be kissed.
9687. To have her dress turn up or underskirt show is a token of the woman's sweetheart or husband being in a saloon.
9688. If a girl's dress turns up on the right side, she is loved by her beau; if on the left, she is not.
9689. A girl whose dress turns up when she is starting on a journey may turn the hem down to meet a beau before she returns home. According to
some, she must make a wish to that effect while turning down the hem.
9690. The hem of a dress turning up (petticoat showing or underskirt hanging below the dress) signifies the woman's beau is thinking about her.
To make him come, say some, she can kiss the hem and turn it down.
9691. Let a girl kiss the hem of her upturned dress before turning it down and she will be kissed by a former sweetheart.
9692. On finding her dress turned up a girl may spit on the hem before turning it down and name it a man with whom she wants a date.
9693. "My girls always say when their dress turns up A-B-C and so on while turning it down, and the letter they are on when the dress is straight
again will be their future husband's initial."
9694. "One thing my sister did, if a brier got on her skirt, was to stop, turn around and pick up her skirt and say A-B-C-D and so on for every
twig [thorn?] on the brier, and the last one would be the initial of her next fellow."
9695. A brier catching a girl's dress is a sign she will catch a beau before the end of the week. 9696. If a brier catches a girl's dress, her sweetheart
is thinking about her.
9697. A girl may count the thorns on a brier that has caught her dress; as many as they are, so many will be the days until she sees her sweetheart.
A man whose pants catch on a brier may do likewise, to learn when he will see his sweetheart.
9698. The meaning of a hole torn in a dress is as follows: if under the arm, the wearer will hear of a wedding or have one in her family; if
anywhere and three-cornered, she will be invited to a wedding. They sometimes say the same thing about a coat.
9699. A poor man for a husband may be expected by the girl whose dress is always ripping at the seams.
9700. To divine the future, a girl may recite:
"This is Friday night as I go to bed,
I put my petticoat under my head;
I will dream of the living and the dead,
I shall dream of the one I shall wed."
9701. After dark a girl may go to a brook, wet a corner of her nightgown, and then sit before the fire while it dries: if a dog passes through
the house, she will marry an old man; if a dog does not appear, a young man.
9702. For luck in love a woman may wear a red ribbon around her waist.

(2) PANTS
9703. "If a woman is hard on her drawers, sign she is bad after men."
9704. If a man gives a woman a pair of pants, she should for luck let him see them on her the first time they are worn.

(3) SHIRT
9705. The boy whose shirt sleeve rips or tears out will lose his girl.
9706. A man taking off his shirt and asking a woman to hang it up indicates she will attend a wedding.
9707. If a white shirt is worn by a man calling on a girl, she will receive a wedding invitation.
9708. Let a woman stick a needle into the shirt collar of a man she loves: if on removing the needle he sticks it into the pincushion, both of them
will have good luck; if he throws it on the floor, bad luck.

(4) NECKTIE
9709. If a girl when playing with her sweetheart's necktie puts the end to her right eye, they will soon marry; if to her left eye, quarrel.
9710. The girl who meets a man wearing a red necktie will soon be his wife.
9711. After a girl has counted thirteen neckties of the same color, the fourteenth man met with a necktie of that color will be her future husband.
9712. A girl can discover her future husband by counting ninety-nine men wearing blue neckties; the hundredth man with one of that color will
be he.

Stockings - Socks - Garters (9713-9732)

(5) STOCKINGS AND SOCKS
9713. To find a runner in a new pair of stockings the first time she wears them is a sign the girl's sweetheart will soon run away from her.
9714. The first time a girl puts on a new pair of stockings she may turn around three times; in one of them a hair like that of her future
husband's will be found.
9715. A girl putting on stockings wrong side out is loved by her beau.
9716. Some say the girl who wears out her stockings in the heels before they are worn out in the legs will become an old maid; others say the
opposite, she will never become an old maid.
9717. If a girl's stocking falls down, her beau is thinking of her.
9718. Let a girl hang her stockings over the foot or the bed, one at each corner; she will dream of her future husband standing at the foot of the
bed.
 231

9719. On going to bed a girl may make a wish, turn her stockings inside out and lay them under the pillow; she will dream of her future husband
giving her a new pair of stockings.
9720. For luck in love the first time he visits or goes out with a girl, a man may wear odd socks --- each of a different color.

(6) GARTERS
9721. If a man buys a woman a pair of garters, she should let him put them on her for luck.
9722. A girl losing her garter is in the thoughts of her beau.
9723. If a girl loses her garter, she will lose her sweetheart; if she finds a rubber band or elastic (often used for a garter), she will find a
sweetheart.
9724. A woman's garter found by a man foretells the loss of his girl.
9725. Yellow garters worn by a girl keep her from becoming an old maid.
9726. If someone gives a girl a pair of yellow garters and she puts them on and then takes them off, she will be engaged before the end of the
year.
9727. "I had a girl friend that wanted a man she was very much in love with and she borrowed a married woman's yellow garter and put it on her
right leg and made a wish that she would get that man and she did marry him."
9728. The girl who wears a yellow garter on Easter will be engaged before next Easter.
9729. At midnight and in the dark of the moon let a girl wearing yellow garters walk across a bridge; when she reaches the other side, her future
husband will be there.
9730. By wearing a yellow garter on one leg and a black garter on the other leg a girl can get married before the year is out.
9731. Two girls exchanging garters and wearing them will be engaged within a year.
9732. After she has undressed for the night, a girl may walk to the bedroom corner farthest away, turn around, reach behind, and pin a garter on
the wall while saying:
"I am pinning my garter to the wall,
Hoping soon to have my true love call."
Then, turning around again, she must go backwards to bed; that night he will appear in her dream.

Shoes - Shoe Strings - Hat (9733-9759)

(7) SHOES
9733. Never let your sweetheart give you a pair of shoes; he or she will walk away.
9734. Squeaking shoes signify their owner is in love.
9735.
"If you wear your shoes out on the side,
You will be a rich man's bride."
9736. Some say the girl who runs her shoes down at the heel will marry a poor man, others say her marriage will be a failure.
9737. The significance of losing a heel from your shoe is the loss of your sweetheart.
9738. A boy who finds a toe-plate on the street will soon be kicked out by his sweetheart's father.
9739. Do not set your shoes higher than your head; you will never marry.
9740. The first night a girl has a new pair of shoes they may be worn to bed. She will dream of her future husband taking them off.
9741. It is said the night on which a girl sets her shoes like the letter T under the bed, she will dream of her future husband; but some say
this must be done the first time she sleeps in a strange room, others say she must go to bed backwards.
9742. Her shoes kept beneath the bed for three nights will make a girl dream of her future husband on the third night.

(8) SHOE STRING

9743. To have a shoe string come untied shows your sweetheart is thinking about you. The left shoe string is usually specified.
9744. If a shoe string comes untied, your sweetheart is angry with you.
9745. A girl's right shoe string coming untied is a sign of a new beau.
9746. Let a girl name her loose shoe string her beau and retie it; if it stays tied, she is loved by him.
9747. The beau of a girl who breaks her shoe string will soon be lost.
9748. If a girl lets a sweetheart tie her loose shoe string, they will soon have a serious quarrel.
9749. A man stopping to tie his girl's shoe string wants to marry her.

(9) HAT
9750. If a girl puts a man's hat on her head, she desires him to kiss her; if a man puts his hat on a girl's head, he desires to kiss her.
9751. A girl should never put a man's hat on her head; it will cause quarrels with him.
9752. The girl who tries on a man's hat will not get him for a husband.
9753. If a woman throws her hat and gloves on a man's bed, she wants to sleep with him; if a man throws his hat on a woman's bed, he wants to
sleep with her.
9754. A girl can strengthen a sweetheart's love by laying his hat on her bed when he comes to see her.
9755. The significance of a beau refusing to hand his hat to his girl when he calls on her is love growing cold. 9756. A girl stepping on a man's
hat will soon marry the owner.
9757. "The girls did this when I was young: in the spring stamp with your thumb in the palm of your hand the first twenty-seven straw hats you
see and you will meet your beau."
9758. If a girl takes the bow out of the hat of each man liked, she will marry the owner of the seventh hat.
9759. Let a girl take as many bows as possible from the hats of men liked and wear them on her garter; the bow staying on longest will reveal
who among these men loves her best.

CLOTHING ACCESSORIES:
Clothing Accessories (9760-9877)
Apron - Gloves - Handkerchief - Purse - Penknife (9760-9796)
(1) APRON
 232

9760. Neither sweetheart nor husband will be held by a woman always getting her apron wet.
9761. If the corner of an unmarried woman's apron turns up, she will have a husband; if of a married woman's, a second husband.
9762. An apron coming unfastened and falling off means the woman's sweetheart is thinking about her say some, talking about her say others.
9763. A girl whose apron drops off will lose her beau.
9764. To mislay her apron signifies the woman's sweetheart or husband will be lost.
9765. Friday night is the time for a girl to say:
"This Friday night I go to bed,
With a three-folded apron under my head.
This very night in a dream I will see,
Him who my true love is to be;
Not in gorgeous apparel or bridal array,
But in the garments he weareth every day.
If I am an old maid to be,
Let me in a green field be. "
She must then go backwards to bed without saying another word.
9766. On Friday night a girl may put under her pillow an apron folded three times and recite:
"Every night in dream let me see,
Him who my true love is to be."
9767. To discover whether a quarrel with her lover will be patched up, let a girl fold three clean aprons and lay them under her pillow: if she
dreams about him, he will soon return; if she does not dream about him, he will never return.

(2) GLOVES
9768. "Years ago when a girl would get tired of her beau, she would send him a red mitten and he would know she was through with him."
9769. "Before the Civil War mother said, if a girl had a beau she didn't like, she would knit a mitten --- she would only knit about one inch on
each finger --- then put it in a little box and send it to him. It was the sign she was giving him the mitten."
9770. "Years ago when my mother was a girl and they wanted to quit a fellow, they would ask them if they had a mitten they could darn. If they
were not too green, they would take the hint; if they didn't, they would let the girl darn it. And she would send it to them so they could not come
and get it. She was giving them the mitten."

(3) HANDKERCHIEF
9771. "My niece was going with a fellow and they never had a quarrel. For Christmas she gave him a white silk handkerchief. Her mother tried to
make her take it back before she gave it to him. She said it was so pretty that she knew her and Joe would not quarrel. He had the
handkerchief only a week when they went to quarreling, and almost every week they would fall out, until one day her mother made her ask for
the white silk handkerchief back. And she put it in the cookstove and burnt it up. After that they made up and didn't quarrel any more. I would not
myself give anyone a white silk handkerchief for a present."
9772. Concerning all love presents from a man they say: if the girl lays the present away without opening the package to see what it contains, he
will soon ask her to marry him.
9773. Let a girl tie a lover's knot and pull the ends together after she has named them for men; the man whose name corresponds to the tightest
end in the knot loves her best.
9774. If a girl can steal the handkerchief of a strange man or of a man taking her home and whom she likes, he will soon propose marriage.
9775. "I met a young man and I sure wanted him to come and see me. He happened to drop his handkerchief on the ground. I did not give it to
him. I took it home and put it in a pan of water, then held it over the fire until it crisped. He sure did come that next night."
9776. If a girl's beau drops a handkerchief and she picks it up, he loves her deeply or she will hold his love; if it is picked up by some other
girl, the latter will take him away. Similarly, in the latter case, the girl who finds a man's handkerchief will soon get him.
9777. A handkerchief dropped by a girl walking along the street is an indication she wants the man behind to pick it up and accompany her. Some
say she must look at the man while dropping the handkerchief.
9778. The man who walks along the street with his handkerchief hanging out of his pocket is looking for a girl.
9779. The meaning of a handkerchief held against the ear is I cannot understand you.
9780. A handkerchief held over both eyes means I am sorry or I regret.
9781. By holding a handkerchief against the mouth a girl says Do not talk to me; I am finished with you.
9782. A girl rubbing a handkerchief against her mouth desires a kiss.
9783. It is unlucky for a girl to wipe her nose on her beau's handkerchief; she will soon quarrel with him.
9784. If you wave a handkerchief around your head, you desire to be loved.
9785. When an extended handkerchief is thrown back across the right shoulder and kept there, it denotes Follow me.
9786. The girl who holds a handkerchief in the right hand and tosses it downwards is saying Go to the devil.
9787. If you pull your handkerchief through your hands while looking at someone, you want to meet that person.
9788. A girl should never wave a handkerchief at a departing sweetheart; she will not see him again for a long time.

(4) PURSE
9789. Some say the girl accepting a purse from her beau will quarrel with him and never be his wife; others say they will soon marry.
9790. A penny and a new handkerchief carried in her new purse will bring a girl a proposal of marriage.
9791. If a girl forgets her purse or does not have one and asks a man to put a vanity case, comb or handkerchief in his pocket, trouble with him
may be expected.
9792. Money borrowed from a beau when she has forgotten her purse will cause the girl to lose him say some, an unhappy life after their
marriage say others. It is also said a girl loses her beau by borrowing or accepting money from him at anytime.
9793. "Several weeks ago a very well dressed man was eating in a downtown restaurant in Quincy. When he paid for his dinner he gave the
cashier a $20.00 bill. The cashier gave him three fives and some ones back. He stopped in front of the cashier's stand, placing all the beads on the
bills facing the same way before he put the bills in his pocketbook, holding up several other customers who were waiting to pay for their dinner.
The man laughed and said, 'I never put money in my pocket unless the heads all face the same way, for I don't want to be an old maid.' Everyone
 233

laughed and the man went out. I don't know if he wanted to be funny when he said old maid instead of bachelor. I always heard if you carry your
paper money with the heads facing the same way you will never be an old maid or a bachelor."

(5 ) PENKNIFE
9794. A girl can get a beau by keeping a penknife in her purse.
9795. The beau to whom a girl gives a penknife will soon be lost.
9796. To lose your penknife is an omen of losing your heart.

Ring - Earrings - Beads - Breastpin - Hairbrush (9797-9820)

(6) RING
9797. If a ring given to a girl by a man turns brassy, her love will turn against him.
9798. A beau from whom a woman accepts an emerald ring will not wed her.
9799. A man with a ring on his left index finger is looking for a wife.
9800. A ring falling from a man's finger and rolling in front of a girl's feet means he loves her, say some; their sudden marriage, say others.
9801. While putting on a ring a girl may think of a color; she will marry the next man wearing a necktie of that color.
9802. If you turn the rings of thirteen persons, the first person of the opposite sex to whom you then speak will be your future mate.
9803. If a boy turns the rings on the fingers of thirteen different persons and then a ring on a girl's hand, he will marry her.
9804. After a girl has turned a ring on someone's finger three times and has repeated this rite with fourteen different persons, she will meet a
sweetheart.
9805. By turning her ring every night for fourteen nights and saying her beau's name each time, he will propose to her on the last night.
9806. A girl may place her ring under the pillow: if she dreams of a ring, a wedding ring will soon be received.
9807. Let a girl wrap silk about a ring and put it under the pillow; if she is to marry, she will dream of her future husband giving her a ring.
9808. Let a girl pass cheese through a wedding ring three times and lay the latter under the pillow; her future husband will appear in her dream.
9809. As a method for divining her love fortune; a girl may borrow a wedding ring, wear it several hours, take it off just before going to bed, and
drop it into one of her shoes while saying A wedding ring shall be mine: if she is to have a husband, she will dream about him.
9810. Information about her future marriage can be discovered by a girl tying a wedding ring to a loose hair and lowering it into a glass tumbler:
if the ring starts to swing and strikes against the glass, she will be married that year; if it remains still, she will be an old maid.
9811. To learn when she will marry, a girl may tie a ring to a horsehair and lower it into a glass tumbler: as many times as the glass is struck by
the ring, so many will be the years until her marriage. Some say a distinct strike represents a year; an indistinct or blurred strike, a month or a
day.
9812. If a girl slips a silk thread through a wedding ring, holds the two ends of the thread in her left hand, lowers the ring into a glass tumbler,
and recites the letters of the alphabet; the letter recited while the ring is striking the glass will be her future husband's initial.
9813. Several girls may pack a ring tightly in the center of a cup of flour, turn the cup upside down on a plate to release the flour, and then slice
this mold: if a girl slices the ring and it falls out of the flour, she will be the first to marry --- provided she can pick up the ring with her teeth.
9814. On New Year's Eve a girl may set a table with four bowls, three of them containing respectively a coin, a ring, a sprig of myrtle, and the
fourth being empty; then, having blindfolded someone, that person must walk around the table three times and afterwards touch one of them: if
the bowl with the coin is touched, she will get money; if the bowl with the ring, she will receive a proposal of marriage; if the bowl with the
myrtle, she will marry that year; and if the empty bowl, there will be no change in her lot.

(7) EARRINGS
9815. A sweetheart will soon grow tired of the girl who lets him fasten earrings on her ears.

(8) BEADS
9816. According to some, it is lucky for a girl to accept from her sweetheart a string of beads, provided they are not pearls; but according
to others, the acceptance of any kind of beads will ruin their courtship.
9817. The girl who accepts a string of pearls from her sweetheart will not only lose him but also shed a tear for each pearl.

(9) BREASTPIN
9818. It is unlucky for a man to give his sweetheart a breastpin.
9819. A girl finding and picking up a breastpin on the street will have bad luck; letting it lie will bring her a new beau.

(10) HAIRBRUSH
9820. Never give a hairbrush to your sweetheart; your love will soon be brushed away.

Nailfile - Watch - Cuff Links - Umbrella (9821-9877)

(11) NAILFILE
9821: A nailfile or nailpick found on the street by a girl may be named a man she likes and hidden under the bark of a tree; she will soon meet
him and he will become her sweetheart.

(12) WATCH
9822. A girl taking a man's watch from his pocket loves him.
9823. The significance of a man taking out his watch and letting his girl see the time is jealousy; they are watching each other.

(13) CUFF LINKS

9824. To put the cuff links in her beau's shirt will cause a girl bad luck.
9825. The girl who finds a cuff link will soon receive a marriage proposal.

(14) UMBRELLA
9826. "I was going with a man for two years and he gave me an umbrella for Christmas and we had a fight before Christmas week was over."
 234

9827. Some say an umbrella raised in the house betokens marriage soon for a person living there, others say the one raising the umbrella will
never marry.
9828. Let a girl hold an umbrella over her head while wishing about her future sweetheart or husband and she will meet him before the end of the
year.
9829. By carrying her umbrella over the left shoulder a girl can get a husband.
9830. An umbrella carried over the right shoulder means Follow me.
9831. To carry an umbrella down in front signifies I do not like you.
9832. If you swing your umbrella while walking, you want the person behind to follow.

SAYINGS ABOUT LOVE FROM WALKING FORTH (9833-9877)

9833. Years ago a girl while out walking, often when she went after the cows, stopped, listened and recited:
"A young man, a bird sings;
A bachelor, a cow bawls;
A widower, a young one squalls."
Her fate was indicated by the sound she heard.
9834. After dark on the first of May a girl may go to a crossroad and say:
"If I am to marry in the fall,
Let me hear a cow bawl;
If in the spring,
Let me hear a bird sing."
No answer to her words is a sign she will never marry.
9835. "My aunt tried this, went to the forks of the road on the first day of May before sunup and said:
'If I am to marry a young man,
Let me hear a bird sing;
If to marry an old man,
Let me hear a cow bawl;
If I am to marry not at all,
Let me hear my coffin fall.'
And she heard a coffin fall and she never married."
Sometimes this rite was performed the first night of May while sitting on a stump out in a woods.
9836. A girl can discover her fortune in love by going to a crossroad on the first of May and saying: If I am to marry, let me hear a bird sing; if I
am to die, let me hear my coffin lock.
9837. To divine her fortune in love, a girl may visit a woods after dark and ask:
"If I am to marry near,
Let me hear a bird cry;
If I am to marry far,
Let me hear a cow low;
If I am to single die,
Let me hear a knocking by."
9838. "On the first day of May my mother and another girl went out into the orchard and took hold of a tip end of a leaf on a tree: my mother said
If I am to marry, let me hear a bird whistle keen and she did and got married; the other girl said If I am never to marry, let me hear a cow low and
she did -- this other girl never did marry."
9839. Any night let a girl walk out into the open and call a man's name three times as loud as possible; he will soon appear.
9840. At midnight on New Year's Eve a girl may stand in the yard and yell as loud and as fast as possible:
"0, St. Ann, good St. Ann,
Send me a man."
She will be married before the end of the year.
9841.
"If you stub your toe,
You will lose your beau."
9842.
"Stub your right toe,
You'll see your beau."
9843.
"If you stub your toe,
You'll see your beau;
Kiss your thumb,
He'll be sure to come."
9844. "If you stub your toe,
You will meet your beau;
Cross your thumbs,
And he is sure to come."
9845. The girl who stubs her toe may kiss her thumb while thinking of her sweetheart; she will soon see him.
9846. Let a girl stubbing her toe kiss her thumb and face the opposite direction; her sweetheart will soon be seen.
9847. After a girl has stubbed her toe, she may walk backwards over the place where the stubbing occurred, and turn around and kiss her thumb.
This will bring her beau.
9848. To stub your toe or to stumble is an indication you are thinking about your sweetheart.
9849. A girl dragging or scraping her toe along the sidewalk is inviting a man behind to follow her.
9850. "If a girl on the street steps on a man's toes, she wants to go to bed with him."
 235

9851.
"The girl who steps on your toe,
Will soon steal your beau."
This is also said of stepping on the heel.
9852. If while out walking a girl and her beau are separated by an object, animal or person (such as a post, tree, dog, or a former beau), they will
have bad luck --- usually their friendship will be broken.
9853. If a girl walking with her beau meets a girl who accompanies them without an invitation, the beau will soon be taken by that girl.
9854.
"If three walk in a row,
Will bring you a beau."
9855. A girl walking to church with two men will not marry that year.
9856. If among four persons riding in the front seat of an automobile a girl sits on her beau's lap to make room, she will be unlucky.
9857. To be unrecognized by someone while you are walking down the street indicates you will soon marry.
9858. An unexpected dinner guest denotes you will be invited to a wedding.
9859. The first man entering the door of a house into which a girl has just moved will be her future husband.
9860. The girl who lets a man enter the house through the front door on Monday will be an old maid. She must make him go to the back door.
9861. If a girl meets her sweetheart coming in as she is going out, it will be a long time before they see each other again.
9862. "If a girl walks in front of a man and don't ask him to excuse her, sign she wants him to sleep with her."
9863. Do not watch a departing lover; he will never return.
9864. A girl may write down the complete license numbers of ten consecutive automobiles in which the three following numerals occur in
succession: 000, 111,222,333,444, 555,666,777,888, and 999. Then she must meet three white horses and afterwards a bald-headed man. The first
man she meets thereafter will be her future husband. One girl said it took her fifteen months to secure ten consecutive license plates bearing the
successive figures listed.
9865. An old woman who kept a saloon years ago said, "If you see a load of beer boxes, count them; if there are twenty-five boxes on the wagon,
you will marry a man that drives a beer wagon."
9866. If all the churches in town can be counted the same day by a girl, immediately after counting them she will meet her future husband.
9867. Let a woman who finds a horseshoe hang it over the door (the front door say some): the first man to enter the door will be her future
husband, if she is unmarried; her second husband, if married. Some also say she must dress up the horseshoe --- such as tying a ribbon on it.
9868. On finding a horseshoe a girl may name it her beau and throw it over her shoulder, usually the left, sometimes the right; she will soon see
him.
9869. The number of nails in a horseshoe found by a woman will tell her how many years are going to pass before marriage, if she is unmarried;
before a divorce, if married.
9870. A girl meeting on the same block six men known to her will soon marry one of them.
9871. After a girl has counted one hundred Negroes, then ninety-nine white persons, then three red-haired boys, and then two red-haired girls, she
will marry the first unmarried man met.
9872. To find a rubber band on the street means getting a sweetheart soon.
9873. Before she is engaged a girl should not accompany her sweetheart to a train on which he is departing; she will never become his wife.
9874. The ability to walk seven railroad rails without stepping off gives you the privilege of marrying anyone desired.
9875. If a girl walks seven railroad rails without speaking and falling off, the first man she meets thereafter will be her future husband.
9876. The girl who can take twelve steps on a railroad rail and not fall off will rule the man she marries.
9877. Before crossing a river a girl may wish for any husband desired.

LOVE BELIEFS AND PASTIMES (9878-9894)

9878. A girl first meeting a man she likes may repeat his name twenty times and that night wish twenty times to see him again.
9879. Never give a beau a deck of cards; he will gamble your love away.
9880. A girl before going to bed may close her eyes and draw seven cards from a deck, put them in an envelope and lay this under the pillow, and
next morning examine the cards: if the majority are hearts and diamonds, she will be married that year; if spades and clubs, she will not.
9881. On Friday night a girl may remove all hearts and diamonds from a deck of cards, stick them in a stocking, and put the latter under the
pillow; the number on the card drawn out of the stocking next morning will indicate how many years she must wait for marriage.
9882. An odd number of girls can tell their fortunes by standing in a circle and each drawing a card out of a bag: if a girl draws the highest card,
she will be the first to marry; if the lowest card, the last.
9883. If you swallow chewing gum, your sweetheart is thinking about you.
9884. A boy's kite breaking loose will land near his girl's home.
9885. Let a girl recite the letters of the alphabet while skipping rope; the letter on which she misses will be the initial of her next beau or future
husband.
9886. While skipping rope a girl may repeat stone, brick, and wood; the material named when a skip is missed will signify the type of house in
which she and her future husband are going to live.
9887. A rhyme made accidentally by a girl is a sign she will see her beau before bedtime; before nine o'clock say some. It is also said the rhyme
must be made before nine o'clock in the morning to see the beau before nine o'clock
that night.
9888.
"If you make a rhyme,
Take it in time;
And you will see your fellow,
Before half-past nine."
9889. The girl who makes a rhyme by accident before going to bed will dream about her future husband.
9890. On making a rhyme by accident, let each word represent a letter of the alphabet and then count the words; the letter representing the last
word will be your future sweetheart's initial.
9891. It is unlucky for a girl to take a puff on the cigarette her sweetheart is smoking; their courtship will soon come to an end.
 236

9892. "Someone told me this, but I didn't believe it: never light a cigarette for your husband; if you do, he will soon run around. I was always
lighting his cigarette for him. We were only married two years and he walked out on me, got another girl."
9893. A girl able to stick her engagement-ring finger through a smoke-ring before it disappears will soon be married. Some say she herself must
blow the ring.
9894. If a girl and her beau visit another girl and he leaves any cigarette stubs there, the girl visited will soon steal him. The only way
this misfortune can be counteracted is for the visiting girl to pick up the stubs and take them away with her.

MARRIAGE (9895-10340)

WHOM TO MARRY (9895-9917)

Birthday - Physical Considerations (9895-9910)
BIRTHDAY
9895. The marriage of a girl to a Friday-born man will fail.
9896. Never marry anyone born on the same day of the month as you were --- for example, if the tenth of March is your birthday, do not choose a
person born on the tenth of any month. The marriage will be unsuccessful.
9897. Persons born in the same month never marry happily.
9898. For a successful marriage, let a winter-born person marry someone born during the summer; a summer-born person, someone born during
the winter.
9899. A person born near the beginning of the year should not marry anyone born near the end of the year; they will never live happily together.
9900. Persons born in the same sign of the Zodiac never marry happily.
9901. Marry young and you marry for trouble.

PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
9902. Homely men make the best husbands.
9903. Two fat persons marrying each other marry unhappily.
9904. To be happy in marriage, a girl should marry a man taller than herself; a man, a girl shorter than himself.
9905. A woman who resembles her mother should never marry a man resembling his mother; their marriage will fail.
9906. Two persons with the same color of eyes marry for trouble.
9907. A blue-eyed girl should marry a grey-eyed man for a lucky marriage.
9908. If a light-haired woman marries a dark-haired man or a dark-haired 1woman marries a light-haired man, they will get along well together;
but if a light-haired woman marries a light-haired man or a dark-haired woman marries a dark-haired man, they will not. Similarly the same thing
is said of light and dark complexions.
9909. The best husbands are made by red-haired men.
9910. Two redheads should never marry; it means a quarrelsome life.

Disposition - Name (9911-9917)

DISPOSITION
9911. A fiery disposition successfully marries a mild one.
9912. As an excellent husband, let a girl select a man good to his mother.
9913. Beaus fond of babies become ideal husbands.
9914. The best housewives are women who were careless when young girls.
9915.
"To change the name and not the letter,
Is a change for the worse, not the better."
or
"Changing the name and not the letter,
Is changing for worse instead of better."
9916. If the first and last letters of a wife's Christian name are the same as the first and last letters of her husband's surname, they may look for a
marriage of happiness.
9917. The woman who marries a stranger will not live long.
PROPOSAL (9918-9922)

9918. To let a man kiss her before he has proposed is unlucky; she will not marry him say some, their marriage will be unhappy say others.
9919. If a girl lets a man propose while they are on a boat, in a train or any running vehicle, he will run away from her after their marriage.
9920. A girl accepting a man the first time he proposes will not hold his love long after they are married.
9921. Girls have the privilege of proposing in leap year.
9922. "I remember one time years ago I was eating in a eating-house and the girl accidentally put two knives at my plate. I said, 'What does this
mean? I can't eat without a fork.' She said, 'Well, it don't mean I am asking you to marry me, for I am not.' It's an old saying you are asking a man
to marry you, if you put two knives or two forks at his plate."

ENGAGEMENT (9923-9941)

9923. A girl choosing the engagement ring never marries the man.
9924. It is lucky for a girl to have her birthstone in the engagement ring.
9425. Some say a girl receiving an emerald in the engagement ring will not become the man's wife, others say she will be an old maid.
9926. To wear or to try her engagement ring on any finger but the correct one will cause the girl bad luck.
9927. A girl removing her engagement ring never marries the man.
9928. A girl trying on another girl's engagement ring never gets one.
9929. A girl losing her engagement ring never marries the man.
9930. A girl who hears her banns announced never has deaf or dumb children.
 237

9931. A lover's quarrel between banns and wedding is most unlucky.

9932. "My niece did this, had her and her beau's picture taken together after they were engaged, even had the picture enlarged. I told them they
would never marry, because that was bad luck. They only laughed. But it was soon after that they had a fuss and they didn't marry." Some say this
misfortune will occur only after the banns have been published.
9933. If engaged woman or man stumbles down steps, it means bad luck or happy married life; only if they stumble together say some.
9934. An engaged girl upsetting her chair when she gets up will soon have her engagement broken.
9935. The significance of an engaged girl dropping a broom is as follows: if the handle points to the north, she or her fiancee will break the
engagement; if to the south, she will marry him and live a happy life.
9936. "This is one my mother told: if a boy and a girl start out on a trip when it is clear and get caught in a big snowstorm, if not engaged,
they soon will be; if engaged, sign they will soon marry."
9937. If a man gives his fiancee gloves, there will be no marriage.
9938. If a woman gives her fiancee socks, he will soon walk away.
9939. An engaged couple may lay two nuts in a fireplace: if the nuts pop away from each other, the marriage will fail; if they do not, succeed.
9940. Let an engaged girl set out a flower: if the plant grows, her marriage will succeed; if it does not grow, the marriage will fail.
9941. At the last party for an engaged couple the future bridegroom may stand in the center of the room and smoke; the person towards whom the
smoke floats will be the next one to marry.

TIME OF WEDDING (9942-9979)

9942. The postponement of a wedding brings bad luck.

9943. Do not postpone a wedding; there will be a death in the family.
9944. If you marry while the hand of the clock goes up, your marriage will be a success; if while the hand of the clock goes down, a failure.
9945. "Wed in the morning, quickly undoing."
9946. A wedding should be solemnized on the hour for good luck.
9947.
"Married on Monday, married for health.
Married on Tuesday, married for wealth.
Married on Wednesday, the best day of all.
Married on Thursday, married for losses.
Married on Friday, married for crosses.
Married on Saturday, no luck at all."
This rhyme has several forms, the first line determining the rest: "If you marry on Monday, you marry for health" — "Marry on Monday, marry
for health" — and "Marry on Monday for health."
9948.
"Wed on Monday, always poor.
Wed on Tuesday, wed once more.
Wed on Wednesday, a happy match.
Wed on Thursday, a plenty catch.
Wed on Friday, poorly mated.
Wed on Saturday, better waited.
Wed on Sunday, cupid wooing."
9949. "Marry on Monday, divorce on Tuesday."
9950. Never marry on Friday; it is hangman's day.
9951. Persons marrying on Friday do not live long.
9952. Saturday was once an unfavorable day for marriage, some calling it Nigger's Day because Negroes were thought to marry then for luck.
Now (by 1935), the long week-end has made Saturday the favorite day.
99S3. If you marry during the light of the moon, everything thereafter will be bright; if the dark of the moon, black — and some add, the nearer to
the new moon, the brighter your married life.
9954. Marriage on the dark of the moon means early death for bride or groom.
9955. A full moon is a fortunate time for a wedding.
9956. It is unlucky to marry on the thirteenth; especially Friday 13.
9957. Your birthday is a good marriage date for a man; bad for a woman.
9958. January marriage, wife lives longer; February marriage, husband.
9959. A February marriage is always followed by a life of trouble.
9960. Those who marry in February or March will live far from home.
9961. March-married persons eventually take a long trip abroad.
9962. March-married persons never settle down; travel all the time.
9963.
"If you marry in May,
You'll rue the day."
or
"Do not get married in May,
For you will rue the day. "
9964. June is the luckiest marriage month; bride treated better say some.
9965. Of all the days in June, the twenty-first is the best for a wedding.
9966. Marriage in July ends in disappointment and trouble.
9967. The man and woman who marry in August will be badly mated.
9968. September marriages run smoothly say some, end in divorces say others.
9969. Next to June, October is the luckiest month for a marriage.
 238

9970. "My mother used to say if you marry in October, you will have a lot of money or a lot of love; one would be missing, you could not have
both." Some say she will obtain both, but others say this is true only when the wife's and husband's birthdays occur in the same month.
9971. A person getting married in November will prosper during life.
9972. The third luckiest month for a marriage is December.
9973.
"Marry in Lent,
You'll live to repent."
9974. A favorable time for marriage is during the forty days following Lent.
9975.
"Marry between sickle and scythe,
And you'll never thrive."
9976.
"Marry in the fall when leaves begin to thin,
Trouble and hardships for you begin."
9977. One of two marriages in the same family the same year will be unhappy.
9978. If persons in the same family get married at the same time, both marriages will fail. This is also said of any double wedding, provided the
same clergyman officiates.
9979. Two persons of one family should never marry two persons of another family, at the same time or during the same year; one of the four
will die before the end of the year.

WEATHER AT WEDDING (9980-9997)

9980. To have clear weather on her wedding day, a woman may feed a cat or dog well the preceding night.
9981. A storm the day before a wedding; a stormy life for the bride.
9982. Rain on the day of the wedding denotes bad luck for the bride; sunshine, good luck. Sometimes, but rather rare, rainy weather is considered
lucky.
9983. If it rains on the wedding day, the bride will have a tearful life (the heavier the rain, the greater the number of tears); if the sun shines, she
will live happily with her husband (the brighter the sun, the happier the life).
Some restrict this omen to rain falling on the bride as she goes to church or to a rainy wedding night. This belief is also expressed in rhyme:
"Happy be the bride on whom the sun shines,
Unhappy be the bride on whom it rains."
or
"Joy for the bride that the sun shines on,
Tears for the bride that the rain falls on."
However, in the case of rain, one hears occasionally a contrary interpretation; each raindrop will bring a new joy.
9984. Some say thunder on the wedding day, especially during the ceremony, signifies unhappiness for the bride; others say trouble for the
bridegroom.
9985. Snow falling on the day of the wedding is a token of happiness for the bridal couple; the bride in particular will have "angels overhead the
rest of her life."
9986. Of wedding-day weather it is said: a bright day, a bright life; a dull day, a dull life.
9987. Even though the wedding-day weather is cloudy, the sun appearing from behind a cloud for a few minutes during the ceremony (shining on
the altar say some) will make the lives of the bridal couple joyous and prosperous.
9988. If it rains on the day of the wedding, the husband will not treat his wife well; if it snows, he will be good to her.
9989. The life of the bride whose wedding day is rainy will be filled with domestic quarrels.
9990. If on the day of the wedding it lightens and thunders, rains or snows (particularly on the bridal carriage going to church), the bride will
separate from her husband before the end of the year.
9991. The girl who marries on a rainy day will be a "sloppy" housekeeper.
9992. Persons marrying during a snowstorm or hailstorm become wealthy.
9993. The significance of a wedding party caught in a rain is that one of its members will marry within a year.
9994. "Snow on your wedding day is a sign you will not live long and I believe it so, for it snowed on my daughter's wedding day and she died
before the year was out."
9995. A rainy day for the wedding means the bride will die first.
9996. If it rains on the bridal carriage, either the bride or the bridegroom will die before the year ends.
9997. If on the day following the wedding it rains, the bride will have many sorrows (cry as much as it rained); if the sun shines, she will be
happy.

BRIDAL ATTIRE (9998-10113)

Material - Color - Borrowed - Old and New (9998-10037)
MATERIAL OF BRIDAL ATTIRE
9998. Let a girl count the buttons of her dress while repeating Silk, satin, calico, rags; the material mentioned on the last
button will be that which she is going to wear at her wedding.
9999. While skipping rope a girl may repeat Silk, satin, calico, rags; the word spoken as she misses a skip will reveal the material of her wedding
dress.
10000. A bride's wedding dress should always be made of plain material; stripes, crosses, or any figures, are unfortunate.
10001. For each stripe a bride has in her wedding dress she will have a quarrel with her husband.

COLOR OF BRIDAL ATTIRE

10002.
"Marry in black,
Wish yourself back."
 239

or
"Married in black,
You'll wish yourself back."
or
"Marry in black,
You'll want to go back."
10003.
"Married in blue,
Love ever true."
or
"Married in blue,
He'll always be true."
or
"If you marry in blue,
Your husband will always be true."
or
"Marry in blue,
You will always be true."
or
"If you marry in blue,
Your love will be true."
10004.
"Marry in brown,
You'll live out of town."
or
"Married in brown,
You'll live out of town."
10005.
"Marry in brown,
You'll sigh and frown."
10006.
"If you marry in brown,
You will get turned down."
or
"If you are married in brown,
Your husband will turn you down."
10007.
"Married in green,
Ashamed to be seen."
or
"Marry in green,
You'll wish you had never been seen."
10008.
"If you marry in green,
You'll always be seen."
10009. Green is an unlucky color for a wedding dress.
10010.
"Married in grey,
You'll go far away."
10011.
"If you get married in grey,
You'll wish yourself far away."
10012. A bride married in grey will have good luck.
10013.
"Married in pearl,
You'll live in a whirl."
10014.
"Marry in pink,
You are going to sink."
or
"Marry in pink,
Your love will sink."
or
"Married in pink,
Your spirits will sink."
10015.
"Marry in purple,
You will always want to be in the circle."
10016.
"Marry in red,
 240

Wish yourself dead."

or
"Married in red,
You'll wish yourself dead."
or
"If you marry in red,
You will wish yourself dead."
or
"If you marry in red,
You’d better be dead."
or
"A bride should never wear anything red,
For within a year she will wish herself dead."
or
"If the first time you meet a woman,
And she is in red,
And later marry her,
You will wish yourself dead."
10017.
"If a woman marries in red,
Her husband will soon be dead."
10018.
"My mother said if you marry in red, you will always be in love with your husband."
10019.
"Marry in yellow,
You will be ashamed of your fellow."
10020.
"Marry in yellow,
Jealous of your fellow."
10021.
"If you marry in yellow,
You'll get another fellow."
10022. At her wedding a bride should wear a yellow garter for luck.
10023.
"Married in white,
You have chosen right."
or
"Married in white,
You've chosen all right."
or
"If you marry in white,
Just right."
10024.
"Marry in white,
Sailor's delight."
10025.
"Marry in white,
You'll quarrel and fight."
or
"If you marry in white,
All your life you will fight."
10026. The woman who marries in white will get a spiteful husband.
10027. Unless a young woman marries in colors, she will not be happy.
10028. If a widow marries in white, green, or yellow, she will be unhappy.
10029. A bride can be lucky by wearing something white and something blue.

BORROWED OR OLD AND NEW BRIDAL ATTIRE

10030. It is lucky for a bride to wear something borrowed.
10031. Bad luck will come to the bride who wears a borrowed wedding dress; good luck, to the owner who lends it. This is also said of any
article.
10032. If a bride wears something borrowed, the lender will either receive a proposal of marriage before the end of the year or be married the
following year.
10033. Concerning bridal attire it is recited:
"Something borrowed made of gold,
Something new and something old."
10034. A bride's attire should include something:
"New and blue,
old and gold."
10035. About a bride's attire they say:
"Wear something white, something blue,
 241

Something old and something new,

And put on first your right shoe."
10036. There is a similar rhyme concerned with bridal attire:
"Wear something white, something blue,
Something old and something new,
And a four-leaf clover in your shoe."
10037. "I remember when I got married my mother wanted me to wear an old nightgown; said it was an old Irish saying, if you wear an old
nightgown instead of a new gown, you will be just as happy and carefree in married life as you was when a girl. I would not listen to her and put
on a new one, and had nothing but trouble."

Making - Preview - Care - Veil (10038-10064)

MAKING OF BRIDAL ATTIRE
10038. A woman who makes her won wedding dress will have an unsuccessful marriage.
10039. For a successful marriage the bride-to-be should let her prospective mother-in-law make the wedding dress.
10040. If while sewing on the bridal dress the thread knots, an unhappy marriage is indicated.
10041. The maker of a bridal dress, or the sewer who shortens it when this is necessary, may leave a pin in the hem to become a bride.
10042. If a girl can secret a lock of her hair in the hem of a bride's dress, she will be married that year.
10043. Blood falling on a bridal dress not yet finished is a portent that the bride's husband will soon kill her.

PREVIEW OF BRIDAL ATTIRE

10044. It is unlucky for an engaged girl to display her hope- chest .
10045. "Never show your wedding nightgown to a friend; very bad luck. I did and didn't live three years with my husband."
10046. No one except members of the family should see the bride's veil before the wedding; unhappiness in marriage will be the result.
10047. After the wedding dress is completed it must not be tried on again until the bride dresses for the ceremony; otherwise bad luck may be
expected.
10048. The girl who lets her future husband see her dressed in bridal attire before the wedding will be unlucky.
10049. If a girl shows the wedding dress to her fiancé anytime preceding the ceremony, they will never marry.

CARE OF BRIDAL ATTIRE

10050. A bride finding a spider on her wedding dress may look for bad luck.
10051. To tear her bridal dress on the day of the marriage indicates trouble for the bride.
10052. If a bride tears her dress during the ceremony (according to some) or after the ceremony and before there is time to take it off (according
to others), she and her husband will not live happily together.
10053. The changing of bridal clothes before night will bring the bride misfortune.
10054. Various beliefs are held about the preservation of bridal attire, depending largely on whether the wedding was formal or informal. As a
general rule they say a bride will be luckless until she wears out everything. On the contrary, according to a few, the dress should not be worn out
but given away or burned. Occasionally the veil is preserved. Most agree that a bride wearing out her wedding slippers before the end of the first
year will be unfortunate. The latter usually presupposes an inability to buy another pair.
10055. "My mother said you will never save a cent or get rich until all your wedding clothes are gone."
10056. The bride who keeps her wedding dress more than a year will always be poor.
10057. "We fussed all the time after I was married, didn't get along at all, when someone told me about getting rid of your wedding clothes, and I
sure did, and we are getting along fine now."
10058. A wedding dress kept three years means widowhood within five years.
BRIDAL VEIL
10059. A bridal veil should never be worn by a girl in a play; she will be an old maid.
10060. The girl who tries on another girl's bridal veil will never wear one of her own.
10061. A bride can obtain wealth by wearing her grandmother's bridal veil.
10062. Good luck will came to the bride whose veil is torn; anytime on the wedding day say some, while in church or at the altar say others.
10063. To step on the bride's veil is unlucky.
10064. If at a wedding an unmarried woman touches the bride's veil, she will be the next to marry; if a married woman, she will soon lose her
husband.

Slippers - Ornaments - Ring - Flowers (10065-10113)

BRIDAL SLIPPERS
10065. "My mother said it's an old German saying if a bride tears her wedding shoes, she will not get along with her husband."
10066. "Grandmother told me this; if a woman tears her wedding shoes on her wedding day, old sign she will be beaten by her husband."
10067. An unhappy marriage is foretold for the bride who breaks the heel off one of her bridal slippers on the day of the wedding.
10068. Let the bride wear a piece of money in the heel of her left slipper at the wedding and she will be wealthy.

BRIDAL ORNAMENTS
10069. Any ornament or accessory lost or misplaced by the bride, will give luck to the finder.
10070. It is unlucky for the bride to wear any borrowed jewelry.
10071. Earrings worn by the bride will make her happy in married life .
10072. The bride who wears pearls will soon shed tears; as same say, each pearl will be an occasion for weeping.
10073. At the wedding a bride may carry her mother's prayer book for luck.
10074. A former bride's handkerchief should never be carried by a bride; bad luck will follow.
10075. You may secretly take the bride's handkerchief or some trinket of hers and wish on it; but unless you return the article, your luck will
change.
10076. If after the bride leaves the altar a girl can obtain a pin out of the bride's dress and keep it, she will be married that year.
 242

WEDDING RING
10077. Unlucky will be the bride who sees her wedding ring before she reaches the altar.
10078. A bride can be fortunate in marriage by wearing her mother's wedding ring.
10079. For a successful marriage, some say the bride should wear her grandmother's wedding ring; others say she should carry it on her person.
10080. Regardless of the two preceding beliefs, the wearing of anyone's wedding ring is generally considered bad luck for the bride.
10081. Do not alter a ring that does not fit, either before or after the wedding; exchange it for another to avoid misfortune.
10082. If the bridegroom buys a ring too large for the bride and has to have it altered, they will not live together long.
10083. "Put the ring on your own finger for three days and wear it, then put it on the person's finger you are going to marry, and you will live
a long life. I did that and I am ninety years old."
10084. Never remove your wedding ring even for a moment; bad luck will be the consequence.
10085. The taking off of your wedding ring will be followed by divorce.
10086. If a woman takes off her wedding ring, she must put it back the same way ---outer edge outward, inner edge inward. Unless this is done,
she and her husband will soon hate each other.
10087. As soon as a woman develops the habit of twisting her wedding ring, it means her husband will soon have a sick spell.
10088. The woman who turns her wedding ring around and around will not live long with her husband; either they will separate or one of them
will die.
10089. To break your wedding ring is a bad luck omen.
10090. A woman whose wedding ring breaks will soon be separated from her husband.
10091. A wife will become a widow the year her wedding ring is broken.
10092. The wedding at which the ring drops will soon end in a separation.
10093. If a woman lets her wedding ring fall into running water, she and her husband will have a quarrel.
10094. The loss of a wedding ring signifies trouble.
10095. Sickness for seven years is denoted for the woman who loses her wedding ring.
10096. A bride losing her wedding ring will not live happily with her husband.
10097. "Should you lose your wedding ring some day, Your husband soon will pass away."
10098. The bride whose wedding ring is lost the first year will lose her husband the second year.
10099. The first to lose his or her wedding ring will be the first to die.
10100. Three months to the day after her husband dies the widow should remove her wedding ring for luck.
10101. "As the wedding ring wears, So wears away life's cares."

FLOWERS FOR THE BRIDE

10102. It is lucky for the bride to wear some hops concealed on her person.
10103. Orange blossoms are lucky, whether worn by the bride or used in wedding decorations.
10104. Red roses in the bridal bouquet bring happiness all through married life.
10105. If anyone wears a tuberose to a wedding, someone in the bridal party will die before the end of the year.
10106. Yellow flowers at a wedding are unlucky.
10107. "When I was a girl they didn't have flowers out in the country like they do now, they always trimmed in cedar, that was the only
decoration in my times. I remember when a little girl I was at my aunt's wedding and the cedar fell down several times. Everyone said it's a bad
omen. She lost her husband the first year they were married, in death."
10108. Bad luck through life may be expected by the bride who drops her bouquet.
10109. To toss her bouquet and not have it caught is a token of bad luck for the bride.
10110. The girl who catches the bride's bouquet will be the next to marry.
10111. If a girl can scatter a handful of rice on the bouquet of a bride walking out of church, she will be the next bride to walk out of that church.
10112. To be the next bride, a girl may steal a flower from the bride's bouquet and wear it out in the heel of her right shoe.
10113. Wedding flowers should be thrown away as soon as possible after the ceremony; to keep them in the house will cause bad luck.

THE WEDDING (10114-10209)

Dressing for - Affected by Death (10114-10139)
DRESSING FOR THE WEDDING
10114. An unpleasant dream on the night before her wedding presages trouble for the bride.
10115. Never awaken the bride or bridegroom on the morning of the wedding; something unfortunate will happen.
10116. The bride who cuts her finger-nails when dressing for the wedding may expect bad luck; toe-nails, good luck. This is also said of the
bridegroom.
10117. At an informal wedding the bride and bridegroom should wear the same color for a happy married life.
10118. If a bride (any girl say some) wears another girl's garter, the latter girl will soon be married.
10119. The bridegroom can have good luck throughout married life by wearing odd socks. Some say one sock should be of a different color from
the other.
10120. Lend some article to the bridegroom and you will marry next year.
10121. "I was down the other day in one of the big stores and there were about five sales-girls pulling out some of their hairs. I said, 'What are
you doing?' They said, 'Someone just sold a new pair of pants to a man to be married in and we are all making wishes and putting two hairs in
the bottom of the hem of his pants so we will get our wish'
10122. A horseshoe carried in his pocket will bring the bridegroom good luck; no longer a shoe from a horse but a small ornamental horseshoe.
10123. If the bride puts a piece of stale bread in her pocket while dressing for the wedding and throws it away as she goes out the door, she will
throw away all her troubles.
10124. Let the bride put salt in her pocket while dressing for the wedding and keep it there until after the ceremony and she will always be
happy.
10125. "My sister did this so she would be satisfied with her man; if you will swallow a rabbit heart before you marry, you will always be
satisfied with who you get."
10126. The sneezing of a cat in front of a woman on the day preceding her marriage is a lucky sign.
10127. If the bride feeds a cat with food put in an old shoe, her married life will be happy.
 243

10128. If an engaged girl on the thirty days preceding her marriage feeds a cat, she will have a nice wedding day.
10129. It is very unlucky for a bride to see a broom on her wedding day before she goes to church.
10130. Neither bride nor bridegroom should wash her or his hands after the dressing for the ceremony has been completed; they will quarrel with
each other all the time. Some small article of clothing should be left off until the last minute.
10131. The bride who looks into a mirror just before leaving for church will be unlucky.
10132. A death in the family is foretold by the bride looking into a mirror after she is ready to leave home for the ceremony.
10133. You can give the bride good luck by sticking her in the arm with a pin.
10134. To be married while there is an open grave in your family causes misfortune.
10135. A bride getting married while there is a death in her family will soon die.
10136. If on the way to church the bridal carriage meets a funeral, bad luck for the bride is indicated; if on the way from church, for the
bridegroom. In the latter case some say both bride and bridegroom will be unlucky.
10137. If on the way to church the bridal carriage meets the funeral of a woman, the bride will die first; if of a man, the bridegroom.
10138. If a wedding and a woman's funeral occur in the same church on the same day, the bride will die first; if a man's funeral, the bridegroom.
10139. "My cousin was buried one morning from the church and I was to be married next morning in the same church. My father wanted to put
my wedding off said I would not live long with my husband. I only laughed and got married. And we did not live together long. My husband got
sick and died." The general rule is: never marry in a church twenty-four hours before or after a funeral.

To and From Church - At Altar (10140 - 10194)

TO AND FROM-CHURCH
10140. A flock of birds flying over the bridal carriage on its way to church betokens many children.
10141. Brides who walk through a cobweb on their way to be married are always fortunate.
10142. "Grandmother said it was unlucky coming home from a church wedding to see a dog on the road. Now we think a dog a friend."
10143. It is lucky to see a dove on your way to church to be married.
10144. To see a frog on your wedding day is a money omen.
10145. Goats seen on your way to be married are lucky.
10146. "I have heard my grandmother say this one and it is very old for I am eighty; if horses stumble in going to church with a couple to be
married, it is very unlucky--one of them will die before the year is out.
10147. The finding of a horseshoe on your wedding day is a lucky token.
10148. On the way to church it is lucky for a bridal party to meet a lamb.
10149. If a pig crosses the path of a bridal carriage on the way to church, bad luck will soon follow.
10150. The significance of seeing a snake on your way to be married is trouble.
10151. Never hand a telegram or deliver a message to a bride or bridegroom on the way to or from church; bad luck will be the result.
10152. The bride who is handed a telegram on the wedding day will die or lose her husband in death before they have been married a year.
10153. If the bride or bridegroom on leaving home for the ceremony steps into water, someone in the wedding party will soon marry.

AT THE ALTAR
10154. To be married at home is lucky.
10155. You may expect another wedding in the same family, if any relative of the bride or bridegroom is late for the wedding.
10156. It is unlucky to be married without father or mother at the wedding.
10157. As his best man, the bridegroom for luck should always choose a relative.
10158. Three times a bridesmaid; never a bride.
10159. A girl acting the part of a bride in a play will be unfortunate, unless there is also a bridegroom in the cast.
10160. If an unmarried woman plays the wedding march for three weddings, she will be an old maid; if a married woman, she will soon get a
divorce.
10161. Two weddings attended on the same day by a girl will bring her a beau.
10162. If you are invited to a wedding and do not go, you will soon be unlucky.
10163. Always drop a penny in the yard for luck when leaving home to attend a wedding.
10164. Never let a bride see the marriage license before the wedding; her married life will be unhappy.
10165. If the betrothed couple read the marriage service together before their wedding, bad luck may be expected.
10166. Some misfortune will come to the bride who on the wedding day and before reaching the altar repeats or thinks of any words in the
marriage service.
10167. The girl who reads the marriage service on the night before her wedding will have bad luck.
10168. A girl may make a wish as the bride enters the church door (if a home wedding, the door of the room in which the ceremony occurs); the
first man she meets and speaks to after that will be her future husband.
10169. Unfortunate will be the bride who looks back as she enters church.
10170. To stumble while she is entering church or walking up the aisle means unhappiness for the bride.
10171. If on the wedding day the bride and bridegroom see each other or meet before the ceremony, it is unlucky or the sign of an unhappy
married life.
10172. If on the wedding day the bride sees the bridegroom before he sees her, she will always retain her influence Over him; if the bridegroom
sees the bride before she sees him, he will always retain his influence over her.
10173. To have something go wrong and momentarily stop the wedding service is unlucky; some say the couple being married will not live
happily together.
10174. A bat flying into the church during a wedding ceremony portends trouble.
10175. "My grandmother said if dogs are fighting outside while a couple are getting married, they will fight all the time too."
10176. Tallow running down the side of a wedding candle signifies a death in the family of the bride or bridegroom.
10177. The side on which wedding candles flicker will indicate whether the bride or bridegroom is going to die first.
10178. The interpretation for a wedding candle going out is death within a year.
10179. "My grandmother told me: if at church, if the bride and groom don't stand together close at the altar, the witches will pass through them
and they will be very unhappy through life." The usual form for this belief is: if you can see between the bride and bridegroom standing at the
altar, they will never get along together.
 244

10180. It is unlucky for the bridegroom to misplace the wedding ring and hunt for it.
10181. Some say a wedding ring falling at the ceremony is an omen of bad luck; others say the bride and bridegroom will not stay together a
year.
10182. A bride to have luck should take off her wedding ring as soon as possible, then put it back just before leaving church; but it must never
be taken off again.
10183. When hands are joined during the wedding service, the one whose thumb is on top will rule the household.
10184. When hands are joined during the wedding service, the one whose hand is colder will die first.
10185. An unusual silence following the pronouncement of man and wife denotes good luck.
10186. If when arising from their knees the bride steps on the bridegroom's coat, she will always be the boss.
10187. The first one to take a step after the end of the wedding ceremony will be the head of the family.
10188. "I know this is very true for I always watch. When getting married, the first one to move after they are pronounced man and wife, they
will die first. A very cripple man out here in the south part of town was going to be married in St. Mary's Church. He just couldn't stand still; he
would stand on one foot then the other, he was just terrible. Well, some ladies and I went to St. Mary's Church to see what he would do at his
wedding, and he stood still. And when they started to leave the altar, the girl move first and she died first. Maybe you think I am funny, but I go
to all the weddings I can to see who will die first."
10189. On leaving church a bride should always put her right foot first for luck and happiness. This is the usual belief, but some say she should
do the same thing when entering church.
10190. The bride stepping out of church left foot first and the bridegroom right foot first foretells trouble with another woman.
10191. If you give one of your hairs to a man and ask him to hold it between his thumb and index finger, the first word he speaks thereafter will
be the first spoken to his bride.
10192. The clergyman officiating at the wedding should be given an odd sum of money for luck.
10193. "I heard grandma tell, that before the Civil War they never got a license to marry. The colored folks would have to walk backwards and
jump over a broom, and they were married."
10194. "My mother lived in the South when a little girl during the Civil War. I have often heard her tell when the colored folks got married the
man would lay the broom down on the floor with the bushy end to the north, then he would take the girl by the hand, they step over the broom,
then backward again. Then the girl picked up the broom, laying it down again with the bushy end to the south, then the girl took the man by the
hand and they step over it and backward again, to keep evil away and bad spirits through their life. Mother said many a night she would steal
down and watch when she heard some of the colored folks were going to get married."

Bridal Kiss - Tears at Wedding (10195-10209)

BRIDAL KISS
10195. Unless the bride kisses the bridegroom immediately after the nuptial blessing, they will have trouble.
10196. Most persons say the bride for luck should kiss the best man second, but some say he should be kissed first.
10197. A bride who is kissed by her father before she is kissed by her mother will be lucky.
10198. The first man to kiss the bride will be the next to marry.
10199. If an ex-lover with hatred in his heart kisses the bride on her wedding day, the honeymoon will be unhappy.
10200. To kiss the bride before her husband has an opportunity will make you fortunate all year.
10201. You can be lucky by kissing a bride.
10202. A wish made while kissing a bride will come true.
1020.3. Do not kiss the bridegroom before you have kissed the bride; bad luck will be fall you.
10204. "My granddaughter was married last Sunday and her new husband kissed me right after he kissed my granddaughter for luck."
TEARS AT THE WEDDING
10205. Some say it is unlucky for a bride to weep on her wedding day; others say it is lucky, she has wept all her tears away.
10206. "I had a friend that tried to cry on her wedding day and could not, and she only lived eighteen months after her wedding."
10207. A bride crying on her wedding day will not live long with her husband.
10208. The bride whose father cries at the wedding may expect bad luck.
10209. Good luck may be expected by any wedding guest who cries.

WEDDING FESTIVITIES (10210-10301)

Things Thrown - Presents - Feast (10210-10268)
THINGS THROWN
10210. As a bride leaves the house, throw the door key at her that she will always stay home and be thrifty.
10211. Throw rice after a newly wedded couple to give them luck.
10212. Rice thrown at a newly married couple increases the chances of their having children.
10213. If you can secretly slip some rice into the bridegroom's hat or pocket and make a wish while doing this, your wish will be granted.
10214. To pick up and keep a piece of rice that hit a bride makes you lucky.
10215. A girl who can without attracting attention drop a few grains of rice on the church steps as she enters to attend a wedding will be a
bride before the year ends.
10216. At a bride leaving home to get married, throw salt for luck and a long life.
10217. The throwing of an old shoe after a newly wedded couple causes them good luck.
10218. If someone throws an old shoe at a bridal pair and it hits one of them, they will be fortunate.
10219. An old shoe thrown at a bride should be kept by her for luck.
10220. Let someone toss an old shoe among the guests at a wedding; the person hit by it will be the first of that group to marry.
10221. "I have often heard my mother say in olden times they used wheat to throw at a newly married couple if they didn't have rice to bring
them luck."

WEDDING PRESENTS
10222. Never choose a bedspread or counterpane as a wedding present; the bride and bridegroom will quarrel all the time.
10223. Brides should not accept a coffeepot for a wedding present; bad luck will follow.
10224. A fern given to the bride as a wedding present is a cause of sorrow.
 245

10225. Forks are a lucky wedding present.

10226. Any iron object is an unsuitable wedding present; the bridal couple will have a hard time getting along together.
10227. It is unlucky to give away or sell any of your wedding presents.
10228. If at a shower for a prospective bride you can open one of the packages without being seen, good luck will come to her.
10229. "I never heard this until the other day when I was at a shower for a bride-to-be. She started to cutting a ribbon on one of the packages.
A woman said, 'Don't do that; always pull off all the ribbons and strings for luck. Never cut them with anything like a knife or scissors; you are
cutting your luck.'

WEDDING FEAST
10230. Some say it is unlucky for a bride to have an unequal number of guests at her wedding breakfast; others say it is lucky for a bride to have
an uneven number of guests at her wedding supper.
10231. Thirteen place-plates on the bride-and-groom table at the wedding breakfast indicate a death in the bride's or bridegroom's family before
the end of the year.
10232. The significance of two spoons found together at the bride's table is another marriage in the family soon.
10233. Whoever at a wedding feast is accidentally seated between the bride and bridegroom will soon be engaged.
10234. A bride should never bake her own wedding cake; misfortune in marriage will be the result.
10235. The bride who lets her wedding cake get stale will be unfortunate all through life. Another variant of this belief states that it is lucky to eat
all the wedding cake on the wedding day and unlucky to leave the smallest piece.
10236. A needle, thimble and penny may be baked in the wedding cake: the girl who gets the needle will always be a seamstress; the thimble, an
old maid; and the penny, she will marry a rich man.
10237. The finder of the dime in a wedding cake will marry for money.
10238. To find the money in the wedding cake signifies that your marriage will be long delayed.
10239. If a bridesmaid takes a piece of the wedding cake home and keeps it, she will soon be happily married.
10240. At the wedding let each woman lay a fragment of the wedding cake under the bride's pillow to bestow upon her good luck and a happy
life.
10241. Sleep with a piece of wedding cake beneath your pillow for luck.
10242. You can dream about your future married mate by sleeping on a piece of wedding cake.
10243. If a bridesmaid sleeps on a piece of wedding cake three nights, she will be married within a year.
10244. If a girl sleeps on a piece of wedding cake three nights and dreams of the same man each night, she will marry him.
10245. Let a girl for three nights keep beneath her pillow a stocking holding a piece of wedding cake and three slips of paper on each of which
she has written the name of a boy; also let her each morning draw out one of the slips, not reading it. The last slip drawn on the third morning
may be read, since it will contain the name of the boy who loves her best.
10246. Write separately six names of the opposite sex and the word stranger on seven slips of paper, put them and a piece of wedding cake under
your pillow, and each morning remove one slip; the last slip on the seventh morning will reveal your future husband or wife.
10247. Should a bridesmaid desire to marry before the year is out, let her sleep on a piece of wedding cake she has thrice passed through a
wedding ring; if she dreams of the man desired, he will soon be her husband.
10248. The girl who receives the largest piece of the groom's cake will be the next person married.
10249. For a long and happy life a bridegroom may bury a piece of his wedding cake under his front doorstep.
10250. As a symbol of good luck, a head of cabbage should be served at the wedding dinner.
10251. It is unlucky to spill wine on your clothes at a wedding.
10252. Always wear old shoes to a wedding and you will be lucky.
10253. Never quarrel at a wedding; you will soon have a misfortune.
10254. If someone sneezes at a wedding, it means bad luck; for the sneezer say some, for the bride say others.
10255. If someone sneezes three times at a wedding, happiness for the bridal couple is denoted.
10256. To have a hen enter the house and cackle during the wedding festivities is a sign of good luck for the bridal couple.
10257. The flight of a white pigeon near a house during wedding festivities within may be interpreted as marriage for some member of the party
before the year ends.
10258. A bride breaking anything, usually a dish or a glass, on her wedding day will have bad luck throughout married life say some; will have
her marriage broken up soon say others.
10259. "I have always heard if you break a dish on your wedding day, the bride or groom will die before the year is out."
10260. The woman who breaks something on her bridal day will quarrel with her mother-in-law; the husband will agree with his mother add
some.
10261. Glass ware broken at a wedding indicates the bridal couple will never be rich.
10262. If on her wedding day a bride is hit in any way ---by falling from or knocking against a chair and the like ---she may look for a life full
of trouble.
10263. A man should never stand at a closed gate on his wedding day; he is closing out his luck.
10264. Any separation between bride and bridegroom after the ceremony and before midnight ---such as riding home in different vehicles, one of
them being called away by an emergency, and the like ---is an omen of misfortune.
10265. Bride and bridegroom following the ceremony may carve their initials on an oak tree; they will be in love as long as that tree lives.
10266. If the bridegroom holding a broom stands on one side of the room and all single men lined up on the other side of the room race towards
him at a given signal, the first contestant to grasp the broom will be the next bridegroom.
10267. After the wedding feast let the bride try to catch with the tablecloth one of the unmarried girls; the first girl caught will be the next bride.
10268. "Some believe if you put three buckets of water on the floor and let the bride and groom dance in, that will hold them together. I went to a
wedding [about 1870] down in the South Bottom near Hannibal [Missouri] and they put three buckets of water on the kitchen floor, and the bride
and groom danced in that water ---they were a sight. I had never seen anything like that before, because I have always lived up around Lima and
down in the North Bottom. I went to another wedding down in the South Bottom years ago, I don't remember what they were ---I am German and
Irish mixed --- only I was there. The groom danced the first dance with his bride, then danced with every girl in the house; never danced-with his
bride again until they played, Home Sweet Home, the last dance. The bride danced with every man, the same way, in the house ---this was a
house wedding. I asked someone there why they did it and they told me it was an old saying: that you could let everyone come between you
before living together, but this was to keep anyone from coming between them after they start to live together. I was at another wedding down in
 246

the South Bottom when I was a girl. You see, I had a beau down there and we had a lot of kinfolks living down there, and I used to go to every
party or dance I could. At this wedding they passed a big jug of whisky, and everyone was suppose to touch their lip to the jug even if they didn't
drink, to bring luck to the new bride. I didn't drink, but I touched the jug with my lips."

Charivari - Entering New Home - First Night (10269-10301)

CHARIVARI
10269. The charivari, locally and popularly pronounced shiver-e.e., died just before the First World War. I mentioned this mock serenade
of discordant noise at weddings merely because of a vague sense of luck connected with it; its centuries-old prophylactic purpose having been
forgotten. Naturally also, the custom was once a social-status symbol; the larger the crowd and clamor, the more important or successful the
wedding. Most frequently the horrible sounds of the charivari were made by a temporary neighborhood group, but occasionally a permanent
organization was involved, usually a musical band of a primitive type.
The last of these bands to my knowledge congratulated my father on election night in 1910, after his first election to the City Council.
He should have been congratulated, having fought the "City Hall Gang" in his newspaper column for several years. What a fight and what a
noise! My father who was born in Quincy, in 1855, thirty years after the town was founded, said it was the "old time charivari bunch" come back
to life. Why shouldn't they have been with their proclaimed name of, stamped on their bass drum, R. A. R. --- the Ragged-Ass ed Rounders.

BRIDE ENTERING HER NEW HOME

10271. Never should a bride be the first one entering her new home; one of her relatives should enter first to make the house lucky.
10272. The first one of the bridal couple to step into the new home will be the boss.
10273. "Another I have heard; mother said if a bride steps into her home first, she will die first."
10274. On first going into her new home a bride should be carried over the threshold by her husband for luck.
10275. "This is another; if the groom picks his bride up and carries her into the house, they will never part --- only in death."
10276. A bride can secure good luck in married life by jumping or stepping over a broom immediately after the wedding. Some say this should be
done just before she enters the door of the new home. This rite is also said to protect her against hoodoo.
10277. The mother-in-law should break a cake or a loaf of bread over the bride's head as she first passes through the door of her new home; this
will establish and preserve friendly relations between them.
10278. If before passing through the door of her new home for the first time a bride scatters salt across the threshold and walks backwards over it
into the house, she will be fortunate and contented while living there.
10279. If bride and bridegroom pour boiling water over the doorstep just before they walk into their new home, they will obtain good luck and
happiness.
10280. If boiling water is poured over the doorstep just before the bride leaves for the wedding, the first single girl to cross this water after
the bride will be a wife within a year.
10281. If a bridesmaid pours boiling water over the doorstep as the bride and bridegroom leave on their honeymoon, another marriage will occur
in that group before twelve months have passed.

FIRST NIGHT
10282. A pound of limbered cheese spread between two towels and laid under the pillows of a bridal couple on their first night together will give
them good luck and many children.
10283. The bride who on her wedding night throws away each pin as she undresses will have a lucky married life.
10284. Just before going to bed the bride and bridegroom may try on each others pants; the pair fitting the better shows who will wear the pants
in that household.
10285. Whichever person blows out the candle or lamp on the wedding night will always rule his or her mate.
10286. "My mother said the first one to blow the lamp out that night when people get married would be the first one to die. Some people would
let the lamp burn all night."
10287. A lamp chimney broken on the night of the wedding foretells the bride and bridegroom will live unhappily together.
10288. If the bridegroom gets into bed first on the wedding night, there will not be any children; if the bride, children at once and many of them.
10289. The first one of the bridal couple getting into bed on the wedding night will die first.
10290. Bride and bridegroom sleeping with their heads to the north on their wedding night will always be happy.
10291. The night of your wedding always sleep with head to the east and feet to the west for luck.
10292. If on their wedding night the bride and bridegroom sleep with backs together, they will have a quarrelsome life; if with faces together, a
peaceful life.
10293. Unlucky will be the bride who sleeps in her husband's arms the first night she is married.
10294. To sleep with her husband before the third night of their marriage causes the bride bad luck.
10295. It is unlucky for a bride "to hang her husband's clothes in her closet" until they have been married seven days.
10296. Each night for the first seven nights of their marriage the bride should go to bed last and sleep in front of her husband with back
turned towards him; this will bring them a long and happy life.
10297. The person turning over first in bed on the wedding night will be the first to die.
10298. If a pillow drops off the bed on the wedding night, the one letting it drop will die first.
10299. First to fall asleep on the wedding night; first to be taken by death.
10300. "I had always heard this and on my wedding night I got out of bed forgetting the old saying --- it is very bad luck for a bride to put her feet
on the bare floor on her wedding night — and put my feet on the bare floor, and I had nothing but bad luck and hell all through my married life."
10301. The first one of the bridal couple to get out of bed next morning will be the boss.

MARRIED LIFE (10302-10340)

10302. A bride should keep for several days the first loaf of bread she bakes or buys and then eat it for luck — to have bread always in the
house say some.
10303. Housekeeping begun with an old broom means bad luck; with a new broom, good luck.
10304. Never throw away the first broom worn out after your marriage; you are throwing away your luck. Some say you must keep the broom,
others say you must burn it up.
 247

10305. For happiness in marriage a bride should not sweep the floor until she has been married seven days.
10306. Immediately after a bride has burned her first food while cooking, she will quarrel with her mother-in-law.
10307. The bride who burns her first cake is burning up a lot of trouble.
10308. "My mother said a bride should always start housekeeping with an old coffeepot to have good luck in married life."
10309. If a bride's first coffee boils over on the stove, her mother-in-law hates her.
10310. To become a good housekeeper, let the bride use as her first dish rag one of her mother's old dish rags.
10311. "My niece did this just this spring. The first potatoes you peel after you are married, leave a little of the peeling on and eat the
potato yourself; you will have good luck through life."
10312. "I went to see my niece after she was married several years and she had everything so nice. I said, 'You have everything you want.' Then
she said, 'We took a package of rice in our house first, that is why. Mother said if you do this, you will always have plenty, and we did'."
10313. Always cook rice the first day of housekeeping and your married life will be trouble less.
10314. A bride who seats her husband at the head of the table for their first meal and never lets anyone else sit in that place will live a life free
from quarrels.
10315. "The next morning after you are married, if the groom should say, 'I will go to the grocery store,' you say, 'I wear the pants,' and go; if you
don't, you will always be fussing; for it's bad luck for a groom to buy groceries the next morning after you are married; sign you will fuss all the
time."
10316. "Another thing --- if a man asks you to marry him, you ask him who is going to carry the pocketbook, the groom or the bride; for it is bad
luck for the groom to carry it the first year."
10317. They say a bride will be kissed by a strange man just after she sews the first button on her husband's shirt.
10318. If a husband's fire does not burn well in the morning, his wife will get up out of humor; if a wife's fire does not burn well in the morning,
her husband will get up out of humor.
10319. The first white lie told by a bride will bring her money.
10320. Mustard seed planted the first year of married life are an indication of death for the bride or bridegroom within twelve months.
10321. "My mother always said it is very bad luck to sign your maiden name right after you are married. I forgot and signed my maiden name
right after was married; I have had nothing but trouble through married life."
10322. "I knew where a mailman forgot a bride's mail on the first day and had to go back with it, took it back in the afternoon; that's bad luck,
and the bride was dead in six weeks."
10323. Bride and bridegroom being photographed together on their wedding day will soon live apart.
10324. It is unlucky for a bride to have an uneven number of guests at her first party.
10325. Men who sit on rocking-chairs all the time love their wives.
10326. A man kissing his wife before breakfast will quarrel with her before the end of the day.
10327. Some say a wife who blackens her husband's shoes will quarrel with him before night; others say she will be given a black eye.
10328. A wife can hold her husband's love by blackening her shoes every Sunday morning.
10329. A wife who changes money for a neighbor will soon lose her husband.
10330. "Years ago an old steamboat captain told me this that was a captain on one of the river boats that run on the Mississippi River into
Quincy. If you sleep with your head to the head of the bed and your wife with hers to the foot of the bed, in her sleep she will tell you if she is
true to you."
10331. To ascertain whether her husband is faithful, let the wife sleep with a piece of her wedding cake under her pillow; that night she will get
an answer in a dream.
10332. "I tried this to see if my husband was true or false. I put a dollar in his pocket just before he went to bed. If next morning he says
anything about finding the dollar, he is true. He didn't say anything about it, so I knew he was false. I am eighty years old now."
10333. Never begin divorce proceedings on Friday; you will not marry again.
10334. A person divorced on Saturday will marry before the end of the year.
10335. If a woman divorces her first husband and marries again before he dies, her mother will be unlucky.
10336. Always choose your second mate at the grave of the first one and your second marriage will be successful.
10337. It is said of wedded life:
"First month, honey month,
Next month, like pie;
Third month, you dirty bitch (or bastardy),
Get out and work like I."
10338. To keep her marriage secret a year is unlucky for a woman; some say the husband will step out on her during the second year.
10339. "I always worried and said to my husband, 'I will be glad when the seventh year is gone,' for they say the seventh year of your married life
is the worst. And the last week of the seventh year I lost my husband."
10340. The thirteenth year of your married life is always the luckiest.
The following are the wedding anniversaries:
First — cotton Eleventh --- steel
Second --- paper Twelfth --- silk and fine linen
Third --- leather Thirteenth --- lace
Fourth --- fruit and flowers Fourteenth --- ivory
Fifth --- wooden Fifteenth --- crystal
Sixth --- sugar Twentieth --- china
Seventh --- woolen Twenty-fifth — silver
Eighth --- rubber Thirtieth --- pearl
Ninth --- willow Fortieth --- ruby
Tenth --- tin Fiftieth --- golden
Seventy-fifth --- diamond

CLOTHING AND DRESSING (10341-11154)

SEWING (10341-10636)
 248

Time to Sew - Mending (10341-10406)

TIME TO SEW
10341. It is unlucky to sew after dark.
10342. "My grandmother always said it was bad luck to quilt after dark."
10343. "My mother had an old saying: never sew in the twilight, for you will always be poor." Similarly another woman said, "I guess that's why
I'm always broke; I always sew after sundown."
10344. The woman who sews before breakfast will have a disappointment before she goes to bed.
10345. "I have always found out if you cut a dress out on Monday, will take you a long time to finish it."
10346. Anything cut out on Tuesday will never be finished.
10347. "It's an old saying everyone tells, never start anything on Friday you can't finish that day; but my mother always said even if you finished,
it was bad luck, and would not let us start. I remember when I was young we lived on a farm; my sister was older and wanted to cut out a
sunbonnet on Friday, said she would get it done. Mother said no. Well, my sister went upstairs and cut the bonnet out so mother could not see her.
She had some new material she was crazy about, didn't listen to mother; thought if she finished, it would be all right, and did. The next morning
she got up and took her bonnet along to get the cows. She hung her bonnet on the barn door and started to milking a cow. While milking this cow,
another old cow came along and tore her sunbonnet all to pieces. She was just sick, for she lost all her pretty material. Mother said, 'That's your
bad luck for cutting it out and finishing it.' Sister never cut out anything again on Friday."
10348. "Never quilt on Friday is an old saying of my grandmother; said it would bring bad luck."
10349. If you begin sewing on Friday, you will never finish your task.
10350. You will have bad luck with the garment you begin on Friday and are unable to finish that day.
10351. "My mother always said if you started anything on Friday and didn't finish it before Sunday, something very unlucky will happen to you.
Never let a garment lay in the house over Sunday unfinished that you started on Friday."
10352. "I have cut out dresses several times on Friday, forgetting if you cut a dress out on Friday it will never fit, and I never could get them to
fit."
10353. The person who cuts out a garment on Friday can avoid bad luck by taking seven stitches in the cloth.
10354. "I always cut a dress out on Friday for luck and start to sewing it on a Monday."
10355. "I never cut a dress out on Saturday, because I think Saturday unlucky."
10356. Begin to sew on Saturday and you will soon finish.
10357. Sewing started on Saturday and not completed that day remains unfinished.
10358. It is unlucky to sew or to cut a garment on Sunday.
10359. A Sunday sewer makes the heart of Jesus bleed or those who sew on Sunday are sticking the needle through Christ's heart.
10360. Each stitch taken on Sunday stitches a pain in the Savior.
10361. The Savior's side bleeds with every stitch you take on Sunday.
10362. A woman who sews up a rip in her dress on Sunday will be lied about before the day is gone.
10363. The number of stitches you take on Sunday (in a runner of your stocking say some) reveals how many lies will be told about you the
following week.
10364. Sew on Sunday and you will remove the stitches on Monday.
10365. She who sews on Sunday will rip out each stitch with her nose on Monday.
10366. If you sew on Sunday, you will be compelled to pick out the stitches with your nose in the life hereafter.
10367. Every stitch you took on Sunday must be ripped out with your teeth on Judgment Day.
10368. Sunday sewers will have to rip out all the stitches in the next life.
10369. A woman who sews on Sunday will continue sewing after death.
10370. For each stitch taken on Sunday, the devil will take nine stitches in your eyelids when you die.
10371. The number of stitches you take on Sunday will be the number of stitches you will take in your eyebrows in hell.
10372. As many stitches as a sewer takes on Sunday, so many will be the stitches taken in her tongue when she dies.
10373. Always sew on Sunday without a thimble so that you will not be forced to unrip the work with your nose in the next world.
10374. You will shed a tear for every stitch taken while wearing a thimble on Sunday.
10375. A woman may sew on Sunday without becoming unlucky, if she does not use a thimble.
10376. Bad luck caused by Sunday sewing is averted by keeping a stick in your mouth.
10377. Cross your feet while you darn on Sunday and you will not have bad luck.
10378. It is unlucky to sew on Sunday, unless you go to church first.
10379. Do not sew between Christmas and New Year's Day; bad luck will come to you.
10380. "If you want to have good luck, start a pillowslip when the old year is going out and the new year is coming in and do not give it away;
if you give the slip away, you will have bad luck. I started a pair of pillow- slips one year on New Year's Eve and gave the pair away, and I had
very bad luck right after I gave them away."
10381. "I always make a new pair of pillowslips on New Year's Day so I will have money all year."
10382. A woman who wants to sew all the time was born with a needle in her hand.
10383. To sew while on a boat is unlucky.

MENDING
10384. Anything new sewed on an old garment will bring you bad luck.
10385. "Never patch an old garment with new cloth, for it will never do you any good. I remember when I was a girl my mother always sewed a
piece of cloth in a dress so when the dress was washed the cloth could be washed with it, so it would be old cloth to patch with."
10386. It is unlucky to sew a garment while on you, whether you or someone else does the sewing.
10387. Hold a straight pin in your mouth when mending the clothes you have on and you will not be unlucky.
10388. Hold a straw in your mouth when mending the clothes you have on and you will not be unlucky.
10389. You will get a pain for every stitch someone takes in mending a garment you have on.
10390. Each stitch taken in a garment that a child has on represents a whipping for the child.
10391. As many stitches as you take in a garment which you have on, so many tears will you shed.
10392. Let someone take stitches in a garment you have on and you will soon be arrested.
10393. The mending of an article of clothing on you will make you stupid.
 249

10394. Stitches taken in a dress you have on will always keep you poor.
10395. Never let anyone mend a garment while you have it on; you will soon be the subject of gossip.
10396. Some scandal will soon be told about the woman who sews up a hole in a stocking she has on.
10397. The woman who takes any stitches in a dress she has on will soon have a lie told about her.
10398. If you mend a garment on you, there will be a lie told about you with as many words as stitches used.
10399. There will be a lie told about you for each stitch taken in a dress you have on.
10400. If you must mend a dress while you have it on, hold a pin or something sharp-pointed in your mouth while sewing and a lie will not be
told about you.
10401. To mend a sock or stocking on the right side causes good luck; on the left, bad luck.
10402. A person who shortens a friend's coat will soon get a letter with good news from a friend.
10403. "I always put it up if I sew anything wrong and work on it the next day, for it is bad luck to rip anything you sew wrong on the same
day."
10404. If you try on a dress and have to rip out what has just been sewn, you will live to wear out the garment.
10405. Always sew up the left sleeve first when making a new garment and the wearer will never be without money.
10406. "I knew a woman that was making a dress and a spark from the stove blew on it and made a small hole in the dress. She said it was very
bad luck and put the whole dress in the stove and let it burn up to keep from having bad luck."

Thimble - Thread - Needle - Scissors (10407-10490)

THIMBLE
10407. The use of a thimble while sewing on a button is unlucky.
10408. If a woman uses a thimble while sewing on a button, she will never learn how to sew.
10409. A thimble falling off your finger shows you are slow and lazy.
10410. If you go somewhere with your sewing and forget to take your thimble home, you are leaving all your luck at that house.
10411. Never give a thimble to a friend; you will soon lose the friendship of that person.
10412. It is lucky to find a thimble; provided you keep and use it say some.

THREAD
10413. Always tie a knot in the end of the thread before breaking it off the spool and your thread will not become tangled.
10414. To prevent your thread from knotting, thread the needle with the loose end, not with the end broken off the spool.
10415. Your thread becoming knotted is a sign of a quarrel.
10416. A woman whose thread tangles is quarrelsome.
10417. Knots in your thread indicate you are sewing for a mean person.
10418. If your thread knots all the time, you will soon hear of trouble.
10419. Thread should always be broken off, for biting it off causes a quarrel.
10420. The sewer who threads a needle with a long thread is a careless person.
10421. It is unlucky to let someone thread your needle for you.
10422. Three spools of thread dropped in one day mean three persons are coming to see you that day.
10423. If you find a piece of thread, put it in your stocking for luck.

NEEDLE
10424. The dropping of a needle is a lucky omen.
10425. If you let a needle fall and it sticks in the floor, bad luck may be expected; but if you kiss the palm of your right hand three times, the
misfortune can be counteracted. Sometimes this counteractant is given as a positive method for obtaining good luck.
10426. If the head of a falling needle sticks in something so that the point remains upright (head resting in floor crack, pile of rug, etc.) sharp luck
is coming to you.
10427. A needle dropping and sticking in the floor indicates unexpected company.
10428. After a needle drops and sticks in the floor, expect the arrival of a stranger within three days.
10429. If a needle falls and sticks in the floor, the direction toward which it leans will be the direction from which company will come.
10430. A sewer who drops a needle that sticks in the floor has killed an enemy.
10431. To carry a needle stuck in your clothes will bring you a disappointment.
10432. If you lose your needle and someone asks whether it was threaded, the needle will be found.
10433. It is unlucky to break a needle.
10434. A needle broken while sewing should never be thrown on the floor; bad luck will follow. Always bury a broken needle in the ground for
luck.
10435. The breaking of a needle on Sunday causes bad luck.
10436. If you break a needle while patching a man's pants, he will be lucky.
10437. If you break a needle while making a dress, you will not have any luck when wearing that dress.
10438. A needle that breaks in your hand while sewing is a sign of a serious disappointment.
10439. To break a sewing-machine needle while making a dress signifies you will get another dress before the one being made wears out.
10440. The person who breaks a needle while sewing will soon lose a friend.
10441. A needle broken by you on your off-day means you will go broke.
10442. If you break a needle while making a garment for yourself, you will live to wear it out; if for someone else, that person will not live to
wear it out.
10443. If you borrow or accept the gift of a needle, you will have bad luck; but if you let the lender or giver prick your finger with the needle,
the bad luck can be avoided. Similarly, if a package of needles is given, your arm must be pricked with one of them.
10444. If you loan or give a needle to someone, you and that person will quarrel or your friendship will be broken; but if you prick the recipient
with the needle, this misfortune can be prevented.
10445. "If you find a needle, give it away; And you will have good luck all that day."
10446. The person finding a needle and not picking it up will be unlucky.
10447. If you go visiting and see a needle on the floor, pick it up and keep it for sharp luck.
 250

10448. To see a needle pointed toward you as you enter a building is lucky.
10449. A needle found sticking in your door denotes money.
10450. It is fortunate for a man to find a needle stuck in his shirt.
10451. The person who finds a threaded needle may look for bad luck.
10452. To sew with a needle that you have found is unlucky.
10453. The finding of a needle portends bad news.

SCISSORS
10454. Never use new scissors before naming them after a good friend; this will make you lucky when using them.
10455. Scissors used on Sunday will give you bad luck, unless you use a thimble at the same time.
10456. To leave scissors open while sewing is an indication you will be disappointed.
10457. It is unlucky to let scissors lie about; always hang them on a nail for luck.
10458. Hang your scissors in the front hall and you will be very unlucky.
10459. The person who lays scissors on a cookstove will have bad luck.
10460. To sit on a pair of scissors is a bad omen.
10461. If you sit on scissors, a disappointment may be expected --- that day say some.
10462. Whoever steps on scissors will be disappointed.
10463. The breaking of scissors is unfortunate.
10464. To avert bad luck after you have broken the scissors, save the point.
10465. To avert bad luck after you have broken the scissors, put the point in a bag and wear it in the lining of your coat. Similarly, a scissors
point is sometimes worn in this manner for sharp luck.
10466. A person dropping scissors will become unlucky.
10467. To avoid bad luck after you have dropped the scissors, pick them up with the point away from you.
10468. To avoid bad luck after you have dropped the scissors, step on them before picking them up.
10469. To avoid bad luck caused by dropping the scissors on Sunday, let them lie until Monday.
10470. "In my young days I was a milliner and whenever I dropped my scissors I would always pick them up and kiss them so I would have good
luck and not bad luck."
10471. If your scissors fall and stick in the floor, good luck is denoted say some; bad luck, say others.
10472. Some say your scissors falling and sticking in the floor is lucky; others say not sticking in the floor is lucky.
10473. If your scissors drop and the point lies toward you, bad luck is indicated; if the handle, good luck.
10474. If you drop your scissors and they point toward you, you can reverse the bad luck indicated by doing something else before you pick them
up.
10475. Scissors dropped on the floor bring a disappointment.
10476. If your scissors fall and stick in the floor and you pick them up, a disappointment is signified; but if you let someone else pick them up,
the disappointment will not come.
10477. Scissors dropping and sticking in the floor foretell good news.
10478. To have scissors fall and stick in the floor is a token of a letter.
10479. After your scissors fall and stick in the floor, you may look for company.
10480. Your scissors falling and sticking in the floor is a sign of an unknown visitor.
10481. If the scissors fall and stick in the floor, a stranger will arrive within three days.
10482. Scissors that fall and stick in the floor indicate gossipy visitors.
10483. The dropping of scissors will be followed by a quarrel in the family.
10484. If you let your scissors drop, a friendship with someone will be severed.
10485. The woman who drops her scissors should stop sewing at once, for something will go wrong with her sewing.
10486. To loan a pair of scissors will make you quarrel with the borrower before the month is out. I\
10487. The gift of scissors snips a friendship in two.
10488. A person accepting the present of a pair of scissors will be unlucky.
10489. It is lucky to find a pair of scissors.
10490. Whoever finds a pair of rusty scissors should pick them up and hang them in the house for luck.

Pin - Hairpin - Safety Pin - Button (10491-10636)

PIN
10491.
"If you see a pin and let it lay,
You will be in need of a pin all that day."
10492.
"See a pin and let it lie,
You'll want a pin before you die."
or
"If you see a pin and let it lie,
You will want a pin before you die."
or
"If you see a pin, never let it lie;
For you will need it some day before you die."
10493.
"If you see a pin and let it lie,
Before the evening you will cry."
or
"See a pin and leave it lie,
All the day you will cry."
 251

or
"See a pin and let it lie,
And all the day you will have to cry."
10494.
"See a pin and pick it up,
All the day you will have good luck."
or
"If you see a pin and pick it up,
All that day you'll have good luck."
or
"If you see a pin and pick it up,
The rest of the day you'll have good luck."
or
"If you pick up a pin as you walk along,
You'll have good luck all day long."
10495.
"If you see a pin and let it lay,
You'll have bad luck the rest of the day."
or
"If a pin points toward you and you let it lay,
You'll have bad luck all that day."
10496.
"If you see a pin and pick it up,
All day long you will have good luck;
If you see a pin and pass it by,
No use for you that day for luck to try."
10497. In spite of the foregoing beliefs, one occasionally hears that picking up a pin is to pick up trouble.
10498. The person who sees a pin and picks it up avoids bad luck all week.
10499. The person who sees a pin and picks it up avoids bad luck all year.
10500. If you pick up a pin found in front of you while walking along, good luck will follow; if to the side of you, bad luck.
10501. If you pick up a pin found with the point toward you, "sharp luck" will be obtained; but if with the head toward you, "blunt luck". This is
the usual belief, but once in a while these interpretations are reversed.
10502. If you find a pin with the head toward you, the bad luck denoted may be counteracted by turning the pin around so that the point is toward
you and then picking it up.
10503. To pick up a crooked pin is unlucky say most, but a few say the opposite, lucky.
10504. It is unlucky to step on a pin.
10505. A person dropping a pin and stepping on it will have bad luck.
10506. Always pick up all the pins you see and keep them in a box for luck.
10507. "I have a friend that picks up every pin she sees on the floor or ground during the year and sticks them in a piece of red flannel, and
counts them on New Year's Day for luck all year."
10508. The finder of a pin may throw it over the shoulder for luck.
10509. If a pin is found with the point away from you and you pick it up, look for bad luck; but if you pick it up and give it to someone, good
luck.
10510. If you find a pin with the point toward you, pick it up and push it into wood to be lucky.
10511. If you find a pin with the point toward you, pick it up and carry it in your pocketbook for sharp luck.
10512. If you find a pin with the point toward you, pick it up and stick it into your clothing for luck.
10513. A man who finds a pin may pick it up and stick it in the lapel of his coat for luck.
10514.
10515. A woman who finds a pin may for luck pick it up and secretly stick it in the coat collar of some young man she knows and soon meets
after picking up the pin.
10516. A pin found by you may be worn in your right shoe for luck.
10517. To put a white pin in a black dress or a black pin in a white dress is unlucky.
10518. Anyone pulling a pin out of your dress will give you bad luck.
10519. It is unlucky to accept a pin from anyone, unless you first let that person stick you with the pin.
10520. "The other night my wife and I were at a house playing cards. I happen to see a thumbtack on the floor. I picked it up. The lady said,
'Stick me in the palm of my hand or we will have a fuss. If you are at anyone's house and pick up a pin on the floor or anything with a point, you
should always stick the lady of the house with it, in the palm of her hand, to keep from having a fuss.' So I did it so we would not fuss."
10521. "They say if someone gives you anything sharp like a pin or anything, give them three pennies for it and you will not fall out with the
party; for it is a sure sign of a fuss if you don't."
10522. Never take a pin out of anyone's right hand; always take it out of the left hand to avert bad luck.
10523. If you ask for a pin and receive one, it is unfortunate to thank the giver.
10524. "I am a clerk. Several months ago I was trying a dress on a woman and she happen to have several pins in her hand. She started to throw
them on the floor, then laugh and said, 'I must not throw pins on the floor, I am throwing my luck away; I will just lay the pins up here in the
window to keep my luck." Some say: throw a pin on the floor and you will have nothing but trouble that day.
10525. Some say the finding of a pin with its point toward you means a disappointment; others say, its point away from you.
10526. Stick your finger with a pin and you will soon be disappointed.
10527. "I have heard if you throw a pin on the floor you will have a disappointment."
10528. The finding of a pin with the head toward you is an omen of a letter.
10529. If you find a pin, you will get a letter from someone living in the direction toward which the pin points.
10530. Three pins found and picked up in one day signify three letters before the end of the week.
 252

10531. Before going to work on Monday morning, stick as many pins in the wall as there are persons in your family; you will receive a letter with
good news before the end of the week.
10532. A pin found and picked up in the morning will bring you a present that afternoon.
10533. The person finding a pin will soon find money.
10534. If you find a pin pointing toward you, money will soon be found; if away from you, lost.
10535. Keep a well-filled pincushion and your pocket will always be full of money.
10536. A person who drops a pin will soon have company.
10537. If you let a pin fall and it sticks in the floor, company is coming.
10538. If you let a pin fall and it sticks in the floor, a stranger will call at your house within three days.
10539. A pin found near your door foretells the arrival of a hungry man.
10540. If you find a pin with the point toward you, you will take a ride.
10541. If you find a pin with the point toward you, that day you will take a ride in the direction toward which the pin is pointing.
10542. If you find a pin, pick it up sideways and you will go riding in a buggy.
10543. If you find a pin with the side toward you, you will take a buggy ride.
10544. If you find a pin and pick it up sideways, you will take a ride to jail.
10545. Do not borrow a pin; a quarrel will be the result.
10546. To find a pin pointed toward you denotes a quarrel.
10547. If you throw a pin away, you are throwing away an enemy.
10548. If you throw a pin after an enemy, you are throwing that enemy bad luck.
10549. The finding and picking up of a pin signifies a loyal friend found.
10550. If you find a pin with the point toward you, an enemy is indicated; if the head, a new friend.
10551. If you see a pin and pick it up, you are picking up a new friend; if you let it lie, you are losing a good friend.
10552. If a pin is found pointing toward you and you fail to pick it up, you will be snubbed by a friend.
10553. If you accept a pin by taking it from someone's hand, you will lose a friend; but if you make the giver of the pin lay it down and then you
pick it up, the loss of a friend will be averted.
10554. Whoever throws a pin on the floor will soon lose a friend.
10555. To stick yourself with a pin is an indication of a new friend.
10556. If a pin sticks you, someone is angry with you.
10557. If you scratch yourself with a pin, someone is thinking about you.
10558. If you stick yourself with a pin, someone is speaking ill of you.
10559. To discover who is thinking or talking about you when you find a pin ready to fall from your clothes, touch the pin while naming it
an acquaintance: if the pin stays in, it is the person named; if the pin falls out, you have suspected the wrong individual.
10560. To discover who is thinking or talking about you when you find a pin clinging to your clothes, touch the pin repeatedly while saying the
letters of the alphabet; and, on whatever letter the pin falls to the floor, that will be the first letter of the person's name.
10561. If you find a pin standing upright in your dress, a person wants to see you; if two pins, two persons.

HAIRPIN
10562. If a hairpin, having worked out of your hair, sticks straight out, good luck is signified.
10563. Never pick up a hairpin that falls from your hair; you will be picking up bad luck.
10564. The finding of a hairpin is lucky.
10565. If you find a hairpin and pick it up, you are picking up the owner's troubles say some; but others say you are picking up good luck.
10566. A man who picks up a hairpin from the street will have bad luck.
10567. Do not pick up a hairpin that you find; turn it the opposite way to which you found it and let it remain on the ground for luck.
10568. If on the street you find a hairpin with the open part toward you, you are walking into success, provided you pick up the hairpin and put it
in your hair; but if the closed part is toward you, do not pick it up, for that would be picking up someone's trouble. These interpretations are
sometimes reversed: if the prongs are toward you, it means good luck; if the elbow, bad luck.
10569. Some say a hairpin found by you may be hung on a nail or any iron object for luck; others say you should do this to keep from getting the
owner's troubles.
10570. On finding a hairpin you may bend it and throw it over your shoulder for luck.
10571. If you find a hairpin with prongs pointing east or west, it is lucky; with prongs pointing north or south, unlucky.
10572. The finder of a hairpin will soon take a fall.
10573. If you find a hairpin and hang it on the first convenient object you see, you will get a letter.
10574. If you find a hairpin and hook it over a nail, you will get a letter.
10575. If you find a hairpin and stick it in the bark of a pine tree, you will get a letter that day.
10576. "I always pick up a hairpin if I see one, for I am sure to get an invitation to a party soon."
10577. A hairpin found early in the morning indicates you will receive money before the day has ended.
10578. If you find a new hairpin and pick it up, you will soon lose your job.
10579. If you find a hairpin, you will gain a friend; if you lose a hairpin, a friend will forsake you.
10580. The person finding a hairpin may fasten it to the first nail seen to obtain a new friend.
10581. If a hairpin is found and you hang it on the first thing available, a new friend will be acquired; but if you fail to hang up the hairpin, the
first friend met will be lost.
10582. If you find a hairpin and name it for a friend and affix it to something, that friend will always remain loyal; but if someone moves the
hairpin before the end of the week, the mover will soon steal the friend.
10583. Name a hairpin that you find and put it in your hair; you will soon secure a new friend.
10584. If a person finds a new hairpin, a new friend will be found; if an old hairpin, an old friend will be lost.
10585. If you find a hairpin with the prongs toward you, you will soon have a new friend.
10586. To discover the sex of the new friend foretold by the finding of a hairpin, measure the two prongs: if they are even, it will be a male;
if uneven, a female. However, the opposite is also believed: if the prongs are even, it will be a female; if uneven, a male. Further, some add, hang
the hairpin on a nail to keep your new friend.
10587. The new friend indicated by the finding of a hairpin will not desert you, if you bend the prongs double and wear the hairpin in your shoe.
 253

10588. A woman who lets a hairpin drop and does not pick it up will soon lose a friend.
10589. A hairpin falling from your head is a sign someone you like has you in mind.
10590. Never borrow a hairpin; it will break up your friendship with the lender.
10591. If you find a hairpin and the prongs are straight, a straight-haired woman lost it; if crooked, a curly-haired woman.

SAFETY PIN
10592. If you wear the point and catch of a safety pin up, it will bring you dull luck; if down, sharp luck.
10593. To put a safety pin in your dress and fail to fasten it is unfortunate.
10594. If on New Year's Day a safety pin in the right side of your dress comes unfastened, you are going to be unlucky all year.
10595. "I will tell you one my sister does for good luck: take twelve safety pins, making a chain of them with all heads up, then she pins them
to her underclothes with all heads up; she always pins them to her drawers, but you can pin them to your shirt."
10596. "One afternoon during the holidays I was crossing the street at Sixth and Maine going toward X's Store with a big crowd. Just when some
of us got in the middle of the crossing some old woman said, 'There's a big safety pin in the street, I must pick it up for good luck; in these
times [the Great Depression] you got to pick up all the good luck you find.' She was talking to herself, but out loud. Just as she was picking up the
safety pin and holding up the crowd, the traffic light changed and the cars sure shot by. One old man said, 'Hell, lady, while you are picking up
your good luck the rest of us will get knocked off.' It was not so funny just at the minute, but everyone did laugh, when we got over on the corner
safe, but the old man, and he was still angry. The old woman had the pin and went on."
10597. "If you find a safety pin, pick it up, And all day you will have good luck."
10598. If you find an open safety pin, it means good luck; if closed, bad luck.
10599. Some say the finding of an open safety pin is lucky; others say, unlucky. It is also said, an open safety pin is lucky only for the rest of the
day.
10600. If you find an open safety pin and the point is toward you, pick it up for luck; but if the safety pin is closed, let it lie or you will have
bad luck.
10601. A person who finds a safety pin must hang it on a wire fence to be lucky.
10602. Close an open safety pin that you have found, spit through it, and throw over your shoulder for luck.
10603. If you find and pick up an open safety pin, you will get a letter; if a closed safety pin, a package.
10604. If you find an open safety pin, company is coming from the direction in which the sharp end points.
10605. To drop a closed safety pin and have it open is an omen of bad luck.

BUTTON
10606. It is unlucky to sew a button on clothing after dark.
10607. To sew a button on a garment on Sunday is unlucky.
10608. A woman who sews a button on a garment on Sunday will lose her best friend on Monday.
10609. Never sew an odd button on your dress; you will have bad luck while wearing that dress.
10610. If you sew a button on wrong on some garment, leave it that way for a week before changing it or you will be unlucky.
10611. A button sewed on a garment while you have it on will cause you bad luck.
10612. If a button is sewed on a man's vest while he has it on, he will meet with a disappointment when he goes out.
10613. A man who has a button sewed on his shirt while he has it on will become sick.
10614. "I have always heard if you button up your dress or coat accidentally wrong, will bring you luck."
10615. A man buttoning his shirt wrong in the morning will be unlucky, but he can cancel this bad luck by counting ten as he unbuttons it. 10616.
It is unlucky for a man to wear a shirt with a button off.
10617. While dressing in the morning, it is very unlucky to pull off a button from your clothing.
10618. If accidentally you tear off a button from your clothes, you are going to be invited to a party.
10619. If you lose a button off your dress or coat and do not find it, a friend will soon be lost.
10620. The man who loses a button from his waistcoat will become prosperous.
10621. A man losing a button off his shirt will know his wife is thinking about him.
10622. "My mother said it was good luck to count the buttons on someone else's clothes but bad luck to count them on your own."
10623. The counting of the buttons on an old maid's dress will bring bad luck to you.
10624. An even number of buttons on your clothes is lucky; an uneven number, unlucky.
10625. If you find a button and pick it up, good luck may be expected; but if you do not pick it up, bad luck. Some specify a pearl button.
10626. "Every button I see I pick up and keep in a sack for good luck; for the more buttons, the more luck."
10627. "I came home from the cemetery just yesterday with a lady. When we got in front of her house she said, 'Oh look! There is a big button in
front of my house; that's bad luck, if you find a button just in front of your gate.' She stooped and picked it up, throwing it out in the street. I said,
'What's that for?' She said, 'Well, I am throwing the bad luck away; don't want to keep it near the house'."
10628. If you find a pearl button on your way to a friend's house, give the button to the friend and she will become lucky.
10629. To make a mistake in picking up something from the ground that looks like a button is unlucky.
10630. You can obtain good luck by sticking into your shoe a button that you have found.
10631. Always put in your shoe a button that you find and you will soon get money.
10632. If the holes in a button found by you are counted, you will soon receive a dollar or a piece of money for each hole. Some add, you must
wear the button in your right shoe.
10633. If you find a button, pick it up, count the holes, and then put the button back where you found it; you will soon receive a dollar for each
hole.
10634. To find a button is a token of a letter.
10635. If you find a button and pick it up, you will meet a new friend; if you do not pick up the button, you will lose a friend.
10636. Years ago a charm string was made by collecting a button from each of your friends, stringing the buttons, and wearing the string for luck.

FOOTWEAR (10637-10817)
Shoes - Shoestrings - Stockings - Socks - Garters (10637-10817)
SHOES
10637. When you are buying new shoes, always try on the right one first for luck.
 254

10638. Never try on anyone's shoes; bad luck will come to you.
10639. New shoes should be worn for the first time on Saturday for luck.
10640. Old shoes should be worn on Friday 13 for luck.
10641. The first time you wear new shoes, walk around the table three times for luck.
10642. After you come home from wearing your shoes for the first time, take them off and set them outdoors in the air to be lucky.
10643. Unless you wear new shoes outdoors three times the first week you have them, a sick spell may be expected.
10644. If you borrow a pair of shoes from anyone, your friendship with that person will soon be broken.
10645. If a friend gives you a pair of shoes, burn them up after they wear out; if you throw them away, you will lose his friendship.
10646. The person who accepts a gift of old shoes will soon walk in the former owner's troubles.
10647. Do not wear another person's shoes; you may lose your feet.
10648. If you give a pair of shoes to a friend, he will walk away from you. This is the usual interpretation, though occasionally one hears: he will
walk to you.
10649. A wife should never give a pair of her husband's old shoes to a tramp; she will make a tramp out of her husband.
10650. New shoes greased with opossum fat last twice as long.
10651. Years ago shrunken shoes were stretched by filling them with beans or oats and letting them stand in water overnight. In those days shoes
were made by hand and not lined.
10652. "When I was younger I always wet in my shoes to keep them from hurting. That was a very old sign." It used to be said new shoes would
not hurt your feet, if you wet in them and let them dry on your feet.
10653. Shoes burning your feet indicate the leather came from an animal killed while in heat.
10654. New shoes creaking as you walk along tell everybody you still owe the shoemaker his bill.
10655. Squeaking shoes are a sign of a letter from far away.
10656. To have old shoes squeak while walking in them is lucky.
10657. You can prevent shoes from squeaking by driving a peg into the center of each sole.
10658. If you shine your shoes before breakfast, you will hear good news that day.
10659. If your shoes are polished before breakfast, you will walk on ground where you are not wanted say some; on forbidden ground, say
others.
10660. If you clean anyone's shoes on Saturday, you will have bad luck on Sunday.
10661. Someone spitting on your new shoes means another new pair before they are needed.
10662. It is lucky to have someone accidentally spill water on your shoes.
10663. A "measuring-worm" crawling on your shoes denotes a new pair.
10664. If someone hits you with a shoe, you will soon be in trouble.
10665. If someone hits you with a pair of new shoes, you will soon be arrested.
10666. If someone throws a shoe at you as you walk along, it will bring you good luck.
10667. "We had a man in our neighborhood, when he would get ready to start out in the buggy, if no one was at the house to drop an old shoe
after him, he would always put one in the buggy and just as he was going out the gate would drop it himself so he would not have any bad luck on
his trip."
10668. By throwing an old shoe over your shoulder, you can obtain good luck. Similarly, to get rid of bad luck, throw an old shoe over your left
shoulder and do not look back.
10669. The person who finds an old shoe should toss it into the first running water for luck.
10670. If you find an old shoe while spading up your garden, some money will be left to you before the year is out.
10671. If you find an old shoe someone has thrown away, take it home and burn it up for luck.
10672. Some say the burning of old shoes is lucky; others say, unlucky.
10673. Always burn your discarded shoes and you will have good luck.
10674. Save your old shoes and burn them on the last day of the year or on New Year's Day for luck all year.
10675. The person who burns his discarded shoes is getting rid of an enemy.
10676. Old shoes may be burned on Friday for luck.
10677. To become lucky, sprinkle salt on an old shoe and burn it.
10678. To become lucky, sprinkle salt and pepper on an old shoe and burn it.
10679, It is very unlucky to throw away old shoes or old slippers.
10680. If you give your old shoes or old slippers to someone who will wear them, both of you will be lucky.
10681. Holes worn in the soles of your shoes show you will become wealthy.
10682. A person wearing out the outer edges of the soles before the center is dishonest.
10683. To run your shoes over at the heels before they are worn out on the soles signifies bad luck.
10684. "It's an old saying: if you run your shoes over, you are sloppy."
10685. "It's an old German saying: if you wear run-over shoes, sign you don't use enough toilet paper."
10686. Heels wearing off on the outside are a sign you will walk all your money away.
10687. The person who wears out heels toward the soles will always be broke.
10688.
"If you wear your shoes out on the toe,
You will spend money as you go."
10689. Among the things said of walking about with one shoe on and one off: it will bring you as many bad days as steps taken, you may expect
a year of misfortune for each step, or every step made is a step into trouble.
10690. Walk about in one shoe and you will be disappointed.
10691. As many steps as a child takes in one shoe, so many whippings will he receive.
10692. Whoever walks about in untied shoes will have bad luck.
10693. To walk about wearing one shoe and stocking is unlucky.
10694. If while sitting you take off one shoe and not the other, you will soon be sick.
10695. If you come home and kick off your shoes, bad luck will soon follow; always take them off by hand.
10696. About coming home and kicking off your shoes they say as follows: if the toe of one fallen shoe points forward and the other backward,
bad luck is denoted; if both toes point forward, good luck.
 255

10697. "My husband whenever he sees shoes upside down, he will always put them upright. He thinks it very bad luck."
10698. Always keep your shoes on the floor for luck.
10699. Old shoes kept high off the floor --- some say higher than your knees, others say higher than your head — will bring you bad luck; but
new shoes never worn before may be kept high off the floor for luck.
10700. To set your shoes higher than your head foretells a quarrel.
10701. If you are visiting someone and lay your shoes anywhere except on the floor, you will quarrel with your hostess.
10702. Never set your shoes higher than your knees; sickness will soon come to you.
10703. To hang up your shoes is unlucky; to hang them up on a nail is very unlucky.
10704. Shoes tied together and hung on a nail will give you bad luck.
10705. The hanging of shoes on a nail higher than your head brings you misfortune.
10706. "I will never lie on the bed with my shoes on, for it's an old sign it will bring sickness to you if you do."
10707. Do not sit on a bed while taking off your shoes; it is very unlucky.
10708. Shoes or slippers laid on the bed cause bad luck.
10709. Shoes thrown onto a bed cause a quarrel.
10710. Some say it is unlucky to set your shoes under the bed; others say, lucky.
10711. Throw your shoes under the bed at night for luck.
10712. "My sister will not sleep in a bed that has shoes under it; she says it brings very bad sickness to the house."
10713. It is unlucky to rest your shoes next to someone else's under the bed.
10714. "Never keep your old man's shoes and yours under the bed together; if you do, you will be fussing all the time. It's all right to keep one
at the head and one at the foot, but never throw them together under the bed."
10715. If you set your shoes under the bed so that the toes point inward, your troubles will stay beneath the bed and be with you next day; but if
the toes point outward, your troubles will walk away during the night. This is almost an invariable rule, but one sometimes hears it is lucky to
have the toes pointing inward.
10716. Turn your shoes upside down with the toes pointed beneath the bed for luck.
10717. Unless you keep the toes of your shoes pointed out from beneath the bed, you may take sick during the night and not be able to get out of
bed.
10718. "Never let your shoes lie on the floor close to the bed; sign of trouble. I always put mine on a chair by the bed, never on the floor."
10719. If you put your shoes on a chair, especially behind you while sitting on a chair, you will become unlucky. Further, some add, the bad luck
that comes from putting shoes on the same chair with you will last until they wear out.
10720. An old pair of shoes you no longer wear should be kept in your clothes closet for luck.
10721. "I used to clean for a woman that would not let me put her shoes in a dresser drawer; said it was very bad luck; also, to set them on a
trunk; made me keep them on the floor for luck. My husband was always putting his shoes up high. I told him it was bad luck; to put them on the
floor for luck. So he did. The second night a rat ate a hole in one of his shoes, but he did say, 'I am keeping my shoes on the top of the cupboard
from now on'."
10722. To keep your shoes on a shelf causes you bad luck.
10723. It is unlucky to put shoes on a table; very unlucky, if they are new shoes just brought home and never worn.
10724. The putting of shoes on a table will be followed by a disappointment.
10725. Shoes set on a table will make you cross.
10726. "Whenever I forget and put my shoes on the table, I always have a quarrel with someone that day." The same thing is said about slippers.
10727. If you lay your shoes on a table, there will be a fight in the family.
10728. Keep your shoes on a table and you will lose money.
10729. The person who rests his shoes on a table will soon be without shoes.
10730. Do not stand your shoes on a table; it means sickness --- for you say some.
10731. Your shoes may be kept upside down under a table for luck.
10732. Whoever goes to bed without taking off his shoes will go to hell.
10733. Some say you should take off your right shoe first at night for luck; others say the left.
10734. Some say you should put on your right shoe first in the morning for luck; others say the left.
10735. Some say you should take off your right shoe first at night and put it on first in the morning for luck; others say left first at night and in
the morning.
10736. The left shoe put on the right foot signifies bad luck.
10737. If you put the left shoe on the right foot, an accident is foretold.
10738. Both shoes put on the wrong feet mean an accident to one of your feet.
10739. To put on two shoes that are not mates is a sign of good luck.
10740. Odd shoes put on by mistake should not be changed; changing them will result in an accident.
10741. One shoe should not be laced before you put the other on; you will begin the day with bad luck. Always put on both shoes before lacing
up either.
10742. It is unlucky to hook first the top buttons of your shoes.
10743. A girl should never let a boy buckle on her overshoes; she will soon be in an accident.
10744. Never put your shoes on last when dressing; before the week ends you will do something of which you will be ashamed.

SHOESTRING
10745. If you put new shoestrings in your shoes after sundown, you will soon walk into trouble.
10746. Before you put new shoestrings in your shoes, burn up the old ones for luck.
10747. Always save the old shoestrings from worn-out shoes and hang them up on a nail for luck.
10748. It is lucky to loan shoestrings.
10749. To break a shoestring just before you start somewhere is unlucky.
10750. The breaking of a shoestring foretells a disappointment.
10751. A shoestring coming untied means bad luck.
10752. Never walk along the street with an untied shoestring; bad luck may be expected.
10753. If a shoestring comes untied on the street and you step on it, you may expect bad luck.
 256

10754. An untied shoestring tied on the street will bring you bad luck; always wait until you get home and then tie it for luck. 10755. If a
shoestring comes untied on the stairs and you stop to tie it, you will be disappointed that day.
10756. If a shoestring comes untied on the street, tie it and the next person you meet will become a good friend.
10757. A woman whose shoestring comes untied will soon shake hands with a tall man.
10758. Some say a shoestring coming untied shows your father loves you better than your mother does; others say the reverse, your mother loves
you better.
10759. A friend is thinking about the person whose shoestring comes untied. Some say best friend.
10760. If your shoestring comes untied, someone is speaking about you: saying good things, according to some; telling lies, according to others.
10761. If your left shoestring comes untied, something good is being said about you; if your right, something bad.
10762. To have an untied shoestring work out of one or more eyes is a sign you are being spoken about in an ill manner.
10763. If a shoestring keeps coming untied, name it someone you like and it will stay tied.

STOCKINGS AND SOCKS

10764. "My mother would always buy a pair of new stockings or socks for everyone in the family to wear on New Year's Day; said we would
have luck all year, if we wore them on New Year's Day for the first time."
10765. A woman who accepts a pair of new stockings from a man will soon put her foot in trouble.
10766. The gift of a new pair of stockings from a man to a woman will soon be followed by a quarrel.
10767. Never give anyone a pair of stockings or socks; that person will soon walk away from you. Similarly it is said the friendship between
giver and recipient will soon be broken.
10768. If a "measuring-worm" crawls on your sock or stocking, you will soon get a new pair.
10769. Always tie a knot in a new pair of stockings before putting them on for the first time and you will be lucky while wearing them.
10770. The first time you wear a new pair of stockings, wear them wrong side out for luck.
10771. To put on accidentally both socks or stockings inside out is lucky say some; unlucky say others.
10772. To put on accidentally one sock or stocking inside out is lucky say some; unlucky say others.
10773. To put on accidentally one sock or stocking inside out and the other right side out before discovering your mistake is lucky.
10774. The person who is going somewhere at a distance may put on one sock or stocking inside out for a safe journey.
10775. If you accidentally put on one or both socks or stockings inside out and do not change them, you will have good luck.
10776. If you put on a sock or stocking inside out, take it off immediately and spit on it for luck. Some say you must spit on it while taking it off.
10777. If you put on one or both socks or stockings inside out, wear them that way until noon and then take them off and spit into each heel for
luck.
10778. The putting on of socks or stockings inside out is a sign of a present.
10779. It is lucky to wear socks or stockings that are not mates say some; unlucky say others.
10780. You should put on your right sock or stocking first for luck; putting on the left one first is unlucky.
10781. Some say a right sock or stocking put on first in the morning is not enough for luck; you must also get out of bed on your right foot.
10782. If unintentionally you put a sock or stocking on your left foot first on Friday morning, good luck may be expected.
10783. Some say you must put on your right sock or stocking and shoe first in the morning for luck that day; others say, the left sock or stocking
and shoe.
10784. Both socks or stockings should be put on first for luck; conversely, to dress one foot completely before starting the other will bring you
bad luck.
10785. Persons dressing one foot completely before the other is started will be disappointed that day.
10786. If the left foot is dressed first, you will quarrel that day.
10787. Those who dress one foot entirely before beginning the other will always be poor.
10788. The right sock or stocking should always be put on first for money.
10789. If you are going somewhere and want to be lucky, dress in the following order: right sock or stocking, left sock or stocking, left shoe, and
right shoe — in other words, right stocking first and right shoe last.
10790. To have good luck all day, you must dress the right side of your body first and in the following order: sock or stocking, garter, shoe, arm
of underwear, and arm of shirt or dress. If you start with the left side of your body, you must undress completely, return to bed, and begin
dressing again.
10791. A hole found in your sock or stocking is a lucky omen.
10792. If you find a hole in the heel of your right sock or stocking when putting it on, take off the stocking at once and tear the hole wider and
you will have good luck all week.
10793. To find a hole in your sock or stocking means a letter: the larger the hole, the larger the letter.
10794. As many holes as you find in your sock or stocking, so many will be the letters waiting for you in the mailbox.
10795. Whoever finds a hole in the heel of his or her sock or stocking will soon get a letter with money.
10796. A runner in your stocking signifies a letter: if the runner is long, the letter will come from far away; if short, from near at hand.
10797. Check a runner in your stocking by spitting on it.
10798.
"If you wear your stocking out at the toe,
You will spend your money as you go;
If you wear them out at the heel,
You will save a great deal."
10799. Some say it is lucky to put your socks or stockings in your shoes at night; others say unlucky.
10800. Keep your socks or stockings in your shoes at night under the bed for luck.
10801. Your socks or stockings becoming loose and falling down early in the morning foretell good luck before you go to bed.
10802. It is lucky to drop accidentally one of the socks or stockings you have been wearing.
10803. Always hang your socks or stockings up by the toes every time you take them off and they will last longer.
10804. Do not throw away your old socks or stockings; you are throwing away your luck.
10805. Old socks or stockings should be burned up for luck.
10806. "I have heard, to burn your stockings, that's luck; for you are burning up a lot of enemies."
 257

GARTERS
10807. If a man gives a pair of garters to a woman, she should always for luck let him put them on her the first time they are worn.
10808. Never give a pair of garters to anyone; that person will soon walk away from you.
10809. After your socks or stockings are on, some say you should put on the right garter and left shoe next for luck; others say the left garter and
right shoe.
10810. The left shoe and right garter should be taken off first for luck.
10811. Tie up your stockings with your garters and you are tying up trouble.
10812. A woman who loses her garter is being deceived by one she trusts.
10813. Black garters bring trouble and sickness.
10814. A yellow garter is sometimes worn for money, but the following belief is more usual.
10815. "My sister was always broke, then she went to wearing a red garter and she has never been broke since." Some say both garters should be
red for money.
10816. "They say if you wear a red garter around your left leg below the knee, you will never have an accident or fall. My daughter can't wear
round garters, so she sews a piece of red rubber on the left side of her corset and uses that for a garter to keep from having an accident or a fall
when she goes out."
10817. If you wear a piece of red ribbon, string or anything red around one leg, and something yellow around the other leg, you will always be
lucky.

DRESS -PETTICOAT -PANTS -SHIRT -COAT -NIGHTGOWN (10818-10977)

Color - New - Gift and Loan (10818-10858)
COLOR
10818.
"If you wear black and white,
You'll surely have a fight."
10818a.
"If you wear white, you will always be pure.
If you wear pink, you will stink.
If you wear brown, you will wear a crown.
If you wear red and yellow, you will catch a fellow.
If you wear green, you will be forsaken.
If you wear yellow, you will be jealous.
If you wear blue, you will always be true."
10819. Unless you are in mourning, it is unlucky to wear black.
10820. "A girl told me she got a new green dress. The first night she had it on her beau went back on her; the second night she came in one point
of winning the head prize at cards; the third time she was on a committee at a church supper and the supper was a failure. So she gave the dress
away; said it was bad luck."
10821. The person who wears green clothing will soon begin work in some toilsome occupation.
10822. To wear an article of green clothing on Friday is lucky.
10823. "Mrs. X. told me yesterday that a girl was in the store and said always wear something red for good luck and money. This girl said, 'I
always wear red bloomers for luck and money'."
10824. The wearing of a red necktie or a necktie with red in the pattern is lucky.
10825. A red string may be sewed into your coat sleeve and worn for luck.
10826. To wear a yellow costume causes bad luck.
10827. Friends should never dress alike; their friendship will soon be broken. Mother and daughter or twins are exceptions to this rule.

NEW
10828. If when buying a new dress you let someone fit it on before you do, you will have bad luck while wearing that dress.
10829. Never wear a new dress out of the store; bad luck will soon follow.
10830. Always hang a new dress out in the air for a few minutes before you wear it for the first time and you will be lucky while wearing it.
10831. Always wash a new dress or shirt before it is worn for the first time and you will be lucky while wearing it.
10832. If water is spilled on a new dress the first time you have it on or rain falls on it, good luck may be expected. The same thing is said of a
new coat.
10833. You will always be lucky on the day you wear a new dress for the first time.
10834. If you meet a person wearing anything new, you must say three times It is pretty or something will happen to the owner before that article
wears out.
10835. If a woman wearing a new dress for the first time is pinched by someone who does not know the dress is new, she may expect good luck.
10836. Shake your dress and wish when you see a flock of birds flying and you will get a new dress.
10837. A butterfly lighting on you is bringing you a new dress.
10838. If a butterfly lights on your shoulder, it means a new dress the color of the butterfly.
10839. A girl can obtain a new dress by biting off the head of a butterfly.
10840. Bite off a butterfly's head and a new dress the color of its wings will soon be yours.
10841. On whatever piece of your clothing a cricket crawls, you will soon have that article new.
10842. A woman on whom a leaf falls will soon wear a new dress the color of that leaf.
10843. "I remember when I was young, sis saw me going under a ladder. She hollered and said, 'Turn around and go back and you will get a new
dress.' I did and before the week was over my aunt came to see us and brought me a new dress."
10844. If a woman kisses the first person she meets after seeing the new moon, a new dress will soon be had; if a man, a new suit of clothes.
10845. To spit on yourself is the sign of a new dress.
10846. You will soon acquire new that article of clothing on which you find a "measuring-worm" and it will be the color of the worm.
10847. A green worm (caterpillar, tomato worm, etc.) getting on you denotes someone will give you a new dress.
 258

GIFT AND LOAN

10848. Whoever wears a new dress or suit for the first time should be given a present for luck.
10849. A woman's first present to a man should be a necktie; it will bring him good luck.
10850. When a man gives a pair of panties to a woman, she should for luck always let him see them on her the first time they are worn.
10851. "I had a girl visiting me just this Christmas. She had bought her beau a shirt for a Christmas present and she kissed it three times for
luck before she gave it to him."
10852. Do not give away any of your old clothes; you will be giving away your luck.
10853. Before you give away a dress you no longer want, turn it wrong side out and you will be lucky.
10854. If you loan your nightgown to a friend, you will soon hear good news.
10855. Old friends may exchange dresses for luck.
10856. A gift of silk breaks a friendship.
10857. Never pick up anything of silk that you find; you will be picking up trouble.
10858. The finding of a collar on the street shows you have an enemy.

Time of Wearing - Order of Dressing (10859-10879)

TIME OF WEARING
10859. "If you don't have something new to wear on Christmas, old sign the buzzards will shit on you."
10860. "This is an old saying of my grandmother, I am eighty-two years [1940], so you see it's very old: if you don't have a new dress to wear
on New Year's Day, the buzzards will get you."
10861. If all the clothing worn by you on New Year's Day is old, you will have bad luck all year; but if you wear something new, good luck.
10862. Wear something new on Easter and you will wear something new all year.
10863. "I had a new skirt and put it on on New Year's Day and scrubbed the floor. They say if you wear something new New Year's Day and
scrub or wash, you will get something new all year."
10864. Never wear anything new on a holiday; it is unlucky.
10865. Always wear a new article of clothing for the first time on Friday and you will never be without plenty of that article.
10866. Anything new worn for the first time on Saturday brings you bad luck.
10867. A man wearing his new suit for the first time on Sunday will be successful.
10868. Attend church when you wear a new suit for the first time and the suit will last longer.

ORDER OF DRESSING
10869. "My father never put his shoes on first, said it was bad luck; he always started at his head to dress first and go down. In the summer he
would always put his hat on first, and his cap on in the winter first. I don't think he ever missed, so he would have good luck."
10870. If by mistake you try to put on a necktie before your shirt, bad luck is indicated.
10871. To forget to put on your necktie is lucky.
10872. "An old saying when I was young: if you dress yourself and come downstairs to eat in the morning and forget to put on your pants, very
bad luck."
10873. If you put your left arm into a sleeve first, you will have bad luck all day; if the right, good luck. This is the general rule, but
sometimes these interpretations are reversed; especially for a coat, dress and shirt.
10874. Put your left arm in a dress or shirt sleeve first for health.
10875. To put the wrong arm in the wrong sleeve of your coat foretells company.
10876. The man who takes his left leg out of his pants first will be unlucky.
10877. If you take off a dress over your head, you are taking up trouble; but if you let the dress drop and step out of it, you are stepping out
of trouble.
10878. If you pull off a dress wrong side out over your head, your disposition next day will be wrong side out.
10879. If you pull off a nightgown wrong side out over your head and roll it up into a knot, and lay it under the pillow, bad luck will come to you.
A nightgown should be folded for luck.

Backwards - Wrong Side Out - Crooked (10880-10909)

BACKWARDS -WRONG SIDE OUT - CROOKED
10880. A mistake made when dressing is lucky: the longer it remains unobserved, the greater your luck.
10881. If you put on any article of clothing backwards, wear it that way and you will have good luck; but if you change it, bad luck.
However, some say not to change clothing put on backwards will make you unlucky.
10882. Men putting on suspenders crooked and failing to straighten them will be unlucky that day.
10883. "Whenever my father's luck is running bad, he will always change his vest and wear it wrong side out to change his luck. That is a very
old saying among Irishmen."
10884. To be unaware that you are wearing a dress wrong side out is lucky.
10885. If you put on any article of clothing wrong side out, wear it that way and you will have good luck; if you change it, bad luck. However,
some say you will be lucky regardless of whether or not the article is changed.
10886. If you put on any article of clothing either wrong side out or backwards, you will have bad luck unless you use one of the fourteen
counteractants that follow.
10887. Change at a crossroad the garment you have put on wrong side out and you will not meet with bad luck.
10888. A garment put on wrong side out or backwards will not cause bad luck, provided you go behind a door and change the garment.
10889. To avert the bad luck signified by putting on a dress wrong side out, let someone else take off the dress.
10890. A woman who puts on a dress wrong side out may prevent bad luck by taking off the dress so that it goes up over her face and down over
the back of her head. Incidentally, to take off a dress by pulling it up over the back of the head and down over the face is unlucky.
10891. Let a young person pull off over your head the dress you have put on wrong side out and you will not be unlucky.
10892. As a method to avoid bad luck after you have put on a dress wrong side out, spit on the dress before changing it.
10893. If a dress is put on backwards, spit on it and turn it around for luck say some; to avoid bad luck, say others.
10894. The bad luck caused by putting on a dress wrong side out can be counteracted by spitting on the hem before you take off the dress.
10895. Before you change any article of clothing put on wrong side out, sit down for five minutes and you will not be bothered by bad luck.
 259

10896. Never change a dress put on wrong side out until you are ready to change again and bad luck will be averted.
10897. Any article of clothing (particularly a dress) put on wrong side out should not be changed until the clock strikes noon. This prevents
bad luck.
10898. Wear the clothes all day which you have put on wrong side out and bad luck will not trouble you.
10899. After you have put on a dress wrong side out, wait until bedtime before taking it off and bad luck will not follow.
10900. In preventing the bad luck that comes from a dress put on wrong side out, take the dress off at midnight.
10901. Always wear any clothes put on wrong side out and you will soon receive a present — before the end of the day say some.
10902. Drawers put on wrong side out are a token of good news; a dress, good news in a letter.
10903. A woman putting on a petticoat wrong side out will be surprised before she takes it off.
10904. To put on a dress wrong side out betokens a new dress.
10905. If you put on a skirt hind part before, you will gain money; but if you change the dress, you will lose money.
10906. "When I get up in the morning, if I put my slip or dress on wrong side out and wear it that way, I always get some extra money before the
week is out, I am not expecting."
10907. Something unpleasant will happen to the woman who puts on a petticoat wrong side out.
10908. Whoever puts on a dress or skirt wrong side out will soon be insulted.
10909. If you put on your nightgown inside out, there will be a fire in the neighborhood.

Upturned Hem - Exposure - Tear - Stain - Hole (10910-10956)

UPTURNED HEM
10910. The hem of your dress turning up when you put it on is lucky.
10911. It is unlucky to wear the collar of your shirt turned up.
10912. If you are putting on your dress and the hem turns up, kiss the hem and turn it down for luck that day.
10913. Your dress catching on a brier or stick as you walk along is an omen of bad luck.
10914. A woman whose dress turns up in back when she arises from a chair will be disappointed that day.
10915. Someone telling you that your dress is turned up in back means a disappointment.
10916. If your dress turns up behind, look for a letter.
10917. The turning up of your dress in front denotes an invitation to a party.
10918. Spit on the upturned hem when your dress turns up in back and you will soon receive some money.
10919. The woman who is always kicking up her dress in back will be a thief.
10920. A dress turned up in back foretells a new one.
10921. If you are putting on your dress and the hem turns up, kiss the hem on the wrong side before turning it down and you will get a new dress.
10922. By spitting on the turned-up hem of your dress and turning it down, you will get a new dress — as a present say some.
10923. The hem of your dress turning up signifies someone is speaking ill of you.
10924. A lie will be told about the woman whose dress turns up in front, say some; in back, say others.
10925. If you fail to turn down immediately the hem of your dress turned up in back, you will soon slap someone's face.
10926. To have the hem of your dress turn up is an indication you are liked better by your father than by your mother.

EXPOSURE
10927. A slip or petticoat hanging lower than your dress or skirt shows your father loves you better than your mother does.
10928. A girl whose petticoat shows is loved better by her grandfather than by her father.
10929. Some widower is thinking about the girl whose petticoat hangs longer than her dress.
10930. A petticoat that shows in back means tears for the owner before night.
10931. Long skirts are a sign of bad times; short skirts, good times.
10932. Women always start to wear shorter dresses the year before a war starts.
10933. If you want to lengthen a short dress, sugar worn in the toes of your shoes will coax it down.
10934. A man whose shirt tail hangs out of his pants has a letter waiting for him in the post office. Some say the shirt tail must be hanging out
in back.
10935. Whoever puts on a nightgown while looking into a mirror will be unfortunate.

TEAR - STAIN - HOLE

10936. Your clothes will not tear or wear out so quickly, if bought in the first or second quarter of the moon.
10937. It is lucky for a woman to tear a new dress the first time she wears it.
10938. Never sew up a tear made in your dress the first time you wear it; let someone else do the sewing or you will have bad luck.
10939. To tear your dress in back will cause you bad luck.
10940. They say it is lucky to tear a veil while putting it on.
10941. A dress torn the first time worn means approaching poverty.
10942. A woman tearing her dress will soon hear bad news.
10943. If you tear on a nail a three-cornered hole in your pants, it indicates they will be torn again within three days or three weeks unless you
bend back the nail.
10944. The tearing of a three-cornered hole in your dress signifies somebody has told a lie about you.
10945. Women who tear a three-cornered hole in a dress will go somewhere soon.
10946. A three-cornered piece torn from your dress foretells an invitation to a party.
10947. The significance of tearing your dress or skirt the first time you wear it is sickness.
10948. "I know a woman that was going in a store and tore her dress just as soon as she went in the door of the store. They say if you tear your
dress while going in a store, it is the sign of bad luck. And the next day on her way to the store a mad dog bit her and she was sick a long time."
10949. After you tear your dress, you will gain a new friend.
10950. To have a seam come unripped in your dress reveals a secret enemy.
10951. The woman who spoils a new dress the first time she wears it has received a warning not to trust some new friend too far.
10952. A berry stain on your clothes will disappear after the berry season has gone.
10953. Burn a hole in your clothes and your troubles will never cease.
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10954. A hole burned in your clothes denotes a quarrel.

10955. Lies will soon be told about the woman who burns a hole in her dress.
10956. Holes worn into the knees of your pants are an indication you will become rich.

Ravel and Basting - Care of Clothes (10957-10977)

RAVEL AND BASTING
10957. A ravel found on your dress betokens a surprise.
10958. "One morning I was starting out from the store and a big raveling was hanging on my coat. The colored boy that worked in the office
said, 'Take that raveling off your coat, put it in your coat pocket, keep it, will bring you money.' I did, and soon did get some money I was not
looking for."
10959. To find a ravel on your dress is an omen you will travel soon.
10960. The finding of a ravel on your dress is a token you will obtain a new dress.
10961. A woman wearing a new dress before the bastings are removed will get a new dress before the old one wears out.
10962. Bastings left in a dress show it is not paid for.
10963. If you wear a new dress without removing the bastings, someone will tell lies about you as long as those bastings.

CARE OF CLOTHES
10964. Anything you wear frequently should not be laid away; it will make you unlucky.
10965. If you put a garment in the wrong dresser drawer, sickness for someone in the house is signified.
10966. Do not lay on the bed new clothes not yet worn; bad luck will follow.
10967. If you spread on the bed a new dress or garment that has never been used, you will have bad luck — before the article wears out, say
some.
10968. Some say it is lucky to put your coat on the bed; others say, the coat of a guest.
10969. To hang your clothes over the foot of the bed brings sickness.
10970. It is unlucky to wear your clothes in bed.
10971. The person who goes to bed with his clothes on will get up backwards and cross next morning.
10972. "My mother always said never hang your apron or dress across the back of a chair, unless you want company soon."
10973. Always when going to bed at night put your clothes on the back of a chair, your shoes under the chair, your stockings on the seat of the
chair, and you will be lucky.
10974. If you hang your clothes up at night, you will sleep well; if you throw them down, you will not sleep at all.
10975. Your coat hung on a door knob gives you bad luck.
10976. If your dress or any garment falls off a hanger, hook or nail, early in the morning, bad luck may be expected that day.
10977. "My mother, when we girls would hang our bloomers over a chair, she would say a man will call soon."

HAT AND CAP (10978-11021)

10978. A "measuring-worm" found on your head is a sign of a new hat.

10979. A leaf falling on your hat as you walk along foretells a new hat the color of that leaf.
10980. If while trying on a new hat you let anyone take it off your head, that person will be taking off your luck.
10981. The first time a woman wears a new hat she may stick two hatpins in it for luck.
10982. Before you wear a new hat just brought home, hang it on a picture frame and you will have good luck while wearing the hat.
10983. If it rains on a new hat the first time it is worn, you may expect bad luck.
10984. To throw away an old hat is unlucky; always burn it for luck.
10985. "I saw a woman several weeks ago burning up an old hat. I said, 'What are you doing?' She said, 'Oh, just getting rid of a false friend'."
10986. A person putting his hat on your head makes you unlucky.
10987. Never wear anyone's hat; you may lose your hair.
10988. It is unlucky to be hit with a hat.
10989. To put a hat on backwards is unlucky, but this misfortune can be averted by spitting on the hat and turning it around.
10990. A streak of bad luck can be stopped, if you turn your hat around and wear it backward.
10991. If you wear your cap backward, you will become unfortunate.
10992. If you wear your hat backward, you will go to jail.
10993. The child who whirls his hat around on his finger will be whipped.
10994. The child who puts two hats on his head will get a whipping.
10995. Two hats put on your head at the same time will bring you bad luck.
10996. "When we were girls, my father would not let any of us wear a bird on our head; said we were wearing something dead."
10997. On seeing a straw hat, stamp it for luck.
10998. If you forget to wear your hat on leaving home, good luck is denoted.
10999. A person whose hat blows off three times within an hour will be hurt that day.
11000. "Another thing years ago my mother always did, if she was carrying her bonnet and didn't put it on before she passed out of the yard, she
would never put it on after she passed through the gate; said it was very bad luck to do it."
11001. To enter church wearing his hat makes a man unlucky.
11002. A boy or man entering a house with his hat on may look for bad luck.
11003. A hat or cap worn by a man or boy while sitting in the house will cause bad luck.
11004. Do not keep your hat on while in the house; bald-headedness will be the result.
11005. "I did know an old man, that's dead now, that lived out by Liberty did this: put his hat between his knees when sitting down, with the
crown down; said it always brought him work."
11006. Some say the person laying or throwing a hat on the bed will be unlucky; others say, the person who sleeps in the bed.
11007. "My sister will not let anyone put a man's hat on her bed; it is very bad luck."
11008. Put a man's hat on the bed and someone in the house will be arrested.
11009. To lay your hat on the bed will cause some member of your family to lose his mind.
 261

11010. If on the bed you lay your hat crown up, you will have good luck; if crown down, bad luck.
11011. Always lay your hat on the bed with the open side up and you will never lack money.
11012. If you lay a hat on the bed with the crown up, it is holding a sickness for that bed; but if crown down, it is not.
11013. I was at a house when a man came in and hung his hat on the door knob. The woman told him it was bad luck, to take it off. Before an
hour passed, this woman dropped her only comb and broke it in several places; said it would not of happen, if he had not of put his hat on her
door knob." It is also unlucky to hang a sunbonnet on a doorknob.
11014. Your hat hung on a door knob will bring you a disappointment.
11015. A man's hat laid on a table, whether he or another person lays it there, will give the owner bad luck say some; the house, say others.
The dining-room table in particular is an unlucky place.
11016. The person laying a hat on a table will be disappointed.
11017. To eat at the table with your hat on is unlucky.
11018. Always hang up your hat for good luck.
11019. A hat falling off a hook on to the floor is an unlucky omen.
11020. Never put your hat on before your shoes; you will be unlucky all day.
11021. "I have a friend that will not take her hat off first when she goes visiting, always her coat, then puts her hat on the coat for good luck.
She will not even let anyone touch her hat, thinks it bad luck."

CLOTHING ACCESSORIES (11022-11154)

Apron - Gloves - Handkerchief - Purse - Beads (11022-11079)
APRON
11022. The woman who patches her kitchen apron will be poor all her life.
11023. An apron accidentally put on wrong side out is a token of good luck.
11024. "My aunt always said if your apron strings come untied while working in the morning, sign you will have company in the afternoon."
11025. To have your apron strings come untied means someone is thinking of you.
11026. If you are working and your apron strings come untied, there will be a quarrel in the family.
11027. "My mother always said every time her apron strings came untied the old man came home that night drunk."
11028. If the strings come untied and your apron falls to the floor, you will be insulted that day.
11029. A woman whose apron drops to the floor will soon lose a friend.
11030. A hole burned in the front of your apron presages trouble and sorrow.
11031. After you burn a hole in your apron, someone will tell a lie about you.
11032. If while wearing an apron you and another woman dry on it at the same time, you two will soon have a quarrel.

GLOVES
11033. "My mother also said it would break friendship to give anyone gloves." The usual meaning is just a quarrel.
11034. Never give a man a pair of gloves for a present; he will soon be borrowing money from you.
11035. Always, when you go anywhere or come home, lay your gloves on top of your hat for luck.
11036. When company leaves your house, hand them their gloves and they will be lucky.
11037. A person who forgets to wear gloves on leaving home will have good luck.
11038. If you are holding your gloves as you walk along and drop one of them, bad luck may be expected.
11039. If you drop your gloves, expect a disappointment.
11040. If you drop your gloves when starting somewhere, you will be disappointed before you get there.
11041. To drop your gloves is a sign you will shake hands with someone who has cold hands.
11042. One glove found on the street may be picked up for luck.
11043. If while walking down the street a person finds a right glove, it means good luck; if a left glove, bad luck.
11044. "My mother always said it was good luck to find a glove that fits your left hand. "
11045. If a person finds a pair of gloves, it foretells a new friend; if one glove, a lifetime friend.

HANDKERCHIEF
11046. "I would not let anyone give me a handkerchief for anything, because they bring me tears; for every time anyone give me one, I cry. So
I always tell my friends not to give me any. I would not accept one, if I know they are giving me one."
11047. If a woman forgets her handkerchief and has to borrow one from a man, she will soon hear good news.
11048. The person who drops a handkerchief and picks it up will be unlucky, but this bad luck can be counteracted by letting someone else pick it
up.
11049. If you drop a handkerchief, you will be disappointed; especially if it is dropped just before leaving home.
11050. Some consider it lucky to pick up a handkerchief found on the street; others consider it unlucky.
11051. Never pick up a handkerchief found on the street; you are picking up the owner's troubles.
11052. Anyone who picks up a handkerchief found on the street is picking up a quarrel.
11053. A handkerchief found on the street is a sign of a letter.
11054. The result from picking up a handkerchief found on the street will be a sickness in the family.
11055. Walk backwards and throw your handkerchief over your left shoulder into a wheat field for luck.

PURSE
11056. The woman who carries her pocketbook under the arm will soon lose a friend.
11057. If you drop your pocketbook, you will soon lose money.
11058. If you drop your pocketbook just before leaving home, you will lose money while away that day.
11059. The loss of a pocketbook means the loss of a friend.
11060. "I never throw a pocketbook away until it wears out. I think it bad luck."
11061. It is unlucky to give a friend an old pocketbook you no longer want.
11062. The man to whom you give a pocketbook will have bad luck.
11063. As a lucky object, the wearer of a new suit should be given a coin to carry in his or her purse.
 262

11064. The gift of a purse not containing a piece of money is unlucky. To avoid this misfortune, always put a coin or a banknote in the purse
before making the presentation.
11065. Whatever you find in a new pocketbook should be kept for luck.
11066. To find a purse well filled with money is unfortunate.
11067. The finding of a purse without money brings success.
11068. The finder of a purse without money will kiss a stranger.
11069. Never carry a purse without money; you will have bad luck.
11070. "I keep three dimes wrapped in a little piece of paper for luck in my purse."
11071. The person who spends the last cent in his purse will not acquire any more money for a month.
11072. It is lucky to keep an acorn in your purse, on your person, or in your house.
11073. It is lucky to keep a buckeye in your purse, on your person, or in your house.
11074. It is lucky to keep a nutmeg in your purse, on your person, or in your house.

BEADS
11075. It is unlucky for a young girl to wear black beads.
11076. A girl breaking her beads will have bad luck.
11077. If a woman breaks her beads at a party, she will never be invited to that house again.
11078. "I know this is so, for it happened to me: never count beads you are wearing; if you do, the string will soon break and you will not
find some of the beads."
11079. Always restring a necklace of beads you find and then wear them for luck.

Belt - Breastpin - Earrings - Charm - Locket (11080-11096)

BELT
11080. If a woman's dress belt keeps coming undone, someone is thinking of her.

BREASTPIN
11081. "My grandmother said never wear your breastpin upside down; it will bring you bad luck.
11082. Never give a breastpin to anyone; that person will soon "do you dirty".
11083. Neither give nor accept a breastpin for a present; the two of you will soon quarrel --- before the year is out and never make up, say some.
11084. To avoid a quarrel with the person to whom you give a breast or ornamental pin, file a little off the point.
1085. "It's an old saying, if you give anyone a breastpin, that's the sign of a fuss; if you wear that pin for three days straight before you give it
to someone, you will not have the fuss, for you have broken it up by wearing it."
11086. "My sister gave me a pin several years ago and she stuck me three times on the hand. I said, 'What's that for?' She said, 'Oh, for good
luck'."
11087. If you pick up a breastpin found on the street, you are picking up someone else's troubles.
11088. If you pick up a breastpin found on the street, you are picking up a bad enemy.
11089. The person who wears a pin or the symbol of a lodge or club to which he does not belong will be unfortunate.
11090. To have your brooch come unfastened shows someone is thinking of you.

EARRINGS
11091. The wearing of earrings is lucky, provided they are not opals.
11092. A woman who wears one earring will become unlucky.

CHARM
11093. Wear a small white elephant around your neck as a lucky charm.
11094. A green ornament should be worn on Friday for luck.

LOCKET
11095. If you keep a small lock of someone's hair in your locket, you will never be separated from that person except by death.
11096. To lose a locket containing someone's picture means that that person will soon disappear from your life.

Ring - Birthstones - Gems - Eyeglasses - Umbrella (11097-11154)

RING
11097. A ring worn on the middle finger of your left hand causes trouble.
11098. Never keep a ring on the middle of each hand; it will make you unfortunate.
11099. It is unlucky to wear two rings on the same finger.
11100. To drop your ring indicates you will soon lose a friend.
11101. If you find a ring lost by someone you know and fail to restore it, you will have bad luck --- a year of bad luck for each day you delay
the restoration, say some.
11102. Bad luck is caused by wearing somebody's ring.
11103. Either to take a ring off a person's finger or to let someone take a ring off your finger is unlucky .
11104. The person who takes a ring off the owner's finger will be disappointed.
11105. Either to take a ring off a person's finger or to let someone take a ring off your finger will make you two quarrel --- your friendship will
be broken say some.
11106. Do not permit anyone to take a ring off your finger; that person will soon steal from you.
11107. A person finding a piece of gold should have it made into a ring and wear it for luck.
11108. The gift of a ring to someone makes you lucky.
11109. If you give a person his birthstone, you are giving luck to him.
11110. Your birthstone worn in a ring or an ornament gives you luck.
11111. If you wear a ring with a setting which is not your birthstone, trouble may be expected.
 263

BIRTHSTONES
11112. The birthstones for the months of the year are:
January.... garnet
February.... amethyst
March.... bloodstone
April.... diamond
May.... emerald
June.... moonstone
July.... ruby
August.... sardonyx
September.... sapphire
October.... amber, opal
November.... topaz
December.... turquoise

GEMS
11113. During the week wear the following stones for luck:
"Yellow stones on Sunday,
Pearls on Monday,
Rubies on Tuesday,
Sapphires on Wednesday,
Garnets or red stones on Thursday,
Emeralds or green stones on Friday.
Diamonds on Saturday."
11114. "I have a ring with a cat's-eye and I never take it off my finger, for I have good luck in everything I do."
11115. Diamonds that sparkle when you wear them are a sign of good health.
11116. Emeralds are lucky say some; unlucky say others.
11117. The garnet is considered a lucky stone.
11118. A moonstone may be worn for luck.
11119. Some say a ring with an opal setting is unlucky only for those who do not have this jewel as a birthstone, but others say it is always
unlucky.
11120. One opal is unlucky; two are lucky.
11121. If the opal is your birthstone, wear it and you will always have work.
11122. The person who finds an opal and picks it up will pick up someone's troubles.
11123. Unless it is your birthstone, a pearl ring will bring you bad luck.
11124. Wear pearls and you will shed tears.
11125. Pearls are said to gain coloring and life when worn against the flesh, and to become dull and lifeless when not so worn.
11126. A dark and cloudy appearance in a pearl you are wearing foretells trouble.
11127. It is lucky to wear a sapphire.
11128. The sapphire inspires sentiments of love.
11129. Misfortune comes from wearing a topaz.
11130. A topaz causes jealousy.

EYEGLASSES
11131. If before going outdoors into the cold you wipe your eyeglasses with a dollar bill, they will not steam up when you come back into the
house.
11132. To keep your eyeglasses from steaming up when you come out of cold weather into a warm house, walk in backwards.
11133. A person breaking his eyeglasses will soon move.

UMBRELLA
11134. The gift of an umbrella from a man to a woman brings bad luck.
11135. It is unlucky to borrow an umbrella.
11136. Point the end of your umbrella at the end of a rainbow and you will be lucky.
11137. The end of your umbrella pointed at anyone will give bad luck to that person.
11138. "If I see anyone with an umbrella, I stay away, for I don't want it even to touch me, if someone is carrying it, for I think it very bad luck."
11139. A person hit by an umbrella will soon go to jail.
11140. Whoever drops an umbrella will be disappointed, but this misfortune can be warded off by letting someone else pick up the umbrella.
11141. An umbrella laid on the bed is unlucky.
11142. "A woman came to my house one day and put her umbrella on my bed crossways, and I snatched it right off so I would not have bad luck.
Length- ways it's not so bad."
11143. To lay an umbrella on the bed is the sign of a disappointment.
11144. "My mother always said it was bad luck to hang your umbrella on a door knob, something would go wrong soon."
11145. If you lay your umbrella on a table, you are laying trouble in your way.
11146. Always set your umbrella upside down and you will have good luck.
11147. You should never open an umbrella while buying it; let the clerk open it to keep bad luck away.
11148. The person who walks into a house with his umbrella open will become unlucky, but this bad luck can be prevented by immediately
backing out of the house and closing the umbrella outdoors.
11149. Do not open an umbrella in the house; bad luck will overtake you.
11150. Provided you do not stand under it, the opening of an umbrella in the house is not unlucky.
 264

11151. To raise an umbrella in the house means seven years of bad luck, unless you take the umbrella out in the yard and open and close it three
times.
11152. If you open an umbrella in the house, grief will come to the family living there.
11153. An open umbrella held over anyone's head while in a house will cause that person a disappointment.
11154. The person over whose head you open an umbrella in the house will stop growing.

HOUSEHOLD ACTIVITIES (11155-12644)

CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIRS (11155-11169)

11155. To begin the construction of a new house or building of any kind on Saturday is unlucky.
11156. If your house burns down and you build again on the same spot, that new house also will burn down.
11157. The building of a new house is the sign of a birth or a death in the family.
11158. Always lay the foundation for a house in the light of the moon, for a foundation laid in the dark of the moon will sink into the ground.
11159. It is lucky to put money in the foundation of a building. This usually meant luck for those living in that house, but by extension those
who work on the building can also have luck (or work all year) by concealing a piece of money in whatever part of the building it was within
their province to construct.
11160. A house should be roofed in the dark of the moon, for shingles laid in the light of the moon will warp. This is the general belief, but some
say shingles must be put on during a light moon to keep them from spreading apart.
11161. "My father and I lived in a log house up the North Bottoms and the first night after we went to bed the house just crack and crack ---
sound like someone shot a gun. I got up and stay up; I thought someone was around. The next night we heard that cracking again and I was
afraid. The next morning I told some of the neighbors, and a man told us that they had that noise every night. So, if you ever hear a cracking in
your walls or cellar joists, you will know the tree was struck by lightning before it mas made into lumber. That's an old German saying."
11162. You must paint a building during the decrease of the moon so that the paint will penetrate the wood and never peel off.
11163. Before you move into a new house that you have built, let a priest bless it for luck.
11164. Never make a door or window in an old house or in a new house after it is built; you will be unlucky.
11165. Never make a door into a window or a window into a door; you will be unlucky.
11166. Always build a fence (set the posts in the ground say some) during the dark of the moon so that it will settle down into the ground. Hence,
a fence built when the moon is light will fall over; or, according to some, it will come out of the ground with the first frost. Likewise, posts set in
the light of the moon become loose. This seems to be the accepted belief about fences with posts. However, the old worm fence, the zigzag rail
fence, was usually constructed in the light of the moon to keep it from sinking into the ground.
11167. A fence should be made and repaired when the horns of the moon point upward so that the fence will not sink dawn into the ground.
11168. Set into the ground the top end of the post, that part which was uppermost in the tree, and the post will shed water better and last
longer. This turning of the post upside down is a symbolical emptying of all future water.
11169. "We had a board down in our walk that turn up every time you step on it. I am sure it was put down in the light of the moon, because it
would not do that if put down in the dark of the moon. One day I said to my husband, 'I am tired of that board jumping up on one end, then on the
other end, every time you step on it; I am going to wait for the dark of the moon and pick up the board and put it down again so it will stay down.'
I waited for the dark of the moon, put the board down, and it stay down; never jump up again when we step on it."

TOOLS - NAIL - LADDER (11170-11216)

TOOLS
11170. An ax carried on your shoulder brings you ban luck.
11171. A double-bladed ax taken into the house indicates bloodshed before the end of the week.
11172. To protect yourself against bad luck, keep under the carpet near each outer door a file pointing away from the house.
11173. The person who takes a hoe into the house will lose a cow that year.
11174. It is unlucky to rest a hoe or a shovel against the house.
11175. Whoever throws a hoe over a fence will encounter bad luck.
11176. If you drag a hoe or rake across the porch, bad luck may be expected.
11177. Never let a rake lie on the ground with the teeth upward; bad luck will befall you.
11178. A disappointment will come to the person who steps over a shovel. To prevent this the person must step backwards over the shovel.
11179. A small saw kept in the window saws your troubles in two.
11180. To carry any steel tool with a sharp edge into or through the house means bad luck. These tools are usually specified as: ax, hatchet,
hoe, lawnmower, pitchfork, rake, saw, and spade or shovel.
11181. As a counteractant for the bad luck caused by taking into the house a steel tool with a sharp edge, take the tool out the door through which
it was brought in.
11182. As a counteractant for the bad luck caused by taking into the house a steel tool with a sharp edge, walk out of the house backwards with
the tool.
11183. "I remember when I was a girl I carried a hoe in the house. My mother made me walk backward out of the house, saying the Three
Highest Names; that will keep bad luck away. I never took one in the house again."
11184. "My mother would never let us bring anything into the house that you use in dirt; very bad luck."
11185. Any kind of tool carried on your shoulder when entering a house portends an accident.
11186. If on finishing work for the day you stick into the ground in front of your house the tool you have been using, you will have good
luck. 11187. You become unlucky by stepping on or over any of these tools: ax, cornknife, hatchet, hoe, pitchfork, rake, saw, shovel, sickle,
spade and scythe. To avert this misfortune, step backwards over the implement. NAIL 11188. Before driving a nail into a board, wet the nail in
your mouth and the board will not splint.
11189. To prevent a board from splitting, rub the nail on each side of the place into which the nail is to be driven.
11190. If a nail that you are driving bends and cannot be straightened, someone is thinking evil of you.
11191. The person who hits his finger when nailing something will soon hear bad news.
11192. At the tops of the front and back doors and in the exact center, drive a nail for luck.
 265

11193. Never hang two articles on the same nail; it will bring bad luck to the family.
11194. It is unlucky to step on a rusty nail.
11195. "When I was a little girl we would always say:
'If you step on a nail,
You put your father in jail'."
11196. The person who finds a nail (some say a rusty one) will be lucky.
11197. Do not pick up a rusty nail that you find; for good luck turn it around and let it lie.
11198. The finding of a nail (some say a rusty one) makes you lucky, it is picked up and carried in your pocket.
11199. A nail that you find should be picked up and thrown over your shoulder for luck.
11200. Always preserve a nail that is found, and the first time you need a nail, use it for luck.
11201. If you find a nail with the point toward you, good luck is indicated; if with the head toward you, bad luck. But, in the latter case, some say
the bad luck can be counteracted by walking around the nail until the point is toward you; further, others say this counteracting-rite not only
counteracts the bad luck, but also makes you lucky.

LADDER
11202. To walk under a ladder or to crawl under a stepladder is unfortunate.
11203. The person walking under a ladder will have bad luck for seven years.
11204. In averting the bad luck caused by walking under a ladder, walk back under the ladder.
11205. In averting the bad luck caused by walking under a ladder, spit and walk backwards under the ladder.
11206. In averting the bad luck caused by walking under a ladder, spit on your thumb and index finger and rub them on your left ear.
11207. To bump your head while walking under a ladder is unlucky, but this misfortune can be avoided by saying God bless me.
11208. A person who walks under or stands beneath a ladder on which someone is sitting will be unlucky.
11209. You can change a spell of bad luck to good luck by walking under a ladder.
11210. Walk under a ladder and you will soon be disappointed.
11211. An accident will soon befall a person who walks under a ladder. This usually means he will get hurt before the day is over or one of his
bones will soon be broken.
11212. If you walk under a ladder, you will die by hanging.
11213. To step or to walk on the rungs of a ladder that lies on the ground is very unfortunate.
11214. A ladder under which a cat has just walked should not be climbed; the climber will have bad luck.
11215. If the ladder you are climbing, or upon which you are standing, falls before you can get off; bad luck will soon follow.
11216. The handing of a stepladder or a pair of steps across a bed to someone on the other side will cause you the worst kind of bad luck.

RENTING OR BUYING (11217-11222)

11217. "We bought this house we are living in on Friday and have had nothing but trouble ever since we did."
11218. It is unlucky to rent a house on Saturday.
11219. Let the renter beware the seventh or thirteenth of the month, for a house rented on either of these days means bad luck while living there.
11220. If on going to look at a house before renting it you enter the front door and leave by the back door, you will never rent that house.
11221. The person who inspects a house with the idea of renting it should always carry a broom under the arm for luck.
11222. "I was renting a house from a woman and when she took me to the house to turn the keys over she threw a broom into the house before we
went in. I said, 'What is that for?' She said, 'So we will not fall out about the house'."

MOVING (11223-11350)

11223. On New Year's Eve sit on the floor with your back to the fire and kick off one of your shoes so that it will fly over your shoulder: if
the toe of the shoe points toward a door or window, you will move before the end of the year; if toward the stove, you will remain in that house
another year.
11224. The person who hears a turtledove in the spring will move during the year and in the direction from which the calling comes. Failure to
hear a turtledove in the spring indicates that you will remain in your present home for another year.
11225. If the first thing heard early in the morning is the cooing of a turtledove, you will soon move in the direction from which you hear the
sound.
11226. "Whichever way the dove is moaning when you first move into a house, that's the way you will make your next move. MY mother heard a
dove moaning when she moved and it was in the direction of the cemetery, and said, 'That will be my next move.' And she did die and the
cemetery was her next move."
11227. Listen for the first whippoorwill of spring, and, if you decide to move during the year, it will be or should be in the direction from which
the calls come.
11228. It is unlucky to move on Monday.
11229. A person who moves on Monday will soon move again.
11230. Select Tuesday as a lucky moving-day.
11231. To move on Wednesday causes bad luck.
11232. Never move on Wednesday; it brings sickness.
11233. Let a person move on Wednesday for a good name.
11234. Friday is an unlucky day for moving.
11235. If you move on Friday, there will be sickness in the family.
11236. Move on Friday and you will not stay long.
11237. A person moving on Saturday will have bad luck.
11238. You will not remain long at the house into which you move on Saturday.
11239. If you must move on Saturday, counteract any misfortune by taking some article into the new house on Thursday.
11240. To avoid bad luck caused by Friday or Saturday moving, do not clean up or arrange any of the furniture until Monday; let everything
remain just where it was put when taken from the van.
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11241. Some say Sunday is a bad day on which to move; others say it is a good day for moving.
11242. Several weeks ago on Sunday, I was moving on Sunday. The man that carried the looking-glass said, 'I sure don't want to break this, for I
will have fourteen years bad luck. If you break a looking-glass moving on Sunday, it just doubles the bad luck you get from breaking a
looking-glass'."
11243. Families moving on Sunday will soon move again.
11244. Always move on the light of the moon for luck.
11245. If you move on the light of the moon, your health and wealth will increase.
11246. If you move on the light of the moon, you will reap some gain; if on the dark of the moon, you will suffer some loss.
11247. The full moon is the best moving-time.
11248. Do not move between two suns --- between sunset and sunrise; that is, after dark — you will have bad luck.
11249. The person who moves on a rainy day will not stay in the new house a year.
11250. It is unlucky to move twice within the same month.
11251. Never move back into a house where you once lived; you will meet with some misfortune.
11252. They say it is dangerous to move into a house where there has been any kind of trouble; you will certainly get that trouble.
11253. To help a tenant move from your house gives you bad luck.
11254. "My husband always does this every time we move: always walks through the house from front to back and all around the house before
we put anything in so we will have good luck in that house."
11255. If you move from a house, always leave for the last time through the back door so that your troubles will be left behind.
11256. Unless everything is taken on the first load when you move, you will not stay long in the new house.
11257. You must not return for anything forgotten when moving; this is very unlucky.
11258. Never move everything from a house when moving; always let something remain in the old house for luck.
11259. Something old and something new should be left in the house for luck when you move.
11260. To sweep a house from which you are moving will make you unlucky in the new house.
11261. Expect trouble in your new home, if either you sweep the old one immediately after everything has been moved or return later to give it
a sweeping. However, this misfortune can be avoided by leaving something in the house while it is swept for the last time and moving the article
when you leave.
11262. To avert bad luck and to leave all your troubles behind when moving, throw the broom over the house. Some say this must be done while
you are leaving for the last time.
11263. The broom must be left in the old house for luck in the new house.
11264. Always burn up the broom and leave the ashes at the old house for luck in the new house.
11265. Whoever moves a broom from the old house will not stay long in the new house.
11266. Let the broom be the last thing taken out of the house when you move and you will be lucky.
11267. Carry the broom out handle first for luck when moving from a house.
11268. For luck in your new home, load the broom first say some; but others say the opposite, it should be loaded last.
11269. If your moving takes more than one load, the broom must go on the first load for luck.
11270. It is lucky to buy a new broom and lay it on the wagon with your household goods when moving, but this new broom must not be taken
into the old house.
11271. "My husband always sticks the broom handle in the cookstove to burn a little when we move, for we don't feel like we can leave it; and
burning the handle is burning off the bad luck, if you want to take it along."
11272. If you feel that the broom must be taken along when moving, or if it has been put accidentally on the van, you can counteract the bad luck
by going ahead to the new house and throwing salt through the window.
11273. A broom laid on the moving-van causes misfortune; let someone unrelated to the family carry the broom to the new house and throw it
over the gate for luck.
11274. You will be lucky in your new home, if the first thing carried into the house is the broom.
11275. The first thing taken into your new home should be the broom, to make you a good housekeeper while living there.
11276. Enter your new home with the broom and stand it in a corner for luck before unloading the rest of the furniture.
11277. On entering your new home for the first time you must take in the broom brush part forward to be lucky.
11278. It is unlucky to carry a broom into the house when moving; throw it through the door. Sometimes, the broom being the first article moved
into the house, a person throws it through the front door for luck and a long stay.
11279. Just before unloading the furniture at your new home, a straw pulled from the broom should be thrown into the house for luck.
11280. To avoid bad luck when moving into a new home, stand with your back toward the door and throw the broom over your shoulder.
11281. After moving into a new house, no one should touch the broom until the housewife has swept with it first for luck.
11282. If the very first thing after moving you sweep out the front door with a new broom, all your troubles will be swept out that door.
11283. Sweep out every room with a new broom just before you move into a new house and you will be contented while living there.
11284. To secure good luck when moving, toss a broom into the new house through a window.
11285. Before you enter your new home for the first time, throw a broom over the house for luck.
11286. The old broom should be put in the attic of the new house for luck.
11287. If you put the old broom in the attic of the new house, leave it there, never use it again; you will live a long time in your new home.
11288. You will be lucky, if before moving out of the old house you send a broom and a loaf of bread to your new home.
11289. To have luck in the new house, take in the broom and a loaf of bread before anything else; the broom first, the bread next. Then sweep
with the broom.
11290. A broom and a dish pan should be the first things taken into your new home for luck.
11291. A broom and a dish towel should be the first things taken into your new home for luck.
11292. The woman who takes a broom and a dust pan into her new home first will always be lucky there.
11293. For luck in your new home, let the broom and fire shovel be the first things taken in.
11294. If a broom and a basket of groceries are the first things taken into a new home, you will remain there a long time and be happy.
11295. You will always have food and a clean house by letting the first things taken into your new home be a basket of food and a broom brush
part forward.
11296. It is lucky to take the broom and salt into your new home before anything else.
11297. Baking soda put in water and sprinkled in all the rooms of your new home will bring you luck.
 267

11298. Open a Bible and lay it on the front doorstep just before entering your new home for the first time, then pick up the Bible and enter, and
you will be lucky in that house.
11299. The first things taken into your new home should be a Bible and a dollar; the members of your household will be religious and prosperous
while living there.
11300. If when moving you find mildew on a carpet, you will have bad luck in the new house.
11301. To move the cat to your new home makes you unlucky.
11302. The moving of a cat from the old house to the new one will make you unlucky for three years.
11303. "If you want to move a cat when you move to another house, just before you go, take the cat out in the yard and throw a handful of salt
over your left shoulder, and you can then move the cat without having any trouble. Whenever I move I always take my cat up in my arms just
before I am ready to start, go out in the yard and throw a handful of salt over my left shoulder, to keep from having bad luck in the new house."
11304. A chair should be the first thing taken into your new home; sit on the chair and say God bless me for luck.
11305. A farmer on moving should not take the chickens first, because they always scratch backwards; he should take the hogs first, they will
root ahead for him --- root up riches or wealth, say some.
11306. A farmer on moving should take his chickens and hogs first; the former will scratch for him, the latter will root for him.
11307. A farmer on moving should take his hogs first; they will root all the dirt ( bad luck or evil) out of the place .
11308. It is very unlucky to take washed out unironed clothes into your new home; it is better to take them soiled, if you do not have time to
finish the washing.
11309. You can have good luck when you move into a house by counting the corners of your room on the first day.
11310. To count the doors of a house into which you have just moved is unlucky.
11311. If any dishes are broken while moving, bad luck may be expected.
11312. Give a dish towel to friends when they are moving into a new house and they will have good luck.
11313. Something to eat should be the first thing carried into your new home; you will always be well-provisioned while living there.
11314. Eggs must never be moved to your new home; they will make you unlucky.
11315. Put a sack of flour in the house just when moving and you will always have something to eat.
11316. If before doing anything else you carry a sack of flour and a side of meat through all the rooms of the house into which you are moving,
you will never be without food.
11317. To break glassware while moving into another house brings misfortune.
11318. Before you do anything in your new home, hang a horseshoe over the kitchen door for luck.
11319. Before you do anything in your new home, hang a horseshoe over the door: if the first person passing under it is a man, you will be lucky
in that house.
11320. A farmer when changing farms should move his meat first for luck.
11321. Never move a mirror from one house to another; this is very unfortunate.
11322. Always when moving into a new home, throw a piece of silver money through the door before you enter so that you will never be broke in
that house.
11323. A piece of silver money and a piece of bread may be laid on the shelf in the closet of your new home to prevent want while living there.
You must do this before moving.
11324. The mop moved from the old house to the new one causes bad luck.
11325. The mother of the family should always be the first person to enter the new home for luck.
11326. Do not borrow anything from a neighbor on the first day you move; you will never have any luck in the new house.
11327. If you move into a new neighborhood and borrow something, always return more than you borrowed or you will be unlucky in that
neighborhood.
11328. If after moving into a new neighborhood you call on some neighbor first, you will not stay in that neighborhood long.
11329. When you move into a new house, let some neighbor woman scrub the floors for you and you will be lucky.
11330. To be lucky in a new home, let a priest bless it before you move there.
11331. Throw a handful of rice back into the old house when you leave it for the last time and you will have luck in the new house.
11332. "We moved into a house and we found salt in every corner of the rooms and we had nothing but troubles. Someone had put salt there to
leave their troubles for us and we sure got them; we had to move."
11333. Always before moving from a house scatter salt in the four corners of one room to be lucky in your new home.
11334. Salt sprinkled in the four corners of the house before you move will prevent sickness in your new home.
11335. To leave your troubles in a house from which you are moving, sprinkle salt on the floors and burn some on the stove just before taking it
down.
11336. The person who is moving from a house may, as he goes out the door for the last time, throw salt over his left shoulder back into the
house to leave his troubles behind.
11337. Some say it is lucky to take salt with you when you move; others say it is unlucky.
11338. If you throw a handful or a sack of salt into a house before you move in, you will be lucky while living there.
11339. "My father was a minister and whenever we moved, he would always go ahead and set a cup of salt in the house before we took anything
in."
11340. Hang a bag of salt behind the kitchen stove in your new home and you will be lucky.
11341. For luck in your new home, carry salt and pepper into the house before moving.
11342. You will always have good luck in your new home, if salt, pepper and sugar are carried there before you move.
11343. The first things taken into your new home should be salt wrapped in a package and a piece of bread so that you will always have plenty
while living there.
11344. A stove must never be the first article moved into your new home; it will cause quarrels in the family.
11345. If you carry the stove into your new home through the front door, you will have quarrels in that house; if through the back door, peace.
11346. If you carry the cookstove straightways into your new home, there will be a family quarrel before the end of the week.
11347. If you carry the cookstove sideways into your new home, your wife will want many new things while living there.
11348. Sulphur may be worn in a bag for luck when moving into another house.
11349. Immediately on moving into a new house burn sulphur to prevent sickness.
11350. As soon as possible after you have moved into a new home, have a house- warming for luck.
 268

FURNITURE (11351-11506)
Unspecified - Bed - Bric-a-brac - Chair (11351-11415)
UNSPECIFIED
11351. If you find a piece of wooden furniture in your house and do not know or cannot remember from where it came, you will have good luck.
11352. Never dispose of a piece of furniture or a household object until you have had it seven years; then, if unwanted, throw it away for luck.
11353. To burn broken or unwanted furniture is unlucky; for luck always give it to somebody or throw it away.
11354. "Move your furniture around every month in your front room and you will have good luck. I never let a month go by that I don't change
everything around in my room so I will have good luck."
11355. If you break any household article on New Year's Day, expect bad luck all year.

BED
11356. If you sit on another person's bed, you will have bad luck say some; say others, the person who sleeps in that bed will have bad luck.
11357. To place your feet on a bed is unlucky.
11358. It is unlucky to stand on a bed.
11359. You should keep your bed pushed flush against the wall for luck. 11360. "We were quarreling in our family all the time. My mother, sister
and I were in a fuss all the time. We just could not get along about anything. We would even fight. One day my sister said, 'I am going to give
you a bed, for it's an old saying it will keep peace in the family.' She did. And since that we don't have any more trouble with one another."

BRIC-A-BRAC
11361. An Indian arrowhead on the wall brings you luck.
11362. To hang up a new calendar before New Year's Day will make you unlucky.
11363. The man who puts a calendar on his desk or workbench will lose his position before the year ends.
11364. Never untie the ribbon on a diploma; always slip it off, for if the ribbon is untied, you will have bad luck.
11365. If a girl changes the name of her doll, the doll will break.
11366. If small children pretending to have guns begin to play soldiers, it is a sign of war.
11367. Keep the statue of an elephant in your house for luck.
11368. If you have an elephant ornament in your house, always set it so that the tail will point north and you will be lucky.
11369. An elephant mascot in the house should always have its trunk up for luck. An elephant with its trunk down is an unlucky object. 11370.
There will be trouble in the house where a statue falls to the floor.
11371. "I would not have one of those old statues sitting in the house that is made of plaster paris for anything, for I think if paint drops off a
statue it brings bad luck to the house."
11372. The person who knocks a vase off the mantel will be unlucky.

CHAIR
11373. It is a bad omen when an empty chair creaks without being touched.
11374. The person who accidentally breaks the leg of a chair has an enemy.
11375. If you burn the rounds that came from an old rocking-chair, you will have bad luck; if you throw them away, you are throwing away bad
luck.
11376. Failure to give something in return to the person who gives you a chair will bring you misfortune or quarrels.
11377. To stand on a chair is unlucky.
11378. If anyone puts a foot upon the chair in which you are sitting, you will have bad luck.
11379. Never sit in a rocking-chair at the dinner table; bad luck will follow.
11380. If you sit in a chair and rest your feet on a table, bad luck may be expected.
11381. Two persons sitting together on the same chair become unlucky.
11382. It is unlucky to sit on the arm of a chair.
11383. To straddle a chair so that you are facing its back will cause misfortune.
11384. A person who unintentionally walks all around a chair will be lucky.
11385. Expect bad luck after you stumble and fall over a rocking-chair.
11386. If while walking along you fall over a chair, look for a disappointment.
11387. Whoever upsets a chair will soon be disappointed.
11388. If when getting up from the table your chair falls over backwards, you will meet with some misfortune that day.
11389. If you accidentally place two chairs back to back, good luck will come to you --- that day say some. Further, some say the chairs must
be kitchen chairs.
11390. According to some, two chairs placed seat to seat denote company; according to others, company is denoted by two chairs placed back to
back. This must be done unintentionally.
11391. To walk a chair is unlucky.
11392. Do not drag a chair behind you; you are dragging up trouble for yourself.
11393. Bad luck will come to the house in which a child plays with a chair.
11394. "On New Year's Eve turn all the chairs around in the house so they will be looking the other way; will bring you luck for the new year. I
thought I would try this, so New Year's Eve I turned every chair in the house around the other way; and this is the tenth of January and I have had
two lucky things to happen already to me, so I believe there is something in the saying."
11395. Never spin a chair around on one leg, even while dusting; it brings bad luck.
11396. If you are planning a trip and happen to twirl a chair around on one leg, you will be disappointed during that trip by not having a good
time.
11397. A person twirling a chair around on one leg will soon have a serious quarrel with someone.
11398. To twist a chair around on one leg signifies a quarrel in the family; that day according to some.
11399. When a chair is twirled on a front leg instead of the back leg as usually done, it indicates a fight with the preacher.
11400. The person who makes a chair rotate on one leg will lose a friend.
11401. Children spinning a chair on one leg will receive a whipping; before nine o'clock that night say some.
11402. Do not whirl a chair around on one leg; you are whirling a sickness to yourself.
 269

11403. If you rock an empty rocking-chair, you are rocking up trouble either for yourself or for the house.
11404. If while rocking in a rocking-chair the chair keeps shifting its position, you may look for trouble.
11405. You become unlucky by not stopping a rocking-chair after you get out of it.
11406. If you let a rocker rock after arising from it and someone sits on the chair before the rocking stops, that person will suffer a great loss.
11407. To teeter a straight chair or to seesaw back and forth while sitting on it will bring sorrow to your heart.
11408. Anyone who rocks an empty rocking-chair will soon be disappointed.
11409. If when visiting you sit in a rocking-chair and rock, you will have a serious misunderstanding with your host.
11410. If you rock an empty rocking-chair while on a visit, you will not be invited to that house again. Some say you are rocking your welcome
away.
11411. To arise from a rocker and leave it rocking foretells a quarrel.
11412. A child rocking an empty rocker will soon get a spanking; before going to bed say some.
11413. If a child rocks an empty rocker, it is rocking its father or mother into jail.
11414. Sickness will soon come to that house in which an empty rocker is rocked.
11415. "My grandma would never sit down in a rocking-chair unless she saw the party get up; afraid someone had rocked it empty, and was
afraid she would be sick."

Clock - Watch - Curtain - Shade - Mirror (11416-11480)

CLOCK AND WATCH
11416. Always set a new clock at midnight and it will last longer.
11417. A clock wound in the middle of the day makes you unlucky.
11418. If you wind a clock in the morning, you will have bad luck; if in the evening, good luck.
11419. To have the alarm sound while you are winding an alarm clock indicates sickness in the family.
11420. If you are in a room by yourself and the clock seems to be ticking louder than usual, bad luck may be expected.
11421. A clock that stops is a sign of bad luck.
11422. When a clock stops in the middle of the night, someone far away is thinking of you.
11423. A clock stopping at midnight foretells a houseful of company before the end of the week.
11424. Good luck will come to the house in which a clock having struck three times on Friday stops and does not run again.
11425. Never keep a clock that does not run; it will cause you bad luck.
11426. To turn a clock so that it faces the wall is unlucky.
11427. Anyone dropping a watch will soon have a misfortune in the family.
11428. If you drop a clock or watch and the face of the former or the crystal of the latter cracks or breaks, bad luck will overtake you.
11429. The person who drops a watch is a time-waster.
11430. A watch that loses time while you are carrying it denotes a visit from someone not seen for years.
11431. To throwaway an old clock is unlucky; always bury it for luck.
11432. "My niece in Hannibal [Missouri] will not throw a clock away; she thinks it very bad luck to do it. She always puts her old clocks she
does not want down in the cellar in a dark place to keep them for luck."
11433. "My mother always said it was very bad luck to have more than one clock running in the house at the same time."

CURTAIN AND SHADE

11434. Do not hang a curtain (or drapery) with the large hem at the top; it will bring you bad luck.
11435. A curtain (or drapery) that hangs crooked will give you bad luck until you straighten it.
11436. A window shade "flying up to the ceiling" denotes bad luck.
11437. If a window shade which no one is near flies up to the ceiling, it means bad news.
11438. "Just last week one shade went up and the lace curtain fell down; and when a shade goes up and makes a curtain fall down, you are sure to
hear of sickness. And my mother took real sick and is still sick."
11429. After a window shade slips from your hand and rolls up, you may expect company.
11440. Never prop open a window by putting a windowshade stick or curtain rod under it; you will have bad luck.

MIRROR
11441. "My mirror drop off the washstand the other day and didn't break. I was worrying myself sick over it dropping, thinking it was bad
luck, until a woman told me not to worry, that I would have thousands of luck, for if a mirror drops and don't break, that's very good luck."
11442. "I was standing on the corner of Seventh and Maine Street several weeks ago waiting for the bus, to go home; when two girls stepped up
on the curbing. As one of the girls stepped up, her big looking-glass fell out of her purse on the sidewalk. It didn't break. The other girl said, 'Why
don't you pick up your looking-glass, it didn't break.' The other girl said, 'I don't want it, for it's bad luck to pick it up even if it didn't break.'
A man walking back of the two girls said, 'Girls, if you are not going to pick it up, I will, and take it to my wife. I don't believe in that old
stuff.' He did pick it up."
11443. It is unlucky to break a mirror. The belief has also been transferred to the breaking of a windowpane or a glass door.
11444. Whoever breaks a mirror will have bad luck for seven years.
11445. The number of pieces into which a mirror is broken will show how many unlucky years you will have.
11446. Each crack into which a mirror breaks on falling represents seven years of bad luck.
11447. If a mirror falls with the face to the floor and breaks, you may expect bad luck; but if it is face up and broken after falling, good luck may
be expected.
11448. The person who breaks a mirror on New Year's Day will be broke the rest of his life.
11449. If you break a mirror and the pieces are large, it means a large trouble; if small, a small trouble.
11450. If you break a mirror and the crack is straight, that is not bad luck; but if the crack is crooked, that is bad luck.
11451. Some say after you have broken seven mirrors you will not have bad luck; similarly, others say the person who breaks a mirror should
break seven more mirrors and the bad luck will be averted.
11452. After you have broken a mirror, immediately pick up all the pieces and put them together; this will patch up, prevent, the bad luck.
11453. "Whenever we would break a looking-glass, my mother would make us children look and look so we would get every little piece, so she
could burn them so we would not have bad luck."
 270

11454. Always gather up the broken pieces of a mirror, melt them in a fire and when cold carry them in your pocketbook, and bad luck will not
befall you.
11455. To avert bad luck after breaking a mirror, throw the broken pieces into the fire and count seven while they are burning.
11456. "My husband broke my looking-glass just six months ago. I picked up all the pieces, put salt all over them and put it in the cookstove,
saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to keep from having bad luck, and so far we have not had bad luck over it."
11457. If you break a mirror, bury all the pieces to get rid of the bad luck.
11458. If you break a mirror, bury all the pieces and lay a brick over the place to get rid of the bad luck.
11459. Bad luck does not follow the breaking of a mirror, provided you bury one of the broken pieces under the doorstep.
11460. The person who breaks a mirror should pick up the pieces, bury them, walk backwards until the spot can no longer be seen, turn around
and go on, and he will have buried his bad luck for seven years.
11461. Bad luck resulting from a broken mirror can be warded off by visiting a graveyard at midnight on a starless night.
11462. "My grandmother always did this, if you break a looking-glass. She would always set a broken looking-glass to the wall, never turn it
around again, never would throw it away, to keep bad luck away."
11463. If you pick up the pieces of a broken mirror and throw away each piece in a different direction, you will so scatter the bad luck that it will
not amount to anything.
11464. To avert the bad luck which comes from breaking a mirror, drop the pieces of glass into running water.
11465. To avert the bad luck which comes from breaking a mirror, stand with your back to running water and throw the pieces over your left
shoulder.
11466. As soon as you break a mirror, go to running water, walk downstream until you find an exposed rock midstream, break over this rock one
of the pieces from the mirror, letting these pieces fall into the water, and all the bad luck will be washed away.
11467. "I would not let a cracked looking-glass stay in my house for anything; will bring bad luck to the house."
11468. "An old saying of my mother was: never keep a broken looking-glass in the house; if you do, someone will soon break their leg."
11469. To break a mirror means you will lose either a very dear friend or your best one.
11470. The person finding a mirror will soon find a new friend.
11471. A mirror falling from the wall is the sign of a birth.
11472. If you look into a mirror over someone's shoulder, usually the left, you will be unlucky; but some say the other person will be unlucky,
and others say both of you.
11473. If two persons together look into a mirror, they will have bad luck at the same time on the same day.
11474. If two persons together look into a mirror, or one of them looks over the other's shoulder into a mirror, it signifies a disappointment.
They will be disappointed before the end of the day according to some.
11475. If two persons together look into a mirror, or one of them looks over the other's shoulder, their friendship will soon be broken say some,
they will soon be parted forever say others.
11476. If two persons together look into a mirror, or one of them looks over the other's shoulder, one of the two will soon have a quarrel.
11477. They say it is a sin to make faces at yourself in a mirror.
11478. To see the reflection of a new moon in a mirror is unfortunate.
11479. Never look into a mirror before breakfast; bad luck will be the result.
11480. "My father thought looking in a looking-glass at night was very bad luck. He always said:
'To look in a glass at night,
Brings sorrow in daylight.'
I remember we had a niece living at our house and she looked in a glass one night and my father made her leave the house, would not let her stay
there any more, thought it so bad luck."

Picture - Photograph - Table - Trunk - Key (11481-11506)

PICTURE AND PHOTOGRAPH
11481. "I have heard to have your picture taken on Friday is sure bad luck."
11482. If you meet an old friend whom you have not seen for a long time and he gives you his photograph, you will have good luck.
11483. The storing away of family photographs or portraits will be followed by misfortune.
11484. "My mother said it was an old saying you would be lucky, if you accidentally hung a picture upside down."
11485. There will be bad luck for that house in which a picture or portrait on the wall hangs crooked.
11486. A picture hanging crooked on the wall shows that someone in the house is a crook.
11487. To break the glass in a picture frame brings sickness to that house.
11488. If a picture of a living person fades away, that person will live a long life.
11489. A picture that drops out of its frame is an omen of bad luck.
11490. The person whose photograph or portrait falls to the floor will soon have some misfortune.
11491. "Do you see that picture over there on the wall? That picture always falls just before my husband loses his job or one of the children gets
sick; it never fails to fall when we are going to have trouble. But, if it breaks, that's the sign of death; just falling and not breaking, that's trouble."
11492. If a picture drops from the wall and does not fall over, it is an indication of good luck; if it falls on its back, good news; and if on its face,
death.
11493.
"If a picture falls from the wall,
Someone is sure to call."
11494. It is unlucky for anyone to sit on a table; especially so for a young child to climb up on a table and sit there.

TABLE
11495. A disappointment may be expected by the person who sits on a table. Some say he will be disappointed that day.
11496. Sit on a table and you will stop growing.
11497. If two persons shake hands across the table, one of them will break the friendship immediately.
11498. To hear a table creak is a token of bad luck.

TRUNK
 271

11499. "My niece would not have a turtleback trunk in the house for anything; she thinks it very bad luck."
11500. The tying of a rope around a trunk causes bad luck.
11501. It is very unlucky to sit on a trunk.
11502. Do not sit on a trunk; you will soon be disappointed.
11503. "My father always kept a buckeye in his trunk; said it was lucky to keep a buckeye in your trunk."

KEY
11504. Do not permit a friend or anyone to carry the keys of your house; it is unlucky.
11505. "I have heard it's good luck if you lose a key."
11506. The person finding a key will soon take a journey.

KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM ARTICLES (11507-11704)

Knife - Fork - Spoon (11507-11633)
KNIFE - FORK - SPOON
11507. You become lucky by giving someone a spoon; a silver spoon say some.
11508. Always refuse a gift of tableknives; to accept them causes bad luck.
11509. If you find a tableknife, particularly a rusty one, good luck will come to you.
11510. Do not pick up a tableknife found on the road, for that would be picking up misfortune; some other person's troubles say some.
11511. A person finding a fork on the road will have bad luck, unless he picks it up and sticks himself with one of the tines.
11512. Silverware turning blue denotes a dark cloud gathering over the house.
11513. Never place silverware on the table before the plates are set; it will make you unfortunate.
11514. In setting a table always lay the knives and forks first, then put on the butter-dish, and this routine will bring you good luck.
11515. To place two knives or two forks or two spoons at the same plate is unlucky.
11516. If two spoons are placed at the same plate, you can avoid bad luck by letting someone else remove one of them.
11517. Two knives crossed on the table signify misfortune. The same thing is said of forks.
11518. A knife laid crosswise over a fork when setting the table is a sign of misfortune.
11519. It is very unlucky to lay or to find a knife on the table with the blade toward you.
11520. Anyone who removes from the table a plate or saucer on which there are two knives or two spoons may look for bad luck.
11521. To turn a silver spoon over or upside in your mouth is unlucky.
11522. Bad luck comes from spinning a knife, fork or spoon on the table.
11523. A knife or fork falling from the table to the floor means bad luck.
11524. Some consider it unlucky to let a spoon fall while eating; by others this is considered lucky.
11525. If you drop a small spoon, expect bad luck; if a large spoon, good luck.
11526. To avert bad luck after you have dropped a knife, fork or spoon, let somebody pick it up for you.
11527. Misfortune that comes from dropping a knife, fork or spoon can be warded off by leaving the table immediately.
11528. You can guard yourself against the bad luck denoted when you drop a knife, fork or spoon, if you stay at the table and refrain from food.
11529. The person who picks up the knife dropped by someone at the table will obtain good luck.
11530. If a knife and fork dropped together lie crossing each other on the floor, misfortune will soon follow.
11531. A knife or fork dropping and sticking in the floor indicates good luck.
11532. If two spoons and a fork are dropped and the fork lies between the spoons, good luck may be expected.
11533. The dropping of a spoon is a sign of a disappointment; that day say some.
11534. If you drop a teaspoon you will have a small disappointment; if a tablespoon, a large disappointment.
11535. As a counteractant against the disappointment caused by dropping a spoon, let someone else pick up the spoon.
11536. As a counteractant against the disappointment caused by dropping a spoon, step on the spoon before picking it up.
11537. Those who drop a fork will be disappointed.
11538. A knife dropped at the table brings a disappointment.
11539. To pass a knife at the table to someone who already has one foretells company.
11540. If a woman forgets to put a fork at her plate when setting the table for supper, her old man will forget to come home that night.
11541. Two forks or two knives laid at the same plate mean company.
11542. Two forks and two knives laid at the same plate mean company.
11543. Two forks laid at the same plate mean a woman will eat the next meal with you; two knives, a man.
11544. After you drop a fork or knife, someone will soon come to your house.
11545. A knife or fork dropped in the morning is a sign of company before noon.
11546.
"Drop a spoon,
Company soon."
or
"Drop a spoon,
A caller soon."
or
"If you drop a spoon,
You're sure to have company soon."
or
"If you drop a spoon,
Someone soon."
11547. A knife falling and sticking upright in the floor is an omen of a visitor.
11548. When a fallen knife points to the door, company is indicated.
11549. If you let a knife drop on your plate or the floor, guests will arrive from the direction toward which the blade points.
11550. If you let a fork drop to the floor while eating, someone will arrive from the direction toward which the tines point.
11551. If you let a spoon drop to the floor, a visitor will approach from the direction toward which the handle is pointed.
 272

11552. To have a fallen spoon lie with the bottom of the bowl up, shows a visitor will appear after your meal is finished.
11553. If a knife or fork is dropped, someone hungry is coming.
11554. If you drop a large spoon, hungry people are going to visit you.
11555. If you drop a spoon and the open part of the bowl remains up, prepare for a hungry guest.
11556. If you put two knives or two forks at a plate, you will feed a hungry person at the next meal.
11557.
"Drop a spoon,
A man soon."
11558. Most people say a dropped knife announces the coming of a man, but some people say this is announced by a dropped fork.
11559. A man will call at your house after a fork is dropped and he will arrive from whatever direction the prongs point.
11560. A fork dropped on wash-day is an indication of a male visitor.
11561. The appearance of a hungry man at your house always follows the dropping of a fork.
11562. To drop a knife on wash-day signifies the coming of an old man.
11563. The person who drops a knife while eating will soon be visited by a beggar.
11564. If a woman drops a knife, her husband is approaching.
11565. A strange man may be expected, after you drop a fork.
11566. If you drop a knife or fork, expect a man who will surprise you.
11567. A woman who drops a fork that sticks in the floor will have a male caller and be surprised by him.
11568. To drop a fork and spoon together means the arrival of a man who will be disappointed after he arrives.
11569. The falling of a fork presages a visit by a young man.
11570. A boy visitor is denoted by the falling of a fork.
11571. After a knife is dropped, a policeman will call at your house.
11572. Most people say a dropped fork announces the coming of a woman, but some say this is announced by a dropped knife or spoon.
11573. Whoever drops a tablespoon or a large spoon will soon have a woman visitor.
11574. A big spoon dropping on wash-day is an omen of a visit from a woman.
11575. To put two spoons in a pot indicates two women will call on you.
11576. If you drop a knife, a woman will come from the direction in which the blade points.
11577. Two knives laid on a plate denote the coming of a woman.
11578. The person dropping a knife will soon be visited by a hungry woman.
11579. If a knife falls, a strange woman will soon call on you.
11580. A knife that drops and sticks in the floor will bring a woman who will be a surprise to you.
11581. A person who drops a fork may expect a visit from his or her sister.
11582. If you let a tablespoon fall, a big fat woman will come to see you.
11583. If you let a large spoon fall, an old woman will come to see you.
11584. If you let a large spoon fall, an old maid will come to see you.
11585. If you let a large spoon fall, a widow will come to see you.
11586. If you let a teaspoon fall, a young girl will come to see you.
11587. Drop a knife and a girl will visit your house.
11588. The dropping of a small spoon brings a small girl to your home; a large spoon, a large girl.
11589. The dropping of a little spoon brings a girl to your home; a big spoon, a boy.
11590. A knife falling to the floor foretells a child will call on you.
11591. After you drop a teaspoon, expect to be visited by a child.
11592. A little friend will soon visit the person dropping a fork.
11593. Your cousin will visit you, after you drop a spoon.
11594. If you drop a spoon, a fool is coming to see you.
11595. If you drop a small spoon, a small fool is coming to see you; if a large spoon, a large fool.
11596. The house in which a large spoon is dropped will soon be visited by a Negro.
11597. A knife and fork dropped while setting the table mean a man and woman will soon eat with you. Some say they will be man and wife.
11598.
"If you drop a spoon,
Whole family is coming soon."
11599. "My grandmother had a old saying that if you dropped a big spoon on the floor you would have a family to come to eat with you that
day."
11600. If you drop a teaspoon, a small family will visit you; if a tablespoon, a large family.
11601. If you drop a teaspoon, you will get a "buggy full of company" that day; if a tablespoon, a "wagon load of company".
11602. If you drop a handful of knives and forks, you will soon entertain an "armful of company" — an entire family.
11603. A person who drops a knife will soon be successful in something.
11604.
"If you drop a spoon,
You will get money soon."
11605. Always pick up a rusty knife that you find; you will some day inherit money.
11606. A knife falling and sticking in the floor denotes a letter.
11607. If you let a spoon fall, you will receive a letter.
11608. If you let a teaspoon fall, you will receive a letter within three days.
11609. If you let a cooking spoon fall, you will receive a letter.
11610. If you let three spoons fall at the same time, you will receive a letter from far away.
11611. "I always did this to keep from having a fuss with the old woman: when you go to a picnic, always put your knives and forks in the basket
first or you will have a fuss at the picnic grounds."
11612. Two knives laid at the same plate is a sign of a quarrel before night ends.
11613. To lay a knife crosswise on the table will cause a quarrel.
 273

11614. The person who crosses a knife and fork when setting the table will soon have a quarrel.
11615. Never when clearing the table put knives and forks on the same dish or tray; always keep them separate or there will be a quarrel in the
family.
11616. The dropping of a spoon is a sign of a quarrel. They say the same thing about a knife.
11617. A person dropping a fork will soon quarrel with a good friend.
11618. If a fallen knife lies edge upward, there will be a quarrel in the house.
11619. Do not try to catch a falling knife, for catching it will make you lose a very dear friend.
11620. Do not pick up a dropped knife, for a friendship will be cut in two.
11621. If two knives fall and one of them lies across the other pointing to the west, your best friend will be lost.
11622. If a knife and fork drop and one lies crossing the other, a family quarrel is signified.
11623. If you turn over the spoon holder while setting the table and the spoons fallout, you will quarrel with someone soon.
11624. If you drop a spoon and the point of the bowl points toward someone with whom you have quarreled, you and that person will soon be
friends again.
11625. To sharpen a knife with the blade pointing toward someone indicates a quarrel.
11626. A woman who sharpens a knife on a rock will soon have something bad said about her.
11627. If someone gives you a fork, beware of flattery.
11628. Two forks found at your plate foretell an increase in the family.
11629. Two forks found at your plate foretell a christening in the family.
11630. The finding of any kind of spoon is a token of sickness.
11631. A knife that drops and sticks in the floor indicates sickness in that house.
11632. A person who drops a fork while eating has reached the halfway mark of his meal.
11633. A person who drops a knife while eating has finished his meal.

Bread Knife - Butcher Knife - Pocket Knife (11634-11653)

BREAD KNIFE
11634. If you sharpen a bread knife on anything other than a whetstone, there will soon be a strife in the house.
11635. Never give a bread knife as a Christmas present; the receiver will have bad luck.
11636. It is unlucky to scour a bread knife on Sunday.

BUTCHER KNIFE
11637. If a butcher knife falls and sticks in the floor, you will be lucky.
11638. A butcher knife dropping to the floor means that someone will tell a lie about you.
11639. Company in the form of a big fat person will come, after a butcher knife is dropped.
11640. The falling of a butcher knife denotes the arrival of a bachelor before the end of the day.
11641. If a butcher knife is dropped on wash-day, an old man will visit you.
11642. Expect a policeman at your house, if you drop a butcher knife.
11643. A preacher may be expected, after a butcher knife drops. Some say he is coming to get a free meal.

POCKETKNIFE
11644. To find a pocketknife is lucky. You must pick up and keep the knife.
11645. If you find an open pocketknife, pick it up for luck; if a closed pocketknife, let it lie to avoid bad luck.
11646. Unless you scratch the person to whom you are presenting a pocket- knife, you will soon quarrel with him.
11647. To avoid a quarrel with the person to whom you give a pocketknife, that person must pay you a penny.
11648. If when lending a knife you throw it to the borrower instead of handing it to him, you will lose your knife soon.
11649. If someone lends you an open pocketknife, return it open; if closed, return it closed. Unless you do, you will have bad luck.
11650. It is unlucky to hand an open pocketknife to anyone.
11651. It is unlucky even to point an open pocketknife (or any type of cutting instrument) at anyone.
11652. Never hand an open pocketknife to a friend; he might close the knife and thereby cut your friendship.
11653. A woman should not borrow a male friend's pocketknife; their friendship will soon be broken.

Dishes - Glassware - Oil Cloth (11654-11680)

DISHES
11654. The person who sets a cup upside down on the table will become unlucky, particularly in money matters; therefore set a cup right side up
so that luck or money can fall into it.
11655. If in picking up a cup the handle comes off, it shows that someone hates you very much.
11656. If you break a saucer that matches a cup and buy another saucer to match the cup, you will have bad luck; either keep the cup without a
saucer or give the cup away.
11657. If a plate falls and spins, it is spinning you bad luck; to avert this misfortune, spin the plate in the reverse direction.
11658. The breaking of a dish causes bad luck; however, this misfortune can be averted by buying something though it cost but a penny.
11659. The woman who breaks a dish and accidentally steps on the pieces will be unlucky.
11660. It is unlucky to throw away a broken dish; by burying it you will bury your troubles.
11661. If you drop a dish and it breaks, expect seven years of bad luck; if it does not break, seven years of good luck.
11662. To have a dish fly to pieces in your hand denotes trouble for some member of the family who is absent.
11663. After a dish drops out of your hand and breaks, you will receive bad news.
11664. Whoever breaks a dish will soon break with a friend.
11665. A dish broken while setting the table means company who will eat the next meal with you.
11666. Dishes falling over in the closet or pantry denote the coming of a hungry visitor.
11667. If a woman breaks a dish (in the morning say some), three dishes will be broken before she has finished or before the day is over.
11668. To break a dish signifies that three things will be broken before the end of the week.
11669. Break one dish and you will not stop breaking dishes until the whole set has been broken.
 274

11670. If you break a dish, think of an enemy and this will break his or her heart.
11671. Do not throw away broken dishes; keep them piled in the back yard and you will never go hungry.
11672. Cracked dishes kept in the house will cause bad luck.
11673. Never keep those old-fashioned dishes decorated with birds unless they are an heirloom; they bring bad luck to the house.

GLASSWARE
11674. If you let a glass fall and it breaks, you will have bad luck; if it does not break, good luck — or success, according to some. 11675. The
person who breaks a glass will soon have a broken friendship.
11676. One of your secrets will become known, after you break a glass.
11677. Bad luck will befall the person who breaks a milk bottle.
11678. Never throw away a corked bottle; throw the cork and bottle into different places for luck.
11679. The finding of a Mason jar rubber indicates someone wants to speak to you.
OIL-CLOTH
11680. To have someone give you a piece of oil-cloth is lucky.

Pan - Skillet - String - Kettle - Bucket - Pitcher (11681-11688)

PAN
11681. If a pan turns upside down when dropped, you will be out of food before the end of the week.
11682. If a pan hanging on the wall falls, some enemy is talking about you.

SKILLET
11683. A skillet dropping to the floor is a sign of a man caller.

STRING
11684. The person who saves strings never becomes rich.

KETTLE
11685. A teakettle sizzing on the stove foretells the approach of an enemy; remove the kettle at once to keep the enemy away.

BUCKET
11686. "Grandma would not let us hang an empty water bucket down in the well. She said to always leave some water in the bucket or some very
bad luck will come."
11687. To leave a water bucket empty overnight will bring you news of sickness within three days.

PITCHER
11688. The breaking of a water pitcher is a bad omen.

Tablecloth - Napkin - Toothpick (11689-11704)

TABLECLOTH
11689. Always wash a new tablecloth before spreading it on the table, otherwise you will have bad luck.
11690. A tablecloth spread wrong side out on the table betokens a misfortune.
11691. It is unlucky to shake a tablecloth outdoors after sunset.
11692. The woman who shakes a tablecloth outdoors after sunset will soon come to want.
11693. A woman leaving the tablecloth on the table all night will have company next day.

NAPKIN
11694. The dropping of a napkin is an indication of company.
11695. Never pick up a napkin that someone knocks from your lap; you will be unlucky. Let someone else pick it up.
11696. If someone knocks a napkin from your lap, pick it up and shake it --- this shakes out the bad luck — then get yourself a clean one, and you
will have good luck.
11697. Guests who fold their napkins will never be invited again; guests who do not fold their napkins will be invited again.
11698. If while eating at someone's home you fold your napkin, you want to be invited again.
11699. If while eating supper at someone's home you fold your napkin, you want to stay for breakfast.

TOOTHPICK
11700. It is unlucky to drop a toothpick.
11701. To overturn the toothpick holder presages a quarrel.
11702. If the toothpicks are spilled, company is coming.
11703. "The other day a man and his family ate in the restaurant. As he was paying his bill he said to his family, 'All take a toothpick so we will
be sure to come back again'."
11704. One toothpick carried in your pocket is unlucky; always carry several for sharp luck.

HEAT AND LIGHT (11705-11778)

Match - Fire - Stove - Ashes - Candle - Lamp (11705-11778)
MATCH
11705. To upset a box of matches is unfortunate.
11706. The upsetting of a box of matches is a sign of a fire.
11707. A person who carries one match will have bad luck.
11708. It is unlucky to strike a match you are not going to use.
11709. Always pick up and strike a match that you find; if it burns, you will be lucky.
 275

11710. The throwing away of a lighted match brings bad luck; to ward off this trouble, you must break the next three used matches before they
are thrown away.
11711. Always pick up any burnt match found and you will soon find money; the more matches the more money add some.
11712. If a match thrown to the floor lights, you will soon get money.
11713. A lighted match that goes out before you can use it means a quarrel.
11714. Do not return borrowed matches; this will cause trouble.
11715. If you loan matches to anyone, you and that person will always be quarreling.
11716. You must not borrow a match; it brings a fire to your house. Always take the match without asking the owner's permission. Likewise,
even if the matches are yours, never ask anyone to hand you one of them, for there will be a fire in the house. Always go to the match-box and get
the match.
11717. "I have often heard this saying but didn't think much about it: to throw a match on the floor, you are throwing away a friend. Just last
week I forgot, threw a match on the floor, and I had a falling-out with a friend the next day."
11718. If you drop one match, one person is coming and he will come from the direction toward which the head points; if several matches,
several persons.
11719. To discover whether you will have company that day, light a match before breakfast and hold it in your hand: if the match burns to the
end and does not bend, there will be no company; if it bends, there will be company and from the direction toward which the match is bent.
11720. Never use the first three matches from a new box; always strike them and let them burn: if you have an enemy, you will soon know who it
is.

FIRE
11721. If when building a fire in the morning you set the lids on the back of the stove, you will have good luck that day; if on the front of
the stove, sorrow that day.
11722. A scolding woman makes a good fire.
11723. If a bride making her first fire fails to make it burn with the first match, she has married a lazy man.
11724. The wife who starts a fire that will not burn has a lazy husband.
11725. A husband unable to make a good fire has a lazy wife.
11726. To begin a fire and have it go out signifies bad luck.
11727. It is unlucky to have a fire die before the fuel is consumed.
11728. Never loan fuel of any kind; your home will be in a continual uproar.
11729. A fire stirred with an iron poker goes out; always use a stick.
11730. Do not use a broom to stir a fire, for bad luck will befall you.
11731. To play with fire causes you bad luck.
11732. If the ribs of the grate became covered with soot, look for a visit from a stranger.
11733. A spark flying from a fire denotes company.
11734. The person who while sitting in front of a fireplace has a coal pop out and burn him will get a letter.
11735. If while putting coal in the stove sparks fly up, you may expect money.
11736. Sparks that shoot from a fire towards your chair are foretelling money.
11737. If a fire sizzes, pops, roars, or sings, there will be a quarrel in the family. To avoid the quarrel, throw salt on the fire.
11738. Sassafras wood burned in the stove or any other place will give you bad luck.
11739. Wood from a tree struck by lightning should never be burned; it is very unlucky.
11740. If you put in a stove wood from a tree struck by lightning, the stove will blow up.
11741. A house in which wood from a tree struck by lightning is burned will soon catch on fire.
11742. The flames of a fire created by lightning cannot be quenched with water.
11743. Flour is the only thing that will extinguish a fire started by lightning.
11744. Drop some salt down a house chimney that is ablaze and the fire will soon subside.
11745. If there is a fire, expect two more. Similarly one fire on a street block will be followed by two more; that week say some, during the
month say others.

STOVE
11746. There should never be a stove in the front room; it is very unlucky.
11747. To polish your stove out in the open will bring you bad luck.
11748. "I am seventy-five years old and I can remember well seeing my mother many a time, when I was a girl, not walking all the way around a
cookstove. If she wanted something, she would go back; never walk all around a cookstove for anything --- said it was very bad luck."
11749. If a stovelid turns upside down when dropped, someone will tell a scandalous tale about you.
11750. To have a stove crack foretells an accident for someone in that house.
11751. The dropping of a poker indicates a woman visitor.

ASHES
11752. "My mother would not let anyone throw ashes out after sundown; said it was very bad luck."
11753. If you carry ashes out of the house after four o'clock on Friday, misfortune will befall you.
11754. Sunday is an unfortunate day for emptying ashes.
11755. It is unlucky to empty the ashes on Christmas Day.
11756. "Another old saying of my grandma: never to throw out ashes from Christmas until New Year's; thought that very bad luck."
11757. "My mother never let anyone take ashes out of the house the day before New Year's Day; very bad luck."
11758. "I would not take up ashes on New Year's Day for anything, for I think it is the worst thing you can do, for it brings you such bad luck."

CANDLE
11759. A bright spark appearing in the center of the candle denotes an approaching visit from a long-absent friend.
11760. If a long flame rises from a candle, a tall stranger will visit you; if a short flame, a small stranger.
11761. Five candles may be lighted for luck by a person just before going to church in the morning.
 276

11762. Always burn a bayberry candle on Christmas for luck.

11763. The cook who forgets to light the candles on a birthday cake before serving it will give bad luck to the person for whom the cake was
baked.

LAMP
11764. "They say if you will take a lamp chimney and put it in cold water and not let the chimney touch the bottom of the pan, then put it on
the stove and let the water boil, the lamp chimney will last twice as long."
11765. Keep a red-flannel rag in the bowl of your coal-oil lamp for luck.
11766. A lamp chimney crackling is an unlucky sign.
11767. To drop a lamp globe while shining it will bring a misfortune.
11768. It is very unlucky to have a lamp chimney break in your hand.
11769. The breaking of a lamp chimney betokens sickness.
11770. Two lighted lamps kept in the same room are a cause of bad luck.
11771. Never for a minute set a lighted lamp on a table already having a lighted lamp; it will make you very unlucky.
11772. The person lighting three lamps with the same match will have bad luck.
11773. Name a lamp when it flickers and the person named will come to see you.
11774. A lighted lamp should always be extinguished; letting it go out causes bad luck.
11775. If in trying to blow out a lamp the wick flames up again and you have to blow a second time, bad news may be expected.
11776. Three blows required in putting out a lamp mean bad luck.
11777. Each blow taken to extinguish a lamp represents a lie you will tell.
11778. The person who has to blow three times when extinguishing a lamp will have a short life.

DRINK AND FOOD (11779-11999)

Water - Alcohol - Wine Making - Coffee - Tea (11779-11866)
WATER
11779. A vein of water can be found by using a divining-rod. This rod, usually a long forked stick --- sometimes three pronged, the third
prong branching out above the fork --- must be cut from a living tree, one of the following: (1) peach, (2) hazel, because of its connection with the
word witch (dowsing is often called witching for water, and the dowser, a water witch), and (3) willow, since it grows near water. The
water-finder holds the fork, one handle of the fork in each hand, while he walks along. Some dowsers hold the fork back-handed; instead of
grasping the handles so that the insides of the hands face each other, the handles are grasped so that the backs of the hands face each other. The
fork is held level out in front of the dowser. If, when walking along, the end of the fork bends down, the vein has been located. Occasionally the
fork will bend down with such force the dowser can scarcely keep the fork in his hands; the tension producing such a quavering that the fork will
bob up and down. Each time the fork goes down it indicates a foot to be dug before reaching water.
As a child I was tremendously impressed, awed in fact, by a dowser who attempted to locate a well on our four-acre property out
among the truck-gardeners of Riverside Township. His preliminary conversation, so casual then, now, looking back forty years (now sixty years,
since this note was written twenty years ago, 1945), seems deliberate. He doubted whether he should perform the rite; it took so much out of him,
and besides he might get his arms broken. However, he walked aimlessly about for a while, not speaking, stopping several times, hesitantly,
shaking his head, and suddenly stood still with a jerk. After several minutes, his arms began to tremble; he closed his eyes, grit his teeth, sweat
fell from his face; the end of the fork dipped just a little, perhaps less than an inch, came up again, went down, slowly, bobbed several times, and
finally continued the arc to the ground. All at once the fork flew out of his hands with tremendous force to quite a distance. I did not know then
that the dowser, a powerful man, had been fighting his own strength, but I could see that he was exhausted. For a similar rite, see 2973.
11780. "My grandfather always found running water by watching the trees bend; in the woods where several trees bend toward each other there is
a vein of water running through those trees."
11781. To procure clean water and water that will remain cool during the summer, let the rain run into your cistern only during those months
which contain the letter R in their names.
11782. Never let water run into the cistern during the months of May and June ; wiggle-tails (tadpoles) will appear in the water.
11783. If the water becomes sour, it can be purified by throwing a handful of salt over your left shoulder into the cistern or well.
11784. Always clean a spring or well just before a new moon so that the new: water will come in with the growing moon. A spring or well
cleaned at any; other time will take a long while to fill.
11785. If a woman on her first visit to a spring picks up a nearby pebble and sews it into the hem of her dress, she will have good luck until the
pebble is lost.
11786. Use a gourd as a drinking cup and you will be lucky.
11787. To drink water over the bail of a bucket is unlucky.
11788. If three persons drink water over the handle of a bucket, the last one drinking will have bad luck.
11789. If you drink water out of a bucket and someone drinks from the same bucket before you set it down, that person likes you better than you
like him.
11790. If three persons drink water out of the same glass without rinsing the glass each time it is used, they may expect bad luck.
11791. The person who pours water over the bail of a bucket will be arrested.
11792. Do not fill a person's water glass over his shoulder; you will soon quarrel with him.
11793. If someone's glass contains water and you add more before the glass has been emptied, bad luck is indicated.
11794. Water poured into a glass that is already full signifies a quarrel with your mother-in-law.
11795. Whoever drops and breaks the glass while drinking water may look for trouble.
11796. To spill water while drinking is a token of trouble.
11797. A glass of water spilled in bed denotes sickness.
11798. "It sure makes me mad if anyone throws water on me, for that's the sign of sickness in the family soon."
11799. Water thrown out a window brings bad luck to the thrower.

ALCOHOL
11800. If at a party you accidentally touch someone with your liquor glass, you will soon attend another drinking party with that person.
11801. He who drinks a toast and fails to empty his glass to the last drop will quarrel with one of the guests before departing.
 277

11802. Never use a glass of water when making a toast; it will cause you bad luck.
11803. If you are drinking liquor with a friend, drink a little out of his glass or bottle for luck.
11804. You should always blow the foam off your glass of beer for luck.
11805. They say you become lucky by drinking good whiskey all week and buttermilk on Sunday.
11806. A child who drinks whiskey will never grow.
11807. If a man on taking the first drink of his life spills some of the liquor on himself, it indicates he will become a drunkard.
11808. A drunken man never hurts himself.

WINE MAKING
11809. Wine made in the light of the moon will always be excellent.
11810. To obtain clear wine, make it during fair weather; conversely, wine made when the sky is overcast will be cloudy.
11811. New wine put in old bottles always sours.
11812. New wine put in old bottles will break the bottles.
11813. If a woman during menstruation assists in any way the making of wine, the wine will always remain cloudy.
11814. Do not draw wine when a cloud can be seen in the sky, for even a cloud as large as your hand will turn the wine in the barrel cloudy.

COFFEE
11815. If when making coffee you forget to put in the coffee, good luck may be expected.
11816. To burn your coffee by letting the pot boil dry causes bad luck.
11817. Always burn used coffee grounds for luck; it is unlucky to throw them away.
11818. Never throw out coffee grounds on New Year's Day; bad luck will befall you.
11819. A coffeepot that boils over while you are getting breakfast will bring you good luck that day.
11820. Coffee spilled in the making is a sign of good luck.
11821. After you upset a cup of coffee, you will have bad luck for a week.
11822. It is unlucky to stir coffee with a fork.
11823. The person who leaves the spoon in his cup while drinking coffee will be unlucky .
11824. Grounds left in a coffee cup signify an enemy; throw the grounds away and you will not be bothered.
11825. If you throw out used coffee grounds, you will never be rich; if you bury them, you will never be broke.
11826. To leave coffee grounds in your cup on three successive mornings means a letter from far away.
11827. Coffee grounds spilled on the floor indicate company that day.
11828. The day you spill coffee (on the floor say some) you may expect company.
11829. The spilling of coffee means a visit from a stranger before the day is over.
11830. If you spill coffee at breakfast, you will have guests for supper.
11831. If a person spills coffee on the floor, someone will come that day to borrow coffee.
11832. Your coffeepot boiling over in the morning denotes undesirable visitors all day.
11833. If when making coffee the cook forgets to put down the lid of the pot, there will be guests at the next meal.
11834. Failure to close the lid of the pot when making coffee foretells the coming of a stranger.
11835. If your coffeepot boils over, a friend far away is thinking of you.
11836. If when serving coffee you splash some of it out of the cup, a quarrel that day is indicated.
11837. To overturn a cup of coffee at the table will cause a quarrel that day.
11838. Always replace the cup in the saucer after you have taken a drink of coffee or you will soon quarrel.
11839. "My mother used to say never separate your cup and saucer when drinking; it is bad luck if you do ---like you take the cup out of the
saucer and set it on the table."
11840. If a husband and wife drink coffee out of the same cup and one of them fails to wash the cup after it has been used by the other, they will
quarrel before going to bed.
11841. Whoever breaks a glass by pouring hot coffee into it will quarrel with someone before the end of the day.
11842. "Of course people don't do that now, but my mother said you will have a dirty story told on you if you strain your coffee through a rag."
11843. The person finding a large number of coffee grounds in his emptied cup will shed many tears; some say a tear for each ground.
11844. Do not leave any coffee in your cup, even a few drops; you will cry later.
11845. After you have finished drinking your coffee, turn the cup around three times, set it upside down in the saucer, and then lift the cup: if
coffee still drips out, that means tears for you; but if the cup is absolutely empty, you will not cry.
11846. Perform the same rite as given in the preceding divination: the number of rings left by the sediment on the side of the cup reveals how
many visitors you will get that day.
11847. Turn your empty coffee cup upside down and twist it around in the saucer: if you see the shape of a shoe in the grounds, you will be
lucky.
11848. Bubbles on the surface of the coffee in your cup denote money, provided you can swallow them before they burst. Some say they must be
sipped off; others say they are to be skimmed off with a spoon and swallowed.
11849. The quantity of money to be received after you sip or skim bubbles from the coffee in your cup is determined by size: little bubbles, a
small sum; large bubbles, a great amount.
11850. If a person sips or skims the coffee bubbles appearing in the center of the cup, it foretells money; but if the bubbles float to the sides of
the cup before they are drunk, the money foretold will be lost. Some say only coffee bubbles in a circular form at the center of the cup foretell
money.
11851. Anyone able to count all the coffee bubbles in a cup before they disappear will receive money. Some add that a dollar will be received for
each bubble counted.
11852. According to some informants, bubbles in a cup of coffee signify money only when there are eight or more of them. The significance of a
smaller number is a disappointment about money matters.
11853. A watched teakettle or pot never boils.
11854.
"Never let your teakettle bubble;
 278

For every bubble brings you trouble."

11855. If in a teakettle you boil water you do not need or intend to use, you are boiling away your senses.
11856. Do not let a teakettle boil; your friends will be boiled away.
11857. A singing teakettle will bring company soon.
11858. If a teakettle sings and whistles, a relative will visit you
11859. Each bubble on your cup of tea indicates a visitor that day.
11860. Bubbles on the top of your cup of tea mean money, provided you drink them.
11861. Those finding tea leaves in a cup of tea will soon get a present.
11862. The person who finds tea leaves in a cup of tea (floating at the surface say some) will soon have company.
11863. If you find a tea stem floating in your cup and it is long, a tall visitor will come; if short, a short visitor.
11864. If you bite into a tea stem that floats in your cup and it is hard, a man will come; if soft, a woman.
11865. To get a hard stem in your mouth while drinking tea shows that you have an enemy. You can render this enemy harmless by biting into
the stem and throwing it over your left shoulder .
11866. Used tea leaves should be burned for luck.

Tobacco - Salt - Pepper - Sugar - Vinegar (11867-11972)

TOBACCO
11867. It is unlucky to smoke in bed.
11868. A man who smokes his pipe before breakfast will have bad luck all day.
11869. You become lucky by smoking a gold-banded cigarette.
11870. Some say the person who can blow smoke-rings will be lucky anytime he blows rings, but others say, only smoke-rings blown
unintentionally make the smoker lucky.
11871. Never give away the last cigarette in your package; some misfortune will be fall you.
11872. Two persons smoking on the same cigarette may expect trouble.
11873. A man should never smoke a cigarette a woman has been smoking or one she started for him; bad luck will follow.
11874. To light a cigar for an old man is lucky.
11875. If three persons light their cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, with the same match; all three will be unlucky.
11876. If three persons light their cigarettes with the same match, the last one using the match will be unlucky.
11877. If three persons light their cigarettes with the same match, one of the three will suffer a loss.
11878. If three persons light their cigarettes with the same match, it portends among railroad men an accident that day.
11879. If three persons use the same match, let the last person using the match break it and throw it over his left shoulder to avoid bad luck.
11880. There will be a quarrel among the three persons who use the same match for lighting their cigarettes.
11881. The one who holds the match by which three persons light cigarettes will go to hell.
11882. A heavy smoker is always a grumbler.
11883. The spilling of salt on the table say some, on the floor say others, is unlucky.
11884. If at the table you upset the saltcellar and the salt falls in your direction, you will have bad luck; if it falls towards someone else, good
luck.
11885. To avert bad luck when you spill salt, throw some of it over your left shoulder.
11886. To avert bad luck when you spill salt, throw some of it over your right shoulder using the left hand.
11887. To avert bad luck when you spill salt, drop some of it into the fire or on the stove. Some say you must not speak between the spilling and
the burning.
11888. To avert bad luck when you spill salt, burn some of it while wishing is the bad luck on an enemy.
11889. To avert bad luck when you spill salt, using your left hand throw some of the salt over your right shoulder into the fire. 11890. To avert
bad luck when you spill salt , throw some of it over your left shoulder on to a fire. Do this three times.
11891. To avert bad luck when you spill salt, drop some of it into the chimney of a lighted lamp .
11892. If when setting down the saltcellar you spill some of the salt, shake some more salt from the cellar ---first over the right shoulder and then
overt the left. This averts the bad luck.
11893. The person who spills salt will be disappointed. This disappointment can be counteracted by throwing so~e of the salt over the left and
then the right shoulder.
11894. If you spill salt, you will soon cry ---before bedtime say some, before the day is over say others.
11895. The number of tears caused by spilling salt depends upon the amount spilled: if small, a few tears, if large, many tears. Similarly some
say you will shed a tear for each grain of salt you spill.
11896. Children spilling salt will be whipped before night.
11897. To prevent the tears foretold by the spilling of salt, throw some of it over the left shoulder.
11898. To prevent the tears foretold by the spilling of salt, burn some of it in the fire or on the stove.
11899. Whoever spills salt will soon be angry without reason.
11900. After you spill salt, you will have a quarrel.
11901. If you spill salt between yourself and the person sitting next to you at the table, the two of you will soon quarrel.
11902. To avoid a quarrel after you spill salt, throw some of it over your left shoulder.
11903. To avoid a quarrel after you spill salt, burn some of it on the stove.
11904. To avoid a quarrel after you spill salt, throw some of it over your left shoulder on to the stove while naming an enemy 11905. To avoid a
quarrel after you spill salt, put a little water on it.
11906. To avoid a quarrel after you spill salt, mix some of it with a pinch of sugar and dissolve this mixture in a glass of water.
11907. If you spill salt , you have an unknown enemy .
11908. Always burn some of the salt you spill and your enemy will not be able to harm you.
11909. If you spill salt, an enemy wants to become your friend.
11910. The person who spills salt will soon lose a friend.
11911. The person who spills salt on the stove will soon lose his best friend.
11912. Salt spilled at the table denotes company at the next meal.
11913. It is unlucky to borrow salt.
 279

11914. The bad luck that comes from borrowing salt can be warded off by throwing a pinch of it into the fire.
11915. The bad luck that comes from borrowing salt can be warded off by giving something in exchange for the salt.
11916. If you return the salt to the person from whom it was borrowed, you will have bad luck; if a person who has borrowed salt from you
returns it, you will have bad luck.
11917. Let the person from whom you borrow salt come and get your repayment and you will not be made unlucky by returning the loan.
11918. "I always, if anyone brings back salt to me, take it before they come over the threshold; if they bring it over the threshold, that's bad."
11919. "My mother always said when anyone brought her salt back she would always throw it away to keep from having bad luck."
11920. "I always take the salt, if they bring it back; but just as soon as they go, I go to the door and stand with my back to them and throw the
salt out the door over my left shoulder at them, so I can't have any trouble."
11921. Pay back borrowed salt with twice the amount of sugar and you will not be unlucky.
11922. To borrow salt from a neighbor foretells a quarrel.
11923. Never return borrowed salt; you and the lender will have an argument.
11924. If a person borrows salt and repays it, the friendship between borrower and lender will be broken.
11925. The person borrowing salt will always be poor.
11926. A gift of salt breaks a friendship.
11927. It is unlucky to steal salt.
11928. "I never get out of salt. I would not be in a house a minute without salt, for I think it very bad luck."
11929. Every morning when getting breakfast burn some salt and you will be lucky that day.
11930. As you sit down to eat, throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder for luck.
11931. "My grandma would not take a saltcellar stand out of anyone's hand for anything, if someone passed her the salt. She would tell them to
set it down, then she would pick it up; for she thought some very bad luck would come to her, if she took the salt out of your hand." Conversely,
never hand salt to anyone at the table; it will bring you bad luck. Always put the saltcellar down in front of the person.
11932. Always smile while passing salt at the table or you will soon be on bad terms with the person to whom the salt was passed.
11933. To drop the saltcellar on the table is a sign of trouble that day.
11934. Seven years of bad luck may be expected by the person who breaks a saltcellar.
11935. Trouble of any kind can be driven away by throwing a handful of salt over your left shoulder.
11936. Sal t thrown over your right shoulder on Friday morning prevents bad luck that day.
11937. Salt kept over the front and back door will bring you luck.
11938. Carry salt in your pocket when you go somewhere and you will never be homesick.
11939. If while crossing a river on a boat you throw a handful of salt over your shoulder into the water, saying All my troubles go into the river,
they will soon be gone.
11940. You can keep a new servant from leaving you by sewing salt into her clothes.
11941. The person who eats a lot of salt is always bad-tempered.
11942. If your husband gets up cross in the morning, put some salt in his breakfast coffee and he will be good-natured before going to work.
11943. To burn salt is unlucky.
11944. If you burn salt, you will be forced to pick every grain of it out of hell when you die.

PEPPER
11945. If the pepper box falls to the floor, you will have good luck; if the saltcellar, bad luck.
11946. If the pepper box tumbles over towards you and some of the pepper spills out, it signifies bad luck.
11947. A person knocking over the pepperstand will soon be disappointed, but some say this disappointment can be counteracted by letting
another person replace the shaker.
11948. The person who spills pepper will soon lose a good friend.
11949. Spilled pepper is a token of a quarrel; before the end of the day say some. You can forestall this quarrel by mixing a pinch of salt with
some of the pepper and throwing the mixture over your left shoulder .
11950. An upset pepper jar or stand indicates a visitor from the direction in which the pepper falls.
11951. Do not accept the return of borrowed pepper; it will bring misfortune.
11952. If you borrow pepper or salt from your landlord or loan either to him, he will soon make you move.
11953. Men should not be fed pepper; it makes them cross.
11954. Red pepper may be sprinkled around your front door for luck.
11955. Red pepper and salt kept under your carpet bring you good luck.
11956. Mix a half teaspoonful of red pepper and the same amount of salt and scatter it at the four outside corners of your house for luck.

SUGAR
11957. It is unlucky to let anyone return borrowed sugar.
11958. A person who spills sugar on the floor will have bad luck, but this misfortune can be averted by stepping on the sugar.
11959. The spilling of sugar out of the bowl on the table means sweet luck for you that day.
11960. Some say the person who spills sugar will sweeten up; others say he needs sweetening up.
11961. To spill sugar will cause you a disappointment.
11962. Sugar spilled from the bowl on the table denotes a serious quarrel that day.
11963. After you spill sugar, you may expect a fire.
11964. If you overturn a sugar bowl, someone is thinking sweet thoughts about you.

VINEGAR
11965. You can make vinegar stronger by shaking the barrel on a clear day.
11966. "My mother would never let any of us near the vinegar or sauerkraut barrel when we were menstruating; said they would spoil."
11967. To spill vinegar is the sign of a quarrel in the family.
11968. A woman who spills vinegar while cooking will cry before she goes to bed.
11969. If you drop and break a vinegar bottle in which there is vinegar, you will have bad luck; but if the bottle is empty, good luck.
11970. Never give anyone vinegar; it breaks your friendship with that person.
 280

11971. The person from whom you borrow vinegar will soon turn sour on you; and if that person is a relative, the rupture in friendship may be
permanent.
11972. To accept the return of vinegar that was borrowed from you brings bad luck.

Jelly - Preserves - Pickles - Sauerkraut (11973-11999)

JELLY -PRESERVES -PICKLES
11973. Apples and peaches dried in the light of the moon will not mildew.
11974. "I always cooked my apple butter in the dark of the moon; will keep better."
11975. Beets pickled in the dark of the moon will be stringy; always pickle them in the light of the moon.
11976. Corn beef made on Friday will sour.
11977. Fruit preserved on Saturday will spoil.
11978. Always preserve fruit, especially berries, in the dark of the moon and it will not dry up.
11979. My mother would not think of making jelly in the light of the moon; will not jell. Make it in the dark of the moon."
11980. If you make jelly in the light of the moon, it will be clear; if in the dark of the moon, cloudy.
11981. Jelly cooked on a rainy day will be cloudy.
11982. "Never make jelly when sick menstruating; will all mold. Mother was funny peculiar about that. Also said the jelly would not get hard."
11983. Do not tell a neighbor how many glasses of jelly you have put up, bad luck may be expected.
11984. Do not tell a neighbor how many glasses of jelly you have put up, half of them will spoil.
11985. Do not let anyone count the jars or glasses when you are putting up fruit; the preserves or jelly will spoil.
11986. If you pickle cucumbers in the light of the moon, they will be solid and have a good flavor; if in the dark of the moon, they will turn soft
and white so that you can use only about half of them.
11987. The woman who preserves cucumbers during her menses will get spoiled pickles.
11988. Pickles made by a pregnant woman will become soft and rotten.
11989. If a person pickles pork in the dark of the moon, the brine will dry up as the moon decreases and the meat will be dry and tough. The
light of the moon is the time for pickling pork.
11990. A woman during her periods should not go near the barrel where pork is in brine; the meat will start to rot at the joints.
11991. To prevent tomatoes from spoiling, can them at the beginning of a new moon.
11992. "A neighbor on the block with Mrs. X. ordered two bushels of tomatoes last week and she became sick; so she sent them back, because
the old saying is the fruit will spoil."

SAUERKRAUT
11993. Some say the sign of the feet (Pisces) is a good time for making sauerkraut, but others say the sign of the fish (Pisces) makes the kraut soft
and tasteless.
11994. You obtain good sauerkraut by laying it down in the sign of the fish (Pisces) during the dark of the moon.
11995. If you make sauerkraut in the light of the moon ---some say just as the old moon leaves and the new appears, others say the earlier the
better --- the brine will not evaporate and you will get good kraut; but if in the dark of the moon, the brine will evaporate or sink to the bottom of
the barrel and you will get rotten kraut.
11996. Sauerkraut tamped into the barrel with the bare feet tastes better.
11997. Worms in the cabbage used far sauerkraut give it an excellent flavor.
11998. If a menstruating woman touches or even approaches the barrel, the sauerkraut will spoil.
11999. Never let a pregnant woman put up sauerkraut; it will not keep.

BAKING (12000-12047 )
12000. The woman who bakes her own birthday cake will have bad luck.
12001. It is unlucky to bake on Thursday.
12002. Saturday is an unlucky day for baking bread.
12003. Always set your bread at night or in the morning before the sun rises so that the dough will rise with the rising sun; conversely, bread set
in the afternoon will sink with the setting sun. Similarly a cake made in the morning will rise; in the afternoon, fall.
12004. Cake icing made on a cloudy day will not be any good.
12005. A woman cannot bake good bread or a cake while menstruating.
12006. If the yeast used in making bread is carried across water, the bread will not rise.
12007. Do not thank a person who gives you yeast; the bread will fail rise.
12008. You can make a cake rise by laying on top of the stove the shells of the eggs used.
12009. If before the cake has risen you burn the shells of the eggs used. the cake will fall.
12010. A cake should be stirred sunwise.
12011. A cake stirred in two different directions always falls.
12012. Some say you should stir bread or a cake away from you for luck; others say the opposite, towards you.
12013. Two persons stirring a cake make it fall.
12014. Never sweep your floor on baking day; your bread will not rise.
112015. To keep a cake from falling., set a pan of water on the floor and jump over it.
12016. Just before you put bread in the oven, break off a little piece of the dough and throw it away for a successful baking.
112017. Women cutting bread dough with a knife will always be poor.
12018. It is unlucky to count biscuits before putting them into the oven.
12019. Too much soda put in the bread means company.
12020. The woman who sings while baking bread will cry before or when she eats it.
12021. A cake never turns out well unless the baker accidentally spills flour while making it.
12022. If you spill flour or corn meal while making bread or corn bread, you will have a visitor to help you eat the finished product.
12023. If a woman spills flour on her dress while baking, it shows she is a sloppy housewife.
12024 You can always be successful with pies by keeping your dress turned wrong side out while making them.
12025. Bread or cake rising and then falling suddenly is a bad omen.
 281

12026. If bread baking in the oven pops open, bad luck may be expected.
12027. If bread baking in the oven pops open, there will be an increase in the family.
12028. If a cake baking in the oven pops open, someone will help you eat the cake.
12029. To discover whether a loaf of bread is done, hold your face against a , loaf; if it burns your face, the bread is done. Similarly hold your
nose against a loaf; if it does not burn your nose, the bread is done.
12030. It is very unlucky to turn upside down a loaf of bread just removed , from the oven.
12031. The person who stands on end a loaf of bread just removed from the oven will have a quarrel that day.
12032. A biscuit dropped when taking the pan from the oven denotes hungry company.
12033. You commit a sin when you burn bread while baking.
12034. Never let your bread burn while baking; you will be compelled to pick the same amount of bread out of hell-fire after death.
12035. If you burn bread when baking it, you will go hungry or come to want before you die.
12036. Let your bread burn while baking and you will soon have a quarrel.
12037. Bread that burns in the oven indicates the baker is angry.
12038. If a wife burns bread baking in the oven, her husband will come home angry.
12039. To have bread burn while baking in the oven is a token of an increase in the family.
12040. If you burn bread baking in the oven, you may expect company.
12041. If you burn bread baking in the oven, you will be visited by a black-eyed person.
12042. If you burn bread baking in the oven, a brown-eyed person is coming to help you eat it.
12043. If while baking pastry you burn it dark, a dark-eyed person will come to see you.
12044. If you let biscuits burn, a man with a black mustache will pay you a visit.
12045. If you burn bread baking in the oven, an evil person will soon call at your house.
12046. A woman whose bread burns while baking will be disappointed that day.
12047. Bread burned while baking on Monday makes you unlucky all week.

COOKING (12048-12116)

12048. Never light a fire in a cookstove on Sunday; it is unlucky to do any cooking that day.
12049. "I will never do any kind of work on a holiday but cook; think it bad luck to wash, iron or sew, do anything you can do other days."
12050. If you have something boiling on the stove and it continues to boil longer than usual after the fire has been turned out, you may expect a
long life; but if the boiling stops at once or sooner than usual, a short life.
12051. Whoever boils water for no purpose will be unlucky.
12052. A cook letting water needlessly boil on the stove will become absent-minded.
12053. The woman who burns anything that is to be eaten will want food before she dies.
12054. If while cooking you burn anything, you will be obliged to pick the same amount of food out of hell-fire after death.
12055. Food burned in the cooking is a sign of bad news.
12056. It is unlucky to spill anything on the stove when cooking, but this misfortune can be averted by thinking quickly of someone you hate.
12057. Whatever food drops on the floor belongs to the cook.
12058. The rocking of a pot in which something is cooking means bad luck, but this misfortune can be counteracted by immediately taking the
pot off the stove.
12059. "An old saying of my grandmother: three vessels on the stove all cooking at the same time, that's good luck.
12060. Cooks who stir with a fork are stirring up trouble.
12061. A woman in her courses can cook anything sweet, but anything sour cooked by her will spoil.
12062. Candy cooked by a woman in her courses will not become hard.
12063. Women who always cook more food than needed will make good stepmothers.
12064. Two women who bump into each other while preparing a meal will work together next year at the same time.
12065. If you are working in the kitchen with someone and your bottoms happen to touch, you two will work together at the same time next year.
12066. Vegetables grown aboveground should be started in boiling water; below ground, in cold water. The reverse is also believed.
12067. In cooking vegetables that grow above ground, keep the lid of the pot off; below ground, the lid of the pot on.
12068. I was cooking white beans several weeks ago and a neighbor came in and said, 'Oh, are you cooking beans! I am too, so I will throw mine
away, for I would not eat them for anything; for it will bring bad luck, if two people cook the same thing in the same house on the same day'.
12069. I never cook white beans unless I drop three Negro-toe rocks [small black pebble] in them to cook; it makes them so much better. You
can always go out and pick them up out of the gravel. And I never use the same three rocks over three times.
12070. Do not put hot water on green beans; you will be in hot water before the end of the week.
12071. Bread toasted after dark will be followed by a disappointment next day.
12072. To let the cabbage burn is an omen of sickness.
12073. A cook who unintentionally breaks the wishbone while dressing a chicken will have it burn while cooking.
12074. Meat cooked by a menstruating woman will curl up.
12075. A roast burning in the oven foretells company.
12076. If a woman burns meat while it is cooking, her husband will come home cross.
12077. The woman who lets milk boil over in the morning will have a quarrel with her husband before night.
12078. Onions cooked on Monday cause you bad luck all week.
12079. It is unlucky to have onions burn while cooking.
12080. Never slice a peeled onion lengthwise; this brings bad luck. Always slice it crosswise for luck.
12081. Peel onions before sunrise and you will have a disappointment that day.
12082. To keep the fumes out of your eyes while peeling an onion, begin at the root and peel upwards.
12083. Fumes from an onion will not get into your eyes, if you peel the onion upside crown.
12084. Hold a piece of bread in your mouth while peeling onions and your eyes will not water.
12085. A fork in your mouth while peeling onions keeps your eyes from watering.
12086. If you are paring onions, stick a needle into your dress near the shoulder and you will not shed tears.
 282

12087. A pin held in your mouth or tightly between the teeth prevents tears when you peel onions. This also prevents tears when grating
horse-radish.
12088. You can avoid watery eyes while peeling onions by holding a potato in your mouth.
12089. The cook who puts a small potato on the end of her knife when peeling onions will not shed tears.
12090. As a prevention against tears when peeling onions, put a silver coin in your mouth.
12091. Your eyes will not water when peeling onions provided a toothpick is kept in your mouth.
12092. A woman turning a pancake twice doubles her troubles.
12093. Never eat the first pancake; give it to an animal or throw it into the garbage pail for luck.
12094. Always wash your potatoes before peeling them and you will never quarrel with your husband.
12095. To drop a potato on the floor while peeling them signifies a hungry caller who will beg for food.
12096. If while boiling potatoes in the jackets you think intently of someone far away, you will soon receive a letter from that person.
12097. Potatoes burned in the cooking bring bad luck or sorrow to the heart.
12098. A cook letting her potatoes burn never becomes rich.
12099. The wife who lets potatoes burn will quarrel with her husband before night.
12100. A garbage can emptied after dark brings bad luck.
12101. The burning up of garbage will make the burner bald-headed.
12102. It is unlucky to burn butterbean hulls but lucky to throw them away.
12103. Bones must be thrown away, for burning them will give you pains in your own bones.
12104. If you brush the crumbs off the table on to the floor, you will always be poor.
12105. Bread crumbs thrown into the stove will cause you bad luck.
12106. The person who burns bread crumbs in the stove will need bread before the end of the week.
12107. "I never throw egg shells out, I always burn them so I won't have any trouble."
12108. After you have dressed a fish, burn up the scales for luck.
12109. Always bury fish bones instead of throwing them away and you will be lucky.
12110. If you throw away garlic peelings, there will be sickness in the house; if you burn them on top of the stove, there will not be any
sickness in the house.
12111. Onion peelings dropped on the floor is a sign of bad luck, but this misfortune can be prevented by picking up the peelings immediately
and burning them.
12112. To let onion peelings lie about, especially near the door, or to throw them out into the yard, will bring tears ---a policeman say
some. Always burn or bury them for luck.
12113. Burn your onion peelings and you will never be empty-handed.
12114. If you sprinkle salt on your onion peelings and burn them, you will get money; that day say some.
12115. If you sprinkle sugar and then nutmeg on your onion peelings and burn them, you will get money.
12116. As a rite for obtaining money, throw onion peelings into the stove and call out, money, money, when they blaze up.

EATING (1217-12209)

12117. It is lucky to feed a hungry person.

12118. The person who eats in a strange house on Monday will be lucky all week.
12119. "An old saying of my mother was: the first time you eat at a strange table, you will soon go on a long journey."
12120. If you are so pleased while eating at a house for the first time that you would like to eat there again, stick a pin in the tablecloth
before arising from the table and you will get another invitation.
12121. If someone smiles at you while you are eating at the table and you are unaware of it, good luck is indicated.
12122. To eat while looking into a mirror is unlucky.
12123. If you eat in a water-closet, bad luck may be expected.
12124. If you eat in a water-closet, you are feeding the devil. This is said of bread particularly.
12125. If you eat in a water-closet, the devil will give you hell.
12126. Never sit down to eat without first saying a blessing; either the food will not please you or it will disagree with you.
12127. "My husband always asks a guest for dinner to say the blessing to bring us luck."
12128. Always keep a seat at the table for an unexpected guest, because some day you might entertain an angel unawares.
12129. To set a plate in its customary place on the table for a dead member of the family is lucky .
12130. If at the table you always set the place left vacant by an absent [ member of the family and never let anyone else sit there, that person will
eventually come home. This rite may, also be used to bring back anyone who has ever eaten at your house, whether friend or lover.
12131. Too many places set at the table means bad luck.
12132. Too many places set at the table means someone coming hungry.
12133. Two men seated together at a table is unlucky; always put a woman between them.
12134. Never change places at the table; it will bring bad luck.
12135. Secretly name all the chairs at the table before entertaining company and you will have good luck.
12136. Walk with your left side to the table while serving, for the right side will cause you bad luck.
12137. If a fly falls into your food, the food is too rich for you.
12138. The person who chokes at dinner (noon meal) will have company at supper.
12139. To bite your tongue while eating at the table denotes a hungry visitor.
12140. Food dropped at the dining table means someone else desired it.
12141. Do not tip your chair back while eating at the table; bad luck will befall you.
12142. If you help yourself to something which you already have on your plate, someone will come hungry, or as some say, someone who needs
the food more than you.
12143. If at the table two persons reach for the same thing at the same time, it is a token of bad luck.
12144. If at the table two persons reach for the same thing at the same time, they will be together for another year.
12145. If when reaching at the table your two arms form a cross, you will quarrel that day.
12146. The first one to get up from a table of thirteen people will be disappointed.
 283

12147. To be the last one eating at a table shows you will live the longest.
12148. Always eat everything on your plate and drink everything in your glass else you will be unlucky.
12149. If you ask for or accept the core of an apple which someone has eaten, bad luck will come to you.
12150. The person who throws an apple core on the fire will never be rich.
12151. Worms in the apples give cider a better flavor.
12152. Eat bananas to grow tall.
12153. A person taking the last biscuit must kiss the cook. This is sometimes said of the last piece of any kind of food.
12154. This is the significance of taking a biscuit when you still have a half of one on your plate: If the top half, a man is coming; If the bottom
half, a woman.
12155. "My mother always did this to a loaf of bread. Just before you cut it, take the knife and make a cross over it and bless. It will last longer."

12156. Whoever cuts bread is cutting the Lord's Body; bread should always be broken.
12157. Hot bread should not be cut; you would be cutting Jesus' Heart.
12158. Thick slices of bread cut by a woman shows she would make a good stepmother.
12159. A loaf of bread breaking in two while you are cutting it is an unlucky sign.
12160. To break your bread into crumbs at the table will bring you poverty.
12161. Never break bread someone is holding; you will have bad luck.
12162. If anyone begins to break the bread which you are passing to him, set the plate down immediately or you will lose his friendship.
12163. A piece of bread falling out of your mouth on to your plate means company at the next meal.
12164. Bread dropped while eating it signifies a hungry visitor.
12165. Those who eat bread dropped on the floor will always be poor.
12166. If you step on a piece of bread dropped or thrown away, look for bad luck.
12167. The throwing away of bread is unlucky; always burn unwanted bread or crumbs.
12168. You may burn a little bread on the stove every day for luck and prosperity.
12169. It is unlucky to take the last piece of bread.
12170. Take the last piece of bread and you will be disappointed.
12171. Two persons reaching for bread at the same time indicates hungry company.
12172. The taking of bread when you already have bread denotes the following company: a hungry person, a hungry friend, someone hungrier
than you, or a guest hungry for bread.
12173. If you take two pieces of bread at a helping, either a hungry caller or someone hungry for bread will soon arrive.
12174. To serve yourself bread and butter when you already have them foretells the arrival of someone who will be hungry.
12175. After you butter both sides of your bread by mistake, a hungry visitor may be expected.
12175a. Note: Since the original seventeen lines of this space were a duplication undiscovered until too many following pages had been typed, I
will replace the elimination with a pioneer custom suitable for this sub-section Eating.
As a boy of fourteen or fifteen the summer of 1910 or 1911, I visited on a farm near the North Fabius in Lewis County, the Missouri
County opposite Adams County, Illinois, and upriver from Quincy. At that time the Fabius, pronounced fabby rhyming with abbey, was still
quite a stream of water. One day after accompanying a group of farmers to seine along the Fabius, I saw our catch divided by a remarkable
casting of lots. The divider, while sorting a large pile of fish to kind and size (some fourteen pounders), tossed them into a circle of piles; not
ten, one for each man present, but eleven. Then he turned his back on the piles and an assistant with a long stick successively touched at random
each pile, asking, Whose pile is this ? The person named by the divider came forward to stand by his pile. The eleventh pile? Variously called For
Friends, For Others, For the Absent, it was delivered to them by the men on their ways home...
12176. A hungry visitor is foretold by bread falling buttered side to the floor.
12177. A piece of butter falling under your chair is a sign the automobile will be stolen that day.
12178. Two persons reaching for butter at the same time will quarrel before the end of the day.
12179. If on Good Friday you soak a hot cross bun in water until soft, dry and wrap it up in something, and then preserve this, you will have good
luck all year.
12180. To break a piece of cake in another person's hand is unlucky.
12181. If you allow anyone to cut the first piece of your birthday cake, you may expect bad luck.
12182. Unless a cheese is ripened in a manure pile it will not be any good. Similarly they say the unpleasant odor in some varieties of cheese
comes from the manure pile in which they were ripened.
12183. It is said of eating cheese or an orange: "Gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at night."
12184. Cherries are brain food.
12185. The heart of a chicken may be eaten for luck.
12186. Some say it is unlucky to break the wishbone of a fowl during a meal, others say this is merely unlucky for the person who gets the short
end.
12187. Fish is good for the brain.
12188. A month that does not contain the letter R is a bad time for eating fish.
12189. Horse-radish should be eaten only in the months that have the letter R.
12190. Licorice is made from old rubber boots.
12191. It is unlucky to spill milk, but this misfortune can be averted by thinking of an enemy.
12192. It is unlucky to spill milk on the table, but this misfortune can be averted by thinking of someone who is dead .
12193. A nutmeg kept on a string about your neck is lucky.
12194. You will never like olives or overcome a dislike for them until you have eaten seven say some; nine say others.
12195. Onions nourish the marrow of the bones.
12196. A person who accepts the gift of onions will soon shed tears.
12197. To eat more than three oranges at one time will bring you bad luck.
12198. "I always put potatoes on my plate just to keep company away; for if you put gravy first and then potatoes, you will have the house full
of company before the week is out."
12199. Always leave one potato in the bowl during a meal, for taking the last potato brings a hungry guest.
12200. Rabbits are good for food only in a month that has the letter R.
 284

12201. Keep a bag of dried raisins hanging in your kitchen for luck and health.
12202. "My mother always said it was good luck soon, to borrow rice and pay it back.
12203. Each vegetable and fruit is good for some part of the human body.
12204. "My grandmother had an old saying. Whenever you eat a slice of watermelon, count the seed and throw them over your left shoulder, and
you will be rich in your old age."
12205. If you swallow a seed ---grape, lemon, melon and orange seeds are usually specified ---that seed will become a vine or tree respectively
in your stomach.
12206. If a small child swallows a plum seed, a plum tree will grow out of the top of its head. This was told to some children to caution them
against swallowing seed.
12207. Good luck may be expected when a person finds either two pieces of fruit grown together or a piece of fruit containing two instead of one
seed- stone.
12208. Did you know there are a knife, fork and spoon inside a persimmon seed? Years ago this question would be asked of a child. On the
latter expressing disbelief, the questioner cut open a persimmon seed and, so it is said, a design resembling these three articles could be seen. The
belief applies only to the native American wild persimmon.
12209. "My mother would not take anything back, if a neighbor borrowed anything in the eats; said it was bad luck."

HOLIDAY MEAL (12210-12239)

12210. At breakfast on New Year's Day spread a clean tablecloth over the table and you will be lucky all year.
12211. Not to cook food in your house on New Year's Day means you will lack something before the year is out.
12212. Never throw away any food burned on New Year's Day; eat every bit of it for good luck all year.
12213. You can have luck all year by eating beans on New Year's Day. White beans are usually prescribed.
12214. Beans, especially white ones, eaten on New Year's Day bring money all year.
12215. "My husband always eats raw cabbage just at twelve o'clock on New Year's Eve for money."
12216. Eat cabbage on New Year's Day and all year you will have plenty of vegetables or food.
12217. The eating of cabbage on New Year's Day means good luck all year; if each member of the family eats at least a teaspoonful of the
cabbage, if it is fried for breakfast, or if it is cooked with pork. Similarly failure to cook cabbage on New Year's Day will be followed by a year of
bad luck.
12218. To eat cabbage at the noon meal on New Year's Day gives you success all year.
12219. If on New Year's Day cabbage is eaten at anytime ---fried for breakfast, boiled and served in four equal pieces, or cooked with corned
beef or pork ---you will not be without money during the following twelve months.
12220. "We did this last New Year's Day, ate cabbage and carrots together, and have had good luck all year."
12221. Good luck may be had all year, if herring is eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve, on New Year's Day before breakfast, or with cabbage at
the noon meal.
12222. Herring eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve, or any time on New Year's Day say some, brings money all year.
12223. If you eat hog head on Nev Year's Eve at midnight, all year there will be money in your pocket.
12224. Black-eyed peas and hog jowl eaten on New Year's Day give you good luck all year.
12225. The person who eats black-eyed peas cooked with cabbage on New Year's Day will be lucky all year.
12226. For each black-eyed pea you eat on New Year's Day you will get a ! dollar during the year that follows.
12227. Rice may be eaten on New Year's Day for silver all year.
12228. Sauerkraut for the noon meal on New Year's Day makes the family lucky all year.
12229. Money all year is obtained by eating sauerkraut at midnight on New Year's Eve or anytime New Year's Day.
12230. Always eat something green on St. Patrick's Day for luck.
12231. "My mother used to say if you don't eat greens on St. Patrick's Day you will be a fool all year."
12232. On Green Thursday: (Maundy Thursday) you must eat something green for money all year. Sometimes potato pancakes are eaten with the
green vegetable.
12233. Either navy beans or black-eyed peas are cooked for luck on Good Friday.
12234. The person who eats meat on Good Friday will be unlucky the following week.
12235. If you eat at a table with an odd number of people on Thanksgiving Day, look for bad luck before the year ends.
12236. Feed a stranger on Thanksgiving Day for luck.
12237. Boil cabbage on Thanksgiving Day and your pocket will be full of money the remainder of the year.
12238. To have luck for the coming year, black-eyed peas or sauerkraut should be cooked with pork on Christmas Day.
12239. Never eat chicken on Christmas Day; you will scratch for a living all year.

SOAP MAKING (12240-12249)

12240. Some say soap made on a full moon will thicken; others say you will get a kettle full of soap, it will not shrink during the boiling.
12241. If you cook soap in the dark of the moon, it will become thick; if in the light of the moon, it will stay thin. But conversely, soap cooked
in the dark of the moon will shrink until there is none left in the kettle; in the light of the moon, the soap will dry quickly and get hard.
Homemade lye soap is supposed to be about as hard as cold butter or lard.
12242. If you cook soap in the dark of the moon, it will not shrink or dry out after it is cut; if in the light of the moon, it will shrink or dry out
after it is cut.
12243. You can secure firm soap by making it in the sign of the fish (Pisces) during the light of the moon.
12244. Never make soap in the sign of the bowels (Virgo); it will not harden.
12245. To obtain good soap, you must boil it during fair weather. Soap boiled on a cloudy day will turn to lye.
12246. The best soap is made with March snow-water.
12247. Do not let a menstruating woman go near the soap kettle, for the soap will go back to lye.
12248. Always use a sassafras stick to stir your soap otherwise it will not be any good.
12249. If while making soap you let it boil over the kettle, you will have bad luck.
 285

BATH (12250-12274)
12250. Bathe between Christmas and New Year's Day and you will remain clean the whole year.
12251. A bath taken on New Year's Night will keep you clean all year. Contrariwise, unless you take a bath on New Year's Day, you will be dirty
all year.
12252. The person who washes himself with cold water does not stay clean as long as the one washing in hot water.
12253. "This is over two-hundred years old. My great-great-greatgrandma did this. It is an old Indian remedy: if you have odor under your arms,
pee on a rag and wash under your arms with that rag."
12254. To rub a finger under the arms and smell some of the perspiration will kill the odor of your armpits for that day.
12255. If you hand soap to anyone, you are handing that person bad luck.
12256. Do not wash your face with soap every day, for hair will grow on your face.
12257. To wash with someone else's wash cloth will bring you bad luck and sickness.
12258. It is unlucky to drop the wash cloth while taking a bath, but this bad luck can be averted by picking up the cloth and throwing it over your
left shoulder.
12259. Whoever drops the wash cloth while taking a bath will never come to want.
12260. Never empty the water that has been used by someone else; the two of you will quarrel.
12261. If you use the water that someone else has washed in, you will have a quarrel with that person.
12262. A quarrel that day or before bedtime may be expected between the two persons who wash their hands together in the same basin. As a
counter- actant for this misfortune, the last one to finish should spit three times into the water.
12263. Two persons washing in the same basin of water will have their friendship broken before the year is out.
12264. Two persons washing together in the same water will be friends at the same time next year.
12265.
"If two persons wipe hands together,
They will be friends forever."
or
" If you dry your hands together,
You will be friends forever."
12266. After two persons wipe on the same towel at the same time, they will be unlucky .
12267. A towel used by two persons at the same time will bring them trouble after sunset.
12268. It is the sign of a quarrel, if two persons dry on the same towel at the same time.
12269. Two persons wiping their hands and faces on the same towel at the same time will quarrel at the same time next day.
12270. To avoid the quarrel foretold by two persons drying on the same towel at the same time, one of them must twist the towel say some, both
of them say others.
12271 .To avoid the quarrel foretold by two persons drying on the same towel at the same time, each of them must shake the towel over his head.

12272. The person who gets the towel twisted when using it will have bad luck
12273. A towel falling from your hand is an omen of a female visitor.
12274. Do not hang a towel over a picture frame; bad luck will come to you.

DISHWATER -DISH RAG -DISH TOWEL (12275-12348)

DISHWATER
12275. A person boiling dishwater will be unlucky.
12276. Do not let your dishwater boil; it causes family quarrels, a quarrel in the house that day say some.
12277. Dishwater that boils never cleans dishes well.
12278. If the dishwater has boiled, the cook will receive no pay the following week.
12279. The woman who lets the dish rag boil in the dishwater will lose her best friend.
12280. "I was at a farm house several weeks ago, I had not been there for two years, when the lady said, after we got through eating, 'Kate, wash
the dishes and dry them while I milk; will bring you good luck.' And it did. She said it was lucky to be asked to do the dishes where you had not
been for a long time."
12281. To gather up the dishes or scrape them while still sitting at the table is unlucky.
12282. A dish broken during the wiping is a sign of company.
12283. Never try to dry two dishes held in your hands at the same time; you are doubling your trouble.
12284. A woman forgetting to wash the skillet will have company at the next meal.
12285. Wash the sugar bowl on Sunday night and you will soon get a houseful of company.
12286. It is very unlucky to wash a wash pan in your dishwater.
12287. If you throw out hot dishwater, you will have bad luck. Years ago some of the Irish used to say you would scald or drown the fairies.
12288. Dishwater thrown out after dark will bring you bad luck.
12289. "My grandma said it was very bad luck to throw out dishwater from Christmas until New Year's."
12290. If you throw out dishwater on New Year's Day, bad luck may be expected.

DISH RAG
12291. To drop a dish rag on the floor is a sign of company; before supper say some.
12292. As a method for preventing the arrival of company after a dish rag falls to the floor, step backwards over the rag before you pick it up.
12293. By picking up and shaking a dish rag dropped on the floor you will shake away the company indicated.
12294. A dish rag dropping to the floor means unexpected guests.
12295. An unwelcome person will call on the person who drops a dish rag on the floor, but this can be prevented by picking up the rag as quickly
as possible and spitting on the spot made by the rag.
12296. After you have dropped a dish rag on the floor, some friend will visit you.
12297. The dropping of a dish rag on the floor foretells a visit from your sister-in-law.
12298. If you drop a dish rag on the floor, a "gossipy old woman" will come that day.
 286

12299. The person who drops a dish rag on the floor will soon have a male caller.
12300. A dish rag that drops to the floor will bring a preacher.
12301. If you drop a dish rag on the floor, "a homely person" is coming.
12302. If you drop a dish rag on the floor, "someone not dressed up" is coming.
12302. If you-drop a dish rag on the floor, "a slut [dirty woman] or a slink [dirty man] is coming.
12304. If you drop a dish rag on the floor, "a person dirtier and slouchier than you" is coming; and if the dish rag is greasy, the visitor will be "
greasier than you" .
12305. If you drop a dish rag on the floor, "an old hag" is coming.
12306. If you drop a dish rag on the floor, a "no-account person" is coming. This is also expressed in the rhyme:
"Drop a dishcloth on the floor,
Expect a bum at your door."
12307. Name a dish rag dropped to the floor and the person named will be at your house that day.
12308. Name a dish rag dropped to the floor and the person named will be at your house within three days.
12309. A woman who drops the dish rag while talking about someone will soon have the person talked about at her door.
12310. If a dish rag is dropped in the morning, look for the arrival of "someone more slovenly than you"; if in the evening, cleaner than you.
12311. If a dish rag dropped on the floor spreads out, a sloven and dirty person will call on you; if it stays together, a tidy and clean person.
12312. If a dish rag dropped on the floor spreads out, a "dressed up person" will soon arrive; if it stays together, a "person with a hole in
his britches".
12313. If a dish rag dropped on the floor spreads out, a woman will visit you; if it stays together or "drops in a knot", a man. This is the
usual belief, but occasionally the interpretations are reversed.
12314. If a fallen dish rag wets the floor, you will entertain a woman; if it does not wet the floor, a man.
12315. If a fallen dish rag wets the floor, you will be visited by an undesirable person; if it does not wet the floor, a desirable person.
12316. If you drop a clean or a new dish rag on the floor, you will soon be called on by someone cleaner than you; if a dirty or old dish rag,
someone dirtier than you.
12317. A dirty dish rag dropped on the floor betokens the coming of a "dirty relative".
12318. The person dropping a dish rag on the floor will soon have a hungry guest; before the next meal say some.
12319. Whoever drops a dish rag on the floor will go hungry before the end of the week.
12320. Women who drop their dish rag on the floor are dirty housekeepers.
12321. To drop a dish rag on the floor is the sign of a quarrel; in the family say some.
12322. Drop a dish rag on the floor and you will be disappointed, but this disappointment can be counteracted by picking up the rag and shaking
it.
12323. It is unlucky to drop a dish rag, but stepping on the rag will avert the bad luck.
12324. Only the dish rag that falls to the floor and fails to open means bad luck according to some.
12325. Always hang up the dish rag for luck.
12326. Never hang a dish rag above the dish pan; you will have bad luck that day.
12327. "My sister when she washed the dishes always spread the dish rag over the dish pan for luck when through."
12328. A dish rag left in the dish pan will bring you a "houseful" (of company) at the next meal.
12329. If you put a dish rag under the dish pan, an enemy will soon appear at your house.
12330. The washing of a dish rag is unlucky. Always burn the dish rag when it gets too dirty.
12331. Always burn an old dish rag, for throwing it away will cause a misfortune.
12332. To touch anyone with a dish rag is unfortunate.
12333. Steal someone's dish rag and keep it for luck.
12334. If you are having bad luck, you can break the spell by burning an old dish rag.
12335. If you are having bad luck, you can break the spell by boiling a dish rag in dirty water.
12336. As a cure for homesickness, let the homesick person drink the water in which a dirty dish rag has been boiled.

DISH TOWEL
12337. "I never let anything stay wet in the house on New Year's Eve like dish rag, cloth, towel, or anything. I always hang everything by the fire
to dry, for I think it very bad luck to let anything lay in the house going into the new year wet."
12338. "When I was younger I was working for a woman, and several times I forgot and would hang the dish towel on the door knob. She came
through and almost tore me and the towel up, she was so angry; said it would bring very bad luck to the house."
12339. After you have finished washing the dishes, wipe your hands on your apron and hang it back of the door for luck.
12340. It is unlucky to drop a dish towel.
12341. The woman who drops a dish towel will not tarry long where she is living.
12342. If a tea towel drops to the floor, you will get a letter.
12343. A tea towel dropped to the floor is a sign of company.
12344. To let your dish towel fall to the floor while drying dishes will bring a man to the house.
12345. Your dish towel falling to the floor means someone cleaner than you will soon arrive.
12346. Drop your dish towel on the floor and someone wearing a white shirt will soon call on you.
12347. If you drop your dish towel, a friend far away is coming.
12348. To drop your dish towel on the floor is a token someone you have not seen for years will soon appear.

MOPPING AND SCRUBBING (12349-12363)

12349. "My mother always cleaned up everything the week before New Year's Day so she would clean up all her dirt and troubles so she would
start the new year clean of troubles and have luck." Some of the old-time Irish said the fairies brought bad luck to a house that was not clean and
in good order on New Year's Day.
12350. If on December 31 you give your house a thorough cleaning, you will have money all year.
12351. Scrub the floor on New Year's Eve at midnight to be prosperous all year.
12352. It is unlucky to scrub after dark.
 287

12353. The front of the door should be scrubbed with lye water every morning for luck.
12354. A woman who scrubs her floor or doorstep with lye water on Friday will be lucky.
12355. Never wash windows on Friday; bad luck may be expected.
12356. Sunday scrubbing brings company.
12357. "I said to a woman one day, 'What a nice clean kitchen you have.' She said, 'When I get up in the morning I never throw the chamber
outdoors; I always empty it on the floor and take a broom and scrub, and that's why it is so nice and white, my floor'."
12358. You can keep your house lucky by occasionally scrubbing the floor with urine.
12359. Do not wipe up water spilled on the floor by pushing a mop or rag around with your foot; get down on your knees and wipe it up or there
will be a serious quarrel in your family.
12360. Always pick up a mop as soon as it drops, for someone stepping over it brings you bad luck.
12361. A mop falling across the door is a sign of company.
12362. To shake your mop out the front door is unlucky.
12363. An old mop rag should never be burned up or thrown away; nail it to a tree for luck. –

SWEEPING AND BROOM (12364-12499)

12364. If you sweep on New Year's Day, you will have bad luck all year; but if you leave the dirt in a pile on the floor until next day, this
misfortune can be averted. Some say even to touch a broom on New Year's Day is unlucky.
12365. "My mother came from the Old Country and she would always put her sweepings of the last day of the year in a piece of paper and put
them up on the cupboard and keep them until the end of the next year, then burned them up for luck. And she would not let anyone touch her
package."
12366. If you sweep on New Year's Day, you will be poor all year; but if you leave the dirt in a pile on the floor until next day, you will be
prosperous all year.
12367. The person who sweeps on New Year's Day is sweeping out the money that will be made that year, but this misfortune can be avoided by
burning the dirt immediately.
12368. If you sweep on New Year's Day, your house will be dirty all year; but if you leave the dirt in a pile on the floor until the next day, clean
all year.
12369. To sweep on Monday causes bad luck; all week say some.
12370. The bad luck that comes from sweeping on Monday can be warded off by keeping the dirt in the house until the following day.
12371. The bad luck that comes from sweeping on Monday can be warded off by sprinkling salt over the dirt and burning it.
12372. Sweep on Monday and you are sweeping away all your company that week.
12373. Whoever sweeps dirt out of the house on Friday may expect bad luck.
12374. Dirt swept out the door on Friday means your house will burn.
12375. It is unlucky to sweep your kitchen or porch after sunset or after dark, and particularly unlucky to sweep dirt over a doorstep after six
o'clock in the evening. Further, even to touch a broom after sunset brings bad luck.
12376. You may sweep the kitchen after dark and not be unlucky, provided you do not take up the dirt.
12377. "When I was a girl I worked out and after four o'clock in the afternoon we never took up dirt; we would sweep it in one corner and cover
it up to keep from having bad luck."
12378. The woman who must sweep her kitchen after dark can prevent bad luck by burning up the dirt.
12379.
"If you sweep after dark,
You will bring sorrow to your heart."
or
"If you sweep after dark,
It brings sorrow to your heart."
12380. A person sweeping after dark will soon have a quarrel.
12381. If you sweep after dark, you are sweeping away a friend, your best friend, or your friends and letting in your enemies.
12382. "My grandma would never let us sweep out any dirt after dark, said we would be looking for a new house soon."
12383. If you sweep after dark, you are sweeping out the money made that day, more than your husband can bring in, or your riches; if after
supper, your day's work; and if after seven o'clock in the evening, your prosperity. The only way you can protect yourself against these
misfortunes is either to let the dirt lie in the dust pan overnight or else burn it.
12384. Never sweep a room after dark; you will lose your memory.
12385. Any sweeping after four o'clock in the afternoon will cause sickness in your house.
12386. It is unlucky to sweep your kitchen or dirt out a door before sunrise. Similarly an old Negro said, "Never sweep dirt in the face of the
Sun."
12387. Sweep before breakfast and you will cry before supper.
12388. If you sweep before breakfast, company will come that day.
12389. Women sweeping after dinner (the noon meal) will always be poor.
12390. A woman who sweeps dirt into a corner and leaves it there will have a severe disappointment that week.
12391. To throw sweepings or to sweep dirt out any door is unlucky, but a few say the front door and a few say the back door.
12392. Always take up your sweepings when you reach the door and carry them outside for luck.
12393. Do not throw sweepings out a door; burn them and you will be lucky.
12394. "My mother always when she swept dirt up, she would put a little salt over it, then burn it for luck."
12395. "My wife always spit on the dirt when she took it up and sprinkled salt over it and burned it for luck."
12396. It is unlucky to sweep dirt from one room to another.
12397. Persons who sweep dirt out a door are sweeping away their money. Some say it must be the front door.
12398. Burn your sweepings instead of throwing them out the door and you will always have money.
12399. "I was at a dinner on Sunday. When we were through eating the woman of the house swept the dirt up. She started to throw the dirt out the
back door when her husband said, 'Don't do it, for you will lose one of your best friends.'" The opposite of this belief is also heard; unless you
sweep dirt out the back door, you will lose your best friend.
 288

12400. To sweep dirt out the door is the sign of a slovenly housekeeper.
12401. If a person sweeps the floor another person has just finished sweeping, the second sweeper will be unlucky say some, both say others.
12402. If at the same time two persons sweep the same floor or are sweeping in the same house, it means bad luck for one of the sweepers say
some or both of them say others.
12403. If a small child takes up a broom and begins to sweep, company may be expected.
12404. If you sweep in front of someone or under the chair on which he sits, you are giving that person bad luck.
12405. To let someone sweep under the chair on which you are sitting will bring sorrow to your heart.
12406. A guest in front of whom or around whose feet you sweep is not welcome.
12407. The person under whose feet you sweep will always be poor.
12408. "I have a man friend that would not let you sweep under his chair for anything if he was sitting down; sign you will get arrested."
12409. Sweep under a person's feet while he is sitting on a chair and he will not grow any more.
12410. Never allow anyone to sweep under the chair on which you are sitting; you will soon be in bed with a long spell of sickness.
12411. Do not sweep immediately after the departure of a guest; you will be sweeping him bad luck.
12412. If you dust a chair by sweeping it, bad luck will follow.
12413. Dust or crumbs swept off a chair with a broom will bring sickness to the family.
12414. The woman who sweeps under an empty chair instead of moving it will have bad luck.
12415. To sweep a bed instead of dusting or wiping it off will bring you misfortune.
12416. It is unlucky to sweep under a bed on which someone is lying.
12417. A sweeper who accidentally brushes her own feet with the broom will be unfortunate for seven days.
12418. If w1th a broom you touch or hit anyone, you make that person unlucky say some, yourself unlucky say others. The former is the usual
interpretation.
12419. Some say a person must be touched or hit with the brushy part of a broom to be made unlucky; others say the handle. 12420. To be
touched or hit by a broom just before you start on a journey foretells trouble before reaching your destination.
12421. You can counteract bad luck after you have been touched or hit with a broom by spitting on it. Some say you must spit on the brushy part
of the broom.
12422. You can counteract bad luck after you have been touched or hit with a broom by spitting on it and tak1ng ten steps backwards.
12423. "My nephew one day when he went to work forgot his pipe and he cannot work without his pipe, and he went back home to get his pipe.
His mother was very angry at him for doing it. She was sweeping the kitchen and was so angry she hit him with the broom. As he ran out the
door he said, ' I will lose my job over your hitting me with that broom.' She ran after him and hit him another time, saying, 'I want you to forget
that silly stuff.' Well, he went to work and did lose his job as soon as he got back. He always said if his mother had not hit him with the broom
he would still have his job on the W.P.A. [Work Projects Administration]."
12424. If with a broom you touch or hit someone, it means a jail sentence; for the other person say some, for yourself say others. The former is
the usual meaning. Further, the time of the arrest varies: soon, before night, or after a week. Occasionally, however, the result has been made
more improbable by specifying that the person must be hit on the top of the head.
12425. The woman who accidentally hits herself with a broom will soon be arrested.
12426. To avoid arrest after you have been hit by a broom, spit on it.
12427. To avoid arrest after you have been hit by a broom, spit on it and walk backwards ten steps.
12428. Anyone hit by a broom will soon be sick.
12429. Never let the sweeping edge of a broom wear off at the two corners — "run into a funnel" ---it will cause you bad luck. Always keep your
broom square or even for luck.
12430. If straw falls from your broom while sweeping, company is indicated.
12431. If straw with seed falls from your broom while sweeping, a man may be expected; if without seed, a woman.
12432. If straw with one seed falls from your broom while sweeping, a woman will soon call on you; if with two seed, a man.
12433. If straw with seed falls from your broom while sweeping, someone is coming and will be accompanied by as many children as there are
seed; if without seed, the person will come alone.
12434. If the straw of a broom ignites while you are sweeping off the top of a stove in which there is a fire, you will have company all that day.
12435. The burning up of a worn-out broom brings trouble.
12436. If you have a room or an apartment in someone's house and buy a new broom, let the landlady of the house sweep with it first or you
will have bad luck all year. This belief is also expressed as follows: only the mistress of the house should use a new broom in it for the first time.
12437. Before using a new broom for the first time tear out three straws and burn them and you will be lucky as long as you use that broom.
12438. Before using a new broom (some say a strange one) for the first time, always spit on it for luck.
12439. Before using a new broom for the first time, dip it into hot water and shake out the water for luck.
12440. "My mother said never to sweep a cellar with a new broom you ha ve never used; will bring you bad luck to the house."
12441. If you borrow a broom, you are borrowing the owner's troubles; if you lend a broom, the troubles of the borrower will be returned to you
with the broom. However, if you need a broom, you can avoid any trouble by secretly taking one and returning it.
12442. To whirl a broom around on the bushy end makes you unlucky .
12443. To whirl a broom over your head makes you unlucky.
12444. It is unlucky to carry a broom over your shoulder.
12445. When carrying a broom from one part of the house to another, carry it under your arm for luck.
12446. A broom taken out of the house should be held handle up and straw down for luck.
12447. Never take a broom in one door and out another through the house; bad luck will befall you.
12448. The handing of a broom through a window to someone will be followed by misfortune.
12449. The person who hangs a broom on a nail (a rusty one say some) will be unlucky .
12450. Bad luck will come to the person hanging a broom on a door hook.
12451. "An old saying of my mother's: if you stand a broom before the window, you will move before the winter." Some say before the year is
out.
12452. It is unlucky to lean a broom against the bed.
12453. It is unlucky to lay a broom on the bed.
12454. To leave a broom standing with the handle up is unlucky; handle down, lucky.
12455. To stand a broom anywhere except in a corner and on the handle is unlucky.
 289

12456. When in the front room, always rest the broom handle up for luck.
12457. A woman who stands the broom on its handle will always be poor.
12458. A girl who stands the broom in a corner will never rise above house work.
12459. To set a broom in a corner with the bushy part up shows you are an untidy housekeeper.
12460. If a broom falls without anyone touching it, trouble is denoted.
12461. If a broom falls while you are passing it, bad luck may be expected.
12462. If a broom drops in front of you or someone drops it in front of you, it foretells good luck.
12463. The person who drops a broom, especially while sweeping, will be unlucky.
12464. To avert bad luck after you have dropped a broom, pick it up as quickly as possible.
12465. To avert bad luck after you have dropped a broom, walk entirely around the broom before picking it up.
12466. To avert bad luck after you have dropped a broom, let someone else pick it up.
12467. If in setting down a broom it falls straight in front of you, you may expect bad luck.
12468. If you let a broom fall across a door, trouble will soon come through that door; but some add only if you step over the broom.
12469. If you step over a broom dropped by yourself or someone else, it will bring sorrow to your heart ---or trouble before the week is over.
This misfortune can be averted by stepping back over the broom.
12470. Some say it is lucky to pick up a broom from the floor no matter who dropped it.
12471. It is lucky to stumble over a broom handle.
12472. A broom that falls down after you stand it up is a sign of a disappointment.
12473. Let a broom fall across a door and you will be disappointed.
12474. Never step over a broom; a disappointment will follow.
12475. If a broom falls of its own accord, you will soon be sick.
12476. If you drop a broom in front of you and step over it, you will soon be sick.
12477. If someone drops a broom and you step over it without picking it up or before you pick it up, you will soon be sick.
12478. If you step over a broom, you are lazy; if you pick it up, industrious.
12479. If you go somewhere and have to step over a broom, the mistress of that house is an untidy housekeeper.
12480. The woman who steps over or on a broom is a slovenly housekeeper.
12481. After you drop a broom, you will soon get a new one.
12482. To drop a broom while sweeping is a sign of a new carpet.
12483. Do not step over a broom; you will "break your mother's back".
12484. A child stepping over a broom will soon be whipped.
12485. If you step over a broom, you will have a quarrel ---in the house say some.
12486. If you drop a broom and step over it, you will quarrel that day.
12487. If you are walking through a room and a broom falls over and hits you, a quarrel is signified.
12488. Step over a broom and you will lose your best friend.
12489. A broom falling anytime during the day betokens company soon; in the morning , company that day.
12490. To have a broom drop in front of or across the door is a token of company soon or before the day ends.
12491. If a broom falls across the door in the morning, you will have unexpected company eating with you that day.
12492. The significance of a broom falling across the door is a visitor who will harm you.
12493. A broom that falls out the door will bring company soon.
12494. If you drop a broom and step over it, someone is coming "to do you dirt".
12495. If you drop a broom and step over it, "someone sloppier than you" will soon arrive, and the only way to prevent the arrival, is to step back
over the broom immediately.
12496. If you drop your broom across a door and step over it and let it lie, "a messy person" will soon appear at your house.
12497. The dropping of a broom across a door foretells you will soon walk on strange ground.
12498. Whoever steps over a broom on the floor will soon go to jail.
12499. Never pick up a broom that has fallen across a door; you will be sent to jail.

WASHING CLOTHES (12500-12536)

12500.
"If you wash on Monday,
You have all week to dry.
If you wash on Tuesday,
You are not so much aware.
If you wash on Wednesday,
You wash for shame.
If you wash on Thursday,
You are not so much to blame.
If you wash on Friday,
You wash for need.
If you wash on Saturday,
O, you are sluts indeed."
or
"Wash on Monday, all week to dry;
Wash on Tuesday, you will cry.
Wash on Wednesday, wash for shame;
Wash on Thursday, not (so) much to blame.
Wash on Friday, wash for need;
Wash on Saturday, a slut indeed."
The last line of the first rhyme is sometimes, "O sluts you are indeed."
 290

12501. Clothes washed on Monday always become whiter than clothes washed on any other day of the week.
12502. Never wash clothes on Wednesday; they will not become white.
12503. It is unlucky to wash clothes on Wednesday.
12504. The woman washing clothes on Wednesday will be disappointed before the week is out.
12505. Friday is an unlucky day for washing clothes.
12506. Bad luck comes from washing clothes on Saturday.
12507. A person who washes clothes on Sunday will have company on Monday.
12508. To wash clothes on Christmas brings bad luck.
12509. New Year's Day is an unlucky time for washing clothes.
12510. The washing of clothes between Christmas and New Year's Day makes you unfortunate all year.
12511. Washwomen who wash clothes on New Year's Day will get plenty of work during the following twelve months.
12512. Never help anyone with a washing; you will wash for a living when old.
12513. If when washing clothes you let the wash water boil over the rim of the boiler, the clothes will not become clean.
12514. To remove bloodstains from her own clothes or menstrual to make them as white as ever, a woman should boil them with some husband's
underclothes.
12515. A man's disposition and temperament are discoverable when you wash his underclothes; if the dirt comes out easily, he is easy to get
along with; if the dirt does not come out easily, he is difficult to get along with.
12516. "If you wash out a man's shirt after dark, It will bring sorrow to his heart."
12517. Washed clothes hung out after dark cause bad luck.
12518. Do not hang your washing in a neighbor's yard; it means a quarrel. "
12519. Any part of your washing hung on or over a cellar door brings bad luck.
12520. It will bring bad luck, if you hang only a towel on an empty clothesline.
12521. Be sure to hang socks and stockings by the feet and toes after they have been washed, for they will be softer when you wear them.
12522. To hang a man's socks upside down on the clothesline keeps him in a bad humor.
12523. A man whose shirt is hung on the clothesline by the tail will be quarrelsome.
12524. To keep your husband, always hang his shirt on the clothesline by the tail; for if it is hung by the shoulders, he will walk away from you.
12525. Never hang your husband's underwear wrong-side-out on the clothesline; it will make him crabby.
12526. Always when hanging out a wash segregate the various articles (all the towels and then all the shirts), for mixing the pieces (one towel
and then one shirt) will keep you continually mixed up in trouble.
12527. To have the clothesline break while you are hanging out the wash is a sign of a quarrel before the end of the day.
12528. A clothesline breaking while you hang up the wash denotes a disappointment.
12529. If when hanging out the wash the clothesline falls and the clothes are dragged in the dirt, either someone wants to speak with you or
something dirty is being spoken about you.
12530. After a clothesline full of clothes breaks, you may expect sickness in the family.
12531. If while hanging up your wash a clothespin splits and drops to the ground, it foretells bad luck; but if the split clothespin sticks to
the clothesline and does not drop to the ground, the bad luck will be less severe.
12532. Look for bad news when a clothespin splits in half while you are hanging out your wash.
12533. If the wash is hanging on the clothesline and some of the clothes wrap around the line several times, there will be a quarrel in your house
before the week ends.
12534. If woman putting up a clothesline lets one line cross the other, she is "crossing her own path" ---she must cross her own path to hang up
the wash, and anyone recrossing a path will be unlucky.
12535. If you put up a clothesline and one wire or rope crosses the other, a disappointment may be expected.
12536. "Another thing, my mother would never let anyone put a clothesbasket on the bed, I mean one you put your dirty clothes in; said it was
very bad luck."

IRONING (12537-12564)

12537. To iron clothes on Sunday causes bad luck.

12538. Sunday ironing brings Monday company.
12539. If you drop your iron on the floor while ironing, you will have a disappointment that day.
12540. The person who sings while ironing will soon be disappointed.
12541. "When ironing always iron away from you and you are ironing troubles away; if you iron toward you, you are ironing troubles to you ---is
an old saying of my sister."
12542. It is lucky to iron your pillowslip accidentally on the wrong side.
12543. Always sleep on an unironed sheet far luck; sleeping on an ironed sheet will cause bad luck.
12544. Whoever sleeps on ironed sheets becomes peevish.
12545. "I washed and ironed for a white woman and she told me to fold the sheets, not to iron them; said you would be sickly if you slept on
ironed sheets." The positive statement of this belief is usually heard: it is healthy to sleep on unironed sheets.
12546. Do not iron the back or the hem of a man's shirt; it means bad luck for the owner either anytime subsequently or while he is wearing the
shirt. But occasionally this bad luck is meant for the ironer.
12547. Shirt tails should be ironed last for luck.
12548. A wife who burns her husband's shirt while ironing it will have bad luck the rest of the week.
12549. You can make your husband lucky by ironing his shirt after dark.
12550. The wife who irons the back or the hem of her husband's shirt is ironing away his money; the man will never become rich say some.
12551. As a help in making your husband keep his money, always iron the back of his shirt last.
12552. Several things about temper are said to follow when a wife irons the back or the tail of her husband's shirt: it makes him
bad-tempered, there will be an immediate quarrel, they will fight before the shirt is ironed again, and she will never get along with him.
12553. Always iron the back of a man's shirt last so that he will not be cross when wearing it.
12554. If a woman before ironing her husband's shirt folds the back double and then irons towards the collar, he will not become cross.
12555. To keep a man from becoming cross, iron his shirt in the following order: cuffs, sleeves, collar, and yoke.
 291

12556. Not to iron a husband's shirt tail is one of the ways to keep him from becoming involved with other women.
12557. A wife accidentally burning her husband's shirt when she irons it will know that he has another woman.
12558. If a woman irons the back of her husband's shirt, he will be jealous of her.
12559. Never iron the back of a man's shirt; he will not live to wear out the shirt.
12560. The buttoning of a man's shirt after it has been ironed is unlucky.
12561. Underclothes should never be ironed; some misfortune will follow.
12562. Women who want to be happy should not iron their undershirts.
12563. If you want to hear from someone, think of that person all the time you are ironing and you will soon get a letter.
12564. "I know an old colored woman and she said never lay any unironed clothes on the bed. If she sees any clean ruff [rough] clothes on the
bed, she will push them right on the floor; thinks it very bad luck."

BED MAKING (12565-12581)

12565. To turn a feather bedtick on Sunday brings bad luck.

12566. On Sunday it is unlucky to move a bed about the room or to change its location.
12567. "I would not let my bed go unmade for anything on a Sunday; I make it the first thing when I get up to keep from having bad luck."
12568.
"If you sun your bed on Monday,
You will have the doctor before Sunday."
12569. "I will never sun my beds on Saturday, because I think it is bad luck."
12570. Make your beds early in the morning and you will be lucky all day.
12571. If a woman makes her beds in the morning, she is an energetic house-keeper; if at noon or later, a lazy one.
12572. Never stop to do something else after you have begun to make a bed; you will be unlucky.
12573. If you start making a bed and stop before the task is completed, you will have a disappointment that day.
12574. A woman who starts to make a bed and stops before completing her task will soon receive company.
12575. It is lucky to place accidentally the wide sides of the sheets at the head and foot of the bed, provided you sleep on them that way; but a
few persons say this can be done on purpose to secure good luck or to change one's luck.
12576. " I was working for a woman years ago and every morning when she got up she was so cranky, and her husband too. And this woman
happen to find out the sheet was crosswise on the bed instead of longwise, and she said, 'No wonder I have been so cranky,' and changed the
sheet and said, 'Watch and don't do it again, for it will make anyone cranky'."
12577. Sheets spread wrong-side-out on the bed indicate you will soon move.
12578. Two persons making a bed together will soon meet with bad luck.
12579. If two persons spread a sheet on a bed together or make up a bed together, they will soon be in an argument or have a serious quarrel
before the end of the day.
12580. "My mother said you should never sit on a bed or lie down on it after it was made up, for it was very bad luck."
12581. "My mother would never buy any color of blanket but red; said red blankets were always warmest."

GOING TO BED AND GETTING UP (12582-12644)

12582. The person who crawls into bed over the footboard will be unlucky.
12583. Never climb over another occupant of the bed; bad luck will come to you.
12584. If you crawl over anyone when getting out of bed, there will be a quarrel in the family that day.
12585. If you sleep with your head to the foot of the bed, you will soon have a quarrel.
12586. To lie or sleep crosswise on the bed brings misfortune.
12587. It is unlucky to sleep in a chair all night.
12588. A child sleeping with an old person will not grow because the elder absorbs the vitality of the younger, but some say this ill effect can be
lessened by placing a pillow between them.
12589. Children who sleep with elderly people do not live long.
12590. Three persons sleeping together in the same bed will have bad luck.
12591. To move a bed while someone is in it is unlucky.
12592. Keep an ax beneath the head of the bed at night for sharp luck.
12593. By sleeping with a cabbage under the head of your bed on New Year's night you have money all year.
12594. Your bedroom should never have a clock; to hear one ticking while you are in bed is a bad omen.
12595. To memorize anything while asleep, write it on a piece of paper and hold the paper in your hand all night.
12596. To memorize a poem while asleep, say it twice after you have gone to bed.
12597. To memorize a lesson while asleep, sleep with the book beneath your head.
12598. A person always rests better or sleeps sounder in the dark of the moon.
12599. Some say it is lucky and others say it is unlucky to sleep in the moonlight.
12600. Do not sleep so that the moon can shine on your face; your face will become crooked.
12601. If you sleep with the moon shining on you; it will make your face swell say some, your head swell say others.
12602. The person who sleeps in the moonlight will soon die.
12603. The first time you sleep in a strange bed put a penny under the pillow for luck.
12604. Always sleep with a saint's picture over your bed for luck.
12605. It is very unlucky to sleep on old feathers in a new pillow.
12606. It is lucky to sleep on a pillowcase having an embroidered greeting.
12607. Someone throwing a pillow at you will give you bad luck.
12608. To say one's prayers after getting into bed is unlucky.
12609. Prayers said after getting into bed are addressed to the devil.
12610. You will have sharp luck by sleeping with a razor blade beneath your pillow.
12611. Sleep with rice beneath your pillow for luck.
 292

12612. Two pieces of silver may be kept under your pillow for luck.
12613. Sleeplessness during the night is a bad sign.
12614. "If you get up in the night and use the chamber and you happen to wet on the floor; will bring you bad luck."
12615. If you walk backwards to bed while counting ten, you will have good luck; that night say same, next day say others.
12616. Let the person who is unlucky during the day sleep with a pan of water beneath the head of the bed and next day his luck will change.
12617. If you sleep with your head to the south, you will have good luck; if to the north, bad luck. This is the usual belief, but sometimes we
have the reverse: to the south, bad luck; to the north, good luck.
12618. Some say you became cross by sleeping with your head to the south, but others say to the north. The latter is heard oftener than the
former.
12619.
"Sleep with head to north or west,
You sleep the best;
Sleep with head to south or east,
You sleep the least."
12620. To sleep well, sleep with your head to the south.
12621. It is unlucky to sleep with your head to the west, say some; to the east say others.
12622. If you sleep on your right side, good luck may be expected; if on the left, bad luck.
12623. If on waking in the morning you are on your right side, you will be lucky that day; if on the left, unlucky. However, the bad luck in the
latter instance can be averted by turning over and lying on your right side for a while before getting up.
12624. If you go to bed on the right side and get up from the left side, expect bad luck all day; but if you reverse the sides, good luck.
12625. Always leave your bed from the same side you entered it, to avoid bad luck.
12626. If you arise from the right side of your bed, good luck will come to you that day; if from the left side, bad luck.
12627. If you get out of bed on the right foot, it indicates good luck all day; if on the left foot, bad luck. But the misfortune indicated in the
latter case can be counteracted by reentering the bed and getting out on your right foot.
12628. On New Year's morning get out of bed on your right foot and you will be lucky all year.
12629. Whoever gets out of bed on the left foot will be cross all day.
12630. Never get out of bed at the back side, the side toward the wall; crawl over and get out at the front side, to prevent being cross all day.
12631. To get up before dawn and see the moon over your left shoulder is unfortunate.
12632. If your first word on getting out of bed is bad, everything will go wrong that day.
12633. If you hurt your foot when getting out of bed in the morning and do not say anything bad, all day you will have good luck.
12634. A feather found in your hair on awakening in the morning means you have overslept an hour.
12635. The person who on arising in the morning finds a feather in his hair will be surprised that day.
12636. To awake in the morning with a feather in your hair denotes a letter in the mailbox.
12637. If there is a feather in a child's hair when he gets up in the morning, he will receive a scolding or a whipping before the end of the day.
12638. The finding of a needle stuck in your pillow when you awake in the morning foretells somebody will sleep with you that night.
12639. If the first thing seen as you leave the bed in the morning is a needle and it points toward you, you will be lucky all day.
12640. Breakfast served in bed is unlucky.
12641 .If on getting out of bed you drop the first thing be unlucky all day.
12642. To drop anything soon after getting out of bed in the morning is a sign of company.
12643. If you are worried or out of sorts on getting up in the morning, look to the west while saying the Three Highest Names and you will soon
feel better.
12644. The person who has trouble can get up early in the morning and before speaking or eating burn some leaves or rubbish out in the yard
while repeating the trouble. This will burn it away.

SOCIAL RELATIONS (12645-14394)

GOING FORTH (12645-13007)

Company - At the Door (12645-12694)
COMPANY
12645. If a man is the first person to enter your house in the morning, expect good luck that day; if a woman, bad luck.
12646. A friend calling on you before breakfast means good luck.
12647.
"One before breakfast
Brings three before night."
12648. A caller before nine o'clock in the morning will be followed by callers all day.
12649. If you have a visitor on Monday, you will have a visitor three days that week. Similarly: if you visit on Monday, you will visit three
days that week.
12650. If you have a visitor on Monday, you will have a visitor every day that week. Similarly: if you visit on Monday, you will visit every day
that week.
12651. A woman as your first visitor on Monday morning denotes bad luck.
12652. If a woman comes into your house on Monday morning, regardless of whether she is a first visitor, bad luck may be expected that day; if a
man, good luck.
12653. If a woman comes into your house on Monday morning, regardless of whether she is a first visitor, bad luck may be expected all week.
12654. From the three preceding beliefs an inference has been drawn, that it is unlucky for a woman herself to visit on Monday morning.
12655. you can avoid the bad luck portended, when a woman comes to your house on Monday morning (as a first visitor add some) by not letting
her enter the house.
12656. You can avoid the bad luck portended, when a woman enters your house on Monday morning (as a first visitor say some) by not letting
her sit down.
12657. If on Monday morning a white woman calls at a Negro home or a Negro woman calls at the home of a white person, she confers luck
upon the members of that household.
 293

12658. A Negro home having a white man as the first caller on Monday morning will be lucky all week.
12659. How much bad luck will befall you from having a woman as your first visitor on Monday morning depends upon her complexion; the
darker the woman, the worse the luck.
12660. If on Monday morning you happen to be out in the yard and see a man approaching, do not speak to him; go into the house, shut the door
and wait until he knocks, otherwise you will have bad luck.
12661. Some say a man coming to your house as the first visitor on Monday morning does not give you good luck unless he walks in and sits
down on a chair.
12662. It is also said that a man as your first visitor on Monday morning does not confer good luck unless he passes through the house; in one
door and out another.
12663. A man as your first visitor on Monday morning indicates money.
12664. The first person to visit you on Monday morning is not a friend.
12665. It is unlucky to have a woman as your first caller on New Year's Day; lucky to have a man.
12666. Regardless of whether she is a second or later caller on New Year's morning, do not let a woman into your house before noon; bad luck
will accompany her.
12667. A home that has a woman as first visitor on New Year's Day will be visited every day that year.
12668. If a light-haired person of either sex is your first visitor on New Year's Day, it foretells bad luck all year; if a dark-haired person, good
luck.
12669. "This New Year's Day my niece came in. I grabbed her and hugged her. She didn't know what it was all about. I said, 'I am so glad you
were the first person to come in the house today because you have brown eyes, will bring us luck; light eyes, bad luck'." 12670. A man with a
dark complexion crossing your threshold soon after midnight on New Year's Eve bestows good luck upon you all year.
12671. "Years ago I knew a man that was in business and a brunette woman came in his store the first thing on New Year's morning and he
almost went broke. The next year he paid a blond man to come to his store the first thing on New Year's morning so he would have good luck
and he done that for years."
12672. A Negro as your first caller on New Year's Day is a sign of trouble.
12673. You carry bad luck to any house visited on New Year's Day say some; you lose your own luck by visiting on New Year's Day say others.

12674. If you visit anyone on New Year's Day, you will be welcome in that house all year.
12675. At your first introduction to a person never ask him to visit you; bad luck will follow say some, his friendship will soon be lost say others.

12676. Always let a new friend invite you to his house first; if you invite him first, you will not keep his friendship long.
12677. The first time you go to a strange house never stay longer than necessary; if you do, you will quarrel with that new friend on your second
visit.
12678. Unless you make a stranger entering your house sit down, bad luck will soon overtake you. This is also said of an uninvited visitor.
12679. Be sure to offer refreshments to guests visiting you for the first time, otherwise you may soon be at enmity with them.
12680. To close the door while anyone stands in front of it is a cause of bad luck. This belief has been transferred to a screen door, with the
result that flies enter the house.
12681. If anyone shuts a door in front of which you are standing, it signifies you are not wanted at that house again. This belief may be a
common-sense interpretation, but it also applies to an accidental closing of a door or to a door blowing shut.
12682. If a woman talking with you at your door starts to leave and takes several steps backwards, make her take as many steps towards you
before she finally leaves or you will have bad luck.
12683. My mother said never go to a friend's house twice in a day, for you would soon fall out with them."
12684. Three women visiting you on the same day betoken a long journey.
12685. If you strike a wooden match and hold it up vertically while burning, the burnt stem will bend in the direction from which your next guest
or visitor will arrive.

AT THE DOOR
12686. Do not pass through a swinging door and let it swing behind you; bad luck will be swung your way.
12687. Walking backwards out a door is unlucky.
12688. If you walk backwards through a door, there will soon be sickness in that house .
12689. Two persons passing each other in a door will soon meet with sorrow.
12690. To bump someone as you cross over a threshold will cause you bad luck.
12691. It is unlucky to knock on your own door.
12692. The significance of knocking on your own door by mistake is grief.
12693. After you have already started from home, never unlock the door to let anyone in; you will have bad luck.
12694. While entering your darkened house at night, always count ten for luck before switching on the electric light.

In and Out Different Doors - Through Window (12695-12712)

IN AND OUT DIFFERENT DOORS
12695. "One day a tramp came to our house and wanted something to eat. I let him in at the back door and not thinking I let him out the side
door, and he left his troubles behind, for my husband lost his job an hour after the tramp left."
12696. Despite the preceding belief, some say in and out a house through different doors makes the walker unlucky .
12697. To avert the bad luck denoted by entering and leaving a house through different doors, draw a cross on the ground and spit into it.
12698. Some say it is lucky to enter and leave a house by different doors, provided the walker does not sit down on a chair while inside.
12699. A person who goes into and out of a house through different doors will never return. Some say this is true only of a first visit.
12700. If a person enters and leaves a house through different doors, that person will soon quarrel with the occupants. This applies to a first visit
only say some.
12701. To come in one door and go out another foretells company.
12702. To come in one door and go out another foretells unknown company.
12703. To come in one door and go out another foretells unwelcome company.
12704. To come in one door and go out another shows that your visit was unwanted.
 294

12705. They say letting anyone in and out of your house through different doors brings all your neighbors to the next meal.
12706. If a person comes into your house through the back door and goes out the front door, your next visitor that day will be of the same sex.
12707. Always leave a house through the door by which you entered or you will eventually lose your mind.
12708. Never come and go by different doors or permit your guests to do so; there will be a serious sickness in the house.
12709. The use of different doors when entering and leaving a house is a fire omen.

THROUGH WINDOW
12710. "My mother was very superstitious when we were young. If we crawled out of a window, she would make us crawl back through the
window backwards; said it was very bad luck to go through a window."
12711. A person going out through a window and reentering the house through a door is bringing sickness to some member of the family.
12712. If you climb into the house through a window, someone will soon enter the house; if you climb out through a window, someone will soon
leave the house.

Up and Down Steps (12713-12724)

UP AND DOWN STEPS
12713. As a general rule, to stumble on stairs or steps, whether going up or coming down, is a bad token; occasionally some consider this a good
token.
12714. It is unlucky to fall down the cellar steps.
12715. Anyone falling up the stairs will soon obtain money.
12716. If a person stumbles up the stairs, good news will be heard; if down the stairs, bad news.
12717. To stub your toe when climbing stairs denotes a ride.
12718. A visitor who stubs his toe as he climbs outside steps or inside stairs will never return to that house.
12719. Do not walk backwards up the stairs; you will soon be unfortunate.
12720. He who counts the steps while mounting them may expect bad luck.
12721. To pass anyone on the stairs, whether the two persons are proceeding in the same or opposite directions (almost invariably the latter) is a
portent of misfortune.
12722. "If going up or down the steps and you meet someone, stop; don't both keep walking; if you do, you are walking into trouble. It is all right
if you stand and they pass you, but don't both keep on going."
12723. As another method to counteract bad luck foretold by two persons meeting on the stairs, either of them (usually the one who has
proceeded the shorter distance, occasionally the one who has started upwards) may withdraw from the stairs; sometimes this is done by moving
backwards.
12724. "I will never go up or down the stairs if someone is on them, for to meet someone on the steps is a sure sign of a big fuss."

Stubbing - Stumbling - Tripping (12725-12747)

STUBBING -STUMBLING -TRIPPING
12725. To stub the left toe or to stumble with the left foot is generally considered unlucky; contrariwise, to stub the right toe or to stumble with
the right foot, lucky. These interpretations, however, are occasionally reversed. Frequently, too, some say the stubbing of either toe causes bad
luck.
12726. Especially unlucky is it to stub a toe, stumble or fall, while leaving home. This belief is usually confined to the left toe or foot.
12727. Tripping over a shoe will be followed by misfortune.
12728. To strike your foot against, or to step on, an empty package of Lucky Strikes (a brand of American cigarettes) bestows good luck.
12729. Never scrape (drag or shuffle) your feet along the street; you are scraping your luck away.
12730. If you stub your toe, you can rid yourself of the portended bad luck by stepping backwards over the object causing the mishap.
12731. As a counteractant against the bad luck signified by stubbing your toe, step backwards over the obstacle and move forewards while
sucking your thumb and holding the other hand behind your back.
12732. If you stub your left toe, kiss your right thumb to prevent bad luck; if the right toe, your left thumb.
12733. After you stumble in a street or road, hold your fingers crossed until you meet a person who passes without looking at you; unless this is
done, a member of your family will have bad luck within a few days.
12734. Three steps taken backwards will cancel the bad luck foretold by a stubbed toe.
12735. Walk backwards seven steps after you stub your toe and you will not be unlucky.
12736. It is unlucky to stumble over a stone. As a prevention of this bad luck, retrace your steps and kick the stone out of the path.
12737. To stumble or fall at the beginning of a journey (or while on an errand anytime before it is accomplished) is unlucky. You must return
home and start over again to avoid bad luck.
12738. If you break a toe-nail when stubbing your toe, tie the broken piece of removed nail into a rag with two small stones (to weight the
package; two stones only, so that the package has three articles) and throw the package over the top of the house to guard against bad luck.
12739. "If I get up early in the morning and go get a drink or do just anything before I put my socks on or shoes on and happen to stump my
toe while doing it, will not go to work that day; for you are sure to have an accident, if you stump your toe before breakfast, that day, so I just
stay home."
12740. The stubbing of the left toe as you leave home is a sign you will meet an unexpected person.
12741. If you stub your right toe while going somewhere to visit, you are welcome; if the left toe, unwelcome.
12742. To stumble on your way to somebody's home shows that you are unwanted there.
12743. If you stumble while on an errand, you will forget the purpose of your journey.
12744. A person stumbling as he enters a house will soon hear good news.
12745. To fall down while walking portends bad news.
12746. If you are walking and stumble several times, someone is saying bad things about you.
12747. He who falls on Monday will fall every day that week.

Stepping over Person (12748-12755)

STEPPING OVER PERSON
 295

12748. To step over a sitting person's out-stretched feet or over a person lying on the floor or ground will give him bad luck say some; the stepper
bad luck say others; but this can be warded off by stepping back over the feet or person.
12749. If you step over someone lying on the floor, a separation will be caused in his family.
12750. After you have stepped over someone's feet, sickness may be expected.
12751. The person who steps over your out-stretched feet will soon quarrel with you; before the end of the week say some.
12752. Never walk over anyone's crutches, stretched out from a chair or lying on floor or ground; bad luck will be the result.
12753. The person who walks over anyone's crutches will soon fall.
12754. It is very unlucky to walk on crutches, unless you need them.
12755. It is very unlucky to pretend by feigning a limp that you are crippled.

Two Pedestrians Separated - Hello and Goodbye (12756-12785)

TWO PEDESTRIANS SEPARATED BY PERSON, ANIMAL OR OBJECT
12756. To pass between two pedestrians is unfortunate; for you say some, for them say others.
12757. If you walk between two men, you will have good luck; if between two women, bad luck.
12758. A dog running between two persons on the road makes them unlucky.
12759. A snake crawling between two persons makes them unlucky.
12760. Two persons passing on opposite sides of an object may look for trouble.
12761. To drive away bad luck after an object has come between you and another person, go back around it so that you are on the same side as
your companion.
12762. As a protection against bad luck when two persons are divided by a post (tree or similar object), they should join hands.
12763. If two walkers allow some object to part them, they may say Bread and butter to protect themselves against bad luck.
12764. Two girls who let some object separate them can escape bad luck by saying Your mother will break her back.
12765 "I was standing on the corner of Sixth and Maine Street waiting for a bus to come along when two colored girls came across the street,
about sixteen years of age, when they happen to let the mailbox come between them, each walking on each side of the box. One of the girls said
to the other, 'Cross your fingers quick and spit to keep bad luck away.' Several people that was waiting for the bus laughed."
12766. Two pedestrians who permit themselves to be separated by an object or person will soon quarrel with each other, unless one of them calls
out Bread and butter.

HELLO AND GOOD-BYE

12767. "I met a woman several weeks ago and when I stopped she said Glad to meet you, glad to meet you, glad to meet you. She said that was
very good luck to do that, when you meet someone, to say something three times."
12768. If a friend calls on you and is the first to say Hello or a similar greeting, you will be lucky that day.
12769. If you say Hello to a friend passed on the street and your greeting is unacknowledged, do not glance back or you will have bad luck. "
12770. A woman on being introduced to a man should never say Hello; she should always say How do you do or she will have bad luck. Some
extend this belief to the first few meetings between the woman and man after their introduction to each other.
12771. Friends made on Sunday are no good.
12772. Friends made on Sunday will borrow from you on Monday.
12773. On Christmas the first to say Merry Christmas or Merry Christmas and Happy New Year will be lucky all year.
12774. On New Year's Day wish everyone you meet a Happy New Year and all year you will have good luck.
12775. There has always been a certain amount of prejudice against saying good-bye; the word being considered unlucky. Among the many
circumlocutions used have been: Auf wiedersehen (frequent and oldest of all because of Quincy's German-descent population), Au revoir but not
good-bye, So long, See you later, Meet you in church, and almost any catch-word or popular phrase of the day.
12776. Instead of good-bye, various departing injunctions have been used, such as: Don't take any wooden money. Count your change. Watch
your step. Look before you leap.. Be good and you'll be lonesome. Be good and you sleep alone. Be good ---if you can't be good, be careful; if
you can't be careful, name it after me.
12777. "I never tell anyone good-bye when they leave my house; if you do, they will never come back to see you."
12778. "I had a friend that would never say good-bye; believed if you did, you would die before you meet again."
12779. The person who says good-bye more than once has bad luck on his journey.
12786. Good-bye said three times causes you to be killed before your return.
12781.
"If you watch a person out of sight,
They will be back before night."
12782. Never follow with your eyes the departure of an automobile; it gives bad luck to the one who is driving away.
12783. Keeping your eyes on a person as he disappears from view is unlucky. This misfortune may be averted, also good luck given the departing
one; if you whirl around on your heel and walk back into the house just as soon as he starts away.
12784. To glance back at a house after you leave it is unlucky.
12785. "My grandfather told me never to look back after I left any house; if you do, it will bring bad luck to that house.

Journey - Finding a Horseshoe (12786-13007)

JOURNEY
12786. Postponed journies are never taken.
12787. If you are planning to go somewhere, the night preceding your intended departure set your shoes so that they point away from the bed and
you will make the trip next day.
12788. Anyone looking at a globe of the world on New Year's Day will travel much that year.
12788. Where you go and what you do on New Year's Day you will go or do all year.
12790. Where you desire to go or what you desire to do on New Year's Day, go or do before seven o'clock in the morning and you will be lucky
all year.
12791. New-year resolutions made on New Year's Eve are soon broken; always make them on New Year's Day.
12792. On New Year's Eve after six o'clock never carry anything out of the house; your luck for the coming year will be carried out. Conversely,
by carrying something into the house after six o'clock on New Year's Eve you become lucky all year.
 296

12793. This New Year's Day I had company and I had to run out in the yard several times, and every time I came back in the door I would pick
up a handful of old leaves just to be taking something in the house so I would have luck all year. Never go into the house empty-handed.
12794. If the first time you leave the house on New Year's Day you carry back something and do this each time you go out during the day, you
will carry in money all year.
12795. Always carry something new into your house on New Year's Day so that you will procure other new things that year.
12796. A trip begun on Monday will end in bad luck.
12797. It is unlucky to begin a trip on Friday.
12798. Some say you may begin a trip on Friday without incurring bad luck; provided you neither look back at the house nor return home for any
purpose.
12799. Travelers setting out on Friday never return.
12800. Trips started on Saturday are unlucky.
12801. The person who starts a trip on Saturday soon returns.
12802. I always start a journey on Sunday so I will not have any trouble on my journey.
12803. The thirteenth of the month especially Friday the thirteenth, is unlucky for starting a journey.
12804. Always commence a land journey on the increase of the moon and a water journey on the decrease of the moon for luck.
12805. A wind in the north is an unsuitable time for beginning a journey; delay until the wind changes and you will be lucky.
12806. Bless your house when you leave on a journey so that it will not burn down while you are gone .
12807. By whirling around three times just before departing from home on a journey you acquire luck until you return.
12808. A journey commenced while you are angry always ends in bad luck. To eliminate the bad luck and to curb your anger; step outside the
house, shut the door, wait a moment, open the door, glance around the room, close the door again, and then depart.
12809. As a charm against danger while on a journey, wear a black agate with white veins.
12810. You can secure good luck for a long journey by stealing a piece of bread from a neighbor and burying it in your yard just before leaving.
12811. "I know a woman that always puts a deck of cards in her suitcase when she goes on a trip, for luck."
12812. To find a playing-card while on a journey is lucky. But some qualify this belief: if the card is red (heart or diamond), you will have good
luck; if black (club or spade), bad luck.
12813. Before commencing a journey draw a cross on the seat of the vehicle in which you are about to ride and you will be lucky; or as some say,
safe from accident.
12814. If before entering a woods (or forest) a cross is drawn on the ground, you will not become lost.
12815. If before entering a woods you circle the contour of your face three times with the right .hand (the hand need not touch the face) and then
make three crosses on the ground with the left foot, you will come out of the woods safely.
12816. To divine whether you will encounter good or bad luck on an imminent journey, pass a comb through your hair; if no hairs adhere to the
comb, you will be lucky; if hairs, unlucky ---for each hair a misfortune.
12817. For a safe journey, preserve your morning hair combings from the three days preceding your departure and carry them in your suitcase or
trunk.
12818. A mission medal kept in your automobile protects you against accident or wreck.
12819. Some people wear a St. Christopher medal for a safe journey.
12820. If you throw a penny out the window of your train as it starts, you will have good luck while away from home.
12821.If while on a journey you put under your pillow each night three nickels with the bull-moose side up, during your absence from home you
will be lucky.
12822. A dime may be worn in your shoe for luck on a journey.
12823. Several grains of rice carried on your person or among the clothing in your suitcase makes a journey lucky.
12824. "Whenever I take a trip I always take a small sack of salt in my suitcase so I will have a safe journey." For the same reason a pinch of
salt is sometimes wrapped in a piece of paper and carried in the pocketbook.
12825. Bad luck will not approach a person who uses skunk oil just before a journey: if walking, grease the heels and soles of the shoes; if riding,
the vehicle.
12826. At the beginning of a journey spit over your right little finger for luck.
12827. If you do not wish to be disappointed in the object of your journey, wear your socks or stockings wrong side out.
12828. While on a journey it is lucky to carry a spool of thread.
12829. Always start a journey right foot first for luck.
12830. A person who walks backwards on the road or street will curse his father or mother.
12831. It is unlucky to look backward as you run forward.
12832. If you are riding in the back of a truck, always face the direction in which the truck is moving or you will be unlucky .
12833. The practice of sitting in the center of a bus, street car, and train coach (or sleeping in the center of a Pullman car) has with some
persons developed into a superstition; the nearer to the center, the greater the luck. Originally the center of a vehicle was considered the safest
place to ride; it being farthest removed from a collision at the front or rear.
12834. "Never ride in a new car [automobile] the first time you see it, for you will have bad luck; I never do, I wait until I see it the second time."
12835. Six persons riding in an automobile built for five passengers will meet trouble.
12836. One puncture in an automobile tire means two more punctures before you reach home.
12837. As soon as you see a solid black automobile, stop in your tracks and whirl around three times for luck. This belief dates back to a
period when black cars were rare and considered unlucky. What was formerly a preventive of bad luck, whirling around three times, became a
means for good luck.
12838. To have a green automobile pass you is a sign of bad luck before the end of your journey.
12839. If you see a red automobile, pinch someone at once to make yourself lucky. This is the general rule, but some say not pinching someone
causes you bad luck.
12840. Always pinch someone when you see a red automobile and both you and the person pinched will be lucky. This is a variation of the
general rule given in the preceding belief; but some add, if the other person returns your pinch, your good luck immediately changes to bad.
12841. If on seeing a red automobile you whistle while pinching someone, you will soon take a trip.
12842. They say it is very lucky to be passed by two successive red automobiles; one soon after the other without an intervening car of a
different color.
 297

12843. While walking down the street never turn back in the middle of a block; always continue to a corner before turning back or you will have
bad luck.
12844. To cross the street anywhere except at a crossing is unlucky.
12845. If you make a cater-cornered crossing at the intersection of a street or road (formerly done frequently but no longer permissible by
law),you are cutting away half your life.
12846. "Years ago I was walking with a man one day and his toes touched someone's heels that was walking in front of us, and he spit in the road
and I turned right around and went back home to keep from having bad luck. "
12847. While walking with a person, never cross over and walk at his other side; it will cause bad luck.
12848. If two persons walking down the street bump heads, they will be together next year at the same time.
12849. If three persons are walking and one of them wants to change over to the other side, he should first make a cross on the sidewalk with his
foot to avoid bad luck.
12850. Four persons walking abreast on the sidewalk may expect bad luck.
12851. If you hit your right leg when on a journey, you will have good luck; if your left leg, bad luck. To counteract misfortune in the latter case,
go home at once.
12852. A walker counting the bricks in the sidewalk becomes unlucky.
12853. The person who steps on a crack or joint in the sidewalk will soon meet trouble.
12854.
"If you step on a crack,
You'll break your mother's back."
or
"Step on a crack,
Break your mother's back."
12855.
"If you step on a line,
You'll break your father's behin'."
12856.
"If you step on a line,
Will break your mother's clothesline."
12857.
"If you step in a hole,
You'll break your mother's sugar bowl."
12858. To step over a hole in the ground is unlucky.
12859. To jump over a trench is unlucky.
12860. To walk over a sidewalk grating is unlucky.
12861. Anyone walking across a cellar door will be unfortunate.
12862. As a method for preventing bad luck after you have walked across a cellar door, you may say Bread and Butter. Cellar door usually refers
to the sidewalk basement-door of a shop; this door being flush with the surface of the sidewalk. These modern doors are safe; some of the
old-time ones were dangerous. Law has solved the bad-luck problem.
12863. "I have a friend that will never walk over a cellar door without spitting; thinks it such bad luck to walk over a cellar door."
12864. A person who walks across a cellar door can prevent bad luck by walking across six more cellar doors. Similarly a person may
intentionally obtain good luck by walking across seven cellar doors.
12865. To fall flat on a cellar door is a lucky omen.
12866. Do not jump over a fence; bad luck will follow.
12867. Two persons talking to each other over a back fence will have bad luck.
12868. If two persons shake hands across or through a fence, it portends bad luck. This is also said of a gate.
12869. If two persons shake hands across a fence, their friendship will soon be broken.
12870. Never let anyone hand you anything over a fence, especially when you are starting out on a journey; bad luck will befall you.
12871. To swing on an open gate causes bad luck.
12872. Never close an open gate while passing by or through it; you will incur bad luck say some, you will pick up another person's troubles say
others. However, if a gate must be opened, it may be closed without incurring misfortune.
12873. The bad luck incurred by closing a gate, as just mentioned, occasionally depends upon whether the gate swings into or out of the yard; the
in-swinging gate say some, the out-swinging gate say others. This and the preceding belief refers to visitors only.
12874. If you find a gate closed, always reclose it after you have passed through, otherwise you will have bad luck.
12875. Hang an old flatiron on a gate for luck.
12876. "I knew a man that said if ever he met anyone on the road with a birthmark he would turn and go back, for God had marked that person
for some bad reason and he did not want bad luck."
12877. If you cross the path of a crippled man, he will cross your path within an hour.
12878. If you see a cripple at the beginning of your journey, you will see two more cripples before the end of your journey.
12879. "I knew a man that would go back home every time he met a cripple and would start all over so he would not have bad luck."
12880. Always touch a humpback on his hump when you meet him or you will be unlucky that day.
12881. "Whenever I see a humpback I always spit in my hand and rub over their hump to keep from having bad luck."
12882. The meeting of a deformed person in the morning (as the first person say same) signifies misfortune.
12883. If you meet a man with a wooden leg, you will soon receive a surprise.
12884. If you meet a crippled man, you may say Surprise three times to yourself for luck.
12885. If you meet a man with a wooden leg, say Surprise, surprise, surprise, then spit and look away, and you will soon be surprised.
12886. A person who spits on his finger and touches the ground with that finger while passing a Chinaman will soon visit China.
12887. "When my husband would start to work and meet a Negro before a white person it was very bad luck."
12888. The first Negro seen in the morning gives you the privilege of spitting three times for luck that day.
12889. If the first person encountered on the first day of spring (March 21) is a man, you will win some, if a woman, you will lose some money.
 298

12890. "Several years ago one morning I started out real early to get a divorce from my husband. The first person I met on my way was a woman
and I didn't have any luck that day about my divorce. So I started out the next morning and I happen to meet a man first and I had good luck all
day and got my divorce without any trouble."
12891. Usually it is unlucky for either a man or woman to meet a woman first, but occasionally it is unlucky for a man to meet a man first.
12892. After you have begun a long journey, it is a bad omen to meet first an old woman.
12893. Any journey during which you meet a barefoot woman will be unsuccessful.
12894. "This only happen about two months ago and I know the woman. She and her little girl was walking down Fifth Street toward town and
they met a woman coming toward them all dressed in black, and when they got to this woman she crossed in front of them and went into a house.
The woman said, 'We will have some bad sickness in our house soon.' Before the week was over this little girl fell down the stairs and sprained
her back and was sick a long time. I know this is so, for I went to see the little girl when in bed." 12895. It is lucky to meet a man with a gun or
rifle while you are on a long journey.
12896. To help an elderly person to cross a street makes you lucky.
12897. If on Saturday you meet an old friend not met for years, expect good luck on Sunday.
12898. If you meet a new friend on the street and be asked where you are going, to reveal the destination of your journey will cause bad luck.
12899. If when hitch-hiking you thumb someone for a ride and are refused, stop thumbing a while and you will soon catch a ride.
12900. If a hobo on reaching a new town fails to receive aid at the first house approached he believes his luck in that town will be bad.
12901.
"Stamp for bicycles, ting-a-ling-ling,
on your way you'll find something."
12902. "When I see a grain of corn while going on a journey, I spit on the corn, then cover it up with dirt, using my right foot, for luck on my
journey."
12903. "I always count the electric-light posts when on a trip, thinking I will have some good luck on my trip."
12904. On meeting a load of hay you may cross your fingers and look away for luck.
12905. Our preacher and several girls were in the car not so long ago going on a trip and the preacher said, 'Girls, say Zip to every straw pile
we pass and we will have good luck on our trip'.
12906. The cars of a passing freight train may be counted for luck.
12907. If the first water you reach is clear enough to reflect your face, your journey will be a success; if too muddy, your journey will be a
quarrelsome experience.
12908. A person who on gazing into deep water can see the bottom becomes lucky.
12909. "I never get on a boat to go anywhere that I don't take a hold of the boat and take one step, then another step, still holding onto the boat,
then step on the boat; and I know I will get there all right without drowning.
12910. If at the beginning of a voyage you accidentally drop your handkerchief into the water, let it float away and you will have good
luck; trying to retrieve the handkerchief will bring bad luck.
12911. To lean over the railing of a boat and see your reflection in the water means trouble.
12912. While crossing a bridge you may cross your fingers for luck.
12913. To walk in the rain is unlucky.
12914. It is unlucky for two persons to be in a water-closet together.
12915. Two persons working up a swing together will have bad luck.
12916. Always carry a bundle everywhere you go and eventually you will be rich; provided the same or a different bundle is brought home add
some.
12917. Soiled or wet clothes carried in your traveling-bag or trunk causes bad luck.
12918. If a person is visiting in another town and leaves any clothing there, he will not visit that town again.
12919. A person coming home broke from a trip is accompanied by bad luck.
12920. According to some, if while walking along you see the new moon for the first time and it is directly in front of you, expect good luck all
month; according to others, bad luck all month. This direct view of the new moon is sometimes called full in the face.
12921. Never look the new moon full in the face the first time you see it; you will have a month of hard labor. You avoid looking the new moon
full in the face by turning your head slightly to one side so that your eyes are angled at the moon.
12922. The person who looks a new moon full in the face the first time he sees it will fall that month.
12923. If you see the new moon for the first time while you are going up a hill, it denotes good luck all month; if while going down a hill, bad
luck all month.
12924. To see the new moon for the first time to your right or over your right shoulder indicates good luck; to the left or over the left shoulder,
bad luck. Occasionally these interpretations are reversed. The good or bad luck is generally supposed to last for a month.
12925. If while going down a hill you see the new moon for the first time and it is to your left or over your left shoulder, your luck will go down
hill all month.
12926. As a counteractant for the bad luck foretold by first seeing the new moon over your left shoulder, spit on the ground and turn around and
look at the moon over your right shoulder before you speak to anyone.
12927. It is lucky to see the full moon over your right shoulder.
12928. "I am an old woman near eighty and I would not look at a new moon through glass or the tree tops, because I think it is very bad luck.
I always walk out in the open and look up at the new moon for the first time to keep from having bad luck."
12928a. The first part of the preceding belief is sometimes given in the form of a couplet:
"If you look at the moon through glass,
You will have trouble while the moon las'."
12929. February is particularly unlucky for seeing the new moon through glass.
12930. As many branches as there are in the tree through which you look at a new moon, so many will be your unlucky days.
12931. The first time a new moon appears, glance at it, whirl around thrice on the left heel, reach down to the hole made by your foot, and
you will find money.
12932. To have something in each hand when you first see the new moon will bring you luck that month say some; you will not want that month
say others.
12933. If you hold something in your hand while looking at the new moon for the first time, you will receive a present before the moon changes.
12934. "I don't believe in signs but I never see a new moon that I don't bow to it so I will get a present."
 299

12935. Throw three kisses to the first new moon of the new year and you will be lucky.
12936. A new moon seen for the first time on Monday confers good luck.
12937. Saturday is a lucky day on which to see the new moon for the first time.
12938. The first star of the evening will give you luck; provided there are no other stars in the sky.
12939. To get up early on Christmas morning and find the morning star brings luck.
12940. The counting of stars causes bad luck.
12941. Never count any stars in the Milky Way; bad luck will soon follow.
12942. To throw a kiss to the first star of the evening is lucky.
12943. If on seeing a shooting star you can say Money, money, money before the star disappears, you will soon have money.
12944. If on seeing a shooting star you can thrust your hand into your pocket and say Money, money, money before the star disappears, that
pocket will soon be full of money.
12945. Same say it is lucky to see a star shoot; others say it is unlucky.
12946. In the early morning a shooting star with a long tail is a sign of war.
12947. A cluster of seven stars (Pleiades) always seen in the sky vanish just before a war. This belief is sometimes reversed: seven stars
clustered within a small space appear mysteriously just before a war.
12948. Years ago when the author of this book was a child of six (1902) in Riverside Township, a man was down in our cistern cleaning it out.
This water storage vat was dug into the ground about ten feet deep and five feet wide. I asked him whether he could see the stars. He said no. This
is one of the first beliefs I can remember: if you are down in a well or cistern during the day and look up, you can see the stars shining. I wanted
to climb down the ladder to take a look for myself, but again the man said no. Years ago this saying was discussed in American Notes and
Queries. I have never seen a discussion anywhere else; have never looked for one.
12949. The weather is one of the factors determining how many voters go to the polls on election day. Because it was thought that Democrats
lived in the cities and Republicans in the country, we have the rhyme: "On election day, if it rain, They say it is the Democrats' gain."
12950. For the reason mentioned in the preceding belief, they say: if the wind is in the north on election day (in winter say some), the Democrats
will win.
12951. "When I was a boy forty years ago, we were watching it rain and the man with me said, 'O look, we are going to get a lot of money.' I
said, 'Why?' He said, 'Just look at all those bubbles [on the ground]; sure sign of money'."
12951a. Never leave home one way and return another; bad luck may be expected.
12952. After you have begun a journey, always complete it; if you discontinue it permanently, bad luck will be the result.
12953. If you move into another house, leave either your oldest or a soiled apron behind and you will not become homesick in your new home.
12954. To protect yourself against homesickness, put a small piece of bread in each shoe just before leaving home and keep them there until the
possibility of becoming homesick has passed.
12955. A bride becoming homesick may steal a piece of bread from a neighbor and bury it; she will never again be assailed by homesickness.
12956. A remedy for homesickness is to boil a dirty dish rag and drink this water.
12957. "I always keep a piece of paper in my hip pocket to keep from getting homesick when I go to see anyone."
12958. Always carry in your suitcase a pair of old stockings full of holes and you will not be homesick.
12959. By attending church on New Year's Eve you are made good all year.
12960. It is lucky to sit beside a stranger in church; the oftener this can be done, the greater the luck.
12961. The center aisle is the luckiest place to sit when in church.
12962. A person finding money in church will soon hear good news.
12963. To ring a church bell on Friday is a sin.
12964. If you count the tolls of a church bell, bad luck will soon follow.

FINDING A HORSESHOE
12965. A person who finds a horseshoe may try to walk into it; if he succeeds, he will soon be walking into luck.
12966. The finding of a horseshoe with the prongs toward you is lucky; away from you, unlucky.
12967. A horseshoe found by two persons walking or riding together brings bad luck.
12968. There are positive and negative aspects to the general rule about a horseshoe and luck: if you find a horseshoe and pick it up, you will be
lucky say some; if you do not, unlucky say others.
12969. It is unlucky to pick up a muleshoe.
12970. A broken horseshoe should not be picked up; bad luck will befall you.
12971. To pick up a rusty horseshoe is unlucky.
12972. If you find a horseshoe, you become lucky by throwing it over your shoulder; the left say some, the right say others. This rite, also
those following in which a horseshoe is thrown over the shoulder, requires that you do not look back.
12973. If you find a horseshoe, spit on or through it and for luck throw the horseshoe over your shoulder; the left say some, the right say others.
Similarly, if you are having a spell of bad luck, it can be broken by finding a horseshoe, spitting on or through it, and throwing the horseshoe over
your shoulder. Again, some say the spitting must be done before, others say after the horseshoe is picked up. Finally, a negative aspect of the first
rite occurs: unless you spit on the horseshoe and throw it over your shoulder, bad luck may be expected.
12974. If you find a horseshoe, spit on or through it and then toss the horseshoe away for luck; do not throw it over your shoulder.
12975. If you find a horseshoe, whirl it around your head once and let it fall behind you for luck.
12976. If you find a horseshoe, whirl it around your head three times and let it fall behind you for luck.
12977. "If you want to have good luck, take a horseshoe, hold it in your left hand, whirl around once to your left, then spit on the horseshoe,
then whirl all around to your right, then spit on the shoe again, then whirl all around to the left, again spitting on the shoe, making the third time,
then let that horseshoe go over your left shoulder, not looking where it goes, and good luck will follow you."
12978. If you find a horseshoe, pick it up by the prongs, so that the good luck will not fall out, and then throw the shoe over your shoulder.
12979. Regardless of the following beliefs in which a horseshoe is hung up for luck, some consider it unlucky to hang up a horseshoe.
12980. Not to pick up and hang up a horseshoe you have found will cause bad luck.
12981. Only on finding a horseshoe with the prongs pointed toward you may you hang it up for luck say some.
12982. After you have found and picked up a horseshoe, change the direction of your journey and wait until you have walked a little while before
hanging up the shoe for luck.
12983. If you see a horse lose his shoe, pick it up and walk backwards into the house and hang up the shoe for luck.
 300

12984. A rusty horseshoe nailed on the side of the chimney protects the house against a fire.
12985. By keeping a horseshoe nailed on your coal shed you will always have a shed full of coal.
12986.
"Hang a horseshoe over the door,
Will bring you luck evermore."
12987. A muleshoe is an unlucky object to nail or hang over the door.
12988. The person who finds a horseshoe may spit on it and hang it over the door for luck.
12989. In hanging a horseshoe anywhere it is usually nailed with the prongs upward "to hold up the luck"; if downward, the luck drops out and
immediately disappears.
12990. If you find a horseshoe, hang it on a fence for luck.
12991. If you find a horseshoe someone has hung on a fence for luck, that person's luck will be transferred to you.
12992. They say it is unlucky to interfere with a horseshoe someone has hung or nailed up.
12993. Formerly a horseshoe found without nails was usually considered luckless, occasionally unlucky if picked up; but the scarcity of
horseshoes in recent years has now endowed the nailess shoe with luck.
12994. One or two nails in a found horseshoe make it unlucky; three nails, lucky. The larger the number of nails after three, the greater the luck.
12995. A horseshoe found with one nail foretells a year of good luck for the finder.
12996. As many nail holes as there are in a horseshoe you find, so many years of good luck will be yours.
12997. For each nail in a found horseshoe you will soon find a dollar.
12998. On finding a horseshoe be sure to look for nails and count them before picking up the shoe; to count the nails after a horseshoe has
been picked up is unlucky.
12999. You can have good luck by carrying a horseshoe nail in your pocket.
13000. It is lucky to wear a ring made from a horseshoe pail; a nail which you yourself have found in a shoe, say some.
13001. It is lucky to wear a horseshoe-shaped trinket such as: watch-charm, tie pin, magnet, tin tag of a well-known brand of chewing tobacco (a
tag for each section of the plug), and similar objects; also a ring with a horseshoe mounting.
13002. Sleep with a horseshoe under your pillow on New Year's Eve for luck all year.
13003. If a horse drops a shoe while passing you, it signifies good luck.
13004. Never remove a shoe from a dead horse; bad luck will be the result.
13005. To step on a rusty horseshoe is a cause of bad luck.
13006. To step on a horseshoe in the dark is a sign that you will soon find money.
13007. If you walk or drive over a horseshoe, do not turn back to pick it up for you will be picking up trouble.

RETURNING HOME FOR FORGOTTEN ARTICLE (13008-13101)

13008. To begin a journey and then to return home temporarily for any purpose is a token of bad luck.
13009. The preceding belief has also been transferred to the purpose of a journey. Thus, if you have been downtown and have forgotten to
purchase an article on your shopping-list, returning for it causes a misfortune.
13010. Do not go back home for any purpose after you have commenced a journey; a disappointment will follow.
13011. If a person goes back home for a forgotten article or task, he will hear bad news; on reaching the house say some, before returning from
his journey say others.
13012. By returning home after beginning a journey you will become involved in an accident.
13013. "My aunt started out one day and left her fan and she went back to get it. Don't go back and get it, if you are going away and leave a
package; the sign someone wants to see you that you don't want to see. And someone was at the house she didn't want to see and they got in a big
fuss; even had to call the law."
13014. It is unlucky to turn back in the middle of a block when on a journey; always continue to the first corner before turning back.
13015. The bad luck signified when you return home for a forgotten article can be cancelled by returning to the house three times.
13016. To retrace your steps three times when on a journey portends trouble.
13017. You can avert bad luck when retracing your steps for a forgotten article by taking another road home.
13018. Anyone in an automobile returning home to secure something forgotten should not drive all the way back to the house but call out his
mission and let someone bring the article to him. This averts bad luck.
13019. "If you start anywhere and shut the door, never open the door and holler back, for it is very bad luck. I never do."
13020. "If you lock a door and have to go back, you will never have any luck that day; I never do."
13021. As a protection against bad luck caused by going home for a forgotten article, touch wood as you enter the door.
13022. "If I forget something I always open the door three times before I go in, to have luck when I start out again."
13023. A person who by mistake has something in his hand when leaving home should never carry the article back into the house, but lay it on
the ground to avoid bad luck.
13024. Always walk backwards into the house when returning for something forgotten and you will not have bad luck.
13025. Seven steps taken backwards will prevent the bad luck incurred by returning home for a forgotten article.
13026. To guard against bad luck when you forget something and return home for it, take nine steps backwards and spit over your left shoulder.
13027. "If I forget something, I always turn right around and walk backward ten steps so I will not have bad luck."
13028. The bad luck which comes from retracing your steps for a forgotten article can be prevented by whirling around on your heel three times.
Some do this before entering the house; others when they are inside, either before or after the forgotten mission has been performed; and still
others just before going out the door.
13029. "If I forget something and go back, I always take my foot and make three marks in the ground."
13030. "If I forget something, I always make seven marks with my foot, then spit in it, to keep from having bad luck."
13031. "If I forget something and want to go back, for good luck I always stop and make ten marks in the ground with my left foot, then spit on
it, and I will not have bad luck."
13032. Keep spitting over your left shoulder while retracing your steps for a forgotten article and you will not be unlucky.
13033. For counteracting bad luck when you return home to get a forgotten article, spit just before entering the door.
13034. Just before entering the door for something forgotten, you may spit over your little finger to ward off bad luck.
13035. Spit three times before you enter the house for a forgotten article and bad luck will be averted.
 301

13036. To protect yourself against bad luck, after you have retraced your steps for a forgotten article, you may spit and rub your left foot over
the spittle before going into the house.
13037. "If I forget and have to go back, I always sit down and spit to have luck and not bad luck."
13038. A person who retraces his steps for a forgotten article can counteract bad luck by drawing a cross in the road and spitting on it. It
is sometimes required that this ground cross be made and spitted on at the door.
13039. Unless you spit on your finger and rub it in the form of a cross over your shoe, just before turning back home for a forgotten article,
bad luck may be expected.
13040. "I never will go back to the house unless I do this. If you start out, have to go back, whatever you have in your hand lay it down right
there where you turn around, making a cross over whatever you lay down, then go back. Your journey will be all right."
13041. "When I have to go back to the house after I start, I make a cross on the ground and lay whatever I have in my hand over this cross, then
pick it up and go, so I will not have bad luck by turning back."
13042. "I left my shawl on the bed the other day and started back. My daughter-in-law said, 'Oh, don't go back, bad luck; I will get it for you.'
I said, 'I never have bad luck when I go back, because I always make the cross over what I go back for."
13043. "If I leave the house and forget something, before I turn around to go back I make a cross, then wish, and it will not bring me bad luck
going back."
13044. To avert bad luck when you retrace your steps for a forgotten article, draw a cross on the ground with your left foot, count twelve, and
then sit down and make a wish. Sometimes the foot to be used is not specified. Occasionally twelve is counted after you are seated. The wish
will come true.
13045. "If you forget something and want to go back, stop right in the road and make a large cross and say In the Name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, don't let me have bad luck, and then go back and it will be all right."
13046. While returning home for a forgotten article, you may hold your two little fingers crossed to guard against bad luck.
13047. Your fingers kept crossed while you count five wards off the bad luck indicated by returning home for something forgotten. 13048. "If I
forget anything, as soon as I reach home, the first thing I do is sit down and cross my two front [index] fingers to keep away bad luck."
13049. As a prevention of bad luck when you return home for something forgotten, sit down and cross your feet.
13050. "If I forget something, I always jump up, taking my feet off the floor for luck."
13051. To drive away bad luck when you return home for a forgotten article, sit down before starting out again. This sitting down is usually for a
moment only, but sometimes as in the following belief a longer period is required.
13052. "We have a school teacher up here in the North Bottom that if she forgets anything and has to go back, she would always sit down for five
minutes, even if it would make her late for school, to keep bad luck away."
13053. For preventing bad luck when you return home to get something forgotten, always sit down on a straight chair and sit straight-up; never
lounge in the chair and never sit on a rocking-chair.
13054. On your return home for a forgotten article you can rid yourself of bad luck by sitting down and holding your feet off the floor several
minutes.
13055. After you have returned home for a forgotten article, sit down in a rocking-chair and rock without letting your feet touch the floor. This
prevents bad luck.
13056. Regardless of the preceding and following beliefs, a few persons consider it unlucky to sit down, after you have returned home for a
forgotten article.
13057. It is unlucky to return for a forgotten article, unless on reaching home you sit down and raise your feet off the floor three times.
13058. Let the person who returns home for a forgotten article sit down three times, so that bad luck will be avoided.
13059. To prevent bad luck after you have returned home for a forgotten article, sit down and then get up and whirl around; once say some, twice
say others, and three times say still others --- the third being the common practice.
13060. To prevent bad luck after you have returned home for a forgotten article, sit down and then get up and walk around the chair three times.
13061. "If I start out and forget and go back, I always sit down and make a wish so I will not have bad luck." Some say this wish may be made
anytime during the return journey and without sitting down.
13062. A person forgetting something and returning home for it may sit down and say a prayer for luck.
13063. "If I forget something, I always go back and sit down and say Lord, don't let me have bad luck today, then go on."
13064. "If you forget and have to go back for something, say three words to break the spell. I always say God bless you or I don't care to break
the spell."
13065. "If I forget and go back for something, I always say Bless my soul to keep from having bad luck."
13066. "I always do this, if I go back to the house after I start; come back, sit down in the first chair and say Bread and Butter to break the
bad luck."
13067. The counting of three when you return home for a forgotten article protects you against bad luck.
13068. "If you have to go back, after you start anywhere, sit down and count three; I always do this to keep from having bad luck."
13069. You can protect yourself against bad luck when you return home to get a forgotten article by counting six.
13070. Sit down and count six when you return home for a forgotten article or you will become unlucky.
13071. If you forget something and go back home for it, count seven before entering the house and you will not have bad luck.
13072. If you forget something and go back home for it, count seven after leaving the house again and you will not have bad luck.
13073. If you forget something and go back home for it, count seven before entering and again after leaving the house. This guards you against
bad luck.
13074. If you forget something and go back home for it, count seven backwards as a precaution against bad luck.
13075. "I always do this myself, count nine, if you have to go back to get something, to keep from having bad luck."
13076. "I always do this when I forget and have to go back; sit down, count nine, then go after what I forgot, to keep away bad luck."
13077. As a protective rite against bad luck when you forget something and return home for it; sit down and count nine, then get up and whirl
around three times.
13078. "I have a friend that, if she has to go back after starting, will start to counting nine over and over again until she gets what she forgot, to
keep from having bad luck."
13079. Before turning around to go back home for a forgotten article, you may count ten as a protection against bad luck. Some say this counting
must be done while you are still walking forwards; others say you must stop, count ten, and then turn around.
13080. If you must return home for something forgotten, you can avoid bad luck by counting ten anytime after you have turned around and before
you reach the house.
 302

13081. A person who decides to turn back home for a forgotten article can ward off bad luck by sitting down in the road and counting ten.
13082. To escape bad luck after you have returned home for a forgotten article, count ten before unlocking the door or while walking into the
house.
13083. Immediately on entering the house after your return for something forgotten, sit down in a chair, count ten, get the article, depart at once,
and you will not be unlucky.
13084. "When I forget anything I go in the house, get it, then sit down and count ten to break the bad luck."
13085. If something is forgotten and you return home for it, count ten while rocking in a rocking-chair and you will rock bad luck away.
13086. "When I forget something and go back I always sit down in a rocking chair and rock ten times to keep bad luck away."
13087. Count ten before turning back home to get a forgotten article and count ten again before unlocking the door. This protects you against bad
luck.
13088. After you have reached home on returning for something forgotten, count ten several times and bad luck will not befall you.
13089. "If I forget and have to go back after I have started, I always count ten backwards to keep from having bad luck."
13090. "I always do this when I forget and go back for something; count thirteen before you go in the door for luck."
13091. "When I forget something I always sit down and count thirteen so I will not have bad luck." Some say you must sit down in the nearest
chair; others say you must sit down in the road before turning back.
13092. "My mother when she forgets something and goes back always sits down on the steps and counts thirteen before she goes in the house to
keep bad luck away."
13093. "If I forget something, I sit right down where I am and count fifteen, then go back and get it, and I don't have bad luck."
13094. "If I forget something and go back, I always count twenty."
13095. "If I forget something and have to go back, I always sit down and count one hundred."
13096. "Whenever I forget and have to go back, I always take my hat off, lay it down and put it back on, to keep from having bad luck."
13097. Having returned home for a forgotten article, sit down, take off your hat (some say you must not lay it down as in the preceding belief)
and put it back on; you may then restart your journey without becoming unlucky.
13098. "If I start out and have to come back for something I forgot, I always hang my hat up there [she points to the place], take it down, and
start out again to break the spell."
13099. As a method for guarding against bad luck when you return to get a forgotten article, take off your hat and count nine.
13100. You can rid yourself of bad luck when you return home for a forgotten article by sitting down, taking off your hat, and counting ten.
13101. If you return home for a forgotten article, take off your left shoe and say Lord, take care of me; bad luck will be averted.

READING AND WRITING (13102-13151)

Letters - Chain Letters - Pen - Ink - Pencil (13102-13141)

13102. Always say I hope I am lucky before writing a letter and you will have good luck.
13103. "Whenever I write and use the same word twice right together, I always tear that letter up and not send it, to keep from having bad luck.
13104. In your letter a repetition of the preceding word or of a thought previously expressed shows that the recipient is thinking about you.
13105. "If I am writing a letter and miss a line, I always go back and put something in that line, if it is only some marks, to keep from having
bad luck."
13106. Do not use both sides of the sheet when writing a letter; bad luck will befall you.
13107. A favor sought in a letter written during the full moon is always granted.
13108. "I have a friend that always writes a letter on New Year's Day to a friend far away so she will live to be real old."
13109. "I never write a letter only on Thursday, for that is the best day; for I always get what I want, if I write on Thursday."
13110. A stamp pasted upside down on an envelope is unlucky. For the position of stamps on the envelope, see also Love Letter, 9345-9373.
13111. If you paste the stamp upside down on the envelope, your letter will be unanswered.
13111a. Some say it is bad manners or a sign of laziness not to unperforate a postage stamp completely on all sides (remove especially any white
edging left from the border of the original stamp sheet); a few say the use of an incompletely freed stamp is merely unlucky.
13112. To mail an unstamped letter and have it returned for postage is an omen of trouble.
13113. "I have always heard to receive a letter without enough stamps on, you will soon hear bad news."
13114. A letter arriving on Monday will be followed by two more letters that week.
13115. Tuesday is an unlucky day for receiving a letter.
13116. It is unlucky to get a letter on Saturday.
13117. If the mailman mistakenly leaves at your house a letter addressed to another person, bad luck will soon follow.
13118. A letter delivered at your house by mistake means you will meet a stranger.
13119. Unless a letter with an inaccurate address is torn up at once, the writer will not write to you again.
13120. If the writing in a letter is large, the writer is generous; if small, stingy.
13121. Heavy writing in a letter portends sickness.
13122. A letter written with a shaky or unsteady hand is a sign of bad news.
13123. A letter with the writing on and off the lines indicates that the sender's mind is not on you.
13124. Judge the writer of a letter in which the writing is always on the lines as a person with an independent disposition.
13125. If the lines of a letter slant upwards, the writer is "bright- hearted" (some say "stuck-up"); if downwards, down-hearted.
13126. "I knew a woman that always would burn her letters. I said to her one day, 'Don't you know to burn up letters will bring you bad luck?'
And the very next day she fell and broke both of her legs."
13127. "I never burn any letters; I think it very bad luck. I always tear them up and bury them in a hole in the back yard for luck."
13128. A person who tears up a letter is tearing up the sender's friendship.
13129. The finding of a letter on the street is a token of good news. Some say the letter must be an unopened one.

CHAIN-LETTER
13130. An unusual chain-letter reached Quincy during the latter part of 1933. This I printed as No. 8462 in the first edition and reprint here with a
note about its later history. So rapidly did the chain-letter fad develop symptoms of mass hysteria and spread throughout the United States, that by
1935-1936 the Post Office Department, as well as agencies of public opinion, had to take a hand in suppressing the movement; accomplished by
1939, perhaps a little sooner.
 303

There was nothing new about a chain-letter. I myself in 1917 had belonged to a chain-letter group; a small number of persons who
expected to become missionaries in Africa (I was then a student at the old Western Theological Seminary in Chicago, now the Seabury-Western
of Evanston, Illinois). As this letter passed round the circle, each recipient added a thought, comment, experience, or added a question. But the
chain-letter of 1933 was different, practically impersonal, involving potentially every person in the United States and Canada. Attached to the
letter was a money gimmick.
"The following specimen is self explanatory and is given exactly as written, but the names of two cities and of two persons have been
omitted to prevent identification" (my words of 1934 in 8462):

"We trust in God. He supplies our needs.

Mrs. F. Streuzel ................ Mich.
Mrs. A. Ford ............ Chicago, Ill.
Mrs. K. Adkins .......... Chicago, Ill.
Mrs. R. Arlington ................ Ill.
Mrs. ..................... Quincy, Ill.
Mrs. ..................... Quincy, Ill.
Copy the above names, omitting the first. Add your name last. Mail it to five persons who you wish prosperity to.
The chain was started by an American Colonel and must be mailed 24 hours after receiving it. This will bring prosperity within 9 days
after mailing it.
Mrs. Sanford won $3,000.
Mrs. Andres won $1,000.
Mrs. Howe who broke the chain lost everything she possessed.
The chain grows a definite power over the expected word.
DO NOT BREAK THE CHAIN.
See what happens on the 9th day.
Hoping it brings you luck.
J.E.K."

PEN - INK - PENCIL

13131. If your ink blots the paper while you are writing to someone, that person is thinking of you.
13132. Your pen dropping and sticking in the floor is an omen of good luck.
13133. It is unlucky to upset a bottle of ink.
13134. Never sharpen a pencil on Sunday; you will have bad luck the following week.
13135. If the point of your pencil breaks, someone is saying something bad about you.
13137. "I broke the point off my pencil the other day three times, so I will have three people to tell lies on me."
13138. After you have broken the point of a pencil you may expect a disappointment.
13139. A person breaking the point of a pencil will soon hear bad news.
13140. Always pick up a pencil found on the street and you will be lucky; the larger the pencil, the better the luck.
13141. By wearing a lead pencil in your hair all the time a bill collector is kept away.

Book - Newspaper - Bible (13142-13151)

BOOK - NEWSPAPER - BIBLE
13142. The person who reads the back of the book first has bad luck.
13143. To begin reading a book accidentally held upside down denotes a visit from "someone dear".
13144. Do not read a book through twice; it is unlucky.
13145. Tear off a corner of the first page before lending a book and the borrower will always return it.
13146. "My husband thinks it very bad luck, if reading a paper and someone comes up and reads the paper over his shoulder; he will drop the
paper the moment they do, for he thinks it bad luck."
13147. It is lucky to sleep with a newspaper beneath your bed.
13148. The Bible is holy and should be kept on the center of a table standing in the middle of your living room. Further, you must never
put anything on top of the Bible.
13149. "My grandfather used to say it was bad luck to tear leaves out of a Bible."
13150. To lose or throw away a Bible brings bad luck.
13151. If you open the Bible and your finger rests on the words Verily, verily, good luck is foretold.
LOSS AND GAIN (13152-13176)
Presents - Lost Articles - Theft (13152-13176)
PRESENTS
13152. Never give away anything that has been given to you; bad luck will come to you.
13153. Anything found by you and then presented to someone will cause you trouble.
13154. An Indian giver, one who demands back something he has given away, is always unlucky.
13155. It is unlucky to accept a present from anyone, unless you can return a present.
13156. The person who receives an unexpected gift will soon entertain unexpected company.

LOST ARTICLES
13157. "I used to move so much when I was young. My brother said he never had any trouble of finding me, because when he got to the house, if
I didn't live there, he would spit in his hand, strike the spit with his other hand, and watch the direction it went. Then he would start right out and
find me." This spittle rite has always been the most frequently used method for finding lost articles. It was the only way to locate a lost baseball;
so other boys and I thought. As a matter of fact, such an extensive and determined search was made, any magic device would have been
successful.
13158. "When I was living in the North End years ago I saw something queer. Several children were going to the store for their mother. One of
the girls had a twenty-five-cent piece and drop it. They looked everywhere for it, for they knew they would get a whipping if they didn't find it. I
 304

was hanging on the gate taking it all in. There was no grass anywhere and you would of seen it if lying there. The girl started to crying, and
another girl standing there said, 'I will go and tell grandmother, she can help find things. She only lived several doors down the street. She got her
grandmother. She came out to her gate, turn around three times and said something, and went back in the house. And there was that
twenty-five-cent piece lying right there in sight where everyone could see it. The child pick up the money and went on to the store."
13159. If anything is misplaced or lost, pray to St. Anthony and you will soon find it. Some say you must say three prayers to St. Anthony
before beginning the search.
13160. To recover a lost article, ask the intercession of the saint for whom you were named.
13161. "This German woman back of us told me, if she mislaid anything and could not find it, she asked the Lord to help her, and He would put it
right down in front of her. This same German woman lost a monkey wrench. She said, God, You know where that monkey wrench is, help me to
find it. The next day two little girls were playing out in the road and found a wrench. They brought it to the house and it was her wrench."
13162. "I have tried this lot of times. When I can't find just where the money is I drop another piece and it will roll right over to the other
piece. Sometimes the money will stop on a crack in the floor; then I know the money went down that crack."
13163. Lost money can be found by kissing a Negro.
13164. If you lose a ring, carry a peach switch (or fork) held tightly in your hands and it will bend down when you walk over the ring.
13165. A trunk in which a deck of playing cards is kept will not become lost on a journey.
13166. As a precaution against losing your suitcase on a journey, wrap a lock of your hair in a piece of paper and hide it in the suitcase.

THEFT
13167. If someone steals from you, burn a piece of bread and the thief will be compelled to restore the article; if not to you, to another
person. Some say the burnt bread must be thrown away.
13168. To force the return of a stolen or borrowed article, lay a broom under the cover of your bed and wish for its restoration.
13169. A chain laid across the doorsill will protect your house against thieves during your absence.
13170. You can compel a thief to return a stolen article by burning your old dirty dish rag.
13171. Get a spoonful of dirt from a footprint of the suspected thief and toss it into the fireplace; should your suspicions be correct, he will come
to your house and confess.
13172. "Years ago my grandma never locked a door. When she went away from the house she had one of those old black kettles, and the door she
went out, she would always turn this kettle upside down right in front of the door, and she never lost anything. All old Irish people did this years
ago."
13173. "Someone took a gold ring from me and I took twelve sage leaves and wrote the name of each Apostle on them and put the twelve leaves
in my shoes, and in several days the person that took my ring brought it back."
13174. "This is very old, my grandfather told this. To protect your hen roost against thieves, take three hairs out of a skunk tail, a live skunk,
and three feathers out of a rooster tail, and bury them all together under the henhouse door; that will keep them away from one full moon to the
next, then you will have to do it over --- and no one can steal a chicken as long as the spell lasts, from one full moon to the next."
13175. "I missed a lot of chickens one time on the farm and someone told me to hang a dead snakeskin on the door, so no one would steal from
you; so I got a blacksnake skin, nailed it on my door to the henhouse, and I have never lost a chicken since."
13176. Urine and water mixed together and sprinkled around the barn door keeps thieves away.

Law - Numbers - Money (13177-13270)

LAW
13177. To cut down a castor bean plant violates a law.
13178. A check for less than one dollar is illegal.
13179. Checks written with red ink are not lawful.
13180. To date a check for Sunday is a violation of the law.
13181. A check dated on a legal holiday is illegal.
13182. It is against the law to hit a person who wears glasses.
13183. The use of a dark lantern is not legal. (Does a dark lantern still exist?)
13184. If the rope breaks while a person is being hanged, the prisoner must be freed.
13185. It is illegal to possess a copy of the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses.
13186. To have a Canadian thistle growing on your property subjects you to a fine.
13187. A loaded truck has the legal right of way on the road.
13188. As long as you remain in or on running water, no matter how small the stream, you are not a trespasser. No one can own running water.
13189. The law is broken by possessing or blowing a police whistle.
13190. A policeman swinging his club and whistling as he starts the first round of his beat at night will meet trouble before morning.
13191. The person who attends court every day to hear a trial will soon find himself in jail.
13192. It is unlucky to make a will.

NUMBERS
13193. Odd numbers are generally considered lucky.
13194. One misfortune is always followed by another.
13195.
"Whatever happens twice,
Will happen thrice."
13196. If you break something, you will not stop until you have broken three things.
13197. In attempting to accomplish anything, the third effort is always successful; hence the expressions Three's lucky and The third time for
luck.
13198. Number three is lucky say most believers; unlucky, say a few.
13199. Seven is a lucky number.
13200. If you keep a discarded article for seven years, you will find use for it again. Similarly, fashions in women's clothing come back after
seven years; always save outdated clothes. For the two preceding and other reasons, never discard anything but preserve it seven years and then
burn it for luck.
 305

13201. Never sleep in a hotel room numbered 13; it will bring you bad luck.
13202. The person who plans something will always become lucky by doing it on the thirteenth day of the month at the thirteenth hour.
13203. It is unlucky to sleep in berth number 13 on a train.
13204. You will be unlucky during the year you are thirteen years of age.
13205. "A girl was going to take her life. I told her to say God, give me courage thirteen times each night for thirteen nights and she got over it."
13206. "A house, number 1313 across the street, is very unlucky; first a man and wife were separated by a quarrel, and a week ago a baby died
there."
13207. It is a bad omen for thirteen persons to sit at the same table.
13208. To stop on problem number 13 when studying arithmetic will give you bad luck.
13209. If you show your pocketbook to the new moon, the amount of money within will be doubled by the next new moon. This is the general
rule, that the pocketbook must contain money; but some say, if you show an empty pocketbook to the new moon, it will be filled by the next new
moon. In either case it is usually said the pocketbook must be open when shown. Finally, this rite may be performed only on first looking at a
new moon.
13210. If you shake a full pocketbook at the new moon, your money will increase that month; if an empty one, you will be penniless. First night
of the new moon is the time for this rite.
13211. The person who holds up a piece of money to the new moon when first peering at the latter will soon obtain money.
13212. As soon as you see the new moon, turn over the money in your pocket so that it will grow with the growing moon.
13213. Let your first glance at the new moon be over the right shoulder and while you have money in your pocket; this will provide you with
money all month.

13214. "I always watch for the new moon in the new year and always go out in the yard with money in my hand, if it is only a penny, and I
always have good luck and am never broke."
13215. At the appearance of the first new moon of the year you may hold a piece of money in your right hand, while peeping at the moon over
your right shoulder; all year you will be well supplied with money.
13216. Your first view of the first new moon of the year permits you, while holding a piece of silver in your left hand, to wish for money all year.

13217. A coin carried on New Year's Day protects you all year against a lack of money.
13218. By wearing a dime in each shoe on New Year's Day you are given money all year.
13219. He who spends money on New Year's Day is always poor.
13220. Do not spend a coin presented to you on New Year's Day; preserve it for additional money during the year.
13221. If you lay a dime over a window on New Year's Eve and leave it there, you will not be without money that year.
13222. To give yourself money the year round, hide a coin under the front window on New Year's Eve In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost.
13223. On New Year's Eve put a loaf of bread, a silver dollar, and some salt on the table; you will have bread, money, and luck through the
coming year.
13224. You can procure money for the whole year, if on New Year's Eve you set a loaf of bread, a dollar bill, and some salt on the table, while
making three wishes and invoking the Three Highest Names.
13225. Just before midnight on New Year's Eve fill a tub of water out in the yard and into it drop a penny; you will be lucky with money matters
next year.
13226. At midnight on New Year's Eve kneel down and pray with a piece of money in your hand; this assures you of money that year.
13227. Not to have a piece of money in your pocket or pocketbook is a cause of trouble.
13228. If you have pennies in your pocket and no other kind of money, bad luck may be expected.
13229. A person who carries a gift penny has good luck.
13230. It is lucky to have on your person a new dime, whether received as a gift or in change.
13231. A coin minted in the year of your birth may be carried for luck.
13232. Two coins of the same date are lucky when kept in your pocket or pocketbook.
13233. If you receive a pierced coin, save it for luck.
13234. You may carry for luck a gold coin in your pocketbook or pocket.
13235. A coin attached to your watch chain makes you lucky.
13236. By keeping a coin about your neck you become lucky. This coin is usually pierced and strung on a string or among the beads of a
necklace. Some say the coin must be a present; others say it must be a coin you have found.
13237. To wear a dime in your shoe, usually the left, brings good luck. This coin should be given to you say some, found by you say
others. Occasionally a new dime is prescribed. These things are less frequently said of a penny.
13238. The man who keeps a coin in his hatband will never lack money.
13239. Some say the picking up of a coin from the street is lucky, provided you keep it; others say this is unlucky, unless you give the money
away.
13240. Never pick up a penny from the street; you will soon lose something more valuable.
13241. Money picked up at a crossroad causes a misfortune.
13242. If a person picks up an old bent coin from the street, bad luck will soon follow.
13243. The finding of money on Monday means money all week.
13244. A person seeing a penny face down on the road will soon meet with bad luck; face up, good luck.
13245. To find money is a sign of good news.
13246. "I always do this, get a piece of money changed on New Year's Eve into pennies, so I can give everyone in the family a penny before
breakfast the next morning, so they will not be broke all year."
13247. On New Year's Day a coin may be exchanged with someone; if this is done in silence and the money is saved by each person, both of
them will have good luck all year.
13248. Pennies received in change on Monday morning denote money all week.
13249. "When I was young my mother would not change money on a Monday for anyone. She would make them go to a store to change it. She
would not even let you change money in the house; said it would bring bad luck on the house and the one that changed it."
13250. If you can retain the money made on Monday, you will obtain more money during the week.
 306

13251. Anyone receiving silver money in a letter may expect paper money later.
13252. Never accept a two-dollar bill; bad luck will befall you.
13253. A person who counts money before getting it will be unlucky.
13254. "I have always heard it was good luck to count silver money you get and I always do, when I have it, for luck."
13255. You should chew gum while counting money; some say it will "stick" with you longer, others say it will soon increase.
13256. Always spit on a piece of money when accepting it and you will have good luck.
13257. If you let anyone take money out of your hand, that person will soon be taking more money from you; to avoid this, always lay the money
on the other person's palm.
13258. Do not transfer money from one pocket to the other; all of the money will disappear before night.
13259. Persons with money in two different pockets soon lose it.
13260. Loose money lost from your pocket indicates the loss of a friend.
13261. As a protection against losing money, keep an old coin in your pocket.
13262. A person who accidentally drops money on the floor will either win some or receive some he is not expecting.
13263. If by chance you drop a dime and it rolls, you will soon have more money; if it does not roll, you will remain penniless.
13264. Silver money dropped on the floor shows that someone is thinking about you.
13265. He who lies in denying the possession of money when asked for a loan will ultimately be deprived of the whole amount.
13266. It is lucky to borrow a penny from a Negro man.
13267. You may rub a penny on the head of a red-haired man for luck.
13268. "I heard a Negro woman say, if you would put a dollar piece in a chamberpot and pee on it, would bring you more money. She said she
tried it and it did."
13269. "I know a Negro woman that whenever she is broke she always urinates in the middle of her front door sill and she always gets money
after that."
13270. The best time for depositing money in a bank or drawing it out is on Friday; you will always have plenty of money to deposit or draw out.

BUYING - PAYING - SELLING (13271-13289)

13271. "I knew a clerk about ten years ago that, if she waited on anyone with a hunch on their back, she would try and rub it for it would bring
good luck and she would sell that person."
13272. Several years ago [before 1935] there was a craze for the billiken, usually defined as a "squat, smiling, comic figure", but this definition
fails to mention its semi- or total nudity and hence a superficial resemblance to cupid without a bow; in fact a qupee (a conventionalized cupid)
and billiken were often confused. Both objects frequently served as mascots or good-luck charms. A woman's clothing store at Quincy has or had
until recently (the few years after 1935), a billiken about eight inches high that stands on one of the counters. Each morning before beginning
work some of the salesgirls will rub this billiken for luck in sales that day. (This is an enlarged form of 8545 in first edition).
13273. If the first customer entering a store in the morning buys something, sales for the day will be good; if nothing is bought, bad.
13274. If the first customer entering a store in the morning is a woman, sales will be good all day; if a man, bad. The more men who enter before
a woman, the worse the day's sales.
13275. Few buyers in the morning, a large number of buyers in the afternoon; a large number of buyers in the morning, few buyers in the
afternoon.
13276. Sell to the first customer on Monday morning and you will have excellent sales all week.
13277. "I knew a woman that was making her daughter a dress and she did not have enough goods, but it was Monday and she said, 'I will wait
until Tuesday to buy it, for if I buy on Monday, I will be buying all week."
13278. Good Friday is an unlucky time for buying anything.
13279. It is lucky to sneeze when buying something; it signifies you will never regret the purchase.
13280. A person receiving too much change after a purchase should return it for luck.
13281. Profits counted before they are made either do not materialize or soon disappear. Some say it is unlucky to count actual profits until
the time of the next inventory.
13282. Anything bought in partnership by two friends will break their friendship.
13283. To rent the vacant rooms of a rooming-house, use salt in the water when scrubbing them.
13284. An insurance agent who collects from house to house said it is a fairly common experience with him to have people delay the payment of
their premiums for a week; to pay in advance or on the day due brings some misfortune.
13285. Rent paid on Sunday soon causes you to move.
13286. "Never pay anyone a bill on Monday, for they will come back Tuesday and you will have bad luck on Wednesday; so I never pay a bill
on Monday."
13287. Do not pay a bill on Monday; you will pay out money all week.
13288. Your acceptance of the delivery of a package wrapped in red paper is a sign of bad luck.
13289. The hoarding of all string from packages delivered at your house will eventually make you wealthy.

WORK AND BUSINESS (13290-13339)

13290. "Five years ago I took and put a piece of hard bread in a bag and put it over the kitchen door and my husband or I have had work all the
time."
13291. "My husband had been out of work for a year, just could not find anything, and someone told me to put a turkey wishbone over the door,
and I put one over our kitchen door and in two weeks he had a good job."
13292. As an aid in finding work, wear red pepper in each shoe.
13293. Salt and pepper worn in a sock (by a man) or sack (by a woman) about the neck helps an unemployed person looking for work.
13294. Children heard quarreling among themselves as you leave home to seek work or to transact any business is an unlucky omen, but you can
avoid this misfortune by waiting until next day.
13295. If a person starting out early in the morning to undertake any new business meets a baker first, success may be expected; if a butcher
first, failure.
 307

13296. A man who sees a load of furniture on his way to work can obtain luck merely by thinking or wishing himself lucky.
13297. To be successful with a new job or business venture, on returning home enter the house by the same door through which you left.
13298. The best day for beginning any commercial enterprise is your birthday.
13299. Always commence a new job or sign a contract during the increase of the moon for luck; never during the decrease of the moon.
13300. "If I want to start something on Monday, I always start a little on Sunday. I never start anything on a Monday for it always brings me bad
luck."
13301. "My mother always said, if you start anything on Monday, be sure to finish it; if you don't, you will never get it done."
13302. "My mother always said Monday work should never get to be a week old."
13303. Persons commencing a new job on Monday will quit or be fired before the week ends.
13304. "A woman would not let me start to work for her on Monday; said I would not stay long, said I should start on Tuesday to keep a job
long."
13305. If you are brought more work on Monday than you can possibly do, you will have so much work during the week that you cannot
complete it.
13306. A piece of work begun on Friday will be unsatisfactory.
13307. Never begin on Friday a job that cannot be finished the same day; you will have bad luck.
13308. A dangerous task should not be undertaken on Friday; something serious will happen before it is completed.
13309. Work started on Friday always remains unfinished.
13310. Look for work on Friday and you will not remain in the position very long.
13311. "If I go to work at a new place on Friday, I always stay a week; if I go to work on Monday, I never stay the week out."
13312. A person who starts a job on Saturday never completes it.
13313. To work on Sunday is unlucky.
13314. If a person begins new work on Sunday, it will end badly.
13315. For the completion of work commenced on Sunday you will need twice the amount of time.
13316. What you gain by working on Sunday will be lost three times that week; or as some say, you will lose a day or two during the week.
13317. Do not work on Sunday, you will be sick on Monday.
13318. He who works on Sunday will be in the devil's power all week.
13319. Sunday workers never go to heaven.
13320. If you work on Sunday, you will be put in the moon.
13321. If you burn brush or chop wood on Sunday, you will be put in the moon.
13322. If you steal wood on Sunday, you will be put in the moon when you die.
13323. If you chop wood on Sunday, you will freeze in the moon.
13324. If you burn brush on Sunday, your body will burn when you die.
13325. Smoke seen in the moon comes from a brush fire that the man-in-the- moon forever tends because while living on earth he burned brush
on Sunday.
13326. Years ago it was said the spots in the moon were a boy and dog, or a woman and dog, burning brush. As a boy the author of this work
heard about the woman in the moon, nothing else; could see her there. I always thought of her as wearing a "rat" in her hair.
13327. The spots in the moon were caused by mold, for the moon is made of green cheese.
13328. Once upon a time a man carried brush on Sunday and as a punishment he was placed in the moon. That is why you can now see him
carrying brush in the moon. Some say he carries brush for hell-fire.
13329. Long ago a man cut hedge on Sunday and for that offense he is now beheld in the moon cutting hedge. To cut hedge in Adams County up
to the First World War was always to cut the osage orange hedge fence.
13330. Many years past a woman churned butter on Sunday and as a consequence went to the moon when she died. You may now behold her
churning there.
13331. It is said that years ago a man plowed on Sunday and his hands stuck to the plow until Monday morning.
13332. "The first to shoot a gun on Sunday in a war will lose the war is an old saying. The Japs shot first on Sunday and they will lose the
war." Whether this "first to shoot a gun on Sunday" is an old saying or the informant made it up on the basis of other Sunday sayings, I do not
know.
13333. Leave the woods as soon as you hear three strange sounds like timbers cracking, for something will surely happen.
13334. If while chopping wood you accidentally cut a chip in the shape of a triangle, it is a sign of good luck.
13335. Stop work as soon as the chips flying from your lathe grow larger and larger, for it is an unlucky omen.
13336. Success on the first day at a new job means that you will succeed with it.
13337. Some say if two persons while working together accidentally bump heads, they will work together next year at the same time; others say,
they will sleep together that night.
13338. A new store having a Jew as the first customer will not fail.
13339. If a guest at a hotel closes the register after registering, that hotel will soon be closed.
OCCUPATIONS (13340-13413)
Barber - Miner - Sailor - Circus - Theatre (13340-13413)
BARBER
13340. "My father would never shave on Friday; said it was very bad luck, and he never did do it."
13341. "I always hone my razor on Friday to have luck [with customers] on Saturday."
13342. "I always hone the razor to the chamois before the leather, when I started to shave, for luck. Some [barbers] think if you hone it to
the leather first, you will cut who you are shaving. Since the Second World War the two preceding beliefs have been as obsolete as barbers. We
now have hair-cutting only. The reasons for this are economic; among them, shaving was too time-consuming when compared to the quick results
of the electric clipper.
13343. The man who shaves with a friend's razor is cutting their friendship in two.
13344. A sick man shaved in bed will have either a setback or bad luck.
13345. To find a razor is unlucky.
13346. If a barber trims his finger-nails on Friday, business will be bad on Saturday.
13347. A barber should never use the same scissors on his finger-nails and a customer's head; he will wound the next customer while giving him
a haircut.
 308

MINER
13348. A coal miner getting hurt at work is so unlucky that all other miners will quit work for the day.
13349. If a woman enters a coal mine, it is the sign of an accident.
13350. Never go into a coal mine at quitting-time, you will not come out alive.
13351. If the light on a coal miner's cap goes out as he enters the mine, he will be killed before he comes out.
13352. Whistling in a coal mine causes bad luck.
13353. Any unusual noise heard in a coal mine indicates bad luck; get out at once or you will be killed.
13354. To see a rat leaving a coal mine signifies a cave-in.
13355. If a white rat is seen in a coal mine, a cave-in may be expected.
13356. The coal miner who strikes a sulphur ball with his pick will have bad luck.
13357. A mysterious light in a coal mine is a warning of an explosion.

SAILOR
13358. To drown a cat just before sailing brings bad luck.
13359. "I have been all over the world several times as a sailor, and a captain on a boat would throw any sailor over if he knew they would throw
a cat overboard, for they think it very bad."
13360. A cat aboard the ship is unlucky.
13361. A caul worn in the pocket ensures the wearer of a safe voyage.
13362. Mice or rats deserting a vessel means a disaster.
13363. A cage of white mice is carried on board a ship; their squealing foretells danger.
13364. To have a seagull light on a ship at sea is followed by a disaster.
13365. A sailor with a tatoo on the ankle or instep always returns safely from abroad.
13366. Sailors who have a pig tatooed on the bottom of the foot never drown while crossing the Equator.
13367.
"If you encounter a sailor at night,
Something will fill you with delight."

CIRCUS
13368. Circus people on meeting a cross-eyed person turn around, take nine steps backwards, spit, and then run a little, to guard against bad luck.
13369. If an old-time circus traveling by wagons passed a graveyard on the right side of the road as it entered the town, it meant a full tent
that night; on the left side, an empty one.
13370. Years ago when a circus drove through the country, it was unlucky to meet a red-haired girl driving a white mule.
13371. It is lucky for showmen to see a load of hay on their way to erect the tent.
13372. The roustabout who succeeds in driving the first stake will find money; hence the reason why there is always a rush to drive the stakes.
13373. "I have often seen, when circus people go to put up the tent, twenty people after one little snake to kill it, if on the show ground, to keep
from having something happening to one in the circus."
13374. If elephants let their heads hang in a listless manner, trouble is indicated for some of the circus people.
13375. Circus men say an elephant puts its trunk straight-up in the air, hauls it back, and does this unendingly before stormy weather.
13376. Circus horses look quiet and just lazy before a storm.
13377. If two monkeys in a circus seem sad and begin to be affectionate, you may expect a bad storm that night.
13378. If the ropes of a circus tent are taut and become tighter and tighter, it is going to rain.
13379. A circus lion roaring at daybreak is ominous, for someone will be hurt or killed that day.
13380. A chestnut is carried by circus people for luck.
13381. If a person uses his knife when a fork should have been used, all circus performers will leave the dining table, for it shows that the law
will soon be after someone in the group.
13382. Circus people tell you to grab your windpipe and run as a cure for hiccough.
13383. Never walk under a ladder used by an acrobat; he will not perform that day.
13384. Troupers on breaking a mirror will gather up the pieces and keep them in a trunk to avert bad luck.
13385. People connected with a circus tie a knot in the blanket to prevent theft while asleep.
13386. It is unlucky for circus people to have their shoes shined on Friday.
13387. To put your socks or stockings on wrong side out and to be unaware of the mistake, until someone calls your attention to it, is considered
lucky among circus people.
13388. Turtle-back trunks were never used by circus people years ago for they brought bad luck. The arched top of this trunk would be unlucky
for a constant traveler even when traveling by wagon. Storage problems killed the turtle-back.
13389. Yellow is an unlucky color for a circus.
13390. To litter the main entrance of the tent or nearby stands with peanut shells gives the show bad luck.
13391. If a rope is tied into a knot and laid in a circle before the main entrance to the tent, it will draw in a capacity crowd.
13392. A small circus or carnival traveling by wagon years ago and making more than a one-night stand never played Home, Sweet Home until
the last night. To have done so sooner would have ruined the show.

THEATRE
13393. "One night we were showing in a small town and a black cat got in the show-house and we had nothing but bad luck, had to leave
town before the week was over. We were to play there a week but we could not make it."
13394. Contrary to the preceding belief, a cat coming to the show is sometimes considered lucky; unless the cat is entirely black.
13395. A cat of any color straying onto the stage while there is a performance means failure for the show.
13396. A black cat walking across the stage from one wing to the other during a performance is the sign that the play will have a long run.
13397. If a dog howls outside the theatre during the performance, the show will soon close.
13398. If anyone connected with the show plays a French harp in the theatre, the show will be a "flop" that night.
13399. "I played in the orchestra and one night someone brought in a big sack of peanuts in the dressing-room and we had to close our doors."
 309

13400. A red-haired man in the orchestra always makes trouble for a show.
13401. If anyone sings in an actor's dressing-room, the play will not be successful.
13402. Whistling in an actor's dressing-room causes the show to fail.
13403. To whistle in an actor's dressing-room brings bad luck.
13404. If an actor inadvertently whistles as he enters the dressing-room, everyone who hears him must cross the fingers and walk around a chair
twice to avoid bad luck.
13405. An actor who whistles in a dressing-room of a theatre will be the first actor of the troupe to be fired.
13406. A rocking-chair is an unlucky object to have on the stage.
13407. Never lay your hat on the table in a dressing-room of a theatre; it is very unlucky. Some say you will have a fight.
13408. An actor laying his shoes on the make-up table will be fired soon.
13409. If the actor who speaks the last lines rehearses them immediately preceding the show, the production will not be a success.
13410. "I was working in a place one night and one of the actors spilled their tea, and she said, 'I will have to go to my room and go over my
part or I will fail tonight'."
13411. If an actor spills tea on the tablecloth at the evening meal, there will be a small house that night.
13412. A showman should always make certain that the first customer to enter the theatre pays for his ticket. It is bad for the show to let a
"dead-head" (person with a pass) come in first.
13413. "I have been a manager of a show for fifty years. I would not let a cross-eyed person buy the first ticket or enter the show-house first; if
you do, you will have a poor house that day or night."

SPORTS - PASTIMES - GAMES (13414-14118)

Marbles - Kite - Horseshoes - Dancing (13414-13430)
MARBLES
13414. Years ago to make an opponent miss his shot, marble players used various expressions, some of them individualistic such as Cat shit all
around it, and others of them unprintable. In addition to words of vulgarity and imprecation were those of derision. Most derided was a method of
shooting, the holding of the shooter in the bent index finger and popping it out with the thumb, a method called fuck-finger.
13415. A boy playing marbles will miss his shot, if you say Miss it just before he shoots.
13416. To make a boy miss his shot when playing marbles, say:
"Here's a river, here's a lake;
Here's where you make your big mistake."
13417. "I always do this to win. If you want to win at marbles, always spin your marble before you shoot."
13418. "Your shooting marble, always blow on it every time you shoot for luck; I always do."
13419. "I know some marble players that always blow three times on their marbles before they shoot to win the game."
13420. To have luck when playing marbles, always blow on your shooting-marble and then spit on it just before you shoot.
13421. "I always make a crooked line to shoot my marble over. That line is a snake — that's an enemy. I shoot my marble over it to make the
other fellow lose. Some of the boys will not play with me when they find out my crooked line is to represent a snake."
13422. "Some of the boys make the letter V to put their marble in to shoot so they will have victory over the other fellow."
13423. "In the spring the first boys you see playing marbles, stop and count the marbles on the ground; will bring you good luck."
13424. "If you see a bunch of boys playing marbles, ask them to let you shoot one and it will bring you good luck."
13425. "If you are walking along the street and see a bunch of boys playing marbles, put your hand on the boy's head you want to win and he
will."

KITE
13426. "My mother always said if you start to fly a kite on Sunday it would not last until sundown."

HORSESHOES
13427. If you are playing (throwing) horseshoes, spit through the horseshoe and you will get a ringer.
13428. Rub your two horseshoes together for luck when playing horseshoes.

DANCING
13429. Let your little brother, if you are a girl, your little sister, if you are a boy, hold his or her thumbs while you are getting ready to go to
a dance and you will have plenty of dancing partners.
13430. Years ago it was said that the person who crossed his feet while dancing would soon be grabbed by the devil.
Boxing - Football - Basketball - Baseball (13431-13562)
BOXING
13431. A prize fighter burns a small candle for luck before he enters the ring.
13432. If a prize fighter just before entering the ring greets a friend, he will lose the match.
13433. A boxer always puts on his right shoe first for luck.
13434. Sometimes a prize fighter will hang his baby shoes in his corner for luck.
13435. It is unlucky for a prize fighter to have at the ring-side any woman related to him.

FOOTBALL
13436. Players on a football team line up just before the game and shake hands with their coach for luck.
13437. The quarterback in a football game who can get through the line on receiving his first pass will win the game.
13438. "A football player in the first game of the season, if they lose, they always change the color of their sweat-shirt; if they win, the first game,
they never change the color of their sweat-shirt all year."

BASKETBALL
13439. "I know a young man that will not shave before he goes to a basketball game; said his team would lose, if he did."

BASEBALL
 310

13440. If a baseball team on its way to the ball park meets a load of beer kegs, it means good luck.
13441. "If you meet a blind man on your way to a game, put a nickel in his cap and you will get a good hit; three nickels, three hits."
13442. "This is another one to try when going to a ball game: take and put a piece of bread in your pocket; if you can drop that piece of bread
on the diamond, your home team is sure to win."
13443. Keep a buckeye in your pocket while playing baseball and you will have good luck.
13444. "Put three buttons on a string when you go to the ball game. When you get to the gate drop them off the string on the outside. You keep
the string and your ball team is sure to win."
13445. An infielder who before the game finds a four-leafed clover within his territory and keeps it in his left-hand pocket will be lucky.
13446. A baseball player can become lucky by keeping in his pocket a cork from a whiskey bottle.
13447. Baseball players seeing a cross-eyed woman as they go to the game fail to get a hit.
13448. A baseball player who sees a cross-eyed woman sitting in the grandstand will go hitless that day.
13449. "A good ball player will never keep goldfish in the house for he thinks they are bad luck and will keep him from getting runs."
13450. A baseball player who finds a hairpin while going to the ball park will secure a two-base hit the first time he bats.
13451. "I know several baseball players that always pick up every hairpin they see, for they think it gives them home-runs."
13452. The significance of picking up a hairpin by a baseball player walking to the game is as follows: if small, he will make a short hit; if large,
a long hit, perhaps a home run.
13453. "Some baseball players go around hunting all the hairpins they can find on the day of the game and hang them up in their dugout to win
the game for their team."
13454. "I know one big ball player that as soon as he gets to the game picks up everything he sees on the diamond, like pieces of paper,
feathers, hairpins, well just everything he sees, puts them in his left-hip pocket to win the game for his team."
13455. If you are listening to a game over the radio and the team that you favor is losing, hold your right hand in your left pocket for luck.
13456. If you are listening to a game over the radio and the team that you favor is losing, keep your fingers crossed for luck.
13457. If a baseball player as he goes to the ball park sees a load of hay, his team will be victorious.
13458. "If you meet a load of hay on your way to a ball game, take off your bat and spit in it and your team will win."
13459. "If you want to win at a baseball game, throw your handkerchief on the diamond and your team is sure to win."
13460. The number of white horses counted by a baseball player going to the game indicate how many hits he will get that day.
13461. If a ball player when going to the game sees a white horse, he will make a home run.
13462. "If going to a ball game, if you find a horseshoe, spit on it, then throw it over your left shoulder for luck in the game."
13463. If before eleven o'clock in the morning you boast about winning a game that afternoon, your side will be defeated. 13464. Always wear a
red necktie to win a baseball game.
13465. "Whenever you go to a ball game shake hands with a Negro man just before you go in the gate and your team will win."
13466. "If you see two Negro men going in the baseball park gate just in front of you, you are sure to win the game that day."
13467. "When you go to a ball game throw a nickel over the fence and your team will win."
13468. "When you go to the ball game tie a nickel in the corner of your handkerchief and keep it there; your home team will win. My niece
always does this for her home team to win."
13469. Posing for a picture just before a game gives an athlete bad luck.
13470. The baseball player who picks up a pin on the diamond and jabs it into his uniform has good luck as long as the pin stays there.
13471. "Before going into a ball game, if you want a certain team to win, spit three times in front of the gate calling their name and they are sure
to win is an old saying."
13472. "I know a ball player that will not play ball unless he has tobacco in his mouth; he always loses if he does not."
13473. "If you want your home team to win the game, count all the players on the ground, then take that many swallows of water at the game."
13474. "If you go to a ball game with a married couple, sit on the side of the gentleman and your team will win."
13475. To bring defeat to the visiting team, sprinkle salt on the ground in front of the seats where their rooters or boosters sit.
13476. The last half of the seventh inning is known as the "lucky seventh" for the home team. By common consent and with one impulse
everyone stands up to stretch while the two sides are exchanging places on the diamond.
13477. Whistling in the dressing-room of a baseball team is unlucky.
13478. Number three on the back of a baseball player's uniform is considered lucky.
13479. It is unlucky for a baseball player to use a clean or new uniform.
13480. A baseball player having a lucky streak in hitting will not change his uniform, no matter how soiled it is, until his luck changes.
13481. If a baseball player is wearing a certain shirt and his team has a winning streak, he will not change the shirt until his team begins to lose.
13482. A baseball player will wear the same shirt all season unless he has a batting slump, and then he will change it for luck.
13483. A baseball player will win the game, if when dressing he puts his cap on before his suit.
13484. Some baseball players keep their caps turned backward for luck. Sometimes a player turns his cap backwards only when going up to bat
for luck in making a hit.
13485. "I know a ball player when the season first opens up, the first day he always takes his cap off three times when he goes in the gate, for his
team to win all through the season."
13486. As a method for obtaining luck, let a baseball player turn his socks inside out just before the game.
13487. All members of a baseball team sitting down together is the sign of bad luck.
13488. It is unlucky to let anyone from the visiting team sit on the home team's bench.
13489. The members of some baseball teams always lay their gloves down in a row. If a player does not put his glove down in its proper place in
the row, or if he removes it before going out to the diamond, he will have bad luck.
13490. A ball player on coming off the field will always lay his glove in the same place for luck in hitting.
13491. If a baseball player starts out upon the field, forgets something and returns for it, he will be unlucky in that game.
13492. If a baseball player is called back from the field and he returns, he will have bad luck.
13493. "I knew a ball player that would take three steps, then one out each way, so it would make a cross, to give him luck."
13494. A baseball player can break an attack of nervousness in a game by spitting on the ground and walking around it.
13495. "My chum always spits over his right shoulder when he starts to playing ball to win."
13496. An itching hand while playing baseball means that you will catch the next foul ball.
13497. If an outfielder spits in his glove, the ball will fall right into his hands.
13498. "I know a very prominent outfielder when a ball is batted toward him he starts after it patting his glove for luck to catch that ball."
 311

13499. An outfielder muffing his first fly indicates that his team will win the game.
13500. When an outfielder goes to the outfield, he will kick the same base each time he passes it for luck.
13501. On taking the field a baseball player sometimes treads on home plate to give bad luck to the opposing-team batters about to come up.
13502. Some baseball players will step on home plate before leaving the park in order to have good luck next day.
13503. A baseball player steps on first base for luck. He thinks it will cause him to reach first base the next time he bats.
13504. Each time an outfielder comes in from the outfield to the bench he touches second base for luck.
13505. An outfielder will touch second base after the game so that he will reach that base on the day following.
13506. "One of our best outfielders at the end of an inning, coming in he always steps over second base and hitches up his pants on the way to
the dugout for luck in the next inning."
13507. "In one of Quincy's baseball teams we have a shortstop, coming in at the end of an inning, he always puts his glove down in the field with
the palm down, then walks over the diamond until he gets to the third-base line, then hops across it with his right foot for his team to win."
13508. On one baseball team the coacher at third base would lay his glove down on the line of the coaching box, and if a batter reached first
base, he would move the glove farther up toward home plate. Each time the runner advanced, the coacher would push his glove forward. This
rite was supposed to advance the runner.
13509. "Some baseball players turn the third-base bag over when their team is coming up to bat for them to make a three-base hit. 13510. "We
have two baseball players here in Quincy that on their way out from the dugout to the field they will walk over third-base going and coming
back to the dugout for their team to win."
13511. A third baseman tags his base both on going out and coming in from the field so that he will be lucky in batting.
13512. A third baseman who makes the third put-out will tag his base for luck, especially if he is the next batter up.
13513. To be put out at third base is unlucky.
13514. "I know several baseball players that will not step on the white lines before the game or during it; they think if they do, will make their
team lose."
13515. "I know a good ball player that always jumps over the foul-line on his way to the dugout for luck."
13516. "I know another ball player that will never just step over the diamond-line, will always run and hop over for his team to win."
13517. "When you go to a ball game, if you see two players talking secrets, make a wish on the team you want to win and they will win that
day."
13518. A bat boy on laying out the bats before a game should for luck see that they are lying north and south and not touching one another.
13519. Do not select a bat from the top of the pile; you will strike out with it.
13520. A bat that lies across another one should not be chosen, for you will be struck out while using it.
13521. Never cross your bat with another batter when on your trip to the home plate, for it will bring you bad luck.
13522. Changing bats after you have taken one is unlucky.
13523. "I know several baseball players when leaving the dugout to go to bat will cross their right hand over and touch their left toes to make a
home run."
13524. Sometimes for luck a batter on leaving the dugout will step back and forth three times before proceeding to the batter's-box.
13525. The batter who passes between home-plate and the pitcher's-box when going to bat will be hit by a pitched ball.
13526. "Always rub your hands in dirt before you go to bat to make a run."
13527. "When I want to make a hit, I always put dirt on my bat. "
13528. "I knew a batter that always picked up a handful of dirt and threw it over his right shoulder for luck. "
13529. Stick a piece of chewing gum on the lower end of your bat and you will make a good hit.
13530. A baseball player sticks a wad of chewing gum on the button of his cap for luck.
13531. "I know a second baseman that every time he goes to bat he has chewing gum in his mouth. Just before he goes to strike at a ball he
will take his chewing gum out, put it on the top of his cap; when he is through striking, will put it back in his mouth until he comes up again to
bat. He does that to make home runs. He always gets a new stick of gum for every game. He is a very high-paid man."
13532. "If you are at a ball game and you want to make home runs, take your bat and rub it over a hunchback person and you are sure to get your
home runs, for it's very lucky."
13533. "If you want to win at batting, take your bat and rub over a Negro's head and you will sure make the hits."
13534. Drive two nails into the end of your bat and it will not break.
13535. "When I play ball I always put rosin on my hands to make hits."
13536. "Some baseball players spit on the home plate when going to bat to make a home run for their team."
13537. Spitting on the end of your bat is lucky.
13538. "I myself always spit three times on the end of the bat for luck."
13539. A baseball player on going to the batter's box spits on the ground and rubs his foot over it for luck in batting.
13540. Some baseball players will turn around three times in the batter's box for luck.
13541. "I always take my bat and whirl it around my head three times when I go to bat to make me have hits."
13542. "Some baseball players always tap the home plate three times when they go to bat, to make a home run."
13543. The batter who knocks a foul ball in the first game of the year will be a good bunter all season.
13544. If a batter fouls the first ball pitched to him, it is a sign that he will strike out.
13545. A ball player who is hit by a hall in the first game of the year will be lucky all season.
13546. It is unlucky to drop a bat between home plate and the catcher.
13547. If a batter on returning from home plate throws his bat down and it crosses another bat, it will bring him bad luck.
13548. "When you go to a ball game count all the ball bats you see and your team will win is an old saying."
13549. "When you go to a ball game, walk out on the field, take a hold of the [a] bat and your home team will win. My husband always does this
[takes hold of one of the bats] and he said his team always wins."
13550. His pitching arm will work better and last longer, if a pitcher rubs a rabbit foot on it before entering the game.
13551. It is a sign that he will win, if the pitcher finds a toad in the outfield before the games starts.
13552. A pitcher can make the opposing pitcher lose the game by walking around him as they exchange places at the start of an inning.
13553. "The pitcher in our club always picks up a handful of dirt, rubs it through his hands, then throws the dirt over his left shoulder for good
luck. "
13554. By spitting in the center of his glove a pitcher thinks he becomes lucky.
13555. "My brother always would spit on the ball when playing ball to fan the batter."
 312

13556. If the pitcher rubs slippery elm bark on his hands, he will cause the batter to miss the ball.
13557. A pitcher thinks it is unlucky, if the second baseman throws the ball to him.
13558. It is unlucky for a pitcher to drop a ball when about to pitch it.
13559. To strike out the first batter indicates that the pitcher will lose his game. This is the general belief, but some think he will win his games.
13560. If a pitcher strikes you out the first time you go to bat, he will strike you out all through that game.
13561. "When you go to a ball game always shake hands with the pitcher and your home team will win."
13562. "The baseball team that is leading the league on July 4 will win the pennant."

Fisherman - Hunter - Gambler - Craps (13563-13868)

FISHERMAN
13563. The first appearance of angleworms (earthworms or fishing- worms) aboveground opens the fishing season.
13564. A good time to fish is when you see a chicken oiling its feathers.
13565. Fishermen will be successful while cobwebs (spiderwebs) fly.
13566. Fish for carp as soon as the flying seed of the cottonwood are seen. The cottonwood grows well in the Bottoms along the Mississippi
River.
3567. Before you go fishing, watch any fish you may have either within the house or in a pool or tank outside: if they stay at the bottom of the
water and remain inactive, do not expect a bite that day; but if they come to the surface, are lively and fight for their food, biting will be good.
13568. You will not catch any fish when you see them flopping out of the water, because they are not hungry and will refuse to bite. On the
contrary, some persons consider this a favorable fishing sign.
13569. If a fisherman sees a large fish jump out of the water, he will not get a bite that day; but if a small fish jumps from the water, good fishing
may be expected.
13570. Croaking frogs tell the fisherman to remain at home.
13571. Swarms of June-bugs, sometimes called swarming-flies in the Bottom, indicate that catfish are rolling (see No.516) and may be caught
easily.
13572. "If you kill those little bugs that stay on the water ---some call them minnow bugs ---will bring you bad luck. I myself would not kill one
if fishing, for I would not get a bite."
13573. When owls hoot during the day is a suitable time for catching catfish.
13574. As soon as willow leaves reach the size of a squirrel's ear (see No. 1224), fish begin to bite well.
13575. Fish for the first time in the season on Good Friday and you will be lucky at fishing all year.
13576. "My father if living in 1935 would be way over a hundred years old and he never in his life went fishing on Friday, because he said it was
very unlucky; and would not let any of his children go, said it was hangman's day."
13577. Saturday is the luckiest day for fishing.
13578. Fish never bite as well on Sunday as they do during the week.
13579. "My father said Sunday was a very unlucky day for fishing. He would never go; said something would happen if he did."
13580. "There was a man years ago that went fishing every Sunday and he would not fish any other day but Sunday. One Sunday morning he got
up real early and went fishing. He got something on his hook that looked like a person. He pull and pull and it holler like a woman. And it
grabbed him and pulled him in the water. And he died for fishing on Sunday."
13581. "If you go fishing on Sunday, will bring the devil up. I would not put a bait on a hook on Sunday for anything, for I don't want to see
the devil; and as sure as I put a line in on Sunday, I would catch him."
13582. Good days to fish are the seventeenth and eighteenth of the month.
13583. A profitable fishing time is the sign of the Crab.
13584. Fish when the sign is in the feet (Pisces) for luck.
13585. The sign of the fish (Fishes = Pisces) is an excellent time for fishing.
13586. You will not have any fishing luck if you fish when the sign is in the head (Aries). Sometimes this sign is thought to be a lucky fishing
time.
13587. Do not go fishing when a powder horn can be slung over the tip of the moon.
13588. Most fishermen believe that fish bite better in the dark of the moon because they cannot see then and are hungrier, but some fishermen
prefer the increase of the moon.
13589. Fish will bite on a light moon, if the day be clear and warm.
13590. If the moon is light, fish in shallow water; but during a dark moon. seek deep water.
13591. Never go fishing in the full of the moon, but just as it begins to take off.
13592. The best time to fish at night is during full moon.
13593. Always fish on a moonlight night.
13594. Clouds scudding across the moon mean good fishing next day.
13595. Never fish with a seine on a clear night; you will not have any luck. Always choose a cloudy night.
13596. A cloudy day is an excellent fishing time, especially for catfish, but a few believe that fish will not bite then.
13597. Fish cease biting at the approach of a heavy storm.
13598. If it thunders, fish will not bite, but the opposite view is also held. "One time it was thundering real hard, a man-caught one-hundred
pounds of catfish right down at the foot of Maine Street [in the Mississippi River, but this was many years ago]."
13599. "When I was a little younger I used to love to go fishing, and I would always pick out a day when it was raining to catch catfish. All
fish are thought to become excited and to bite well while it rains. Many and many a day I have sit on the river down here with an umbrella over
me just pouring down rain, but I was catching catfish and didn't care. I used to pull out catfish just as soon as I would put the line in the river, one
right after another, and sometimes the rain would be going down my back, but I got the catfish."
13600. A rain coming rapidly and falling heavily makes fish stop biting, but if a rain comes slowly and falls gently, fish will continue to bite.
13601. You will not catch any fish when you see fish jumping on a rainy day.
13602. Go fishing just after a rain; after a hard rain say some.
13603.
"If a fishman goes out to fish, he should always pray,
For perpetual sunshine that will not fade away, .
And he will have good luck all day."
 313

13604. Fish do not bite on a sunny day.

13605.
"Wind from the south, hook in the mouth.
Wind from the east, bite the least.
Wind from the north, further off.
Wind from the west, bite the best."
13606. Regardless of the preceding rhyme, some say fish do not bite when the wind is in the south.
13607. If you have a south wind and cloudy weather, you can jerk out fish as fast as your line drops into the water.
13608. During a soft wind from the south or southwest fish bite the best.
13609. Whenever the wind is in the east, fish on the east side of the bank.
13610. Notwithstanding the well-known rhyme previously given, some say a north wind offers good fishing.
13611. Fishing during a northeast wind will be poor.
13612. Do not go fishing when the wind is in the west; the fish will not bite. This contradicts the rhyme already quoted.
13613. Fish on the west side of the bank, if the wind is in the west.
13614.
"When the wind is in the southwest,
The fish bite the best."
13615. To be lucky in fishing, keep the wind at your back; yet some say you must fish against the wind for luck.
13616. Fish never bite on a windy day.
13617. A good fishing ground will be found wherever you see a sand crane wading in the water.
13618. It is unlucky to take a dog on a fishing trip.
13619. An eel caught by a fisherman on his first trip of the season denotes failure at fishing all year.
13620. "I had a man friend that was an old fisherman, always was on the river fishing; only, when he started out, if he met a man driving a grey
horse, he would always go back home for the day ---said a grey horse and fishing didn't hitch."
13621. To meet a hog as you go fishing is unlucky.
13622. If on your way to fish, you see a pin, hairpin, (large) safety pin, pick it up for luck; failing to do so will bring you bad luck.
13623. The person who picks up an open safety pin on his way fishing will be lucky.
13624. A rabbit crossing a fisherman's path is an omen of bad fishing luck for the day.
13625. "You will catch a lot of fish, if on the way to a fishing-hole a rabbit run in front of you from left to right of you."
13626. "I always have bad luck and don't get any fish, if I see a snake while fishing."
13627. To have a snake enter the water near your hook promises many fish that day.
13628. Hang up a turtle when you hook one and you will have luck all day in fishing.
13629. Always take your best girl along when you go fishing and let her put her feet in the water for luck.
13630. If you meet a woman first on your way fishing, do not expect any fish.
13631. The fisherman who meets a woman and speaks to her on his way fishing will not be successful.
13632. It is very lucky to meet a colored woman as you go fishing.
13633. "When I go fishing I always look for a colored man and sit by him for luck; you will always take fish home with you."
13634. Some Negroes think it unlucky to fish near a person deformed or bandaged in any manner.
13635. Fishermen will not change their dirty clothing as long as they are lucky.
13636. Turn your pockets inside out and you will catch catfish.
13637. Some say you can make fish bite by playing a musical instrument, but others say music draws snakes that drive the fish away.
13638. Throw an apple into the water and fish will bite well.
13639. Pebbles thrown into the water excite fish and make them bite.
13640. A net should be cast on the right side of the boat for luck.
13641. The person who digs his own bait always catches more fish.
13642. Always dig your worms at night with a light and you will have more luck in catching fish.
13643. If you want to get night-crawlers or dew-worms, some people call them fishing-worms ["common large earthworm. . .emerges from its
burrow at night"], never try to get them in the light of the moon for they will go down [deeper into the ground]; always get them 1n the dark of
the moon to get them. We sell them for fishing and we know. And always get them around midnight, that is the best time.
13644. If you do not bait your own hook, you will never get a bite.
13645. It is unlucky to bait your hook with a worm by using your left hand.
13646. Hold the worm in your mouth before baiting it to be lucky.
13647. Name the worm for a boy or girl you like and if you are liked by him or her that worm will catch a fish.
13648. If you tie some cow manure in a little sack, so that it will hang near your hook, you will catch more fish than you can use.
13649. If a man steals his wife's dish rag and ties a small piece of it next to the bait on his hook, he will catch many fish.
13650. If a man can steal his girl's stocking and tie a piece of it to his fishing pole, he will have good fishing luck.
13651. When I was a boy I always put three peanuts in my bait can for luck when going fishing.
13652. A piece of rattlesnake skin tied to your hook makes fish bite.
13653. You become lucky when fishing by spitting on your bait.
13654. "I never go fishing unless I take anise along so I can chew and spit on my hook for luck."
13655. "I always spit three times on my bait for luck fishing."
13655a. Human urine put on bait makes fish bite.
13656. If you use a bright cork on your line, fish will not bite.
13657. It is generally said a snake-doctor (dragon-fly) resting on your cork means a fish is near the hook and about to bite or you will have
good luck at fishing all day, but it is sometimes said a snake-doctor brings bad luck.
13658. Carry a fishing pole into the house before you start on a fishing trip and you will not get any fish.
13659. "If you drop your line when you go to put it on the pole, you had better throw the line away and get a new line, for you will not get any
fish with the line you drop."
13660. To change poles while fishing brings you bad luck.
13661. If the end of your pole touches the water, you will not be successful at fishing.
 314

13662. Never let anyone step over your line; it will cause you bad luck.
13663. Do not carry home a pole broken by a fish; you will lose your fishing luck.
13664. The person who jerks out a fish by throwing the pole back over his head will not get any more fish that day.
13665. It is unlucky to let your lines became crossed while fishing.
13666. When I go fishing I always fish with three lines or five lines. I never fish with one line, for I think it is bad luck to fish with one line. And
I always get plenty of fish. And I always pick a cloudy day, for the fish bite better on a cloudy day than a clear day."
13667. Use an even number of hooks on your line for luck. If an odd number is used, the fish will not bite.
13668. Do not throw away a hook broken on a snag; bury it to prevent bad luck.
13669. As soon as you catch the first fish of the season, remove it, clip off the hook and throw it away, put a new hook on your line, and then
release the fish in the water. This gives you good luck all year at fishing.
13670. When a fish escapes from your hook, name the fish and you will recatch it at once.
13671. If fish keep falling off your hook, you can hold them by spitting on the hook.
13672. If a fish flops off your hook while lifting it out of the water, you will not catch any more fish that day.
13673. A person letting a speared fish escape faces a bad fishing season.
13674. We went fishing one day last summer and I pull out the first fish that nibble on my line, and I got so many fish that day that I gave them
away; and my husband let the first fish get away and he didn't get a fish that day."
13675. If the first fish caught is small, you will catch small fish all day, but to get a large fish first signifies large fish that day. 13676. Some
people save the first fish caught to be lucky, but an experienced fisherman generally throws it back into the water for luck.
13677. To throw away the first fish of the season, no matter how small it is, causes bad fishing luck all year.
13678. The first fish caught in the spring give away for luck.
13679. In a fishing party the first person who catches a fish will be lucky.
13680. You will not have another bite that day, if you are stuck by the fin of a fish.
13681. It is unlucky to let sand or mud seep or ooze through your fingers while fishing.
13682. Let your shadow fall on the water while fishing and you will scare the fish away.
13683. "My brother always does this when fish are not biting. If you are fishing and the fish are not biting, fill your pipe and go to smoking and
the fish will start to bite."
13684. "My father always chewed tobacco to catch fish, but said no gum, you will not catch any fish."
13685. The person who swears while fishing will not catch a fish.
13686. If you talk while fishing, the fish will hear you and refuse to bite.
13687. Never while fishing tell anyone how many fish you have, for you will be unlucky.
HUNTER
13688. If a powder horn can be hung over the tip of the moon, it is a good time for hunting; if a powder horn cannot be hung over the tip of the
moon, it is a bad time for hunting.
13689. Unless there is a wind, hunters should remain at home.
13690. Never hunt when the wind is in the east; you will not catch anything.
13691. Wind in the north means excellent hunting.
13692. A hunter who changes the parting of his hair to the opposite side of his head just before he leaves home does not shoot much game.
13693. A mink foot carried in the pocket makes a hunter lucky.
13694. Just before you start on a hunting trip let someone hit you with an old shoe for luck. The greater the number in your family hitting you,
the more game you will get.
13695. Kick off your shoe and put it on again as you leave home to hunt. This gives you good luck.
13696. A black horsehair wrapped around your wrist will make you shoot straight.
13697. A handful of dried peas carried in your pocket while hunting makes you a better marksman.
13698. To have someone step over your gun just before you go on a hunt takes away your luck for the day.
13699. A hunter resting the stock of his gun on the floor and twirling it around should not leave the house that day because he will shoot himself.
13700. Do not load your gun until you reach the hunting grounds, for you will not have any luck.
13701. The hunter who shoots his gun once before leaving the yard will be lucky.
13702. Stop hunting immediately when a shell snaps; unless you do, someone will get shot.
13703. If two men are hunting and one of their guns goes off accidentally, they should discontinue the hunt, for if they continue, one of them will
be killed.
13704. It is very unlucky to discharge a gun through a barbed wire fence while hunting.
13705. Killing the first thing you shoot at with a new gun shows that you will be lucky with that gun.
13706. "My friend and I when we used to go hunting, he would always go back home, if he shot three times and didn't hit anything. I would say,
'Come on.' And he would say, 'What's the use?' But he would go home and sometime come back and meet me in the woods, for that would be
starting over."
13707. If you see the same kind of game thrice in succession and fail to secure one of the three, you will have no luck that t day.
13708. Game shot in the sign of the heart (Leo) dies at once.
13709. It is lucky for a hunter to meet a man with a gun over his shoulder coming towards him, but unlucky when the man is going away from
him.
13710. A hunter who meets an old man as the first person will be successful all day; an old woman, unsuccessful all day.
13711. Kill a cricket when you first reach camp and your hunting trip will be a failure.
13712. To find a large hairpin while hunting is the sign of good luck.
13713. "I always went back when young, if a rabbit went in front of me hunting."
13714. Let a hunter who finds an old rag tear it into strips and hang them on the nearest tree. Next time he goes hunting he will find game in that
tree.
13715. A redbird is an unlucky thing to see first on your way to hunt.
13716. If you see your shadow as you walk along while hunting, you will fail to capture any game that day.
13717. The hunter who finds a dead animal does not have any luck.
13718. To turn back after you have entered the woods on a hunt is a bad omen.
13719. The dog that chases his tail does not become a good hunter.
 315

13720. To prevent losing a dog during a hunt, warm a piece of bread in your armpit about ten minutes and then feed it to him. 13721. A dog will
not desert his master while hunting, if some of the animal's hair is cut off and worn in the shoes.
13722. "We never went hunting unless we let the dog go and get our game bag for good luck."
13723. If your dog repeatedly jumps up as high as your head while you are preparing for a hunt, it is an unlucky omen.
13724. To have your dog give a loud yell as you start off hunting means trouble.
13725. When your dog abandons a hot trail and returns howling to you, go home at once or you will encounter some misfortune. 13726. "A man
told me this was so that whenever he went hunting and the wind I was in the southeast, he would not get a bird, that the dogs co1ild not hold
them until he could get them."
13727. If a bird shot by a hunter hangs in the tree, he will be lucky all day.
13728. For success in hunting doves, keep in your hat a tail feather of a dove.
13729. To have a duck light among your decoys the first time you set them out indicates a good duck season for you.
13730. It is unlucky to aim at a duck flying directly over your head.
13731. "Never shoot at a duck coming toward you for you can't kill them. Their breast is a armor and it will turn bullets. I have tried myself to
shoot at them coming toward me and when the bullet hit their breast it would just pop and the duck would go on. Always shoot a duck going from
you."
13732. "If you are hunting and see three ducks flying, don't shoot them, for they are messengers sent out by the other ducks to see if everything is
all right. If you shoot them, the other ducks will not come out. But when you see ducks flying in pairs, it is all right to shoot, for you will know
the messengers have gone on."
13733. Always follow a wounded deer and kill it. Failing to do so means a similar experience next year.
13734. "Years ago when I lived in Missouri and went fox hunting, I would not go when the wind was in the east, for I knew I would not get
any."
13735. If you are trailing a fox and hear it bark, you might as well go home for a barking fox is never caught.
13736. Smear rabbit oil over the barrel of your gun and plenty of game, especially rabbits, will be bagged.
13737. Let the two ears of the first rabbit shot be skinned off in such a fashion that they are held together by the original hide. Keep this on
your person as a luck-piece while hunting.
13738. Carry a rabbit foot for hunting luck.
13739. Remove a foot from the first rabbit you kill and wear it to be lucky during the rest of the hunting season.
13740. "My husband always put a rabbit foot over the door when he went out when he went hunting, to bring luck in bringing back rabbits
through that door."
13741. Immediately cut off the tail of the first rabbit killed and put it in your hunting bag. You will catch rabbits all winter.
13742. The hunter who skins his first rabbit will scare away the game.
13743. Kill the first rabbit seen on your initial hunt of the year and you will have a good hunting season.
13744. You will be lucky at hunting all year, if the first rabbit killed in the season is a male.
13745. To teach a dog how to hunt rabbits, feed him the warm insides of the first rabbit caught.
13746. They say a raccoon rubs gum off a wild cherry tree on its feet so that a dog cannot track it.
13747. It is also said that a raccoon always leads a dog to water where he will try to drown his pursuer.
13748. A raccoon is too clever to be snared by a trap unless you bait it with a mirror. On seeing his reflection he will think it another raccoon
and enter.
13749. "When I go hunting for squirrels I always go down in Washington Park to see if the squirrels are on the ground or trees, so I will know
where to look for them when I get to the woods."
13750. If you hit the first squirrel of the season and it sticks in the fork of a tree, squirrels will be abundant that year.
13751. A hunter who kills the first squirrel he shoots at will be lucky all day.
13752. Preserve the four toes on the left hind foot of the first squirrel killed and you will have a good squirrel season.

GAMBLER
13753. Some gamblers say that the twelve face cards in a deck represent the twelve Disciples of the Lord.
13754. An inveterate gambler goes to hell backwards.
13755. People who gamble every night soon lose their luck. In other words, if you have a winning streak, give your luck a rest. 13756. A gambler
when in a losing streak will let a baby boy wet on him for a change of luck.
13757. If you bet on numbers, also called policy, or are betting at roulette and similar games of chance in which a numeral is involved, choose the
date of your birth for luck.
13758. To choose the number thirteen or to stop on it in a game of chance is unlucky.
13759. Misfortune comes from wearing the bill of your cap at the back of your head while gambling.
13760. Professional gamblers consider it inauspicious to play twice with the same deck of cards.
13761. Some gamblers to reverse a streak of bad luck will insist upon using a deck of cards with backs differently colored from those being used.
13761a. If a person on his way to gamble is followed by a cat, he will return successful.
13762. "I know several gamblers when they go to play poker they won't play unless they can sit on the west side of the table; say they will not be
lucky on the other sides of the table."
13763. "This is another thing a gambler watches. If you are going to play cards at a table and you pull a chair away from that table to sit in,
and that chair squeaks, don't use that chair, get another chair. A gambler will never use one that squeaks before he sits down in it. I believe
gamblers are the most superstitious people in the world. Maybe it's because I always worked in a gambling house when younger."
13764. "A gambler will never sit in a crooked-back chair; they say it's bad luck. Always sit in a straight-back chair for luck."
13765. "If you are getting ready to play cards and are standing by a chair, and not thinking turn the chair around on one leg, you had better not
play, for you will lose all the money you put on the table."
13766. "Another thing a gambler is against, if you are playing cards and get up ---to go and get a drink or something ---out of your chair,
and another come along and turn your chair around, that is very bad luck, will start a fight right there among the gamblers and a shooting-scrape.
Never turn a gambler's chair around when he is playing, if you don't want to get shot."
13767. "If you are gambling and are losing, some gamblers get up and walk around their chair once, some two times, and some three times, to
drive off what they call the Spanish curse, which is supposed to last for seven years before it will wear out."
 316

13768. To break a losing streak at gambling, pull your chair away from the table, walk around it thrice and, reversing the direction, then go back
the other way three times.
13769. When you are in a poker game, do not allow anyone to rest his foot upon the rounds of your chair, for it causes bad luck. 13770. "I've seen
gamblers who would not even let you stand near their chair, afraid you might lean on it and give them bad luck." 13771. "I've been in lots of
gambling houses where they wouldn't allow a cross-eyed person in."
13772. A person born in February is never fortunate at gambling.
13773. Some poker players, as also other gamblers, sit with their feet crossed for success in gambling.
13774. It is unfortunate to gamble on Friday.
13775. Friday 13 is an ill-omened day for gambling.
13776. A black cat seen on Friday 13 is an unfavorable sign for gamblers.
13777. To have someone pat you on the head while you are playing at a gambling game is unlucky.
13778. He who lays his hand on the right shoulder of a seated gambler makes him a loser.
13779. Kiss a poker chip for luck when tossing it into the pot.
13780. "My husband will never let anyone pick up his poker chips, not even touch them; said if they did, he would lose all evening."
13781. Poker players sometimes keep a personal luck-piece on the table.
13782. Before entering a game of chance strike a match and if it burns to the end, you will be lucky; if it breaks off, do not gamble that day.
13783. "I know a gambler that always washes his paper money, then irons it, before he starts out, and he said he always wins."
13784. You will not win the money you count in advance.
13785. Borrow the money with which you gamble and you will always be a winner.
13786. Do not loan money to anyone with whom you are gambling, for he will beat you; hence a first principle among gamblers is proverbial:
"Never bet against your own money."
13787. Accept pennies in a game of chance and you have accepted bad luck.
13788. To avert bad luck should you receive pennies while gambling, throw them back over the head before placing them in your pocket.
13789. The acceptance of a 1913 dime in a game of chance produces bad luck.
13790. A gambler will never take a two-dollar bill from you unless you first tear off one of its corners.
13791. If you happen to have a gold coin in your pocket while winning, wear it thereafter whenever you gamble and you will always be lucky.
13792. The person who wins the first pot of money in an evening poker game will be luckless the rest of the evening.
13793. Some gamblers have a good-luck pair. The good-luck pair of a well- known gambler in Quincy was the deuce of diamonds and the queen
of spades. He was never known to lose when he held these two cards.
13794. "I have saw gamblers come with their pockets full of money to play, and if they got three jacks in their first hand, they would get up
and leave the house, would not play that day."
13795. "Another thing, if you are playing poker and you get three queens in the first deal, you will have good luck in that game."
13796. A person will go broke, if he holds the same three cards three times in succession.
13797. "It is very good luck to rub your hand over a bald-headed man; will bring you luck in any game of chance."
13798. "If you are in a gambling house, they will not let you throw peanut shells on the floor, for that brings bad luck to the house, and the house
will be pulled [raided by the police] if you do."
13799. Carry a rabbit foot in your right pocket for gambling luck.
13800. "I was a gambler and I would never play cards on a rainy day; if I did, I would always lose. If I started to a town and when I got there it
was raining, I would not stop. I would always go to the next town to keep from having bad luck."
13801. "If you want to break the house, sprinkle some salt on the table and the gamblers will all have bad luck; then wash your hands in whisky,
and you will break them all. "
13802. A losing streak can be checked by filling a whiskey glass with salt and dropping it under the table.
13803. "I have a Negro friend, whenever she wants to win anything, she always puts a spider in her stocking. One morning she put a great big
spider in her stocking, and do you know, she won ten dollars that day on a lottery ticket."
13804. The gambler who on leaving home meets a woman first will succeed that day, but to meet a man first is an omen of failure.
13805. The presence of a woman in a gambling room is unlucky, unless she shares (participates) in the game.
13806. Let a woman stand behind you and look over your left shoulder at your cards for gambling luck.
13807. "My boy friend was losing one night gambling and I bent a pin and got behind him and stuck it in the back of his shirt and he started
to winning right away."
13808. To obtain luck in a game of chance, kiss a strange woman.
13809. "I worked in a gambling house when a young man and I know this is true. When big money is in the game they would get some hair off a
woman's body, not her head, and rub this hair between their hands when starting to play to be sure to win."
13810. Crap games on Sunday are unlucky.
13811. Good luck comes from talking to your dice at night.
13812. Carry one dice in your pocket for luck.
13813. It is unfortunate to keep your dice in the left pocket.
13814. Dice carried in your cap causes bad luck.
13815. If you carry dice about your person and use them in a game, you will be unlucky; therefore always shoot with dice that belong to someone
else.
13816. A colored man can always beat a white man in a crap game.
13817. The presence of a colored woman with a light complexion at a crap game means misfortune.
13818. A cross-eyed person in the vicinity of a crap game brings bad luck.
13819. To have a man standing nearby while you shoot craps makes you unlucky, unless he is in the game.
13820. Never enter a crap game by invitation; you will lose. You must participate voluntarily by first asking permission.
13821. Always practice with your dice just before starting a game, if you want to win.
13822. The player who touches a pair of dice and fails to shoot them has trouble in winning.
13323. Do not allow anyone to play with your dice, he will take away your luck.
13824. A cross-eyed person touching your dice invites disaster.
13825. If you touch the dice someone is shooting, you make him luckless.
13826. It is unlucky to let another player throw your dice first.
 317

13827. You can obtain good luck by letting somebody tell you how to shoot. your dice .
13828. If there is a tramp round a crap game, ask him to shoot your hand and he will break the game.
13829. "You can rub dice on a woman's breast and it will give you good luck and make you win."
13830. "You can rub the dice on a woman from hip to hip and it will give you good luck."
13831. "Some gamblers let a woman carry a dice under her clothing for a week, then take a dollar from her and go to the game; and he will win
all the money in that game. The woman gives him good luck."
13832. Blow cigar smoke on the dice for luck before shooting them.
13833. By rubbing the dice in your hair you can throw seven or eleven every time.
13834. If someone holds his hand over your head as you shoot, you may expect bad luck.
13835. Wave your hands over the dice when a man rolls them out; this prevents his winning.
13836. One procures luck by passing a rabbit foot over the dice before shooting them.
13837. A player spitting on his dice always wins.
13838. Spit on the dice and then roll them in your hands for luck.
13839. Sometimes a player will first stick the dice into his mouth to gain luck.
13840. To change a losing streak in shooting craps, spit into the palm of your hand and rub it three times.
13841. "If I am playing dice, I spit in my hand, then shake the dice three times in that spit for luck."
13842. Those you try to cheat will always throw craps.
13843. To become angry with your dice increases your bad luck.
13844. Show a lack of interest in your dice and you will win two out of three times.
13845. Close your eyes for luck when you shoot the dice.
13846. If you glance back over your shoulder before shooting, look for bad luck.
13847. You will go broke if you shoot the dice over someone's out-stretched leg.
13848. It is unlucky to roll out the dice with your left hand. On the contrary, to reverse your luck at bunco, throw the dice with your left hand.
13849. Players who can hold the dice palmed in the hand and thus throw them out will break you with sevens and elevens.
13850. To secure luck you may hit the dice on the table three times before shaking them.
13851. If a gambler spins the dice up into the air and they hit the table spinning, they will stop on seven or eleven.
13852. Bounce the dice and your money is lost.
13853. If you attempt to jolt the dice, you will be penniless within an hour.
13854. Some crap shooters pop their dice to win.
13855. Pick up your dice and slide them out for luck.
13856. To have one of the dice fall in picking them up indicates that your money will soon be gone. Similarly, if while shaking dice in a game
of bunco you drop one of them on to the floor, you will not make any fives.
13857. If dice accidentally dropped turn over after they fall, the seven "will pass you like a dog", but dice that slide in falling denote a seven
to follow quickly.
13858. If you are coming out for your first point and your initial shot is craps, you will be without any luck in that game.
13859. If you are unable to make a pass in three shots, luck at craps is not for you.
13860. If your opponent catches your dice three times and on the fourth throw you get a point, you will lose the game.
13861. "If you catch a four for a point, just holler 'Little Joe! Little Joe!' and they will come four every time."
13862. "If the dice five just say 'Come five! Come five!' and they will five for you."
13863. "If you want to throw seven, just say 'Ain't that heaven! Ain't that heaven!' and they will come seven."
13864. If you throw seven the first time you will certainly win with an eleven; hence Seven come eleven.
13865. "If you catch an eight for a point, next time you roll them holler 'Skate, dice, skate!' and they will come eight for you."
13866. "If you throw the dice and they come nine, just call for time — 'Time! Time! Time!'"
13867. "If the dice come ten, just call 'Big Ben! Big Ben!' and they will ten for you."
13868. The best luck in craps comes by keeping quiet when you shoot.
Horse Race - Playing Cards - Fortune Telling (13869-14085)
HORSE RACE
13869. Never bet at a race track on even days; you will lose your money. Always select odd days for luck.
13870. It is unlucky to tear up your checks at the race track.
13871. Do not play a horse someone picks for you; you will certainly lose.
13872. If it starts to rain while you are laying your bet, you will be lucky.
13873. To have it thunder just when you are betting means bad luck the rest of the day.
13874. If you find your seat in the stand dry, you will be a winner at the race track; if wet, you will be "all wet" ---a loser.
13875. After you have entered the gate at a race track, do not walk on the grass before reaching your seat, for you will be the greenest person
present with your bets. So said the informant, but surely there is another possibility; you would have been walking on green (paper) money
---disdaining it. Strange to say, even this could be lucky.
13876. You can win your bet by closing your eyes and choosing a horse.
13877. If your left eye itches while you are at the races, any bet you make will be lost.
13878. An itching eye at the track is a good betting sign.
13879. If the first person you see on your way to the races is a "bull- legged" man, you will be lucky with your bets; if a "bull-legged"
woman, unlucky.
13880. It is unlucky to encounter a cross-eyed person at the race track.
13881. Rub your hand over the head of a "slick-haired" person for luck in betting on the horses.
13882. To hear a woman's voice just before you bet is an unlucky omen.
13883. Always give money to any beggar you pass on your way to the track or you will lose on the horses.
13884. Bet on a horse race with two-dollar bills for luck.
13885. As an unfailing method for winning bets on horses, let a woman carry money in her stocking and a man in his shoes for three days before
the race.
13886. Keep a live spider in your left stocking for luck on horse races.
13887. If your hat blows back over your head after you have bet on a horse, you will lose that bet.
 318

13888. To have your hat blow out onto the race track is a lucky betting sign.
13889. Place your bet on the weakest horse for luck.
13890. The one who bets on the darkest colored horse will win.
13891. It is lucky to bet on a black horse. However, a few persons say that bets should not be laid on a black horse.
13892. If the race horse has a white forehead, back him and you will win.
13893. Betting on a grey horse is unlucky.
13894. A race horse holding his head high is fast and likely to win; a race horse holding his head down is lazy and unlikely to win.
13895. A race horse that holds his head half-cocked is stubborn and hence an "in-and-outer". He should not be backed.
13896. A race horse with a shaky head is mean and rarely a winner.
13897. A race horse with a tail raised high seldom wins.
13898. A race horse with a long pretty tail is a good horse; a race horse with a bobbed tail is not a good horse.
13899. A right-footed start is a lucky race horse; therefore never wager on a race horse that starts with the left foot.
13900. A race horse that is difficult to saddle will not win a race because he does not want to win.
13901. The trainer or stable boy for luck should turn his charge around twice just before he is led to the wire.
13902. If you want a horse to win, tie a shoe button to the saddle for luck.
13903. A jockey who wears his cap backward will not win his race.
13904. It is unlucky for a Jockey to whip his mount with the left hand.
13905. If you count the horses on the track after you have laid your bet, you will not win the race.
13906. An owner entering two horses and then deciding that one must be scratched should always withdraw the second entry for luck.
13907. Let the owner who wants the stakes enter three horses and scratch two.
13908. The owner should keep a goat in the stall with a race horse for luck.
13909. You will rarely find a race horse stabled in stall thirteen whether or not there is a number over the door.
13910. Everything belonging to a race horse, killed as a result of an accident on the track, such as blanket, blinkers, halter, feed tub, water
bucket, is buried with the dead animal, for it is unlucky to let another race horse use them.

PLAYING CARDS
13911. It is an old saying that a deck of cards represents every chapter in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
13912. Lucky at cards, unlucky at love; unlucky at cards, lucky at love.
13913. A beginner at cards always wins. This is said of any game.
13914. Beg a person to play cards and he will always beat you.
13915. Of cheating in a card game it is said: cheaters never win; also, the more you cheat, the worse your luck.
13916. If in a card game you become angry without cause, you will be luckless at cards that day.
13917. Misfortune at the start of a card game will increase as the playing progresses; quit immediately to avert it.
13918. Bad luck is changed to good by dealing in the reverse direction next time you are dealer.
13919. For a reversal of luck "milk" the cards ---deal alternately from the top and bottom of the deck.
13920. Four cards are dealt at one time in pinochle; to change your luck, deal out two cards at a time.
13921. To turn bad luck into good, take a different deck when you shuffle.
13922. It is unlucky for the owner to use the same deck of cards too long, the luck rubs off.
13923. Do not let anyone touch the hand you are dealing to yourself; you will be very unfortunate in the game.
13924. Never allow a non-player to handle the deck you are playing with; he will give you bad luck.
13925. The player who accepts a deck of cards from someone's hand will have bad luck. They must be taken up from the table.
13926. Dealers who shuffle the cards three times, then blow on them three times, always win the game.
13927. "If you are dealing cards and accidentally deal more hands at the table than is people playing, it is sure bad luck. "
13928. When a dealer accidentally turns up a card, it signifies that the game will break up in a quarrel.
13929. The card accidentally turned over in dealing will be a trump.
13930. "I always throw up my card hand if dealing and drop a card, for I will lose anyway."
13931. A person dropping a card off the table as he shuffles has bad luck.
13932. "If you are dealing cards and let half of them fall from your hands, you will not win that game for it is bad luck to drop some of your
cards." Some say the more cards the shuffler drops, the worse his luck.
13933. A whole deck of cards falling out of your hands denotes danger.
13934. "If I am playing cards for money and I drop a club on the floor, I cash in my chips because I know I will lose the rest of the night, for to
drop a card of clubs is sure bad luck."
13935. A black card dropped by dealer or player means bad luck; a red one, good luck.
13936. Some say it is unlucky for the eligible player to ask of the dealer permission to cut the cards; he should not cut the cards unless the
dealer offers the opportunity.
13937.
13938. Never cut cards when you are winning; your luck will desert you.
13939. Some say the dealer will have bad luck unless he offers the eligible player a chance to cut the cards.
13940. If a dealer cuts the cards after the eligible player has refused to cut them, he will have bad luck say some, good luck say others.
13941. You may expect bad luck; if you cut cards out of anyone's hand.
13942. Cards should be cut with the left hand for luck. The opposite is sometimes believed.
13943. The dealer who cuts the cards to the left before they are shuffled will be a loser.
13944. Cut the cards with your left hand and lay the cut portion towards you for luck.
13945. You secure luck by cutting the cards backwards, that is, by putting the cut in the dealer's direction.
13946. You become unlucky by passing one cut over the other in cutting.
13947. After the cards are cut, the dealer for luck should turn them around on the table in the opposite direction from that in which they were
placed by the cutter.
13948. It is said of cutting cards:
"If you cut them thin
You're sure to win."
 319

13949. "If you cut cards and cut them deep, you are sore to the skin." Cutting cards deeply (picking up much more than half the deck) indicates
that you will not win; hence the remark, "You are sore to the skin", because you are angry or disgusted with yourself.
13950. A "sloppy cut" (a cut which you fumble, cut too much or too little) is luck for the dealer.
13951. "If you are playing cards and when you cut, if you happen to cut the court-card representing yourself, like if you are light and cut the
queen of hearts or diamonds, very good luck; if dark and cut the dark queen, very good luck; and the same with a man, very good luck to cut your
own card."
13952. After a deck has been cut, it is lucky to deal from the uncut portion.
13953. You will be lucky with the hand, if the dealer gave you the last card.
13954. Look for the first and last card dealt you before taking up your hand, and if they are of the same suit, the rest of the cards will be good.
13955. Do not pick up your cards until the dealer finishes, for it is unlucky.
13956. It causes the dealer bad luck, if he picks up any of his cards before the other players have picked up all of theirs.
13957. The player who is the last to lift up his card hand from the table will be lucky. A contrary opinion is occasionally held. 13958. Picking up
all the cards of your hand at once will bring you good luck.
13959. Raise your cards from the table with your left hand for luck.
13960. "If you are playing cards and hold four aces, you will soon meet four strange people that week."
13961. If a card falls from the hand you are holding, it is a bad omen.
13962. "If you are playing cards and happen to drop the ace of diamonds, you will soon get a letter; if you happen to drop the ace of clubs, same
money you will soon get; the ace of hearts, you will soon get a new friend; and the ace of spades, a death it will bring to your house."
13963. To check a losing streak, transfer your cards to the other hand for luck.
13964. Kiss a card for luck before playing it.
13965. "Whenever I go to bingo, I always sit on my card until time to go to playing and I always win."
13966. "If you want to win at cards, sit on the queen of spades."
13967. "I know a woman that carries the jack of spades in her pocketbook and when she gets to bingo always sits on it and she sure wins."
13968. "If you want to win at a game of chance, take the ace of hearts and put the face part next to your skin and you are sure to win. "
13969. "If you are going somewhere to play a game of chance, take the card of the ace of hearts, cut the heart out, put it in your pocketbook.
When you get to playing, rub the heart over your cheeks ---I will not say which ones ---make a wish while doing it. You will get your wish and
win."
13970. "When I go to bingo I always spit on my card, then rub over my backside to win."
13971. "If you have a way on your card at bingo and only need one number in the first game and don't get it, you will not win all evening."
13972. "If you are at bingo and need two numbers to win the first game and don't get them, change your card and don't take another card with
either of those numbers on, for they are your unlucky numbers for that evening. "
13973. For luck at cards, keep the heart of a bat in your pocket.
13974. The heart of a bat wrapped in a silk handkerchief and kept in the pocket procures good luck for card players.
13975. "One morning I was downtown and saw a bat. I said to a boy, 'Get that bat for me and I will give you something.' That night while we
were eating supper, here came the boy with the bat. I took its heart out and tied it up in a red ribbon, and put it on my wrist, and went to a card
party and I won the prize." Some prescribe that the red ribbon or string used in tying the bat heart to your arm must be of silk. It is tied on the
right arm for luck at cards, and around the left one for luck generally.
13976. To place a deck of cards on the bed is unlucky.
13977. If a person plays cards on a bed, he will be given bad luck.
13978. A card player should carry in his pocket for luck a bone from a corpse.
13979. To obtain good luck at cards, the little finger of a dead person may be carried.
13980. Good luck at cards is had by touching the skull of an infant's skeleton.
13981. It is unlucky to play cards near a place where there has been a murder.
13982. "I always pick up every button I see on the walk. Just last week I was with my husband and I picked up a button on the side-walk. He said,
'Why do you pick up all the dirty buttons you see?' I said, 'I can't pass up my luck, for I am very lucky.' That night I won $5.00 at bingo, so the
dirty buttons I picked up that afternoon did bring me luck."
13983. "My husband was at a card game just last week and they wanted a man to play that was sitting in the room. He said, 'I have a button sewed
crooked on my pants. My wife can't sew anything straight and I will lose.' He would not play cards because the button on his pants was crooked."
13984. You obtain good luck for a card game, if a buckeye is worn in your right pocket.
13985. Stroke the tail of a black cat seven times to acquire good luck in card playing.
13986. You will not be a winner at cards, if you play while sitting in a rocking-chair.
13987. "To win at a card game always sit down on the right side of the chair to win; never sit down from the left or you will lose."
13988. Bad luck at cards is shaken away and blown away by raising your chair, shaking it, and blowing on the seat.
13989. To change your luck at cards, get up and spin your chair around once.
13990. "If you are playing poker and losing, take your chair and whirl it around three times on one leg."
13991. "If you want to win in cards, if losing, take your chair by the back and whirl it around on its two back legs three times to win."
13992. As a counteractant for bad luck in a card game, set your chair with its back to the table and sit astride it while playing.
13993. Exchange bad luck for good at cards by sitting in another chair.
13994. "If losing at anything, get up out of your chair on the left side and walk around to the right side to win. They do this at bingo."
13995. Rest your hand on the top of your chair while walking around it for luck in playing cards.
13996. When unsuccessful in a card game, walk around your chair and then spit on it before seating yourself.
13997. Luck will return to a card player, if he walks around his chair, sits down, and then spits.
13998. Walk around your chair three times before you sit down at the beginning of a card game and you will be a winner .
13999. Partners holding bad cards should trade seats for luck.
14000. If partners exchanging seats for luck at cards are of the opposite sex, they will not succeed in their intention unless the man passes in front
of the woman without excusing himself.
14001. Stick a four-leafed clover into your pocket for luck at a card game.
14002. "When playing a game of cards, if you want to be lucky, always count ten before you start to play; don't let anyone hear you and you will
have good luck."
 320

14003. "I believe this about dice. About two weeks ago I picked up a big dice on the street. I didn't know it was bad luck to pick up a dice on
the street, so I picked it up and dropped it in my purse and went to bingo; lost that night and the next time lost. So I took the dice out of my purse
thinking maybe I would have better luck next time."
14004. "I was on the bus the other day and a woman was going to bingo, and I heard another woman ask her what she had along today to win.
She said, ' I have a piece of my dish rag in my left shoe for luck today'."
14005. "If you carry a good-luck charm to a card game, and someone else pick it up and rub over their backside three times, they will take your
luck away from you. This is so. February 9 I went to a card party, and a woman had a small yellow little dog she had been carrying for several
months, said it was her luck charm. She had been winning the head prize with it. She always sit it down on the table in front of her. One of the
ladies at this card party said, 'Let me see your good-luck dog.' The other woman handed it over, not thinking. This woman took it, rubbed it over
her backside three times, saying, 'I will win the head prize today, you will lose, for I rubbed your luck on me.' The woman was angry because she
lost and the other woman won the head prize. I knew this is so, for I was at the card party myself."
14006. A woman gains luck at cards by turning up the hem of her dress.
14007. "I know a woman that always wears three little white elephants pinned on her dress to win at cards."
14008. Sit on one of your feet for luck while playing cards.
14009. "If you are playing cards or bingo, keep your legs crossed all the time you are playing and you will win."
14010. "If you only need one number at bingo, cross your feet and keep calling the number you want to yourself and you will win."
14011. Trim your finger-nails before going to a card game and your luck will be trimmed away.
14012. "I know a man that when he plays cards to win he always wears different colored garters and he wins too."
14013. "I aways put my right glove on first for luck, if I am going anywhere to play, to win; would not put my left glove on first for anything."
14014. If a man clips some hair from near a woman's ear and puts it in the palm of his hand, holding the hair in place by using a rubber band, and
goes to a card game, he will win.
14015. "About two weeks ago a man and his wife were sitting across the table from me at bingo. He was fussing because he never won; said he
had been going for a year. I laughed and said, 'Do you want me to tell you why you don't win?' He said, 'Yes, if you can.' I said, 'Well, you will
never win because you have your hat on the table; that's bad luck, an old colored woman told me. ' He said, 'Well, I didn't know that. I will take
my hat right of the table and put it on the floor. Lady, if I win, I will sure treat you for telling me that.' Everyone around the table had a good
laugh. We all started to playing, and forgot about the hat, until in the tenth game the old man won $10.00. Everyone had another good laugh
because the old man thought taking his hat off the table brought him luck. I got my treat."
14016. "If I am playing cards and my hands sweat, I never lose in cards; if they don't sweat, I always lose."
14017. Bad luck befalls the card player over whose head you wave your hand.
14018. A person who is losing at cards should sit on his handkerchief to win.
14019. "If you are winning too much at cards, sit on a red handkerchief to hold down your luck."
14020. Play cards with your hat on for luck. This is primarily for women.
14021. Rid yourself of bad luck by twisting the front of your hat around to the back and kissing the cards three times.
14022. Your hat may be turned upside down for luck at cards.
14023. A person's hat must never be laid on a bed at a card party, if good luck is desired for the game.
14024. "I know a woman that every time she goes to losing at cards, she always scratches her head so she will have good luck."
14025. The writing of a letter just before you attend a card party is fatal to your luck while there. If you must write a letter, or have written one
inadvertently, before attending a card party, counteract the consequent bad luck by waiting until your return home to mail the letter.
14026. "I was at bingo the other night and a woman had three rusty nails on her card. I said, 'What's the nails for?' 'Oh, to bring me luck.
I accidentally found all three of them today. If you find a rusty nail that's very good luck, but you can't go around looking for it, you just have
to stumble over it.' She won $5.00 and a big basket of groceries on the card that had the rusty nails."
14027. "Never play cards or any game of chance at a table with two people that both have the first name alike; very unlucky ."
14028. "If you are walking along and meet an old Negro woman, if you can shake hands with her, will bring you good luck at the next card party
or bingo game. "
14029. "If you want to be lucky at cards or in any game, scratch a Negro on the head before you start."
14030. To win at cards or in any game, try to touch a hunchback for luck. In gambling the luck will be better; if the hunchback is a Negro.
14031. "If you want to have good luck, borrow three pennies, put them under your pillow and sleep on them for three nights. I do this three
nights before I go to play bingo or anything I want luck."
14032. "I always do this for luck: when you go to bingo, take a quarter, spit on it, then spin it around three times for good luck."
14033. If you dust red pepper over the cards, it will burn off the bad luck.
14034. "I have a gentleman friend that always turns a picture that is hanging back of him to the wall to win at cards."
14035. You bestow good luck upon a friend at a card game, if you secretly conceal a bent pin in his coat.
14036. "To have luck wear a safety pin in your dress or coat. We do when we go to bingo for luck."
14037. "For good luck at bingo, carry all the time in your pocketbook four hairpins and a small knife. I do this to win at bingo."
14038. "I always win at cards when I wear a rabbit foot in my stocking."
14039. "I always sit on a rabbit foot at bingo to win and I win almost every night. I put it on my chair and leave it there all the time I am sitting."
14040. "If you are going to play cards and want to win, rub a little rabbit oil on your hands; will give you a lucky hand and luck will stay with
you."
14041 Just before entering a card game, a woman may powder her nose with a rabbit foot for luck. The rabbit foot is used as a powder-puff.
14042. Whoever keeps the score in a card game always loses.
14043. The person who has a high score card should preserve it for luck.
14044. To have luck at cards, sit on your score card.
14045. "If you want to win at cards, you must put on the shoes you are going to play in before you eat. Never put on the shoes you are going to
wear to a party after you eat; if you do, you will lose in cards every time."
14046. Spit over your left shoulder three times to change your luck at cards. In recent years, due to changing social conditions and
sanitary considerations, one merely pretends to spit.
14047. Some card players drive bad luck away by spitting on a handkerchief.
14048. "I know a woman, if winning at cards, spits on her handkerchief, then ties it around her neck, to hold up her luck so she will keep on
winning."
14049. A losing streak in a card game is stopped by spitting on a woolen rag and burning it.
 321

14050. "If you are playing cards, spit on your hand, then rub your cards over it, then rub your cards over your hind end, to win at cards."
14051. It is considered unlucky, if a bystander looks at a card hand over the player's shoulder; the left usually being prescribed.
14052. "If you are playing cards, never let a man stand in the back of you if you are a woman, for that is very bad luck; if a man, never let a
woman stand in back of you."
14053. It is not lucky for a player in a card game, if a looker-on talks to him.
14054. Break a spell of bad luck at cards by walking around the table.
14055. If luck is against a card player, let him walk around the table three times.
14056. If you are losing at cards, get up and walk around the table three times backwards to change your luck.
14057. Anyone losing at cards can change his luck by getting up and running around the table three times.
14058. To change your luck while playing cards or any game, get up and walk around your chair three times, then turn the chair upside down and
spit on its bottom.
14059. "If you are losing at cards, get up and walk around your table three times, then spit three times in your chair to break the bad luck."
14060. Playing cards across the grain of the table is unlucky.
14061. You will win at a card party by wearing one of your stockings wrong side out; the left say some, the right say others.
14062. To be lucky in playing cards, turn up the cuffs of your trousers.
14063. If a woman gets a new pair of bloomers, she should wear them to a card party for luck.
14064. If a woman puts her bloomers on wrong side out, she should wear them thus the rest of the day for luck at cards that night.
14065. Some women believe that wearing a certain pair of bloomers gives them luck at cards. Hence one hears such expressions as: "Well, I
didn't win any prize tonight, because I didn't have my lucky pants on."
14066. Taking an umbrella to a card party will make you lose.
14067. You win in a card game with a wishbone in your pocket.
14068. "I know a woman that carries three wishbones to bingo all the time. She is always winning."
14069. "I would never think of giving away any money I won at anything; if you do, you will never win another cent." This is also said of any
prize won.
14070. Do not sell anything you win; it will bring you bad luck.

FORTUNE-TELLING
14071. Friday is the best day of the week on which to have your fortune told.
14072. The modern belief that a new deck of cards should be used when telling fortunes was not held by the old-fashioned fortune-teller.
14073. If the fortune-teller runs through the cards more than three times in the same direction, you will be disappointed.
14074. Always pay a fortune-teller with silver to have your fortune to come true.
14075. As a form of fortune-telling, sleep with a deck of cards beneath your pillow and you will dream of your future.
14076. There is another form of fortune-telling connected with cards and dreams. If you make a wish while shuffling a deck of cards, lay the
cards out in four rows of thirteen cards each, put the cards together again, press them together hard, all the while keeping your wishing in mind,
and then lay the cards under your pillow and sleep on them, you will get your wish and
dream of your future.
14077. "Shuffle the cards. Cut them three times and lay them out in rows, nine cards each, and in four rows. Take the king, if you are a man, or
queen, if you are a woman ---to represent yourself, and count every way, and every ninth card will prove the right one:

HEARTS
Ace ---is your home
Two ---a kiss or a love affair
King ---light heavy-set man
Queen ---a very faithful friend
Knave ---a young boy
Ten ---the wedding card
Nine ---offer of marriage or wish card
Eight ---joy and a good time
Seven ---will shake hands with an old friend

DIAMONDS
Ace ---a letter you will soon receive
Three ---small sum of money
King ---a fair business man
Knave ---a messenger
Ten ---large amount of money
Nine ---forever meeting with disappointment
Eight ---you are going to a dance
Seven ---a newborn baby

CLUBS
Ace ---papers to sign
King ---a workingman
Queen ---a gentle and pleasing woman
Knave ---young single man
Ten ---trip to a big city:
Nine ---drinking card
Eight ---work card
 322

Seven ---beware of the opposite sex

SPADES
Ace ---a coffin if the point is down, and if up, a very bad letter
Three ---lies and scandal
Four ---sick bed
King ---very dark man and a lawyer
Queen ---slender dark woman
Knave ---dark man but hasty
Ten ---tears and imprisonment
Nine ---sickness
Eight ---marriage broken off
Seven ---grief and tears
Six ---death card
You must study the cards well before you try to tell someone's fortune. I will give you this for a sample:
We will say you are telling my fortune. I am the queen of clubs. Then count nine cards from the queen of clubs. We will say the ninth
card is the ace of diamonds; the next nine [counted], ten of diamonds; the next nine, king of spades; the next nine, ten of clubs; the next nine,
eight of hearts; the next nine, nine of clubs; the next nine, king of diamonds; the next nine, three of diamonds; the next nine, knave of diamonds;
the next nine, ace of hearts; the next nine, nine of spades; the next nine, six of spades. That would read I was going to get a letter, with a large
amount of money, from a dark man, to take a trip on, to a big city, and would have a good time, maybe I would get work, with a fat man, for
small money; would get a message, from home, telling of sickness, then death would follow. You make a wish when you are telling the fortune
and if anytime the ninth card is the nine of hearts, you will get your wish.
14078. In telling fortunes the cards mean as follows:

HEARTS
Ace ---the card of love and marriage
King ---a man of fair complexion
Queen ---a woman of very fair complexion
Knave ---you are trusting a man, sometimes a friend, sometimes a foe, avoid him.
Ten ---shows good nature and many children
Nine ---promises wealth and is the wish card
Eight ---the jealousy card
Seven ---shows the person to be a fickle and unfaithful disposition
Six ---shows a person of a generous, open and credulous disposition
Five ---shows a wavering, unsteady disposition
Four ---good news from an absent friend
Three ---a pleasing surprise
Deuce ---your love affair will terminate happily

DIAMONDS
Ace ---a letter with money
King ---you are ignoring good counsel
Queen ---that she will be fond of company, and not a good housekeeper
Knave ---you have a false friend
Ten ---promises great wealth
Nine ---any transaction you make within nine days should be profitable
Eight ---moderate success in store for you
Seven ---the best card in the pack
Six ---you will never want
Five ---a large sum of money will come, use it carefully
Four ---an unexpected loss will come
Three ---shows that you will be engaged in quarrels and law suits
Deuce something you desire very much you will shortly receive

CLUBS
Ace ---promises of great wealth
King ---a man very happy and faithful
Queen ---consult her, she will give wonderful advice
Knave ---a generous, sincere and zealous friend
Ten ---great riches to come speedily
Nine ---don't make any change
Eight ---be more independent with your business associates
Seven ---promises a brilliant future
Six ---plenty of chances in your present business, do not change
Five ---declares that you will shortly marry
Four ---a misunderstanding with a dear friend
Three ---shows that you will be three times married
Deuce ---be ready to grasp a splendid opportunity

SPADES
 323

Ace ---you will shortly attend a funeral

King ---beware of a dark man
Queen ---a dark woman is working against you
Knave ---do not flirt with a dark person
Ten ---the card of danger and unhappiness, look out for accidents
Nine ---is the worst card in the whole pack
Eight ---a card of doubt and warning
Seven ---be contented and strive for success
Six ---death card
Five ---shows speedy sickness
Four ---shows that you will be unfortunate in marriage
Three ---loss of property
Deuce ---always signifies a coffin, but whom it is for depends on the other cards that are near
14079. "Pour the grounds of coffee in a white cup, shake them well, so that the grounds may cover the whole cup. Make a wish, then turn it over
into the saucer. Then try and pick out the figures that formed.
If you find one tree, it is good health.
If you see several trees in your cup, your wish will come true.
If the bottom of the cup is clear, no trouble for you. Dark grounds denote trouble.
A single large ground on the edge of the cup is a letter bringing good news.
A cluster of grounds on the side of the cup is unexpected money coming from a death.
A clear way from the edge of the cup to the bottom, your way is clear and no trouble for you.
A bunch of dark grounds on the side of the cup like birds brings you bad news.
If a cross forms in your cup, great trouble and maybe death.
A ring in the cup is always marriage, and if a letter can be discovered near it, that will be the initial of your
future wife or husband.
If a clover leaf is at the top of the cup, it is a good sign; at the bottom, not good.
If you see an anchor at the bottom of the cup, success in business; at the top, you are going to fall in love.
If you see a snake, it is always an enemy.
If you see a dog's head on the top, you have true friends; if at the bottom, enemies.
If you see the figure of a man, you will have a speedy visitor.
If a crown is in your cup, you will get a large fortune.
If you see a heart surrounded by dots of grounds, you will recover some lost money.
If you see a coffin, it is a sure sign of death."
14080. "To tell your fortune by coffee grounds, drain all coffee from the cup, shake the grounds. If they form an anchor, you will have good
business and travel much; if they form the shape of a bird, lots of money."
14081. As a preliminary to telling fortunes by coffee grounds, the cup is turned upside down in the saucer and then turned around three times. If
in picking up the cup, coffee still drips from it, the person who is having his fortune told will soon shed tears.
14082. Fortunes can be told by gazing into a crystal ball.
14083. "Take three dice. Shake them well with your left hand and throw them out on a table, where you have drawn a circle with chalk. If in
throwing out the dice:
If one remains on the top of the other dice, it is bad luck for you. You had better take care.
If the same number comes twice at a trial, you will get news from abroad.
If a number rolls over the circle, that number does not count.
If one rolls on the floor, very bad luck.
Never shake the dice over three times at a trial. If you do, it will not come true. You are just losing time.

What the dice mean:

Three ---a very pleasing surprise.
Four ---you will have a quarrel.
Five ---you will meet a funeral.
Six ---you will lose your property.
Seven ---someone will talk about you or you will hear a scandal.
Eight ---someone will propose to you.
Nine ---you will go to a wedding, maybe your own.
Ten ---you will go to a christening of a baby.
Eleven ---a death that concerns you.
Twelve ---you will get a letter.
Thirteen ---tears and very bad luck.
Fourteen ---you have a secret enemy; beware they don't get you in trouble.
Fifteen ---prosperity and happiness will come to you.
Sixteen ---you will take a pleasant journey.
Seventeen ---you will go on the water.
Eighteen ---you will rise up in life and get a good job."
14084. When you have a palmist read your hand; about an hour before, hold your hand tight; it will make your life line deeper and longer.
14085. Fortunes by tea leaves should be told after dark for luck.

CHILDREN AT PLAY (14086-14118)

 324

14086. A child's first game, a twosome with mother or older sister or brother, was concerned with toes, face, or hands, something easily seen or
felt. The toe-game involved little pigs who went to market. The face-game, more understandable because the child was older, could be simple or
elaborate depending upon the pretending ability of the chief actor or narrator. Here is the outline of procedure:
Knock on the door --forehead
Peek in ---eyes
Open [lift] the latch ---nose
[And] walk in ---mouth
Chin-chopper, chin-chopper, chin-chopper chin-chin.
This outline must not be changed, but a considerable amount of stage-business may be added, not to mention various tones of voice, mock
seriousness, surprise, and other matters.
Once upon a time a mother (thumb) and her four children (fingers) came to
visit a child, a child just like you, a child who lived in a house just like this one (looking about) .What happened I'll tell you word for
word (awesomely). (A pause.) Wait! (Hand to ear.) Why, (pointing), they're standing outside the door now. I hear them. Can't you? Let's play
we're asleep to see what they'll do. (All eyes are closed.)
The narrator, acting for the visitors outside, knocks three times on the child's forehead, knock, knock. No answer. So the narrator lifts
the child's eyelids and peeks in. Two persons are home. The impatient guests outside the door do not knock again but boldly open the latch. This,
of course, is done by the narrator pulling up on the child's nose, perhaps giving it a squeeze at the same time. As soon as the latch was pulled, the
door (child's mouth) opened (after the child knew the game), and Mrs. Thumb and her four children (the tips of the narrator's thumb and four
fingers) tramped heavily up the child's chin and entered the mouth, as the latter snapped closed. (Mrs. Thumb and her children have been known
to have been caught between the closing teeth.) With the flat edge of the hand the narrator finishes the adventure by rapidly hitting up and down
under the child's chin while repeating the chin-
chopper ending.
14087. Perhaps, after the preceding game had been played enough for one sitting, someone may have thought up as a final encore the following:
Nose dropper
Ear lopper
Chin chopper.
These three expressions mean: nose squeezed down, ears pulled up, and chin chopped as in 14086.
14088. Similar to 14086 is another face-game:
Here sits the Lord Mayor (forehead)
Here sits his two men (eyes)
Here sits the cock ( nose )
Here sits the hen (mouth)
Here sits the little chickens (teeth)
Here they run in (into the mouth)
Chin-chopper, chin-chopper, chin-chopper, chin.
14089. The familiar game with interlocked fingers was played:
Here's the church,
And here's the steeple;
Look inside,
And see the people.
14090. Hands were folded together in the following game:
Little fingers (friends)
Next fingers (married couple)
Middle fingers (devils in hell)
(knuckle to knuckle)
Next fingers (friends)
Thumbs (friends)
The purpose of this game is to show that you can't separate the married couple without letting the devils out of hell.

Note: the following ten numbers are rope-jumping rhymes.

14091.
Red, white, and blue,
Columbus lost his shoe,
In 1492.
14092.
Red, white, and blue
Tap me on the shoe.
14093.
Red, white, and green,
Tap me on the bean (= head).
14094.
Red, white, and black,
Tap me on the back.
14095.
Johnny went over the ocean,
Johnny went over the sea,
Johnny broke a milk bottle,
And blamed it onto me.
I told ma, ma told pa,
And Johnny got a lickin,
 325

So ha, ha ha.
14096.
Last night and the night before,
Twenty-four robbers knocked at my door,
I went downstairs to let them in,
They knocked me over the head with a rolling pin,
And said, Lady, lady, turn around, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Lady, lady, touch the ground, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Lady, lady, show your shoe, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Lady, lady, you better skidoo, 2, 3, 4, 5.
14097.
Butterfly, butterfly, turn around,
Butterfly, butterfly, touch the ground;
Butterfly, butterfly, show your shoe,
Butterfly, butterfly, you better skidoo.
(Teddy bear may be substituted for butterfly).
14098.
Rooms for rent, inquire within,
As I move out, let Mary move in.
14099.
Apples, peaches, creamery butter,
Tell me the name of your sweet lover,
A, b, c (continue the alphabet).
14100.
Fudge, fudge, tell the judge,
Mother's got a baby.
Wrap her up in tissue paper,
Send her up the elevator.

Note: the four numbers that follow are ball-bouncing rhymes.

14101.
Lilies of the valley number one,
One.
Lilies of the valley number two,
One, two.
Lilies of the valley number three,
One, two, three.
Lilies of the valley number four,
One, two, three, four.
Lilies of the valley number five,
One, two, three, four, five.
(Continue counting until bouncer misses ball)
14102.
Alice Palace number one,
One.
Alice Palace number two,
One, two.
Alice Palace number three,
One, two, three.
(Continue counting until bouncer misses ball)
14103.
As I was the age of zero,
I used to be a hero,
So put your foot over,
Put your foot over,
As I was the age of zero.
As I was the age of one,
I used to suck my thumb,
So put your foot over,
Put your foot over ,
As I was the age of one.

As I was the age of two,

I used to buckle my shoe,
So put your foot over [repeat]

As I was the age of three,

I used to climb a tree,
[or I used to scratch my knee]
So put your foot over [repeat]
 326

As I was the age of four,

I used to scrub the floor,
[or I used to slam the door]
So put your foot over [repeat]

As I was the age of five,

I used to swim and dive,
So put your foot over [repeat]

As I was the age of six,

I used to pick up sticks,
So put your foot over [repeat] .

As I was the age of seven,

I used to gaze at heaven,
So put your foot over [repeat]

As I was the age of eight,

I used to roller skate,
[or I used to slam the gate]
So put your foot over [repeat].

As I was the age of nine,

I used to drink wine,
So put your foot over [repeat]

As I was the age of ten,

I used to feed the hen,
So put your foot over [repeat].

As I was the age of 'leven,

I used to fly to heaven
So put your foot over [repeat].

As I was the age of twelve,

I used to dig wells,
[or I used to scrub shelves]
So put your foot over [repeat]

As I was the age of thirteen,

I used to go a flirting
So put your foot over [repeat].

As I was the age of fourteen,

I used to go a courting
So put your foot over [repeat].

As I was the age of fifteen,

I used to go a fishing,
So put your foot over,
Put your foot over,
As I was the age of fifteen.
14104.
One, two,
Buckle my shoe;
Three, four,
Close the door;
Five, six,
Pick up sticks;
Seven, eight,
Lay them straight;
Nine, ten,
Big fat hen;
Eleven, twelve,
Ring the bell: (or Men must dwell, or delve)
Thirteen, fourteen,
Maids are courting; (or Maids are sporting)
Fifteen, sixteen,
 327

Maids are fixing; (or Maids are kissing)

Seventeen, eighteen,
Maids are waiting;
Nineteen, twenty,
That's a plenty; (or Maids are plenty)
Twenty-one, twenty-two,
That will do.
As children we used to continue, but I can remember only two items with certainty: Twenty-three, twenty-four; say no more and Twenty-nine,
thirty; your face is dirty.
14105. Note: the four following numbers are gesture games.
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush;
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
So early in the morning.

This is the way we wash our clothes,

Wash our clothes, wash our clothes;
This is the way we wash our clothes,
So early Monday morning.

This, is the way we iron our clothes ,

Iron our clothes, iron our clothes;
This is the way we iron our clothes ,
So early Tuesday morning.

This is the 'way we mend our clothes,

Mend our clothes, mend our clothes;
This is the way we mend our clothes,
So early Wednesday morning.

This is the way we bake our bread,

Break our bread, bake our bread ;
This is the way we bake our bread,
So early Thursday morning.

This is the way we sweep the house,

Sweep the house, sweep the house;
This is the way we sweep the house,
So early Friday morning.

This is the way we scrub the floor,

Scrub the floor, scrub the floor;
This is the way we scrub the floor,
So early Saturday morning.

This is the way we go to church,

Go to church, go to church;
This is the way we go to church,
So early Sunday morning.

14106.
I went to visit a friend one day,
She lived in the house across the way,
She said she couldn't come out to play,
For Monday was her washing day.

This is the way she washed away,

This is the way she washed away,
This is the way she washed away,
The day she couldn't come out to play.

I went to visit a friend one day,

She lived in the house across the way,
She said she couldn't come out to play,
For Tuesday was her ironing day.

This is the way she ironed away (repeat)

I went to visit a friend one day,

She lived in the house across the way,
 328

She said she couldn't come out to play,

For Wednesday was her sewing day.

This is the way she sewed away (repeat)

I went to visit a friend one day,

She lived in the house across the way,
She said she couldn't come out to play,
For Thursday was her baking day.

This is the way she baked away (repeat)

I went to visit a friend one day,

She lived in the house across the way,
She said she couldn't come out to play,
For Friday was her cleaning day.

This is the way she cleaned away (repeat)

I went to visit a friend one day,

She lived in the house across the way,
She said she couldn't come out to play,
For Saturday was her playing day.
This is the way we played away (repeat)
14107. Similar to the preceding pantomimic game was one I can just remember. My niece, who is nine years younger than I, never heard of it.
Two girls prance or skip back and forth towards each other while acting the parts they are singing: --
We've come to see Miss Jenny and [Miss] Joe,
Miss Jenny and Joe, Miss Jenny and Joe;
We've come to see Miss Jenny and Joe,
And how are they today.

Miss Jenny and Joe are washing,

Washing, washing;
Miss Jenny and Joe are washing,
Washing, washing;
They are washing this Monday.

We've come to see Miss Jenny and Joe [repeat]

Miss Jenny and Joe are ironing [repeat]

The song continues through the week but they did not play on Saturday or go to church on Sunday; they took ill on the former day and died on
the latter. This was the only game in which I ever heard death mentioned. Only once, when six years old, did I hear about death ---"Old Robin is
dead, and buried in his grave ..." But this came from our rural mail-carrier, Mr. Pease, a man of English descent, with whom I was riding his
route through osage-orange hedge rows across the rolling prairie and beyond my horizon. Almost English was that hedge-row country of long
ago. Gone are the hedge rows, gone is the country.
14108.
We're marching round the levy,
We're marching round the levy ,
We're marching round the levy,
Since we have gained the day.

Go in and out the window (repeat three times)

Since we have gained the day.

Go forth to choose your lover (repeat three times)

Since we have gained the day.

I kneel because I love you (repeat three times)

Since we have gained the day.

I measure my love to show you (repeat three times)

Since we have gained the day.

Go in and out the window (repeat three times)

Since we have gained the day.

14109.
A tisket, a tasket,
A green and yellow basket.
I wrote a letter to my love,
 329

And on the way I lost it.

I lost it once, I lost it twice,
I lost it three times over, over, over.
(Dropping the handkerchief )

14110. The following game, called Name Five, is usually played by two girls, each speaking alternately. Any theme may start the game, which
can become complicated and go on endlessly. Sometimes a player will continue the preceding idea, either with an opposite or similarity, and
other times completely change the sequence of thought. Here are examples:
Name five girls that I like best;
Mary, Jane, Betty, Anne, Sarah.

Name five boys that I like best;

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul

Name five flowers that I like best;

Dahlia, iris, rose, tulip, zinnia.

Name five colors that I like best;

Red, blue, yellow, green, purple.

Name five foods that I like best.

Name five poets that I like best.
Name five actors that I like best.
14111. Note: Counting-out rhymes follow.
Aka baka, soda cracker,
Aka baka, boo.
Aka baka, soda cracker,
O-U-T goes you.
14112.
Eeny, meeny, miney, mo,
Catch a nigger by the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miney, mo. ;
14113.
Engine, engine, number nine,
Running on the Chicago line,
Please tell me the correct time.
[Whatever time is given by the person
pointed to, say four o'clock, then]
One, two, three, four,
O-U-T spells out.
14114.
Engine, engine, number nine ,
She's running on Chicago line.
How she polishes, how she shines,
Engine, engine, number nine. –
Please tell me the correct time [etc].
14115.
Monkey, monkey, bottle of beer,
How many monkeys are there here.
One, two, three,
And O-U-T spells out.
or
One, two, three, -
And out goes he [she]
Into the deep blue sea.
14116.
One I love,
Two I love,
The one I love is you.
14117.
One, two, three, alarie,
Four, five, six, alarie,
Seven, eight, nine, alarie,
Ten, alarie.
The postman is out.
( Or ball-bouncing rhyme)
14118.
Tad de oh, Tad de oh,
I don't like a girl named Tad de oh.
 330

Every time I kiss her, it makes her mad.

She goes home and tells her dad.
De oh, Dad de oh.

RHYMES (14119-14253)

Note: Many rhymes have already been given in this book and more are to follow (see Index). Those in this sub-section could not be conveniently
placed elsewhere.
14119.
A woman, a dog, a hickory tree,
The more you beat them, the better they be.
14120.
Amen,
Brother Ben,
Shot at a rooster,
Killed a hen.
14121.
An apple a day
Keeps the doctor away.

14122.
An apple at night before going to bed
Will cause the doctor to beg his bread.

14123.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away,
An onion a day keeps everybody away.

14124.
Apple core,
Bite no more,
Point him out
Hit him in the snout.

14125. The following rhyme was said to the child who attempted to fool you after April 1:
April fool has come and past,
And you are the biggest fool at last.

14126.
April showers
Bring May flowers.

14127.
Aunt Jemima ate cake,
Aunt Jemima ate jelly,
Aunt Jemima went home
With a pain in her ---
Now don't get excited,
And don't be misled,
For Aunt Jemima went home
With a pain in her head.
14128. Beefsteak when I'm hungry,
Whiskey when I'm dry,
Money when I'm hard up,
And heaven when I die.
14129.
Blue eye beauty,
Do your mother's duty.
or
Black eye beauty,
Do your mother's duty.
14130.
Brown eye peak-a-pie,
Run around and tell a lie.
14131.
Brown, Brown, went to town,
With his britches upside down.

14132.
Bread and butter,
 331

Come to supper.

14133.
Butcher, butcher, killed a louse,
Hung it up in the slaughterhouse.

14134.
Chink, chink, Chinaman,
Sitting on a fence,
Trying to make a dollar,
Out of fifteen cents,
Along came a policeman,
And clubbed him on the head,
Chink, chink, Chinaman,
Fell down dead.

14135.
Christmas is coming,
Turkeys are fat,
Please put a nickel,
In grandpa's hat.
If you haven't a nickel,
A penny will do.
If you haven't that,
God bless you.

14136.
Cocks crow in the morn,
To tell us to rise
And he who lies late,
Will never be wise;
For early to bed,
And early to rise,
Is the way to be healthy,
Wealthy and wise.

14137.
Come, lets to bed,
Says sleepy head.
Tarry awhile says slow.
Put on the pan,
Says greedy Nan,
Lets sup before we go.

14138.
Lets go to bed said sleepy head,
Lets wait awhile said slow;
Put on the pot said greedy gut,
Lets eat before we go.

14139.
Lets go to bed said grey eyes,
Lets stay up and eat awhile said greedy gut.

14140.
Come when you're called,
Do as you're bid,
Shut the door after you,
Never be chid.

14141.
Cow, cow, come blow your horn,
And you shall have a peck of corn.

14142.
Do you carrot all for me?
My heart beets for you,
With your turnip nose
And your radish lips;
 332

You are a peach.

If we cantaloupe,
Lettuce us marry;
Weed make a swell pear.

14143.
D o you like beer?
A sock in the ear.

14144.
Do you like butter?
I'll punch you in the gutter.

14145.
Do you like jelly?
I'll punch you in the belly.

14146.
Do you like pie?
I'll punch you in the eye.
14147.
Do you want a dime?
Hang your britches on the line.

14148.
Do you want a dollar?
Run around the block and holler.

14149.
Do you want a nickel?
Suck a pickle.

14150.
Dressed in yellow, pink or blue,
Nursing cats is all they do,
Poor old maids!

14151.
Emily Joe
Stubbed [or kissed] her toe,
On the way to Mexico.
14152.
Father may I go to war?
Yes you may my son;
Wear your woolen comforter,
But don't let off your gun.

14153.
Fatty on a steamboat,
Stinks like a nanny goat.

14154.
Good-night, sleep tight
Don't let the bedbugs bite.

14155.
Goody, goody, gout,
Shirt tail out;
Goody, goody gin,
Shirt tail in.

14156.
Grandma tipsy toe,
Lost her needle and couldn't sew.

14157.
Harry, Harry, ain't no good,
We'll chop him up for kindling wood.
 333

14158.
Here I stand all ragged and dirty,
Kiss me quick and I'll run like a turkey.

14159.
Here I stand on two little chips,
Come and kiss my sweet little lips.

14160.
Hot boiled beans and very good butter,
Ladies and gentlemen come to supper.

14161.
I asked my mother for fifty cents,
To see the elephant jump the fence;
He jumped so high, he touched the sky,
And didn't get back till the fourth of July.

14162.
I beg your pardon, I grant your grace,
And hope the cat will scratch your face.
14163.
I beg your pardon, I'll grant your grace;
If that won't do, I'll spit in your face.
14164.
I caught my bow,
I seized my arrow;
But missed the crow,
And shot a sparrow.
14165.
I had a little dog,
And his name was Jack,
I put him in a box,
And he jumped through a crack.

14166,
I had a little dog, his name was Rover,
And when he died, he died all over.

14167.
I had a little monkey,
I sent to the country;
They fed him on gingerbread.
Viffo, baffo, they hit him on the head;
And my poor little monkey is dead.

14168.
I know something, I won't tell,
Three little negroes in a big hotel.
or
I know something, I won't tell,
Three little niggers in a peanut shell.

14169.
I know something, I won't tell,
Three little niggers in a peanut shell;
One jumped in and one jumped out,
And one jumped into the sauerkraut.

14170.
I pity the baker,
I pity the cook,
I pity the one,
That steals this book.

14171.
I like its trees,
I like its brooks,
I pity the one,
 334

That takes my books.

14172.
I love its pencils,
I love its brooks,
But I pity the one
Who takes my books.
(Three preceding rhymes on fly-leaves of books)

14173.
I love coffee,
I love tea,
I love the boys,
And the boys love me;
I hate coffee,
I hate tea,
I hate the boys,
And the boys hate me.
(Often said after school is out)

14174.
I see the moon, ,
And the moon sees me;
I follow the moon,
And the moon follows me.

14175.
I should worry, I should care
I should marry a millionaire.

14176.
I should worry, I should cry,
I should marry another guy.

14177.
I should worry, I should fret,
I should marry a suffragette.

14178.
I told Ma,
Ma told Pa;
Harry got a licking,
Ha! Ha! Ha!
14179.
I went down to the river,
Couldn't get across;
Jumped on a nigger,
Thought he was a horse;
The horse wouldn't pull,
Sold him for a bull;
The bull wouldn't holler ,
Sold him for a dollar;
The dollar wouldn't pass,
Threw it in the grass;
The grass wouldn't grow,
Sold it for a hoe; or Sold it for a crow
The hoe wouldn't dig, The crow wouldn't squeal
Sold it for a pig;
The pig wouldn't squeal,
Sold him for a wheel;
The wheel wouldn't run,
Sold it for a gun;
The gun wouldn't shoot,
Sold it for a boot;
The boot wouldn't fit,
So I threw it in the pit. or I threw it in the sh-t
And you slipped in it
Another ending
The grass wouldn't grow,
We gave it to the show;
 335

The show was nice,

We bought a piece of ice;
The ice was cold,
And my father didn't scold.

14180. A generation ago (1900) children used to write rhymes such as the following in their textbooks:
If my name you wish to fine [find]
Look on page twenty-nine.
On this page you found
If you wish my name to see,
Look on page twenty-three.
Here you saw
If my name you wish to discover,
Turn back ten pages from the cover.
There you read
If my name you lack,
Turn four pages from the back.
And finally
If my name you want to know,
Look on page 1-2-0 [letter O].
These rhymes as well as similar ones were also given separately.
14181. A generation later (about 1936) children were still writing rhymes in textbooks:
If this book is lost and sent to Rome,
Box its ears and send it home.
14182.
If this book should stray away,
Tie it up and feed it hay.
14183.
If you are slow-footed,
Your papa was crooked.
14184.
If you are to be a gentleman,
As I suppose you'll be,
You'll neither laugh nor smile,
For a tickling of the knee.
14185.
If you love me as I love you,
No knife can cut our love in two.
14186.
If you step on a crack,
You'll break your mother's back.
or
Step on a crack,
Break your mother's back.
14187.
If you step in a hole,
You'll break your mother's sugar bowl.
or
Step in a hole,
Break your mother's sugar bowl.
14188.
If you step on a line,
You'll find a dime.
14189.
If you step on a nail,
You'll send your father to jail.
or
Step on a nail.
Get your father in jail.
14190.
I'm a little curly head,
My father is a preacher.
I love to go to Sunday school,
And listen to my teacher.
14191.
I'm a little Hindoo,
I do all I kindoo;
If my pants and shirt don't meet,
I'll make my little skindoo.
14192.
 336

It is a sin,
To steal a pin;
It is a greater,
To 'steal a potater [potato].

14193.
It's raining; it's pouring,
The old man is snoring.

14194.
I've got a rocket,
In my pocket
I cannot stop to play.
Away she goes,
I've burnt my toes,
'Tis Independence Day.
14195.
Jack and Jill ran a race,
Jack fell down and skinned his face.
14196. When a negro's corn is gone, this is what he says:
"Jesus my all to heaven is gone, --
Squirrels have eat up my new ground cawn [corn]
14197.
Johnny's mad and I am glad,
And I know what to please him;
A bottle of ink to make him stink,
And three little nigger girls to squeeze him.
Variant for third line
A bottle of wine to make him shine.
14198.
Katydid, katydid, come from your tree,
And tell, little tattler, what did she?
14199. When two children separate and each trys to get the last look at the other, one will say:
Last look,
You dirty crook.
14200.
Lemonade,
Made in the shade,
Stirred with a spade,
Good enough for any old maid.
14201.
A big head, lots of wit;
A little head, not a bit.
14202. If a child loses something and other children help in the search, they say:
Losers weepers,
Finders keepers.
14203. When one child mocked another, the child mocked would say:
Mocking is catching,
Hanging is stretching.

14204.
Mother may I take a swim?
Yes my darling daughter;
Hang your clothes on a hickory limb,
And don't go near the water.

14205.
Nigger, nigger, never die.
Black face and shiny eye,
Crooked nose and crooked toes,
That's the way the nigger grows.

14206.
Old mother witch fell in a ditch,
Picked up a penny and thought she was rich.

14207.
One good turn deserves another,
Kiss me as you kiss your mother.
 337

14208.
One, two, three,
Mother caught a flea;
The flea died,
Mother cried;
One, two, three.

14209.
One's company,
Two's a couple,
Three's a crowd.
14210.
Opossum up a gum stump –
Raccoon in the holler [hollow];
Shake him down boy,
And I'll give you a quarter of a dollar.
14211. The first letter in each word of the following rhyme represents one letter of the word "preface" spelled forward and backward. The rhyme
is to be repeated as quickly as possible.
Peter, reater, eater;
Fish, alligators catch eels.
Eels catch alligators;
Fish eat raw potaters [potatoes].
14212.
Punch and Judy,
Fought for a pie.
Punch gave Judy,
A knock in the eye.
Says Punch to Judy,
Will you have any more?
Says Judy to Punch,
My eyes are too sore.
14213.
Raccoon up a persimmon tree,
The opossum on the ground;
He said you son of a gun,
Shake those simmons down.
14214.
Raccoon tail is ringed around,
Opossum tail is long and bare;
Rabbit has no tail,
Just a little bunch of hair.

14215.
Red and yellow,
Catch your fellow.
14216.
Ring the bell to go to hell,
Climb the rod to go to God.
14217.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue;
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you.
14218.
Saturday flit,
Short sit.
14219.
School's out, school's out,
The teacher's let the monkeys out.
Over the river and over the lake,
The teacher's got the bellyache.
14220.
Smarty, smarty, had a party;
Nobody came but a red-headed (or big fat) darky.
14221.
Snake, snake, run in the grass;
And I'll not hurt you as you pass.
14222.
Snow is white and coal is black,
If your pants are loose, pull in the slack.
 338

14223. When a child refused to give a part of his apple or anything to another child, the latter would say:
Stingy gut, stingy gut,
Eat the whole world up.
14224.
Sugar is sweet,
Butter is greasy;
I love you,
So don't be uneasy.
14225.
Summer winds blow strong and cool,
For I'm obliged to stay in school.
14226.
Take off your left shoe,
And I can tell you your fortune;
I'll tell you what your trouble is,
I'll tell you who wants you,
I'll tell you who loves you.
God loves you,
The devil wants you,
And the trouble is,
To put on your shoe.

14227.
Taste and try,
Before you buy.

14228.
Tattletale, tattletail,
Hanging on a bull's tail.
14229.
Tattletail tit,
Your tongue shall be slit,
And every little dog,
Shall have a little bit.

14230.
Teacher, teacher, don't whip me;
Whip that nigger behind the tree.

14231.
Ten little Indians standing in a line,
One went home and that left nine;
Nine little Indians swinging on a gate,
One fell off and that left eight;
Eight little Indians never heard of heaven,
One kicked the bucket and that left seven;
Seven little Indians cutting up tricks,
One broke his neck and that left six;
Six little Indians kicking all alive,
One went to bed and that left five;
Five little Indians on the cellar door,
One tumbled in and that left four;
Four little Indians out on a spree,
One dead drunk and that left three;
Three little Indians in a canoe,
One tumbled overboard and that left two;
Two little Indians fooled with a gun,
One shot the other and that left one;
One little Indian with his little wife,
Lived in a wigwam the rest of his life;
One daddy Indian one mammy squaw,
Soon raised a family of ten Indians all.
14232.
Ten little nigger boys went out to dine,
One choked his little self and then there were nine;
Nine little nigger boys sat up very late,
One overslept himself and then there were eight;
Eight little nigger boys traveling in Devon,
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven;
Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks,
 339

One chopped himself in halves and then there were six;

Six little nigger boys playing with a hive,
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five;
Five little nigger boys going in for law,
One got in chancery and then there were four;
Four little nigger boys going out to sea,
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three;
Three little nigger boys walking in the zoo,
A big bear hugged one and then there were two;
Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun,
One got frizzled up and then there was one;
One little nigger boy living all alone,
He got married and then there were none .

14233.
John Brown had a little Indian,
John Brown had a little Indian,
John Brown had a little Indian,
One little Indian boy.
One little, two little, three little Indians,
Four little, five little, six little Indians,
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians,
Ten little Indian boys.

14234.
One little, two little, three little Indians,
Four little, five little, six little Indians,
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians,
Ten little Indian boys.
Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians,
Seven little, six little, five little Indians,
Four little, three little, two little Indians,
One little Indian boy.

14235.
The Irish and the Dutch [Germans],
They don't amount to much.
14236.
The old sow died with the whooping cough.
The old cow died with the colic;
Along came a nigger,
With his banjo and his fiddle,
Going over the river to a frolic.
14237.
Thirty days has September,
April, June and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save the second month alone, it
Which has twenty-eight in fine,
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.

14238.
Thirty days has September,
April, June and November .
All the rest have thirty-one.
February has twenty-eight alone.
Excepting leap year, that's the time,
When February's days are twenty-nine.
14239.
Tit for tat,
You kill my dog,
And I'll skin your cat.
14240.
Tom was a bad boy,
Beat a poor cat.
Dick put a stone
In a blind man's hat.
Harry was a boy,
Who wouldn't say his prayers.
They all went to the devil,
 340

And nobody cares.

14241
Tom was a bad boy,
Beat a poor cat,
Tom put a stone,
In the blind man's hat
Tom was a bad boy,
Wouldn't say his prayers.
Along came the devil,
And kicked him down the stairs.
14242.
Two against one,
Is nigger's fun.
14243.
Up the hill
And over the ridge,
Down the hill
And across the bridge.
Up the hill
And a great way off,
The wind will blow
My top notch off.
14244.
Was ever heard such noise and clamor,
The hatchet's jealous of the hammer.
14245.
Watchman, watchman, don't catch me,
Catch that nigger behind the tree;
He stole gold,
And I stole brass;
Watchman, watchman, go to grass
Variant for last line
Watchman, watchman, kiss my. ..
14246.
What goes up must come down,
Either on the head or on the ground.
14247.
What shall we do?
Spit in our shoe.
14248.
What's your name?
John Brown .
Ask me again,
And I'll knock you down.
14249.
What's your name?
Pudding and tame.
Ask me again and
I'll tell you the same.
Where do you live?
Down the lane.
What's your number?
Cucumber.
14250.
What's the news?
The cat has new shoes.
14251.
When you live, live in clover;
When you're dead, you're dead all over.
14252.
Where was Moses when the light went out?
Down in the cellar eating sauerkraut.
14253.
You're a poet,
And don't know it.
or
I'm a poet,
And don't know it.
 341

RIMED RIDDLES (14254-14394)

14254.
All saddled, all bridled, all ready to go,
I've told you his name three times,
And now you don't know. All

14255.
Down in the valley there is a bright light,
All bridled, all saddled, all fit for a fight.
I have told you my name three times in a row;
And still you can't guess I know. All.
14256.
A railroad crossing, look out for the cars;
Can you spell all that without any R's?
A-L-L T-H-A-T.
or
A railroad crossing, look out for the cars;
Bet you can't spell it without any R's.
I-T.
14257.
A man walked down the garden path,
He tipped his hat and drew his cane,
What was his name?
Andrew.
14258.
There is a girl in our town,
Silk and satin is her gown,
Silk and satin, gold and velvet.
Can you guess her name,
Three times I have told it?
Ann.
14259.
King Morocco built a ship,
And in this ship his daughter dwelt,
And I will tell her name three times to you,
And you shall tell it once to me.
Ann.
14260.
Round and deep and good to keep,
Because you use it once a week.
Bathtub.
14261.
I have a great goose that would go a good prize;
The man that buys her had need to be wise.
Has feet in her body, walks upon none;
Goes far for her living and seldom comes home.
Battleship at sea.

14262.
Four legs up and four legs down,
Soft in the middle and hard all around .
Bed.
14263.
As I went over London bridge,
I met a heap of people,
"Some were nick, some were brown,
And some the color of tobacco .
Bees.

14264.
Behind the King's kitchen there is a great vat,
And a great many workmen working at that,
Yellow is their toes, yellow is their clothes,
Tell me this riddle and you can pull my nose .
Bees making honey.

14265.
Way out in the field there stands a grey mare,
Hoist up her tail and sop your bread there .
 342

Beehive with honey on it.

14266.
Years ago there was an old man in jail. His jailer promised to set him free if he could ask a riddle which he the jailer could not answer. So the old
man propounded the following:
"As I was walking down the lane,
Out of the dead the living came,
Six there were, and seven there will be,
If you can't guess this riddle, set me free."
A man walking down the lane saw the
carcass of a horse which contained a
nest with six little birds and one
unhatched egg. The jailer could not
guess the riddle and the prisoner was
liberated.
14267.
What makes a lot of noise in a house with one door,
And if it sits in a draft, you can hear it no more?
Bird in a cage.
14268.
Don't meddle, don't touch, little girl, little boy,
Or the world will lose some of its joy.
Bird nest.
14269.
White as snow and snow it isn't,
Green as grass and grass it isn't,
Red as blood and blood it isn't,
Black as tar and tar it isn't.
A blackberry. First the white blossom,
then the green berry which turns red,
and when ripe is black.
14270.
Crooked as a rainbow and teeth like a cat,
Guess all day and you can't guess that.
Blackberry brier.
14271.
Down yonder hill,
There stands a mill,
And in the mill,
There is a chest,
And in the chest,
Is a drop that everyone needs.
Blood.
14272.
Black without and red within,
Hoist up your leg and stick it in.
or
Black without and red within,
Hop about and put your foot in.
Boot.
14273.
Not a tune of any type,
Yet it blows upon a pipe.
Bubble from soap.
14274.
A body met a body in a bag of beans,
Said a body to a body,
Can a body tell a body what a body means?
Two bugs in a bag of beans.
14275.
Little Nanny Etticoat,
In a white petticoat,
And a red nose;
The longer she stands,
The shorter she grows.
Candle.
14276.
There is a yellow house upon the hill,
In the yellow house is a cream house,
And in the cream house is a pink house,
And inside the pink house,
 343

There is a lot of white babies.

Cantaloupe.
14277.
As I went through the garden gap,
Whom should I meet but Dick Redcap,
A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,
If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a goat.
Cherry.
14278.
Round as an apple and red as a rose,
Tell me this riddle before I pull your nose.
Cherry.
14279.
Patch upon patch and a hole in the middle
Guess this riddle and I'll give you a fiddle.
Chimney.
14280.
Black within and red without,
With four corners angling about.
or
Black within and red without,
And four corners round about.
Chimney.
or
Black without, red within,
Four corners and round about.
Cookstove.
14281.
Big at the bottom,
Little at the top,
Little thing in the middle,
Goes flippity flop.
Churn.
14282.
A riddle, a riddle, as I suppose,
A hundred eyes and never a nose.
Cinder sifter.
or
A riddle, a riddle, as I suppose,
With many an eye and never a nose.
Potato.
14283.
What is it that every house has got;
It will open any door or any lock.
Clock hairspring.
14284.
Tied at both ends and raised in the middle,
If you can guess this riddle I'll give you a fiddle.
Clothesline.
14285.
Black we are, but much admired,
Men seek for us, till they are tired,
We tire the horse, but comfort the man,
Tell me this riddle if you can.
Coal.
14286.
Four stiff standers,
Four down hangers,
Two lookers,
Two crookers,
And one switch about.
Cow.
14287.
As I went around my whirlby which a whacken,
I saw bun bick a backen,
In my whirlby wick a wacken.
I called Tom tick a tacken,
To drive bun which a whacken,
Out of my whirlby wick a wacken.
or
 344

As I went round my wirldy wicken wacken,

I saw bun picken packen,
In my whirlby which a whacken,
I called Tom ticken tacken,
To drive bun bick a backen,
Out of my wirlly wick a wacken.
This is one of those confusion riddles,
which is repeated differently each
time the hearer says "Please repeat."
Whirlby wicken = cornfield.
Bun picken backen = cow.
Tom ticken tacken = dog.
14288.
Higgledy, piggledy, here we lie,
Picked and plucked and put in a pie.
My first is snapping, snarling and growling.
My second is busy romping and prowling.
Higgledy, piggledy, here we lie,
Picked and plucked and put in a pie.
Currants.
14289.
First you see me in the grass, dressed in yellow gay;
Next I am in dainty white, then I fly away.
Dandelion.
14290.
A water there is I must pass,
A broader water never was,
And yet of all waters I ever did see,
To pass over with less jeopardy.
Dew.
14291.
Slippery wet and greasy,
When it's in, it's easy,
When it's out, it slips about,
Slippery wet and greasy.
Dish rag.
14292.
What loves a dog and rides on his back;
He can travel for miles and not leave a track?
Flea on a dog's tail.
14293.
A duck before two ducks,
A duck between two ducks.
A duck behind two ducks.
Three ducks.
14294.
Twelve pears hanging high,
Twelve men came riding by,
Each man took a pear,
And left the eleven hanging there.
A man named Eachman.
14295.
A cup sitting in the window,
And you can't take a sup,
Without breaking the cup.
Egg.
14296.
In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.
Egg.
14297.
As I went through a field of wheat,
I picked up something good to eat,
It was neither flesh nor bone,
And I kept it until it could walk alone.
Egg.
 345

14298.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Egg.
14299.
What has a trunk but no till, a mouth but no bill;
As tame as a mouse, but could kill if it will?
Elephant.
14300.
Elizabeth, Else, Betty and Bess,
All went to seek a bird's nes' [nest].
They found a bird's nest with five eggs in;
They all took one and left four in.
A girl named Elizabeth with three nicknames.
14301.
Read my riddle, I pray.
What God never sees,
What the king seldom sees,
What we see every day.
An equal.
14302.
If hours were sold like hats and shoes,
What time of day would Adam choose?
Eve.
14303.
Motherless, fatherless, no skin at all;
When it goes out it never comes back at all.
Fart. This riddle must have been old,
widespread, and of many forms. An
elderly man who has lived in New
Jersey all his life said it was known
to the boys of his day as:
Born skinless, flew wingless,
And roared until it died.
14304.
The old woman, she pit and she pat it,
The old man took off his pants and sprang at it.
Feather bed.
14305.
What is three fourths square,
And black as a bear.
If you don't tell me this riddle,
I will pull your hair.
Flatiron.
14306.
Riddle come, riddle come right,
Can't guess where I was last Friday night.
The wind did blow,
And the cock did crow,
My poor heart did ache,
To see the hole the false fox did make.
One Friday night a man was sitting up in
a tree when a man named Fox came along
and began to dig a hole in which to bury
his sweetheart.
14307.
Last Friday night I sat high,
I looked low;
I looked for two to come,
But one did come;
And it made my heart ache,
To see the hole the fox did make.
The man's name was Fox and he was to
bring a preacher to the tree to marry
him and the girl, but he came alone
and dug the hole to put her in.
14308.
Long legs, crooked toes,
 346

Glassy eyes, snotty nose.

Frog.
14309.
What's out and in,
But never can win?
Gambler.
14310.
Over the water and under the water,
But still not touching the water.
A girl carrying a jug of water on her
head while walking over a bridge.
14311.
Two M's, two A's, two R's, and one G,
Put them together and spell them for me.
This is a two-answer riddle. If the
hearer guesses the correct answer
"grammar", the riddler will say, I
asked you to spell "them" for me; if
the hearer spelled T-H-E-M, the
riddler will spell G-R-A-M-M-A-R.
14312.
A long, black, slim, slick fellow,
Pull his cock and make him bellow.
Gun. This came from an elderly
colored man. In the first edition
(10874) I labeled this "an old negro
riddle" because the double-entendre
has no meaning for a white man.
14313.
Riddle me, riddle me, what is that,
Over the head and under the hat?
Hair.
14314.
I washed my hands in water that never rained or run,
I wiped my hands on silk that neither was woven nor spun.
I washed my hands in dew and wiped
them on corn silk.
14315.
Riddle dee, riddle dee right,
Where did I go last Saturday night;
The wind did blow,
And the cocks did crow?
Henhouse.
14316.
What shoemaker makes shoes without leather,
With all four elements put together,
Fire and water, earth and air,
Every customer has two pair ?
Horseshoer.
14317.
As I was going over London bridge,
I met a man under the bridge;
If I were to tell his name,
I would be to blame,
I've told his name five times.
Mr. I.
14318.
Lives in winter,
Dies in summer,
And grows with its roots upwards.
Icicle.
14319.
There was a man of Adam's race,
He had a certain dwelling place;
Neither in heaven nor in hell,
Nor any place that mortal yet did dwell.
Jonah in the whale's stomach.
14320.
Hips says I,
Hangs by my side;
 347

One went in,

Two hung by.
Keys.
14321.
Luke had it before,
Paul had it behind,
Doctor Lowell had it before and behind,
And twice as bad behind as before;
Miss Gallager had it twice in the middle,
Before she was married.
Girls have it,
Boys do not;
It is in life,
But not in death.
The letter L.
14322.
What has two arms, two legs, a skin like chalk;
So awfully lazy it sits down to walk .
Man (white) on a bicycle.
14323.
What flares up and does a lot of good,
And when it dies, it's just a piece of wood?
Match.
14324.
Upon the hill,
There is a mill;
Near the mill,
There is a walk;
Under the walk,
There is a key.
What could that be?
Milwaukee.
14325.
What goes up and down,
But never goes to town?
Moon.
14326.
King met a king in a lane,
King said king what is thy name?
Silver is my bridle, silver is my bow;
I told you my name three times in a row,
And yet you don't know.
My.
14327.
Old mother Twitchett had but one eye,
And a long tail, which she let fly,
And every time she went over a gap,
She left a bit of her tail in a trap.
Needle.
14328.
What is long and slim, works in the light,
Has but one eye, and an awful bite?
Needle.
14329.
Black upon black,
Brown upon brown,
Three legs up,
Two legs down.
or
Brown upon black,
Black upon brown,
Three legs up
And six legs down.
A negro riding on a horse with a
three-legged kettle on his head.
14330.
What is it that we see made,
And never see after it is made?
Noise.
14331.
 348

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives;
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits;
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many are going to St. Ives?
One.
14332.
I went to market and bought it,
I brought it home and wept with it.
Onion.
14333.
The land is white, the sea is black,
It will take a good scholar to riddle me that.
Paper and writing.
14334.
What flower is this?
My first is in pork,
But not in ham,
My second is in oyster,
But not in clam,
My third is in pond,
But not in lake.
My fourth is in hand,
But not in shake.
My fifth is in eye,
But not in wink.
My whole is in a flower,
That's red, white and pink.
Peony.
14335.
I went into my grandmother's garden,
And there I found a farthing.
I went into my next door neighbor's,
There I bought a pipken and popkin,
A slipken and slopken,
A nailboard, a sailboard,
And all for a farthing.
Pipe.
14336.
Flour from England, fruit from Spain,
Met together in a shower of rain;
Put in a bag and tied with a string.
Tell me this riddle and I'll give you a ring.
Plum pudding.
14337.
Hoddy, doddy,
With a round body,
Three feet and a wooden hat,
What's that?
A three-legged iron pot.
14338.
What man can marry a wife,
Yet live single all his life?
Preacher.
14339.
What goes up and goes down,
Touches neither sky nor ground?
or
What goes up and down,
And never reaches the ground?
Pump handle.
14340.
When I was taken from the fair body,
They then cut off my head,
And thus my shape was altered.
It's I that make peace between king and king,
And many a true lover glad.
All this I do and ten times more,
 349

And more I still could do,

But nothing can I do,
Without my guider's will.
Quill pen.
14341.
Hick tickle, hack tickle, present,
Sitting on a runache, cunache,
Hick tickle, hack tickle, present;
Call for the doctor to come,
And kill the frizzling fun,
Sitting on a runache, cunache, present.
Rabbit on a cabbage head and wife
called her husband to shoot it.
14342.
Stiff as standing in the bed,
Sometimes white and sometimes red;
Every lady in the land,
Takes it in her hand,
And puts it in the hole before.
Radish. The "hole before" is the mouth.
14343.
Purple, yellow, red and green,
The king cannot reach it, nor the queen;
Nor can old Noll, whose power's so great,
Tell me this riddle, while I count eight.
Rainbow.
14344.
I've seen you where you never were,
And where you never will be,
And yet you in that very place,
May still be seen by me.
Reflection in a mirror.
14345.
What is the relationship?
Brothers and sisters I have none,
But this man's father is my father's son.
Father and son or stepbrother.
14346.
What has a mouth and never eats,
A bed and never sleeps.
River.
14347.
Riddle me, riddle me, rin-e-go,
My father gave me some seed to sow.
The seed was black, the ground was white,
If you are a good scholar,
You can guess this by tomorrow night.
The ground was covered with snow and
the boy could not plant the seed.
14348.
Two brothers we are,
Great burdens we bear,
All day we are bitterly pressed;
Yet this I must say,
We are full all day,
And empty when we go to rest.
Shoes.
14349.
What is as round as the moon,
As black as a coon,
And has a little black tail?
Skillet.
14350.
The skunk upon the stump,
And the stump upon the skunk.
The stump says the skunk stunk,
And the skunk says the stump stunk.
Skunk on a stump.
14351.
Houseful and yardful,
 350

And you can't get a spoonful.

or
A houseful, a chimneyful,
But not a bowlful.
or
A houseful, a holeful,
And yet you can't catch a bowlful.
or
A houseful, a roomful,
And you can't get a handful.
Smoke.
14352.
As high as a castle, as weak as a wastle,
And all the king's horses can't pull it down.
Smoke.
14353.
As I looked out of my chamber window,
I heard something fall;
I sent my maid to pick it up,
But she couldn't pick it all.
Snuffbox.
14354.
You use it between your head and toes,
The more it works the thinner it grows.
Bar of soap.
14355.
As I was walking down the lane,
I met my sister Mary Ann;
I knocked off her head, sucked her blood,
And let her body stan (stand).
Bottle of soda pop or bottle of wine.
14356.
Silent they all stand in a row,
Waiting for the command to go.
Soldiers.
14357.
What goes up like a little black ball,
Comes down in a hurry and covers all?
Soot.
14358.
I went up my worldly wick-a-wax,
I saw Tom Tick-a-tax;
I called captain Max,
To drive Tom Tick-a-tax,
Out of my worldly wick-a-wax.
Old sow in a potato patch.
14359.
I went out in the woods and got it,
Came home and looked for it,
The more I looked for it,
The more I hated it.
Splinter.

14360.
Higher than a tree,
Higher than a house,
Oh! Whatever can that be?
Star.
14361.
I have a little sister,
They call her, peep, peep,
She wades in the water,
Deep, deep, deep;
She climbs up the mountains,
High, high, high;
My poor little sister,
She has but one eye.
Star.
14362.
You are just a tiny spark,
 351

Hanging up there in the dark,

Like a cinder from the sun,
When the day is done;
All your sisters and your cousins,
Come a crowding out by dozens,
Just to see what makes you merry,
Jolly, jolly, fairy.
As they wink and blink and twinkle,
All the sky looks like sprinkle,
Of white sugar on a cake,
Like that the fairies bake.
Star.
14363.
Sometimes it holds the feet of little boys,
At other times it holds their little toys.
Stocking.
14364.
First white, then red,
There isn't a lady in the land,
Who wouldn't take it in her hand.
Strawberry.
14365.
Hick-a-more, hack-a-more,
On the king's kitchen door;
All the king's horses,
And all the king's men,
Couldn't drive Hick-a-moor, Hack-a-more,
Off the king's kitchen door.
Sunshine.
14366.
What sings morning, noon, and night,
And when the fire's out, shuts up tight?
Teakettle.
14367.
Thirty white horses upon a red hill,
Now they dance, now they prance,
Now they all stand still.
or
Thirty white horses upon a red hill,
Now they clamp, now they tramp,
Now they all stand still.
or
Thirty white horses upon a red hill,
Now they champ, now they clamp,
Now they all stand still.
Teeth and gums.
14368.
I went to the woods and got it,
I sat me down and looked for it;
The more I looked at it, the less I liked it,
And brought it home, because I couldn't find it.
Thorn.
14369.
Upon the hill stands a red bull,
He eats and eats and never gets full.
Threshing machine.
14370.
Three-fourths of a cross, and a circle complete,
A rectangle where two semi-circles meet,
A rectangle-triangle standing on feet,
Two semi-circles, and a circle complete.
Tobacco.
14371.
Long legs, crooked thighs,
Bald head, and no eyes.
Pair of tongs.
14372.
The children of Holland take pleasure in making,
What the children of England take pleasure in breaking.
Toys.
 352

14373.
There is something on yonder hill,
Rocks and rocks and never stands still.
Trees.
14374.
I'm in everyone's way,
But no one I stop;
My four horns every day,
In every way play,
And my head is nailed at the top.
Turnstile.
14375.
On London bridge I looked down through a crack,
Saw the devil with a whirl upon his back.
Turtle.
14376.
Two got in the bathtub to take a bath,
One got out and none was left.
Man by name of Tew took a bath.
14377.
What goes up the chimney down,
But can't come down the chimney up?
Umbrella.
14378.
High as a house,
And low as a mouse.
As bitter as gall,
But good after all.
Walnut.
14379.
As soft as silk,
As white as milk,
As bitter as gall,
A strong wall,
And a green coat covers me all.
Walnut.
14380.
There was a little green house,
And in the little green house,
There was a little brown house,
And in the little brown house,
There was a little yellow house,
And in the little yellow house,
There was a little white house,
And in the little white house,
There was a little heart.
Walnut.
14381.
Round as an apple, rough as a bear,
If you guess this riddle, you may pull my hair.
Walnut.
14382.
What hangs on the wall and looks so fine,
But when it's dirty, it isn't worth a dime?
Wallpaper.
14383.
What goes in dry, comes out wet,
Tickles your belly, and makes you sweat?
Washboard.
14384.
As I went up heeple steeple,
There I met a heap of people,
Some were black and some were blue,
Some were the color of my old shoe.
Wasps.
14385.
Round as a biscuit,
Busy as a bee,
Prettiest little thing,
You ever did see,
 353

Watch.
14386.
Runs as smooth as any rhyme,
Loves to fall but cannot climb.
Water.
14387.
My first I hope you are,
My second I see you are,
My third I know you are.
Welcome.
14388.
Round as a hoop,
Deep as a cup,
All the king's horses,
Couldn't pull it up.
or
Round as an apple,
Deeper than a cup,
All the king's horses,
Can't pull it up.
or
Riddle me, riddle me, riddle me,
Perhaps you can tell what this riddle may be:
As deep as a house,
As round as a cup,
All the king's horses
Can't draw it up.
Well.
14389.
Tren, trip and trail,
Which was the bitch's name?
Which.
14390.
Long, slim and slender,
Tickles where it's tender;
Tickles where the hair grows,
Long, slim and slender.
A whip, applied to the back of a horse.
14391.
What goes over hill and vale,
Makes a noise, but never leaves a trail?
Wind.
14392.
Arthur O'Bower has broken his band,
He comes roaring up the land;
The King of Scots with all his power,
Cannot turn Arthur of the Bower.
Wind.
14393.
As I was going across London bridge,
I met my sister Sally,
I bit off her head and sucked her blood,
And left her body standing.
Bottle of wine.
14394.
"There was a hill, you know,
And on the hill, you know,
There was a house, you know,
And in the house, you know,
There was a table, you know,
And under the table, you know,
There was a dog, you know,
What was his name, you know.
You know or uno.

DEATH (14395-15415)

TOKENS OF DEATH (14395-15079)

Moon - Star - Rain - Rainbow (14395-14402)
MOON
 354

14395. "Years ago my aunt one evening was sitting in a swing, watching the moon through the trees, and the old woman that was working for
her came out in the yard and said, 'Don't you know that is trouble before that moon sets, to sit in a swing and watch a moon rise through the
trees?' And in half an hour they heard a horse coming up the road, a man on horseback, telling her her father got killed."

STAR
14396. Every time a star shoots there is a death.
14397. If a star falls on a house, appears to, some person living there will not live long.
14398. To see a star shoot while you are counting them denotes a death among your relatives.
14399. Whoever in early evening begins to count the stars and does not finish the task will soon be dead.
14400. If you are crossing water and a star falls into the water, a family death may be expected.

RAIN
14401. Large drops of rain indicate there has just been a death somewhere.

RAINBOW
14402. A rainbow arched over a house is a sign someone living there will soon die.

Plants (14403-14452)
PLANTS
Bean - Beet - Cabbage - Carnation - Carrot (14403-14408)
14403. If you plant beans and some of them come up white instead of green, a death before the end of the year is foretold.
14404. Green bean leaves fading to white foretell a death.
14405. "Mother went out one morning and found some beets in bloom the first year — beets should not bloom the first year — and she cut the
bloom right off; but it didn't help, for her granddaughter died in several weeks."
14406. Cabbage plants that grow to seed instead of heads are a death omen.
14407. "Whenever I smell a carnation flower and there is no flower around, I always hear of a death in the family."
14408. If carrots bloom the first year the seed are sown, there will be a death in the family, for carrots should not bloom the first year.

Clover - Corn - Cucumber - Cypress Vine (14409-14414)

14409. Do not pick a five-leaved clover; a death will soon follow.
14410. "I can remember when I was a girl [before the Civil War, across the river in Lewis County, Missouri] the head slave planted a field of
corn running east and west. After the corn came up, they sent us out to hoe the corn and we found out, Ed had forgot to plant a whole row of corn
across the field. It worried the women folks. That was all they talk about, wondering who the death was for. And our master died just six months
from the day the black-folks found the row of corn missing." This belief is also found in Adams County. It is also said the death will occur before
the corn is harvested or before corn is planted again.
14411. If when planting corn or anything planted in rows you leave one row uncovered, you will lose a member of the family before you plant
again.
14412. If the first ear of corn you see in the season has white silk, someone in the family will die.
14413. The year in which all your cucumbers are small will witness a death in the house.
14414. A cypress vine should not be planted on your house; it will cause death to someone living there.

Flowers - Kale - Onion - Lettuce - Mustard (14415-14424)

14415. A bouquet of wild flowers taken into the house before the first of May will be followed by a death in the family that year.
14416. "My niece will never let fresh cut flowers come in the house; said they were bad luck, always brought a death."
14417. If you pick flowers after dark and bring them into the house, you are bringing a death into the family.
14418. A sick person given a white flower or a bouquet with white flowers will never recover.
14419. If by mistake you sow spring instead of autumn kale seed in the autumn and any of it blooms, look for a death.
14420. Spring kale blooming again in the autumn is a death token.
14421. "My sister was walking through the garden one morning and said, 'We will have a death in the family before the year is out, for the kale
is full of white spots.' And my sister died before the year was out. It is an old German saying, way back from the old country, and it never fails."
14422. To miss a row when planting onions means a death.
14423. Never pull up a white stalk in your lettuce patch; you will be pulling up someone out of the family.
14424. The person who sows mustard seed near the house will soon attend a funeral.

Sage - Bush - Tree (14425-14452)

14425. A death is caused in the family by sowing sage seed in the yard.
14426. "About forty-four years ago on September sixteenth my mother was very sick and that morning when I went out in the garden our
snowball bush had one big white flower right on the top, the prettiest flower you could put your eyes on. I said, 'That snowball [because it was
blooming out of season] is there for no good.' And mother died in two days after that. And the snowball started to fade the same day and was
gone by the time she was buried." The same thing was said of a pear tree.
14427. "Our apple tree bloomed in the spring and then in the fall again. My niece died right after that. Ten years passed and the same tree
bloomed again in the spring and then in the fall, and my father died right after it bloomed in the fall. After the funeral, we went out and cut this
tree down, for we didn't want this tree to tell us of another death. It was a fine tree and had lovely apples, but it told of two deaths and that was
enough." This belief applies to all flowers --- especially the bridal wreath, primrose, rose and snowball --- and to the following fruit trees: cherry,
peach and pear.
14428. "About fifteen year ago we had a apple tree in our orchard. It bloom in the early fall and had several small apples on the tree. An old man
staying with us said, 'That's bad luck. I don't like that tree having late apples on.' In the early winter, one morning he went to the station and not
seeing or hearing the morning freight train, as he went over the track, it hit him and killed him. Just three year after that, the same tree bloom
again and had several apples on. I was in a family way at the time. When my little girl came she only lived three weeks. After the funeral I saw
my husband start out to the woodshed and get the ax. I said, 'What are you going to do with that ax?' He said, 'I am going to cut down that
 355

apple tree. We have had enough trouble over it, and we are not going to have any more bad luck over it.' And he cut the tree down." This
superstition about blossoms and fruit on the same tree is believed of all fruit trees.
14429. "My wife one day looked out and our apple tree had some bloom on it, and said, 'I will die before that tree blooms again, because I am
the first to see it.' And she did die before the next spring."
14430. If a young tree blooms out of season, a young person will die; if an old tree, an old person.
14431. "We had a bush blooming in our yard several years ago. They say if you have any kind of tree or kind of flower that is blooming out of
season in your yard, go and cut it right down. And we went right out and cut the bush down as soon as we saw the flower and we didn't have any
death. If we would of let the bush stand with the flower on, there would of been a death in our house."
14432. If a peach tree blooms twice the same season, and you pick off any of the second bloom, you will have a death in the family.
14433. If a tree in the yard has the same number of fruit as you have members in your family and one of the fruit falls before it is ripe, one
member of your family will be lost that year.
14434. The person watching the last leaf fall from a tree in the autumn will see a death in the family before the leaves fall again.
14435. Anyone who counts leaves as they fall in the autumn is counting out a death for a member of the family.
14436. If colored leaves or foliage plants are carried into the house during the autumn, there will be a death in that house before next autumn.
14437. Never pull up a small tree by the roots; you are uprooting someone out of the family.
14438. A tree uprooted by a storm is a portent of death.
14439. If lightning strikes a black oak tree, the owner of that tree will soon die.
14440. "My father believed in this strong and would not let any wood be burnt in our stove or fireplace that had been struck by lightning. I
can remember when I was young that someone gave a colored man some wood that had been struck by lightning. My father went and told him
not to burn it, he would lose one of his family. The man didn't believe in much of anything and he said, 'What's that got to do with someone
dying? just burning an old tree,' and went on and burn the tree in the stove. It was no time until his daughter took sick and died, and the man
wished then he had listen to my father's old saying."
14441. If a tree in the yard dies, a death for some member of the family is signified.
14442. A tree dying on the edge of the street in front of a house portends death either for someone in that house or in the neighborhood.
14443. "I had a very pretty cedar tree and wanted to plant it in the yard. My father would not let me; told me to throw the tree away, for someone
would die before the year is out. I didn't do it. I took it out and planted it in the pasture. And my father died in no time. I will never plant
another cedar tree on my place, because I know this is so."
14444. Set out a cedar tree in your yard and "you will never live to sit in its shade".
14445. "This Mrs. X. across the street went out in woods and got a cedar tree a few years back and planted it in her yard. When they were
planting it they accidentally split the tree in half. It did not kill the tree; it grew just the same. This woman had two little girls at the time she
planted the tree. When that tree was so it threw a shadow on the ground, she lost both of her girls; that was because the tree was split in half."
14446. The person who transplants a cedar tree will die as soon as its lower limbs reach "the length of his coffin".
14447. There will be a death in the family for each pine tree you plant in the yard.
14448. Be careful about planting a pine tree in your yard; if that tree dies, someone in the house will die.
14449. If a weeping willow is planted in the yard, the planter will die before the end of the year.
14450. Never plant a cedar tree in a cemetery; you will be dead before the year ends.
14451. The planter of a cedar tree in a cemetery will die before it is large enough "to shade his grave".
14452. If a tree planted at a grave dies, it presages death for the planter.

Snail (14453)
SNAIL
14453. Snail tracks near the door denote a death.

Insects (14454-14472)
INSECTS

Bee - Butterfly - Black Bug - Cricket (14454-14460)

14454. Bees gathering around your door are a sign of death.
14455. If the first butterfly seen in the spring is white, a death is not far away.
14456. "One of those black bugs [which this Negro woman called carrion] just the shape of a casket [coffin] was trying to get into the window
three weeks ago. I said to my husband, 'We are going to have a death,' and he just laughed at me. In a few days we got word my nephew was sick
in Chicago, and I went and am just back from the funeral."
14457. "I lost two of my sons in three year's time. Both times the crickets got in and made such noise. I said both times, 'We will have a funeral,'
and we did."
14458. A cricket chirping in the house betokens a death: one chirping, a death within a month; two, within two months; and three, within three
months.
14459. "I always pick it up in a piece of paper and put it outside, if a cricket is in the house, to keep a death away; for if you kill the cricket you
found in your house, you would sure bring a death to your house."

14460. After a cricket lights on you, there will be a death in the family.

Blowfly - House Fly - Lightning Bug (14461-14463)

14461. "Just last week one of those big blowflies got in the house and my grandma died that week."
14462. "A person leaving for a more healthful climate during the winter or spring months is certain to die if flies collect around the door.
This proved true in a Quincy case. A certain doctor's wife went to Texas for her health. Predictions of friends on seeing the flies at her departure
were followed by her death."

Locust (Cicada) - Dragon Fly - Spider (14464-14472)

14463. "Just before my niece died we were sitting in the room with her, it was in the wintertime, and a lightning-bug came from somewhere, went
up the door lighting all the way, then down lighting, and disappear at the bottom of the door. My niece died the next morning."
 356

14464. Kill a locust (cicada) and you will soon die.

14465. "We had a woman staying at our house and one of those snake-doctors [dragon fly] or green hornets came and sit on the door just a month
ago [if it tries to get in, a death is indicated], and my husband cut its head off; but the woman that was staying with us died."
14466. If you hear a knocking-spider, it foretells a death. Several Negroes said a knocking-spider makes a faint staccato sound.
14467. If a spider drops down in front of you, news of a death will be heard.
14468. If a spider drops on a web in front of you and you knock it down, a death is portended.
14469. A spider spinning a web over the bed is an indication of death.
14470. When a spider comes down on the table at noon while you are eating, a death will soon occur.
14471. Cobwebs hanging from the ceiling mean a death; if the web is short, a child will die; if long, an adult.
14472. To kill a spider (particularly one working in the house) brings a death. Some say the spider must be black.

Snake - Bat (14473-14482)

SNAKE
14473. If you walk over a dead snake lying in the road, a death may be expected.
14474. A dead snake found near the house warns you of a death.
14475. "We had a neighbor. Someone was real sick and one of those sign snakes [any snake believed to bring a warning] came to the front door
and raised its head up and looked right at that sick person. One woman that was sitting in the room said, 'Look at that sign snake!' The snake
turned and run, and they followed it and killed it. I think it was a shame to kill that snake after it came to warn that the person was going to die."

BAT Note: A bat in folk-lore, death omens especially, is always a bird, never a mammal. For this reason and here only, I am indexing Bat before
Birds, not with sub-section Animals (mammals).
14476. A bat flying over your head is a token of death in the family.
14477. After a bat darts against your window, you will soon hear of a death.
14478. The significance of a bat getting into a house is a death in that house within a month.
14479. If a bat enters a house and stays for some time, there will be a death in that house; if it does not stay long, the death will be
among relatives.
14480. "They always say if a bat gets in the house and you can't get it out, you will have a death in that house. My daughter's baby was not
yet born when a bat got in our house. I was in town and when I got back home the children were all scared to death because they could not get the
bat out of the house, for they knew someone would die if the bat stayed in the house. I started right in to helping them try to get the bat out, but
we just could not get the bat out. My son had the broom trying to hit the bat, and knocking the only lamp chimney we had off the table breaking
it, so we had no lamp that night, had to use a candle. But the bat stayed in the house. Several days after that my daughter's baby came. The baby
only live two days. After the baby was dead we never saw that bat again. We don't know how it ever got out, but they always leave as soon as
there's a death, if in the house."
14481. If a bat comes into the house and flies about, a death in that house is foretold; but if the bat does not fly about, sickness.
14482. If you kill a bat in the house, there will be a death within six months; but if the bat escapes, sickness.

Birds (14483-14612)
BIRDS
Blackbird - Blue Jay - Buzzard (14483-14487)
14483. A large number of blackbirds near the house is a death warning.
14484. "A blackbird flew into my house when the blackberries were in bloom, and before the blackberries were gone my brother died."
14485. "I knew a woman that was sick in bed, and a blackbird got in the room and fly around the bed three times, and she died that night."
14486. A blue jay coming to a door indicates a death in that house.
14487. The house over which a turkey buzzard flies will soon have a death.

Chimney Swift - Crane - Crow (14488-14491)

14488. If while cleaning a flue a chimney sweep (sweeper chimney swift) flies out, a death before the end of the year is presaged.
14489. A crane flying over the house is an omen of death: if it calls once, one death; if twice, two deaths.
14490. If you are singing while on a walk in the country and suddenly hear a crow begin to caw, someone in your family will soon die.
14491. Never bring home a crow you have killed while hunting; you are bringing a death to the house.

Dove - Wild Goose - Hawk - Owl (14492-14528)

14492. If on hearing the first turtledove in the spring you immediately look down to the ground, you will die before the end of the year.
14493. If a mourning dove coos near a house where there is sickness, the sick person will die within thirty-six hours.
14494. To hear a turtledove for three nights (?early evening ?) is a portent of death in the vicinity.
14495. "Just before my husband died a turtledove came and sit on my clothesline, giving that mourning sound. The bird came back for
three mornings straight. I said to my husband, 'I don't like that.' It made me just sick, for I knew something would happen. In six weeks my
husband was dead."
14496. "One day I was going to work and a dove flutter right in front of me. The dove went a little further, then flutter again in front of me,
then flew right up, and I did not see it again. And the next day my girl chum died."
14497. "One day several doves flew on our porch. As I started to town in the car a dove went and circled all around the car. I said to the woman
that lived next door, 'What makes that dove keep circling around my car?' She said, 'That is the sign of a death in the family.' When I got home
from uptown, we had word my aunt died that morning."
14498. "About fifty-five years ago we were living across the street from some people and the woman was sick. I went over to the house and when
I got to the gate, two white doves flew over the gate, went to the front door and flutter around the door several times, then flew off to the
cemetery. I said to her son that was in the yard, 'I don't like that, for that is a token of death.' And his mother died that day."
14499. Either a white dove or a turtledove flying over a house forebodes a death within.
14500. If a dove rests on your chimney, you are warned of a death in the family.
14501. The family on whose house a turtledove sits will soon have a death.
14502. A dove sitting on top of a house and cooing three times is a sign of a death in that house.
 357

14503. "My mother was very sick in bed and we pulled the bed up by the window, and two white doves came and sat on the window sill until my
mother died; and just as she was dead, they disappeared and we did not see them again."
14504. "My daughter was not feeling well. I was sitting at the window and a white dove came and picked on the window. And I said, 'My God!
that's bad luck to the house.' The next day the dove came again and picked on the same window. Then I knew sure it was an omen. And my
daughter died that week."
14505. "I knew a woman near Marblehead that was sick and they moved her to her daughter's house so she could take care of her. They forgot to
lock up the house, so the daughter went back to her mother's house; and when she got there, she found a white dove in the house. She went right
back and told her father that it was a bad sign, and said, 'Don't tell mother. ' And the very next day her mother was dead."
14506. "I had a cousin whose brother was very sick. She woke up one night and saw a white dove sitting in the room. The next morning her
brother had died at the same time she saw the dove in her room."
14507. My little girl had not been well and she was in bed. I was sitting there when a white dove came and sit on the top of the bed. And just
then my little girl said, 'They are hovering over me, they are coming after me.' And she died the next day and we didn't think she was sick at all."

14508. If a dove flying into a house touches or lights on someone who is sick, that person will not live long.
14509. "Just before my mother died, I saw a great white goose fly over the house. She died the next day."
14510. There will be a death in that house over which three hawks are flying.
14511. When a hawk flies over a house during the day and makes a lot of noise, look for a death soon.
14512. Hawks crying at night denote a death.
14513. "Another thing I don't like to hear is a laughing owl, they bring a death sure. It is only the laughing owl that does, all owls don't bring a
death. One day I remember there was an old laughing owl in our tree, they just sound like they are laughing at you, and my aunt died right after
that."
14514. If an owl hoots at dusk, a death is indicated.
14515. If an owl hoots during the night, a death is indicated.
14516. If an owl hoots in the moonlight, a death is indicated.
14517. An owl hooting in back of the house is a presage of death; in front of the house, a birth.
14518. An owl hooting in front of the house is a presage of death for someone living in that house. The owl must be in a tree. 14519. If an owl
sits on your window sill, someone is going to die.
14520. If an owl sitting on a window sill looks into the house and calls, someone is going to die.
14521. If an owl flaps its wings against the window of a room where someone is sick, that person will soon die.
14522. "If an old owl sets on a chimley and holler, that's a sure sign of death in that house inside of a month. My mother was sick. An old owl
came and set on the top of our chimley and holler. My mother died before the week was over. If the owl hollers in a tree, that's the sign of a death
in the neighborhood."
14523. The person who on stepping outdoors for the first time after sunset hears an owl hoot three times will soon hear of a death. 14524. After
an owl sitting above your head hoots three times, some member of the family will die within six months.14525. "Just before my uncle died, an
owl came and set on a tree in front of the house for three nights, hooting. The fourth day my uncle died."
14526. "I never hear an owl hoot unless I hear bad news. Some years ago I was visiting out in the country and I heard an owl hoot for three
nights in succession. I said to the folks where I was, 'I am going to get bad news. ' And the next day the mailman brought me three letters and in
each letter they were telling me of a death in Quincy."
14527. " An old man down near Marblehead said it was an old saying, if you are walking through the woods [in daytime] and see several owls
setting in a tree, sign you will soon see a ghost around your house" ---someone in your family will die.
14528. "I killed an owl once and my brother died in three days; so don't do it, for it always brings a death."

Phoebe - Pigeon - Quail - Redbird - Robin (14529-14563)

14529. "If you hear a see-toot-zee bird ---that is what the colored folks call them, but the Germans call them pee wee or death birds ---that is a
sure sign of death. About forty year' ago [1896] they were thick in the South End [of Quincy], but they would shoot every one and they are about
all gone now. I remember one time I was down near Front and Washington Street about forty year' ago, and you would think war was on, the
way they were shooting the see-toot-zee birds on the hill. I said, 'What is wrong?' An old German man said, 'We are killing the death birds."
14530. "I believe in death signs. About ten years ago I was living on Tenth and Madison Street. I had a next-door neighbor, we were out in
our yards talking over the fence. She was well, nothing was wrong with her. My friend was standing under the pear tree in her yard when all at
once one of those death birds started to call right over her. She looked up and said, 'That bird is calling me home, I am going to die.' I said, 'What
is the matter with you.' She said, 'Well, you will see; he is calling me. ' In ten days I saw that woman in her coffin."
14531. Among the older Germans, the call of the death bird, one of the commonest death omens believed by them, was not pee wee, but either
kom' mit ("come with me") or geh' mit ("go with me"). Either of these calls at anytime meant death.
14532. If early in the morning the death bird calls geh' mit near your house, the notes beginning softly and gradually becoming louder, a death
may be expected.
14533. A peewee (or phoebe or death bird) calling three times near the house is an omen of death in the family.
14534. A continual or unusual cooing among pigeons means a death in the If family of their owner.
14535. If a strange pigeon (usually a white one) comes to your house, a death will soon follow.
14536. If a strange pigeon lights anywhere in your yard, a death will soon follow.
14537. If a strange pigeon lights in a tree on your property, a death will soon follow.
14538. If a strange pigeon lights on your barn, a death will soon follow.
14539. If a strange pigeon lights on the chimney of your house, a death will soon follow.
14540. If a strange pigeon (usually a white one) lights on your front porch and coos three times, a death will soon follow.
14541. If a pigeon lights on a window sill, a death will soon follow.
14542. If a white pigeon flies around the house three times and then sits on a window sill, a death will follow.
14543. If a pigeon keeps flying against a window trying to enter the house, a death will soon follow.
14544. If a pigeon dashes against the window of a sick room and breaks its neck, the patient within will not live long.
14545. A pigeon flying into a house is bringing a death.
14546. "I knew a man that was sick for a long time and one morning a white pigeon came in the window and sit on the foot of the bed; they had
to put the pigeon out, and the man died that day."
 358

14547. "Years ago I was taking care of a sick woman near Fourth and Maiden Lane and the woman's daughter was in another room. I went in to
tell the daughter her mother had passed away, and as I came in the door, she said, 'I know mother is gone, for a white pigeon came in the room
and circle around my bed three times, then sit on the foot of the bed then left. I knew it was an omen of death.' And her mother did pass away just
when the pigeon was circling around her room."
14548. "My sister was sick and a quail came in the yard and she died in four days after that."
14549. "A bob white [quail] came three nights after dark and sit on our gatepost and hollered and on the third night my baby died."
14550. To have a quail sit on your doorstep and call is a token of death.
14551. "I remember when I was a girl, a quail got in our house and sit on the foot of my brother's bed, and he died right after that." 14552. "Just
about a week ago, a redbird was sitting on our front porch. I said, 'Look out! bad news. In a week's time my best friend died. You just know,
when you see a redbird hanging around, what will happen soon ---bad luck, you are sure to hear of sickness or death."
14553. A redbird flying past the window of a sickroom portends the death of' the patient.
14554. If a redbird lights on a window sill, there will soon be a death in that house.
14555. The fluttering of a redbird against a window denotes a death.
14556. After a redbird has fluttered against a window on three separate occasions, you may expect a death.
14557. "A redbird came and picked on the bedroom window upstairs and tried [ to get in, he almost broke the glass picking so hard, and my
brother died that week."
14558. "My brother was living in the north part of town and a redbird pecked on the window three times and his wife died right away. Time went
on and he moved to the south part of town and married another woman. About twenty-five years after his first wife died, another redbird pecked
three times on the window and my brother died. "
14559. If a redbird pecks on the window of a sickroom until its bill bleeds, the patient will soon die.
14560. Never kill a robin; you will soon hear about the death of a friend.
14561 "A robin came and sit on the window sill for three days and sang each morning. He would try to get in. On the third day my uncle died."
14562. "My neighbor and my husband were sitting out in the yard when a robin came and pecked on our window. In two weeks we buried my
husband."
14563. "Just before my cousin died, a robin came and fluttered against the window three times inside of three hours, and he died that night. They
say if a robin comes and flutters against your window three times, it is the sign of death."
14564. A sapsucker flying around the house is an indication of death.

Sapsucker - Sparrow - Swallow (14564-14574)

14565. If a sapsucker looks into the house through a window, a death is signified.
14566. "Our next-door neighbor's little boy was out in the yard playing and a sparrow came down and peck him on the head hard, and before the
week was over his little sister was dead."
14567. A death is betokened by a sparrow sitting on a window sill.
14568. Somebody in your family will die within a week, if a sparrow flutters against one of your windows.
14569. A sparrow that pecks against your window three times is telling you of a death.
14570. "I have always heard if a sparrow gets in the house, someone in the family will die before the year is out. One morning we were sitting
at the breakfast table, a sparrow came and pecked on the window; it came back the second morning, flew against the window and picked on it.
The third morning when I opened my kitchen door to get a bucket of water that dirty little sparrow flew in the house. I sure hate sparrows, for in
three months my son had an accident and died."
14571. Unless you kill a sparrow that has flown into the house, someone will die soon.
14572. When my father was sick, a sparrow got in the house three different mornings and we had to put it out. It was a token of his death, for he
died that week."
14573. The significance of a swallow falling down the chimney is a death.
14574. If swallows when flying south in the autumn stop at a house and circle around a chimney, that house will soon have a death.

Whippoorwill - Unspecified (14575-14612)

14575. The person who hears a whippoorwill calling at midnight will soon hear of a death.
14576. "My mother always told me if a whippoorwill sings near your house you will have a death in the family. One night a whippoorwill came
and sit on the corner of our house and hollered. I went out and run it away. The next morning it came back again. I run it away again. But inside
an hour we got word my sister was dead."
14577. A whippoorwill calling three times in front of your house foretells a death.
14578. If the call of a whippoorwill on your farm is loud, it forebodes a death; if soft, sickness.
14579. "Just before my husband died, one day I was sitting on the porch sewing when a whippoorwill came down right at my feet and holler. I
said, 'Look out for a death in the family.' And in two weeks my husband took sick and died."
14580. "He had a very sick aunt. They were all there to visit her, and about dark a whippoorwill flew in and sat on the head of the bed and
hollered whippoorwill three times, and the folks said, 'Aunt Mary will die in three days. ' And the whippoorwill flew away hollering whippoorwill
three times . And in three days at the same time aunt Mary died."
14581. About twenty-five years ago several of us were standing on the corner of Fifth and Hampshire Street waiting for a street car when a
bird came along. It circle around my sister-in-law's head three times, then lit on her hat. An old soldier from the Soldiers Home was waiting for
the street car too, and said, 'Lady, don't get scared, but I don't like that, it is a bad omen for you.' In three weeks my sister-in--law was dead."
14582. The person on whose shoulder a bird alights will die soon.
14583. If a bird plays near the cornice of your house, a death for someone in the family is denoted.
14584. "My little girl was sick for a week, we didn't think she was bad at all, when one morning one of those pecker birds came and peck on the
corner of the house, did this for three morning, and on the fourth day this bird flew in the house and went out the same way. Of course we didn't
have any screens on the door. We carry our little girl out the same door the bird came in and went out."
14585. "One night we were sitting on the front porch and between eleven o'clock and twelve o'clock a bird came and sang. I said to my son, who
was on the porch, 'That is for little Jackie.' That was my grandson and he was at the hospital very sick at the time. My son got a light and ran the
bird away. The next night that bird came again between eleven and twelve. That next day my brother took very sick. Then we thought the omen
was for him, and the next day he did die. And the third night that bird came back again, just between eleven and twelve o'clock. And that week
 359

my grandson died. And we had my brother and grandson at the undertaker both at the same time. And my cousin dropped dead that same week,
making us have three deaths in the family at the same time."
14586. 'We had an omen of death in our house several years ago. A bird came to our house and got on the back porch and just flutter and flutter
its wings. We put the bird off the porch, and that bird came back for three days and got on the porch and flutter its wings. We knew then it was
an omen of death, and in just three weeks my father died."
14587. "I had a man boarding with me two year's ago, and we were all sitting here in this room, and a big white bird came to the window. It
looked as large as an eagle. We all got up and went on the porch. We could see the bird flying away. And the man that was boarding with me
drop dead while we were watching that bird fly away."
14588. "We had a warning when my father died. A bird came and sit in the window every morning for two weeks. After he died, the bird never
came back."
14589. A bird singing on a window sill is a sign of death.
14590. "We had a warning in our house years ago. My mother was not well and one morning five little birds came and sit in the window all day.
We knew then it was an omen, and in five weeks my mother died."
14591 .If there is sickness in the house and a bird darting against a window breaks its neck, the sick person will not live long.
14592. "Just before my uncle died a bird flew against the front door and drop back dead. The next day my uncle drop dead."
14593. A bird that injures itself while in a house is a death portent.
14594. If a bird flies through a room in which someone is sitting, that person will die before the year ends.
14595. "When my grandmother died, a big white bird flew through the house one night, and she died the next morning."
14596. A bird coming into the house through one window and leaving by another window warns you of a death.
14597. If a bird comes in a door and goes out a window, there will be a death in that house.
14598. "One day a bird flew in our house. It came in at the front door and flew out the back door, which is bad luck. That night my grandson, that
was well as he could be, took a spasm and died before morning."
14599. If a bird entering the house through a door circles around your head and then fails to go out the door by which it entered, you will soon
die.
14600. If a bird while in the house flies towards the east, it betokens death for a member of the family.
14601. If a bird getting into a house circles around the room, a death in the family is foretold.
14602. If a bird flies into the house and alights on a picture, the person whose likeness it is will die within a year.
14603. "Just before my little boy died, a bird flew in my house and sit on every picture in that room; and when he lit on a picture, he
whistled every time; and my little boy died in several days after that."
14604. A bird that flutters over a bed is a messenger of death for the person who sleeps there.
14605. "Seventeen years ago when my little boy was asleep at the head of the bed, a little bird came down the flue and circle around three times
over the head of the bed and went out the window. My boy was well at the time, but took a spasm the next day and died on the third day. It was a
token of death, the bird flying three times; he was telling us we would lose our boy in three days."
14606. "My father would not let us bring a wild bird alive in the house for anything; sure sign of death."
14607. If a bird flies into the house, it presages sickness; if it drops a feather while in the house, death.
14608. After a bird escapes from its cage and flies about in the house, you may look for a death.
14609. When a caged bird in the house chirps after dark, it means a death soon.
14610. A caged bird singing at midnight is an indication of death.
14611. "If you have a bird in the house and it sings through the night, there will be a death in the family. We had a bird that started to singing in
the night and kept it up to morning. My mother said it was an omen. And my brother died."
14612. "One Saturday afternoon I was walking along and a white feather came down from heaven right in front of me. I said to my husband,
'Someone will die soon in the family, that's a sure sign.' He laughed and said, 'No one is sick in the family.' I said, 'Well, you will see.' I stopped
in to see my mother-in-law that same Saturday afternoon. She was as well as could be. Sunday morning she took sick and sent for her son and I.
And she died Sunday night. So the white feather from heaven was a token of her death. I do believe it strong, but my husband don't believe it."

Poultry: (14613-14738)
POULTRY
Chicken - Guinea - Peacock (14613-14647)
14613. "My mother always said if a hen lay a small egg, sign of death in the family; said if you would throw that egg over the house or find the
hen that laid it and kill her, would break the spell."
14614. "My mother was washing one morning and an old hen that had little chickens came and sit on the wash bench and crowed and crowed.
She said, 'I am going to cut your head off, for that is death.' The neighbor woman said, 'What is wrong with you? that is company coming.' But
my mother had always heard it was death, so she catch the old hen and cut her head off. About supper-time she had a houseful of company to
come in to stay a week, and the neighbor said, 'I told you would get company.' And my mother was mad because she killed the hen and had to
take care of the little chickens."
14615. "My old hen came up and crowed on the porch one morning. My little girl nineteen months old was playing there and laughed and threw
some of her toys at the old hen. I said, 'Old hen, if I could get you, I would have you in the pot, for it's bad luck doing what you are.' I tried to
catch the old hen, for you have to kill them as soon as they crow, but she got away and went on down in the orchard. And in two weeks that little
girl that laugh at the old hen was dead."
14616. "It's an old saying to kill a hen the minute she crows. We had a white bantam hen that we thought a lot of, and one day she came and stood
on the doorstep, and crowed and flop her wings three times. We didn't want to kill her because she was a pet. And in three days our little baby girl
took sick and died. A few years after that an old Plymouth Rock hen came to the door at noon while we were eating and started to crowing. My
son jump up from the table and said, 'I am going to kill that hen, we don't want another death in the family.' He kill her and we didn't have any
death from that hen crowing. If we had of let her live, someone in the family would of died."
14617. "One night at twelve o' clock an old hen got off the roost and started to singing and came right out of the henhouse and on into the
yard. My mother heard the hen and got up and watched it. It came up to the house and walked all around the house singing and went back to the
henhouse and got back upon the roost. My mother's sister was not well, and the next night at twelve o'clock she died."
14618. A hen cackling very early in the morning is an omen of death among your relatives.
14619. If all your hens cackle at the same time early in the morning, a death may be expected.
14620. A death is portended by a hen that cackles after she has gone to roost.
 360

14621. If a rooster crows at sunset, there will be a death.

14622. If a rooster crows just after sunset, you will hear of a death before morning.
14623. If a rooster crows between dusk and dark or soon after he goes to roost, a friend will die.
14624. If a rooster crows between seven and eight o'clock at night, a death is indicated.
14625. If a rooster crows at midnight, someone is dying.
14626. If a rooster crows during the night, a death will soon follow.
14627. If the tone of a rooster's crowing seems rather mournful, you may expect a death in your family.
14628. If all the nearby roosters crow at the same time, some sinner in the neighborhood is about to die.
14629. "We had a rooster that did not belong to us to come and crow in our front door, and my mother died."
14630. "One day last year a rooster came and crowed, in a man's door across the street, with his head looking in. I holler over and said, 'You had
better look out, bad omen.' He said, 'I don't believe in that.' The next day the rooster crowed again in the door. And the third morning this man got
a telegram. His son was dead."
14631. A rooster crowing three times in front of the door or in the doorway indicates a death.
14632. "Mrs. P. when a young girl had a baby sister and it had been very sick, but was feeling much better and they thought it would get well. All
of a sudden a rooster flew on the back porch and crowed three times in the middle of the afternoon. They lived in a flat downtown and thought it
very funny. They rushed out to look for the rooster and it had disappeared. And that afternoon the baby died."
14633. If a rooster crows beneath a window (especially the window of a sickroom), that house will soon have a death.
14634. "Fifteen years ago we had a rooster to come and crow right under my sister's bedroom window every morning for a month. My mother
said one day, 'I wonder who is going to die?' My sister went fishing and was drowned."
14635. "I had a rooster and every time my brother would come and see me, just as soon as he sit down to the table, he would start to crowing. He
did this for several weeks. And one day when my brother started to sit down at the table he took sick and died."
14636. Chickens that come and sit around on your doorstep are warning you of a death.
14637. To have a chicken scratch on your door is a death token.
14638. If a chicken looks into the house through a window, some member of the family will die.
14639. A chicken flying against your window trying to get in betokens a severe illness or death.
14640. "Just last week my neighbor up the road had a hen to fly in the kitchen through the window and her grandfather died that week."
14641. "Another real old saying: if a chicken walks in the house accidentally, that is the sign of death in the house."
14642. "My brother was sick. We didn't think he was sick, but we were sitting up with him because he didn't want to be alone. One night just
at twelve o'clock our old hen that was setting out in the yard on some eggs came off her nest and came right into the house. It was summertime
and those days we didn't have screens like now. Well, this old hen went right to the fireplace and started to scratching in the ashes in the
fireplace. It was an omen, for my brother died before morning."
14643. The first year you raise guineas someone in the family will die.
14644. If you are the first one to raise guineas in your family, you will not live long.
14645. When a peacock cries in an unusual manner, a death will soon occur.
14646. A peacock strutting around the house three times foretells death for someone in the family.
14647. To carry a peacock feather into the house forebodes a death.

Animals (14648-14738)
ANIMALS
Mouse - Groundhog - Rabbit - Rat - Squirrel (14648-14654)
Note: For the animal bat, which should have been placed in this sub-section, see note preceding 14476.
14648. "My little girl was two years old. She had been very sick for a week with congestive chills. I was sitting by her bed and all at once a little
white mouse came from somewhere and looked up in my face so pitiful. And the next day my little girl died."
14649. If a groundhog comes near a house, someone living there will soon die.
14650. They say a groundhog gnawing the corner of a house is a sign of death.
14651. To see two white rabbits at night means a death.
14652. It is an omen of death, to have a rat gnaw clothes; some say the owner of the clothes will die soon.
14653. A drove of rats met on the road is a portent of death.
14654. Never kill a white (an albino?) squirrel; it will cause a death.

Cat - Dog - Hog - Cow - Horse (14655-14738)

14655. After you meet a black cat, you will soon receive news of a death among your friends.
14656. "One day I was going somewhere and a black cat went around in front of me three times. The next week my sister died in the morning."
14657. "Twenty years ago a man walked out Seventh Street one night and a black cat ran in front of him. He said to himself, 'I don't want to die, I
am going to sit down and wait until someone else walks over where the cat walked.' He sit down on a doorstep and stayed until almost morning.
No one came along so he got up and went home, and died the next week."
14658. A black cat crossing your path denotes a death in your family before the year is out.
14659. If a black cat crosses your path, someone in your family will die; the nearer the cat, the sooner the death.
14660. To prevent the death signified by a black cat crossing your path, hold your index and middle fingers crossed.
14661. Some say your path must be crossed three times by a black cat for the omen to mean death.
14662. When a black and white cat passes in front of you, someone in your family will soon die.
14663. You may look for a death in the family, if a white cat runs in front of you.
14664. A black cat coming to your house is a presage of death.
14665. To meet a black and white cat at your door signifies a strange death.
14666. If a black cat enters the yard of a house where someone is sick, there will soon be a death; moreover, whoever sees the cat first will be
the next person to die.
14667. Three strange cats in your yard at the same time indicate a death in the family.
14668. If a cat runs across your yard while you are coming out your door, go back into the house at once or there will be a death in your family.
14669. "A woman friend of mine had a warning. Her family cat came to the door and meow and meow. She let it in. The cat had never done that
way before, for it just carried on. The cat walked right over to the bed and jump up, and walked around where her husband slept, and kept
 361

walking around the bed, meowing, then jump off and went to the door, and meow to get out. The woman let the cat out. She didn't know what to
think. And a little later the woman got word her husband's team, he was driving, ran away; and he got killed just when the cat was walking over,
where he slept, and meowing."
14670. A death may be expected, after a yellow cat meows beneath your window.
14671. If you try to chase away a cat that is meowing beneath your window and it returns, someone will soon die.
14672. The quarreling of cats near your house will be followed by a death.
14673. "I had a warning before my husband died. A big black cat came in the front window and walked through the house. I got up and went and
put the cat out. The next night the cat came back, and the third night. I didn't know where it came from, but the last of that week my husband
died."
14674. To have a cat jump on your foot before you see the animal betokens the death of a relative within a week.
14675. A cat walking on the piano keys foretells a death.
14676. If a cat comes into the house and leaps up on the table, someone living there will soon be dead.
14677. If a cat washes its face in a room where several persons are sitting, the first person at whom the cat looks after it has finished the washing
will be the first one of that group to die.
14678. "My sister got angry one day and she took our cat and hit it up against the side of the house and killed it. I said, 'You will be sorry before
the week is over, for you are bringing a death in the family.' And before two weeks was over we lost our brother. She would not try and kill a cat
again, but it was too late after we lost our brother."
14679. "I remember one day we were burying our family cat in the yard and we were making a mound over it, and my father happen to see us and
we almost got a whipping, said it was death to the family to bury an animal and make a mound over it. And we had to take the mound down."
14680. The howling of a black dog near your house is a sign someone in your family will die.
14681. A dog howling near a sick person foretells the latter's death.
14682. If a dog howls at night in your (some say front) yard, someone is dying or has just died.
14683. If a dog howls at night in front of the house, a death is betokened for some member of your family.
14684. If a dog howls at night in front of your door, a neighbor will die.
14685. If a strange dog howls at night near your door, it indicates a death.
14686. If a dog howls at night on the front porch, you may expect a death.
14687. If a dog howls at night beneath a window, there will be a death --- within six months according to some.
14688. A dog howling at midnight warns you of a death.
14689. A dog howling all night is foretelling a death.
14690. A dog howling at the same time every night signifies a death on the block in which you live.
14691. "I lived out here in the country near Liberty about twenty years ago. My husband was working for a farmer. I had a little baby. After
the baby was several months old the neighbor's dog would run from their house down to ours every night howling. I said, 'I am going to lose my
baby, because it was born on March the thirteenth and that dog is telling me of it.' And my baby did die."
14692. A dog that runs around the house three times while howling is announcing a death.
14693. "Another thing I believe, when a dog howls that awful pitiful howl, someone will die. Well, the truth is they always do. We had a dog
about two years ago and one night it started that mournful howling, that makes the cold chills run all over you, out in the yard. I made my
husband get up and go out and stop the dog. He no sooner got back in bed until the dog started again. I said, 'Get up and put the dog in the
kitchen, maybe it's cold.' I didn't want to think it was a warning. He put the dog on some old carpets, then went back to bed. About three o'clock
that dog started again that mournful howl, getting us all out of bed. That was the third time that night. And it was no time until we got word my
brother was killed about three o' clock that morning just when the dog gave its last howling. So the dog was giving us the warning."
14694. "One night we heard a dog give three keen howls about eight o'clock. Mother said, 'We will hear of a death before this time tomorrow
night: if you hear a dog give three keen howls at night, sign of death before twenty-four hours.' And my mother died the next morning at eight
o'clock."
14695. If a dog howls three times beneath a window, a death is near.
14696. A dog howling near your house on three consecutive nights brings a death to your family.
14697. "My husband was not well, and we had a dog that he thought so much of, and this dog went out in front of the house and holler three
times. The next night the dog went out in front again and holler three times, and the third night he did the same thing. And my husband died that
night."
14698. If a dog howls while looking at your house, someone in the family will die; if while looking away from your house, someone in the
neighborhood.
14699. If a dog howls while looking at a door, someone living there will die within two days.
14700. Unless a dog looks at the ground while howling, it is not an omen of death say some.
14701. If a dog howls while looking up, the person about to die will go to heaven; if while looking down, to hell.
14702. If a dog howls while looking up at the moon, it forbodes a death; and according to some, this will occur in the family of the person who
owns the property on which the dog is howling.
14703. If a dog howling in the moonlight has his nose pointed toward someone, that person will soon die.
14704. "My grandma was sitting in the room one day, just as well as anyone, and our family dog went over to her and holler real pitiful three
times, looking up at her. She patted its head and said, 'What is wrong, Dick?' My mother was out in the kitchen and said, 'I don't like that.' And in
three days my grandma was dead."
14705. "One morning, as I was on my way to work, a dog was sitting in front of a house howling and looking toward the cemetery: if a dog is
howling and looking toward the cemetery, it is the sure sign of death. I said to the man that was with me, 'Someone is going to die in that house.'
He said, 'What is wrong with you?' On our way to work the next morning we saw crape on the door."
14706. "I knew a man, his dog was howling, and he went out to look betwen his ears to see what the dog was seeing, and he saw his own picture.
And the man died in three days."
14707. "A farmer living out in the country years ago around Quincy told another man that when a dog would holler, if you would look into his
ears, you could see who was going to die. One day this man's dog was laying down near a creek and he was howling, so this man thought he
would see if this man was telling the truth, so he looked into his dog's ear and saw his own picture. He fainted and rolled into the creek and was
drowned."
14708. "I was very sick, they didn't think I was going to live for some time. One night when I was very low, a dog came and was howling on our
back porch. I was so weak, I look up, and my husband got up went out and threw something at the dog and hit it. He didn't know until the next
 362

morning he had killed the dog. And I started to getting better right after that. When a dog howls, something has to die; and it was the dog that
died instead of me. If my husband had of left the dog live, I would of died."
14709. "I remember when my husband died a dog was standing by the house howling so loud. I said to my husband, 'Just listen to that dog
howling, I wonder who is going to die on this sandbar [a sand island in the river on which they and several other families were living].' He said,
'Why, I can't hear any dog.' You see, if a dog is howling and it is a token of a person's death, the person that is going to die never hears them even
if standing right by, is an old saying. I remember another time when a dog was howling and the party that did die didn't hear the dog when
everyone else in the room heard it. And the man saw a light going down the river and he wanted his wife to see the light. She did not see the light
or hear the dog when everyone else in the room did. And in two week's time this wife was dead. And she was well when the others heard the dog
and saw the light."
14710. To see a black dog in the morning before nine o'clock presages the death of a friend.
14711. "A strange black dog follow my aunt home and she died. They say if a black dog follow you home you don't know, you will have a death
in the family."
14712. The house to which a black dog comes and refuses to be driven away will soon have a death.
14713. The loitering of a strange dog near your house is an indication of death.
14714. If a strange dog tries to enter a house where someone is sick, there will be a death in that family.
14715. "When my mother was sick, a big dog came and put its feet on the door sill and looked in at my mother, and my mother died in three
days after that."
14716. After a strange dog looks through a window into a room where someone is sick, the death of that person may be expected.
14717. It is a sign of death, to have a dog moan beneath a bedroom window.
14718. "Just before my husband died a strange dog that had never been on the place before came and scratch a hole under my front porch just the
shape of a coffin. I run it away. The next morning the dog was back again scratching in the same hole that I had covered up. I ran this dog away
and he came back the third morning digging in the hole just like he was making room for a coffin. It was an omen, for my husband died the last of
the week."
14719. A dog that crawls on his belly and moans is measuring his master's grave.
14720. A dog that lies on the ground in front of you and stretches himself is measuring your grave.
14721. A dog that lies down in front of a door and stretches is measuring a grave for someone in the family.
14722. If a dog lies down in the doorway with his head outside and tail inside the house, someone will soon leave that house either by death
or marriage.
14723. If a dog lying with his head pointed downhill turns over to scratch himself, you may expect a death.
14724. If in the house a dog lies on his back with feet up in the air, some member of the family will die; if outside the house, someone in
the neighborhood.
14725. "We have a black dog down on the corner of Ninth and Chestnut that will get on his back with all feet up in the air and roll every time
someone died in the neighborhood. We have had three deaths around here, and that dog has got on his back every time, all four feet up in the air,
digging their graves."
14726. A death in the family is foretold by a dog rolling sunwise.
14727. "I can remember when a boy of eight years old, am eighty-two now, that I went to see my grandmother; and she was crying and wringing
her hands, said someone was going to die because she couldn't get the dog downstairs. If your dog goes upstairs and you can't make it come down
to eat or anything, that dog knows there will be a bad sick spell in the house and maybe death. My father had a long sick spell after that, but he
didn't die."
14728. "One day our dog got on the bed, holding his head up in the air with his ears up, looking across the river. Whenever a dog gets on the
bed, holding his head up in the air with his ears up, looking in one direction, he is scenting a death in the family and one is sure to happen. We
were living on Third Street, and the dog just kept getting on the bed and looking across the river. He was scenting a death. And it was no time
until my aunt across the river died. Another time the dog got on the bed, holding his ears up in the air and looking in the direction of my
grandma's house here in Quincy. He was scenting her death, for it was no time until she died. I sure believe that a dog will scent a death every
time."
14729. When you visit a family in the country, look at their hogs: if all of them are black, someone in your house will die that year; if white,
you will have good luck.
14730. If the carcass of a butchered hog hanging on a tree falls to the ground, one of those who took part in the butchering will soon die.
14731. Death is portended by a cow that lows with her head over a gate.
14732. The lowing of a cow in front of your door is a death omen.
14733. You are warned of a death, when a cow bawls in front of a window.
14734. "We had a neighbor, and one day the cow jumped over the fence and came and stood by their bedroom window and bawl three times, and
the man in the house lost his sister that week."
14735. The times at which a cow lows and it means death are variously given: early in the morning, between seven and eight in the morning,
after nine or ten o'clock at night, or at midnight.
14736. The birth of twin calves foretells death for some member of the family.
14737. "About twenty-one years ago we lost a fine horse and we cried over it. Grandmother said, 'Better stop crying over an animal, you will
soon lose something more valuable before the year is out.' But we thought so much of our horse we didn't listen, and before the year was out I lost
my husband in death."
14738. The person who sees thirteen white horses at one time will soon die.

Human Body (14739-14801)

HUMAN BODY
Ear - Eye - Tears - Nails - Cut (14739-14748)
14739. A sound in your ear like the ringing of a bell, sometimes called the death bell, signifies a death. There is a disagreement about which ear:
some say the left, others the right; and occasionally both ears are specified. Further, if you point your finger toward the direction from which you
think the sound comes, the ringing will stop.
14740. The itching of the right ear is a death portent.
14741. If your right eye jumps or quivers, you will hear of a death.
14742. Your eyebrows burning or itching are a sign of death. Some say it must be the left eyebrow.
 363

14743. "I know a man here in Quincy that is just crazy about a woman and would like to go with her, but will only speak to her when he sees her,
because he believes he will die in a year's time if he would happen to touch her, because she is cock-eyed."
14744. A woman said whenever she cried some relative or friend would die.
14745. To let tears fall on a letter you are reading will cause a death in the family.
14746. Never trim your finger-nails on Friday; there will be a death in the house.
14747. "Another old saying --- my mother always said to cut your finger-nails or toe-nails on Sunday will bring a death to the family. I often
heard them tell about my aunt wanting to go somewhere on a Sunday afternoon. That Sunday morning she took a bath, then cut her finger-nails
and toe-nails, forgetting about the old saying. Her husband took sick right after that and died before the next Sunday."
14748. If you cut your finger, either you will hear of a death or some one in your family will die; and which of these two possibilities
occurs depends upon the amount of blood: the more the finger bleeds, the closer the relative who will die; or, the deeper the cut, the deeper you
will feel about the death. This belief is usually held of a wound made while cutting bread, but occasionally one hears of the omen connected with
cutting grass or any type of work which involves the chance of a cut.

Hair - Combing - Hand - Headache (14749-14761)

14749. "My grandmother always said if you burn your own hair, sign you will hear of a death."
14750. The person whose hair is cut in February will die in March according to some, but according to others the death will take place before the
following March.
14751. "An old saying of my mother's, never to comb your hair by lamp-light [the usual expression is after dark], very bad luck and death. She
would not do this. Of course my mother was old. I am near seventy myself."
14752. If two persons stand together and comb their hair while looking into the same mirror, one of them will be dead before the year is out.
Some say the younger one will die first.
14753. If two women at the same time comb a third woman's hair, one of the combers will die before the year is gone.
14754. "My mother always said if you drop a comb while combing your hair, was the sign of death. She believed it very strong, for she had a
death in the family whenever she drop a comb combing her hair."
14755. To break a tooth out of the comb while combing your hair means a death in the family.
14756. Do not pick up a comb someone has lost; you are picking up a death.
14757. The person who crosses his hands at the table is bringing a death to the house.
14758. If two persons reaching for food on the table at the same time cross each other's hands or arms, there will soon be a death in the
house. Some say the omen will not be effective, unless one of the persons is married.
14759. The interpretation of four persons shaking hands across each other's hands and forming a cross is a death in one of their families within a
year.
14760. "One day last week Mrs. X. said, 'I am going to hear of a death before the week is out, because my hands smell like rotten eggs
this morning.' And in three days she did."
14761. A headache is the sign that you have lost a relative and will soon get a letter telling about it.
Laughing - Measuring - Neck - Nosebleed (14762-14766)
14762. "One night I was at my girl friend's house staying all night. After we went to bed we started to laughing and cutting-up. This girl's father
heard us and said, 'Girls, you will hear bad news if you don't stop that laughing in bed.' Girl-like we kept on. In about two-hours time they called
me home, said my sister had taken real sick. She died that week. So I never laugh in bed any more."
14763. A person laughing in his sleep will soon die.
14764. Whoever measures his height is measuring his coffin.
14765. When the back of your neck keeps itching, you may look for a violent death soon.
14766. "In our own family my grandmother was eating at the table and her nose started to bleeding. If your nose bleeds at the table and one
drop falls in your plate, sign of a death in your family. And it dropped on her plate. She died before two weeks."

Sneezing - Simultaneous Speech - Forgetting (14778-14797)

14767. If a person sings while asleep, a death in the family may be expected.
14768. To sing while lying in bed will bring a death into the family.
14769. Anyone singing before breakfast or at the breakfast table will have a death in the family.
14770. If you sing on the stairs, a death will soon follow.
14771. The singing of funeral songs in the house will cause a death in the family.
14772. Never rub soap over your skin on Friday; you will die before the year ends.
14773. A blackberry spot (a black spot that resembles a blackberry) appearing on your body betokens your death within three months.
14774. "I had a friend down here at Marblehead that had not been married long and she hit her crazy-bone real hard and a blue spot came on it.
That's the sign of death, to hit your crazy bone and make a blue spot. She said to me, 'My God! I will lose my husband.' And in about a week's
time a big rock fell on his head and killed him. He was working in the lime kiln."
14775. "My father always had a warning of death in the family. Every time just before a death he would have a black mark to come on his thumb,
it looked like he had hit his thumb. But the mark was always the shape of those old- fashion coffins they used years ago. And this came on his
thumb just before a death. It even came on his thumb just before he died."
14776. "I was sitting today talking with a woman and she said, 'One of us are going to hear of a death soon, because I am just having goose-skin
chills to run all up and down my arms'."
14777. If you sleep with your head to the east and feet to the west (the way the dead are buried), you will soon die.
14778. To sneeze in bed is an omen of death.
14779. I sneezed one Sunday morning four times before I got out of bed. While eating breakfast I said, 'We will hear of a death before night,'
and did. Our neighbor was out hunting and got shot."
14780. One sneeze before breakfast (usually on Sunday morning) means a death — some say before the week is out.
14781. The significance of sneezing three times before breakfast (usually on Sunday morning) is: a death soon, before the end of the day, or
three deaths before the week has gone.
14782. If a person sneezes at the breakfast table (usually on Sunday morning), a death is denoted --- sometimes before the week ends.
14783. Three sneezes at the Sunday breakfast table are an indication of death.
14784. "My baby sneezed one Monday morning at the breakfast table. My grandfather died before the week was over."
 364

14785. To sneeze anytime on Sunday morning is a token of death — sometimes before the end of the week.
14786. Anytime on Monday morning a sneeze foretells a death.
14787. "One time I sneezed at the table. Before the week was out my sister's child died. Another time when I sneezed at the table, right after that I
lost my husband in death. Since that, if I feel like I am going to sneeze, I get up from the table, for I don't want any more deaths."
14788. The person sneezing at a table will soon die.
14789. If you sneeze while eating and the food flies over the table or on the floor, someone in your family will die that year.
14790. If you sneeze with your mouth full of food at the noon meal, a death will soon follow.
14791. Two sneezes during the day signify a death in the family.
14792. If you sneeze twice in the evening for three consecutive evenings, a member of your family will die.
14793. Seven sneezes in succession are a warning of your own death.
14794. The person who sneezes in church will soon hear of a death.
14795. If you sneeze and hiccough at the same time, you will hear of a good friend's death.
14796. One of the two persons saying the same thing at the same time will soon die.
14797. To think it is Saturday and find yourself mistaken is a presage of death.

Teeth - Urinating - Whistling (14798-14801)

14798. A talk about teeth will be followed by a death.
14799. "If two people squat to pee and face each other, one will die before the year is out. I will never sit down in front of anyone, for I don't
want to die."
14800. Never whistle at the table; there will be a death in the family.
14801. "My mother would almost kill anyone that whistles in the house after sundown; sign of death in the family."

Clothes (14802-14859)
CLOTHES
Sewing - Thread - Needle - Scissors (14802-14813)
14802. "My mother told me it was bad luck to cut out anything on Friday, unless you knew you could finish it; said you would die soon. Mother
said one day when she was young, this was about eighty years ago [by 1860], said she cut out a dress on Friday thinking she could get it done
that day, and when in the evening when she knew she would not get it done, took the dress and put it in the cookstove and burn it up, said she
would rather loose the dress than die herself. She sure did believe in it. I am not that strong on signs."
14803. If you cut out a dress on Friday and do not finish it by Saturday night, you will not live to wear it out.
14804. "My mother's friend cut out a pair of pants for her little boy on a Saturday and didn't get them done, and he died before the next Saturday.
She always thought if she had not cut the pants out on Saturday, he would have lived."
14805. Here is one of the don't rules for sewing :
"Something new to something old,
Will a coffin hold."
14806. If you do any sewing on a garment you have on, you will not live to wear out that garment.
14807. If you cut or burn a hole in a garment while making it, or after it is made, or before it is worn, the person for whom the garment was
intended either will not live to wear it out or will die within a year.
14808. "My mother when I was a girl would not let us sew any light goods with black thread; sign of a death in the house."
14809. If the thread knots, the sewer will either die within a year or not live to wear out the garment.
14810. A dress made without ripping a stitch portends the sewer's death before the garment is worn out.
14811. A needle broken in sewing shows either the sewer or the person for whom the garment is being made will not live to wear out the
garment.
14812. If you break a needle while sewing on a quilt, you will not live to sleep under that quilt.
14813. To have your scissors fall and stick in the floor is a sign of death.

Garment: New - Falling - Black (14814-14819)

14814. Let no one try on a new garment of yours before you do; you will not live to wear it out.
14815. The person who burns a hole in a new garment and wears it will have a death in his family.
14816. A woman who lets her best dress fall to the floor will wear it to a funeral within the year.
14817. If a coat that you are hanging up falls to the floor, be sure to pick it up by the collar and then hang it up; for if you do not handle the coat
in this way, death will come to somebody in the family.
14818. Black is an unlucky color to wear except for mourning; it often denotes a death.
14819. To have your path crossed by a woman dressed in black is a death omen.

Dressing - Shoe - Shoestring - Washing Clothes (14820-14847)

14820. Two women should never help in dressing a third woman, for the younger of the two helpers will soon die .
14821. "I know a man that put his shirt on wrong side out, then went and changed it, and his boy got shot that night and died."
14822. "I will never dress one foot at a time, like putting a stocking and shoe on one foot before I start on the other; I always put on both
stockings, then shoes, to keep death out of the house, for to dress one foot first is the sign of death in the family."
14823. "An old saying of my sister's: if you put both of your stockings on wrong side out, you will hear of a death."
14824. "I knew three men that were killed and they had their socks on wrong side out; if you wear your socks wrong side out, you will be killed."
14825. The person who puts a shoe on the wrong foot will soon attend a funeral.
14826. Do not walk about in one shoe; you are measuring your mother's grave.
14827. To wear one shoe about the house after sunset means a death.
14828. If you kick off both shoes and the toes point back toward you, there will soon be a death.
14829. A shoe dropping and turning over on its side is called a dead-man's shoe. The person who dropped the shoe will soon die.
14830. If you set your shoes under the bed, it will bring a death to the family.
 365

14831. "One day my husband came in from work and threw his shoes on the bed. A woman was at the house and said, 'That's very bad luck.' He
laughed and said, 'I don't believe it.' I said, 'Let him go, that's his hard luck.' This was on Tuesday. On Wednesday he got word his sister was
dying, to come at once, and died."
14832. Whoever sets shoes on a chair will soon hear of a death.
14833. Shoes should not be laid on a table; a death may be expected.
14834. The laying of shoes on a trunk is a death token.
14835. Never lay your shoes on any object; the person who owns that object will soon die.
14836. New shoes set or hung higher than your head will cause a death.
14837. If you hang your shoes up on the wall, it means a death in the house.
14838. My wife was going somewhere and she went and got a new pair of shoes on Friday. I said, 'That is bad luck, to buy shoes on Friday.'
Never buy shoes on Friday; if you do, you will never get to wear them. She took sick the next morning and died before she ever wore the shoes."
14839. Break a shoestring on Wednesday and you will hear of a death on Thursday.
14840. The person who breaks a shoestring on Saturday will hear of a death on Sunday.
14841. To wash clothes between Christmas and New Year's Day brings a death into the family.
14842. If you have clothes on the line on New Year's Eve and they blow back and forth at midnight, they are blowing a death into the house
that year.
14843. Do not wash clothes on New Year's Day; you will have a death in the house before next New Year's Day.
14844. Anyone who washes clothes on New Year's Day will wash for a corpse before the end of a new week say same, within six months say
others.
14845. Washing done on Good Friday means a death before the year is gone.
14846. Never go through a gate to hang out your washing; you will be dead within a year.
14847. If you hang your washing on a neighbor's clothesline, someone in either family will die before the year ends.

Hat - Breastpin - Hairpin - Pin - Ring - Umbrella (14848-14859)

14848. The person who wears a new hat more than four times the first week it is bought will soon hear about the death of a good friend.
14849. If before entering a house you throw your hat in upon the floor, death will visit that house before the end of the year. 14850. Your
breastpin lost in someone's yard foretells you will go to a funeral at that house before the year is out.
14851. To pick up a hairpin found on the street is picking up a death.
14852. "My sister would never pick a pin up with the point toward her; said we would have a death soon in the family."
14853. Let someone turn a ring on your finger and you will be the next person to die.
14854. If you walk into a house with an opened umbrella or open an umbrella in the house, a death is signified. Sometimes the porch
is considered a part of the inside of a house.
14855. Whoever opens an umbrella in the house and stands under it will soon die.
14856. An umbrella opened in a room where there is a bed indicates someone will die in that bed before the year has ended.
14857. When you lay an umbrella on a bed, you are bringing a death to the house.
14858. If you lay an umbrella lengthwise on a bed, someone in the house will die; if crosswise, someone in the house will become sick.
14859. The dropping of an umbrella on the floor is a death omen.

House (14860-14884)
HOUSE
Addition - Moving - Chimney - Brick (14860-14866)
14860. To build an addition to a house will bring a death into the family.
14861. A family moving into a house that has never been occupied will soon have a death.
14862. Monday should never be chosen as a moving-day; someone in the family will not live long.
14863. If you move on Friday and finish the task, bad luck will be the result; if you do not finish, death.
14864. A brick often tumbles off a chimney preceding a death in the house.
14865. The falling of a brick down the chimney into the fireplace of a sickroom means the patient's death is near.
14866. If in picking up a cracked brick it breaks in your hand and falls to the ground, the owner of that brick will soon be dead.

Door - Gate - Wall - Window (14867-14884)

14867. "Mrs. B. had a friend who went to look at a house with the idea of renting it. The landlady informed the prospective renter that she was
going to put in a new door. The prospective renter then said, 'I will not take it, for that is very bad luck.' The landlady replied,' I am not
superstitious, I will live here and let you have my house [next door]. This arrangement was agreed upon. The landlady lost both of her daughters
before the year was out."
14868. A door made into a window will cause a death in the family.
14869. If you break a glass door, you will hear of a death say some, of bad news say others.
14370. If a door flies open, death is entering the house. This belief is sometimes reduced to bad luck.
14871. Never knock on your own door; you are knocking someone out of the family by death.
14872. If your door bell rings and no one is there, it betokens a death.
14873. The person who enters a house by one door and leaves by another will not live to visit that house again. Some say this applies only to a
first visit.
14874. "My grandma was not home and someone of the family called on her and they reached up in the grape arbor and got a handful of leaves
and hung over the door to let grandma know they were there. When grandma got home she said, 'What is wrong with them, do they want a death
in the family.' And my grandfather took sick right after that and died. And grandma never did forgive them for hanging the leaves on the
door." The following articles hung on a door knob also mean death: coat, dish rag, flowers, leaves of any kind, man's hat, and towel.
14875. To shut an open gate will be followed by a death.
14876. "My mother said if you hear a gate slam for three nights running, sure sign of a death in the neighborhood."
14877. A dark spot appearing on the wall of a room foretells a death in the house.
14878. If you climb out a window and then climb back, you are opening a grave and closing it.
14879. If you sit with your back to a window, you are facing your coffin in the center of the room.
 366

14880. "One day the window in my mother's room fell without anyone being near it, and my mother was not even sick, and she took sick and
died in a week's time." This is sometimes reduced to bad luck.
14881. To break a windowpane is the sign of death say some, of bad luck say others.
14882. "My uncle cut a window in their house and he lost his wife before the year was out. He always said after, that if he had not cut the window
he would have his wife."
14883. "I knew a man that was fixing his house and he took out a window and made a door. I said, 'Do you remember the old saying? will have a
death in your house in three months [within a year is the usual time].' He said, 'Nothing to that.' But he lost his wife inside of two months."
14884. If you write on a dusty, steamy or frosted window, there will be a death in the house.

Tools (14885-14893)
TOOLS
Ax - Hatchet - Hoe - Ladder - Nail (14885-14893)
14885. Never carry an ax or a hatchet into the house; some member of your family will be carried to the cemetery that year.
14886. "Just two months ago today, this is April sixteenth, the man that lived downstairs went out to the wood-shed, got the ax and took it all
through the house to the front door, and gave it to a man that wanted to borrow it. In three weeks he was a corpse. It's an old saying, the one that
carries an ax through the house will die soon; and it was only three weeks until he went."
14887. To carry an ax on your shoulder into or through the house means a death.
14888. If you take a hoe into the house, either you or some member of your family will soon die.
14889. A hoe taken into the house and set in a corner is a cause of death.
14890. The taking of a hoe in one door and out another foretells a death.
14891. Do not bring into a house a hoe that has been used for digging a grave; it will soon dig another grave.
14892. "Not so long ago they were painting at our house and I walked under a ladder. The neighbor woman holler and said, 'You will have a
death in your family before the year is out.' I said, 'I will turn right around and go back the same way I came to keep the death out of our family,'
for I didn't want that to happen."
14893. "My aunt would never let anyone put in a nail or pull one out on a Sunday, because it would mean a death."

Rake - Rope - Saw - Shovel - Spade (14894-14899)

14894. The family that keeps a rake in the house will soon have a death.
14895. If you drag a rake through the house, someone living there will soon die.
14896. To put a rope around anyone's neck shows that that person will die by hanging.
14897. Someone in the family will die before the year ends, if a saw is taken through the house.
14898. If you carry a shovel or spade (one used in digging a grave say some) into or through a house, it indicates a death for a person living
in that house --- sometimes for the person who carries the implement.
14899. If you step over a shovel or spade (one used in digging a grave say some), your grave will soon be dug with it; but, to avert this
misfortune, you may step back over the implement.

Furniture (14900-15079)
FURNITURE
Bed - Sweeping - Broom - Candle (14900-14929)
14900. A bed breaking down while you are in it is a death warning.
14901. To fall out of bed denotes a death in the family.
14902. Beds should never be turned completely around; you will have a death within six months.
14903. "Three years ago my mother was visiting me from Hannibal [Missouri]. On Sunday morning I said, 'Will you help me turn the bed
around, I don't like it the way it's standing.' My mother said, 'I will not help you turn a bed on Sunday, for it will bring a death in the family to the
one that does.' I knew my mother was very superstitious and, after she went home, I didn't listen, I went ahead and turned the bed the way I
wanted it. Before the next Sunday my little girl ten years old took sick and died. I am like my mother now, I would not turn a bed on Sunday for
anything."
14904. "In the year 1937 my daughter forgot --- never air your bedclothes in March, you will have a death in the house before six months --- and
one warm day in March she aired all her bedclothes and lost her only daughter before the six months was up."
14905. A hole torn in a blanket signifies the owner will die before the blanket wears out.
14906. Two persons should not together spread the covers over a bed, for death will claim one of them during the year.
14907. If a woman places the sheet so that its head lies to the foot of the bed and wrong side upward, the person sleeping on that bed will be in
the grave before this sheet wears out.
14908. "My brother would never let anyone move a broom, to keep a death out of the family. One day in some way his wife forgot or didn't want
to leave the new broom behind, so put it on the wagon when they moved. Her husband was sure mad about it, for in three weeks his mother took
sick and died. He never forgave his wife. They parted over her putting the broom on the wagon."
14909. The person who carries a broom through the house is bringing a death to the family.
14910. When a broom drops to the floor without an apparent cause, look for a death soon.
14911. If while walking in the house a broom falls in front of you, a death is foretold.
14912. If for no determinable reason a broom drops across a door, a death may be expected.
14913. To step over a broom lying on the floor is a sign of death for someone in the house.
14914. If a broom crashes to the floor as you start out a door and you walk over it, a family death will occur within twelve months.
14915. A broom rested against a bed indicates death for the person who sleeps there.
14916. A person who whirls a broom around on its handle is whirling someone out of the family by death.
14917. "I would not let anyone touch me with a broom for anything, for that's a sure sign of death in your own family."
14918. The significance of hitting a person with a broom is sudden death.
14919. Never sweep in front of anyone; you are sweeping that person off the earth.
14920. A sick person under whose bed you sweep will not live long.
14921. "The worst whipping I ever got was starting to sweep under my mother's chair when she was sitting on it. She almost kill me, and
said, 'Don't you know that's a sure sign of death in a year?' I never did try to sweep near a chair again when someone was sitting on it."
 367

14922. If you sweep after dark (dirt over the door sill say some), either there will be a death in the family before the year ends or you will die
before the month is out.
14923. If after sundown you sweep dirt out of the house, either the oldest or youngest person in your family will die.
14924. Whoever sweeps dirt out of the house on New Year's Day will have a death before next New Year's Day.
14925. The person who burns a candle in an empty house will soon hear of a death.
14926. A candle going out before it burns to the end is a death portent.
14927. Do not let a candle burn itself out; a death will soon follow.
14928. To have a candle flicker three times and then go out presages a death.
14929. When you see the candles on the altar sputter and burn unevenly, someone in church will die within twelve months.

Chair - Rocking Chair - Clock - Dish (14930-14966)

14930. If you are sitting on a chair and it breaks down, news of a death will soon be received.
14931. If the chair on which you are sitting accidentally falls over, death will visit that house within a month.
14932. The knocking over of a chair is a death omen.
14933. A chair stood on one leg and twirled about will bring a death.
14934. The person who sits on an organ (melodeon) stool and whirls about will have a death in the family before the end of the year.
14935. Anybody walking across the room with a chair held above or over his head may expect a death.
14936. To put two chairs back to back indicates a death.
14937. "I will hear of a funeral soon, because yesterday the little girl next door was in my room and she put one of my chairs with the back to
the open part of my rocker; and it's a sure sign of death, to set a chair with a back to the open part of another chair."
14938. Three chairs set in a row foretell a death in the family.
14939. "Some lady said when she scrubs her kitchen she always puts her chairs in a row, and when her cousin saw her she said, 'Don't do that,
you will sure go to a funeral.' And after a few days her cousin died and she went to the funeral. Another time she was stacking her chairs and
finally she thought of what her cousin said, and she wondered whose funeral she would go to this time, and in a few days the minister died and
she went to the funeral."
14940. A rocking-chair given as a present always means a death for your family.
14941. "They say if you fall over a rocking-chair and break it in some way, you will die. My husband fell over our rocking-chair and broke
the rocker off and in three months he died."
14942. Whoever rocks an empty rocking-chair will rock a person (the mother say some) out of the family; and others add, the more or the harder
the rocking, the sooner the death.
14943. Always stop a rocking-chair when you get out of it or some member of your family will die.
14944. If a person gets up from a chair — especially a rocking-chair — and someone else sits down in that chair immediately, they say the latter
is jumping into the former's grave.
14945. "My mother would not let us twist a rocking-chair around when moving it for anything; you are twisting someone out of the family."
14946. To crack or to break into pieces the glass face of a clock denotes a death in that house.
14947. "Just one year ago we had a token. My husband was sitting in the room reading and our clock (that was sitting on the shelf) that had not
run for over three years broke all to pieces, and no one was near it. The springs of this clock flew across the room. And the next day my husband
took sick and died before the week was over."
14948. That ticking sound occasionally heard in the wall of an old house (a noise not generally known to be caused by a beetle) is usually called
the deathwatch and sometimes the ticking clock. It foretells a death.
14949. A clock always ticks one, two; one, two. But when the ticking becomes one, two, three; one, two, three; a death in the family may
be expected.
14950. "Never leave two clocks in the same room ticking at the same time; very bad luck. My grandma would not do that for anything, for she
said it was sure death."
14951. Do not say grace just as the clock is striking twelve; you will die.
14952. Those who sit down to eat as the clock strikes twelve will hear of a death within three days.
14953. "I had a neighbor about twenty years ago that had a little alarm clock — they don't strike. Her husband had gone to work and she was
washing up the dishes. She had a little boy playing on the floor, a little girl in the crib, when all at once this alarm clock gave one loud strike. It
scared the little boy on the floor. He came screaming to his mother and she picked him up and run out in the yard, for she was scared too, because
she knew it was a warning for someone. The next afternoon her little girl took sick and died before the week was over."
14954. If there is sickness in the house when a stopped clock strikes, the patient will die.
14955. "It's an old saying if a clock has not been running and strikes, there will be a death; if it strikes once, will be in a week, a month, or a
year's time. We had an old clock that had not run for years. One morning it struck two. My father died in two weeks after that. Before the year
was out that same clock struck six; in six months my sister was in her coffin. It never fails."
14956. "I believe in tokens. Our clock didn't strike for years and, just before my grandfather died, this clock jump off the mantle and struck
three times. My grandfather died at three o'clock that afternoon."
14957. "Fifteen years ago we had a clock, setting on the dresser, that had not run for years. One day I was sitting, reading, and at quarter to nine
in the morning that clock struck. When my husband came in for dinner [noon meal] I said, 'We are going to have a death in the family,' and told
him about the clock. He did not believe me because that clock had not run for years. And at quarter to four it struck again in the afternoon, and
again at a quarter to seven. My husband was in the house this time and could not find out what was making the clock strike without running, and
went and threw the clock away. And my stepbrother died three days after that at a quarter to seven. It was a spirit, that had gone on before, telling
us of this death."
14958. "I believe in tokens. We had a clock that didn't run for years. One day it struck three times and never struck again. And we had three
deaths that year."
14959. "A woman friend of mine told me she put an old clock up in the attic, that had not been running, and it struck seven times at three
different times, and someone died in her family."
14960. There will be a family death, if a clock stops running without any apparent reason for so doing. Some say the owner of the clock will die.
14961. A clock stopping at noon or midnight betokens a death in the house.
14962. If there is sickness in the household and the clock stops at ten or twelve in the morning, or at three or four in the afternoon, the patient
will not recover.
 368

14963. Whenever a clock that has not run for a long time begins to tick, expect a funeral. However, if you turn the clock face downwards and it
keeps going, the heart of the person whose death was foretold will continue to beat; but if the clock stops running after it is turned on its face, the
person will die.
14964. "My mother said when a clock stops and starts several times, sure sign of death."
14965. "I remember I was cleaning up the dishes one time after we had company and put two spoons in a cup. My mother said, 'We will have a
death soon, putting two spoons in a cup when cleaning up the dishes.' And she died before three months."
14966. "A woman was at a party about a month ago and all at once a shelf fell full of dishes and broke every one of them. She said, 'That is a
token, for I always get a token when someone died.' And in a few minutes she got word the woman she was taking care of died just when that
shelf broke all the dishes."

Glassware - Icebox - Lamp - Auto Light (14967-14975)

14967. "About forty years ago my mother was making a cake for her wedding anniversary. When the cake was done, she went to the cupboard to
get her glass cakestand, and it was broke in two just like someone cut it in two. My mother said, 'That is an omen for me, because I found it, and I
will not be here for my next anniversary.' And my mother died in no time after that."
14968. "We had six drinking glasses sitting on the table. No one was near them. I was watching my mother who was sick in bed, when all at once
one of those drinking glasses cracked and broke in two. I looked at my father and he looked at me. We knew that mother was going to die. She
died that day."
14969. "This happen just last year here in Quincy. The icebox [electric refrigerator] stopped running for ten minutes. They sent for someone to
come and look at it, but by the time they got there it was running again. The man of the house was out of town and he died just when the icebox
stopped running."
14970. "One night I was at a party and a lamp chimney cracked. I said, 'Someone in this party will hear bad news shortly.' And they did. One of
the party got a telegram that her sister had been shot."
14971. "About thirty-five year ago I had one of those reflector lamps on the wall in the kitchen. Everyone had them in those days. I went down
to Payson to stay a week and no one was in the house while I was gone. When I got home the lamp chimney was broke into a thousand pieces all
over the floor. I knew it was a token of death, and my father died right away."
14972. Never let a lamp burn dry; there will be a death in the house.
14973. A lamp fluttering in a sick room signifies the sick person's death.
14974. To have the lamp on the dining table go out while you are eating is a sign of death; some say one of the persons sitting at the table will
soon be dead.
14975. "Three years ago one Saturday night I was driving out Eighth Street with a friend and all the lights on the car went out at Eighth and
Chestnut. We tried every way to get them started and they would not light. My niece lives right along there, so this friend said, 'I will get your
niece to sit with you until I go and get a battery.' And when he was coming out of her yard the lights started to coming on. He said, 'Look, the
lights are all on!' We drove home and did not have any more trouble for a year with the lights. The lights going off like they did was a token of
my brother's death. Sunday morning I got a call to come home, that my brother took sick Sunday night; and he died Sunday morning at three
o'clock. He took sick just when those lights went out. I found out when I went home."

Electric Light - Mirror - Musical Instrument (14976-14991)

14976. If an electric light in a hospital ward goes out, a patient in that ward is going to die.
14977. "I was over to see my sister one night and she had a lamp on the table that was burning, and not thinking, she went and set another lamp
on the table. She said to me, 'Oh, look what I have done! I have two lighted lamps on the table at one time. Someone will die sure.' My stepfather
was not well at the time, and when I went home that night he was passing away."
14978. "Grandma would not let us even keep two lamps in the same room; afraid someone would light them both at the same time and bring a
death."
14979. "My mother always combed her hair before she would eat, would do it just as soon as she got up. One morning as she was combing her
hair looking in the glass, the glass broke all to pieces. My father sitting near laughed and said, 'I will have to get me a new woman. You are
getting so ugly you can't look in the glass without breaking it.' My grandma died that day at ten o'clock." Some say the person who is looking
into the mirror when it breaks will die.
14980. To break a mirror means a death for the family say some, death for the breaker say others; and the time when this death will occur is
variously given: soon, within three months, by the end of the year, and before seven years have passed.
14981. A mirror falling from the wall always indicates a death: if it breaks, the death will happen in your immediate family; if it does not
break, among your relatives.
14982. The first person who looks into a mirror that has fallen from a wall and broken will die before the year is out.
14983. Never look into a mirror that you are moving into a new house; you will have a death in that house before the year ends.
14984. A sick person should never be permitted to look into a mirror; a death will soon follow --- usually the death of the sick person.
14985. To see your shadow while looking into a mirror is a death warning.
14986. If two persons look into the same mirror at the same time, one of them will either die or have a death in the family.
14987. If two persons look into the same mirror at the same time and one is looking over the shoulder of the other, the latter will soon die say
some; the former, say others.
14988. If two persons look (usually one over the other's shoulder) into the same mirror at the same time, the younger will die first.
14989. Whoever hangs a towel over a mirror causes a death in the family.
14990. Always refuse a mirror as a gift; to accept it will bring a death to your family.
14991. To have a string break on a musical instrument while you are playing it is a death omen.

Picture - Person’s Shadow - Stove - Ashes (14992-15016)

14992. The person who burns up an old picture frame will soon have a death in the family.
14993. Do not store away your family pictures; someone in the family will soon die.
14994. A picture hanging crooked on the wall is a death token. To prevent the cord or wire from slipping, either drive the nail in at a sharp angle
or use two nails. This prevention was recommended by the informant.
14995. If a picture falls from the wall, it means either someone is going to die or has just died.
14996. If a picture falls from the wall and lies face down, a death may be expected.
 369

14997. If a picture falls from the wall and the cord was not broken, you may expect a death.
14998. If a picture falls from the wall and breaks, news of a death will soon be heard.
14999. If a picture of any living member of the family falls from the wall, that person will soon be dead.
15000. If a picture of a dead member of the family falls from the wall, the death of someone in the family is indicated.
15001. If a picture of anyone in the family falls from the wall, the oldest child in the family is going to die.
15002. If a picture falls from the wall and it is large, an adult in the family will die; if small, a child.
15003. The Lord's picture falling from the wall is a very common death omen.
15004. "I believe in warnings. One Sunday morning one of the pictures on the wall drop to the floor. I put it back and said, 'Look out! We
are going to have a death.' On Monday morning the same picture drop again, and on Tuesday the same picture drop again. After I had put it up
good, I got so nervous I left the house, went to spend the day at a neighbor's house. I was not there long when they came with a telegram telling
me my brother got killed that morning about the time the picture fell off the wall. So the picture falling three mornings was a warning of his
death. Some people laugh at you, but I do believe in warnings."
15005. If a picture drops from the south wall of a room, some neighbor living south of your house is going to die; if from the north wall,
some neighbor living north.
15006. The person who picks up a picture that has fallen from the wall will die.
15007. "We had a picture to fall and break and, not thinking, picked up all the pieces. Never pick up the pieces right away; if you do, the
death will be in your house. If you let the pieces lay for twenty-four hours, you will only hear of a death. And my little girl got sick and died
soon."
15008. If someone's picture is standing on something and falls over on its face, that person will die within a year.
15009. To drop a person's photograph foretells his death.
15010. If a portrait or photograph of someone is torn, there will be a family death in less than a year. Some say the person of the portrait
or photograph will die.
15011. The breaking of the glass that covers a family portrait portends the death of the person of the portrait.
15012. Never outline anyone's shadow on the wall; if you do, that person will soon die.
15013. "I know a party living here in town that their son was working in Kansas City [Missouri], a stone mason on a building. They were sitting
in the kitchen when all at once four stovelids went up in the air and went down on the stove again. And just when the lids went up, their son in
Kansas City fell off the building and was killed."
15014. "My brother-in-law had a token when his mother died. One morning they were cooking breakfast when the stovelids would raise up and
turn over on the stove, did this several times, just would go up and turn over and go back on the stove in the same place. They left the kitchen,
didn't eat any breakfast, for they knew something was wrong somewhere. And they got word his mother was sick. And she died that day."
15015. To take ashes out of a stove after sunset will be followed by a death.
15016. Never carry ashes out of the house on New Year's Day; somebody in that house will die before the end of the year.

Window Curtain - Shade (15017-15018)

15017. If a curtain or window shade falls, a death is approaching that house.
15018. A window shade flying up is a portent of death.
Food and Drink (15019-15051)
FOOD AND DRINK
15019 .The woman who cooks her own birthday dinner will not live to observe her next birthday.
15020. "My mother believes that if you have a pan of bread rising on a chair or some other place and the pan tips over and the bread falls on
the floor, it is a sign of death. On February second she made bread, put it on the back of the stove where she always did; she went into another
room to do something and the pan fell off the stove. In two days they sent for mother, her daughter-in-law was dying."
15021. To overturn a loaf of bread when putting it in or taking it out of the oven denotes a family death.
15022. "My mother always said if your bread cracked open on top while baking, it was the sign of death in the family."
15023. There will soon be a funeral in the family of that woman who discovers a hollow space at the center of one of the loaves of bread she
has just baked.
15024. If you let a piece of bread drop from your mouth while eating, a death is signified.
15025. A woman dropping her dish rag on the floor three times the same week will have three deaths among relatives that year.
15026. Two forks accidentally laid at one plate are a sign of death in the family.
15027. "Never tell anyone how many cans of fruit you put up in the fall; if you do, will be a death in the family before the next fall. My mother
would never tell ; said it was such bad luck."
15028. "I had a little boy and I would take him with me every night when I took my garbage out. And we would sit down and talk to a neighbor.
And it was no time until I lost that boy. After that I would never take garbage out after night."
15029. After you wash glass tumblers, do not put them upside down one on top of the other; this will surely bring a death to the house.
15030. One of the two persons who drink from the same glass, not washed after the first person has used it, will die within the year.
15031. When everyone at the table takes a drink at the same time, there will be a death before the year is out.
15032. To lay two knives at a plate when setting the table signifies a death in the family before the end of the year.
15033. If a woman lays two knives at a plate when setting the table, her husband will soon die; if a man, his wife.
15034. A knife dropping from your hand and sticking in the floor presages a death.
15035. The person who lets a piece of meat fall from his mouth while at the table will have a death in the family say some; will hear of a death
within three days say others.
15036. Never peel just seven potatoes for dinner; you will get news of a friend's death almost at once.
15037. "One night I put several large potatoes in the stove to bake. When I went to get them, one of the potatoes was all scooped out, just like
someone had taken a spoon and took out one of the potatoes, nothing was left but the skin, and no one was in the house. It was a token, for my
husband dropped dead the next day."
15038. "An old saying of my mother's: if you burn your potatoes, you will soon go to a friend's funeral." Some say you will hear of a death by the
end of the week.
15039. The return of borrowed salt will be followed by a death.
15040. "I was working for a woman and her boy was real sick. She brought out several sets of silverware for me to sort and I tried to sort them
without making any noise, because I knew it was an old saying: if you made any noise, if a person was sick in the house, they would die. I just
 370

could not keep the silverware still. They would rattle and sing so. I quit working with them because I got nervous. I knew the boy was going to
die, and he did."
15041. To turn over unintentionally a spoon you are laying at a plate is an indication of a death.
15042. "I will never eat at a table where there is an empty plate — like if you set the table for someone and they don't come --- because if you
eat where there a plate on for someone that didn't come, sure sign of death."
15043. "My grandfather said the one to eat last at a table all the time will be the first in the family to die."
15044. "One of the girls that belongs to my bridge club was telling me she had some relatives for supper during Christmas holidays and when
they were all at the table there were thirteen, and in a month this girl's mother died. And one of them said she knew that someone would die, but
she didn't say anything because she was afraid she would frighten someone." The time of the death is sometimes given as within a year.
15045. "A woman said she would not sit at the table where thirteen were; that was a sign that one at the table would die before the month was
out. This woman belonged to a club in St. Louis several years ago with twelve people. [She said] 'One night one of the doctors in the club brought
a guest. I was real angry and said, "Do you know, doctor, someone in this crowd will die before the month is out?" He made fun of me and said,
"You don't believe that old stuff?" And that doctor himself took sick and died before the club met again'." The time of the death is sometimes
given as within a year.
15046. The first person to arise at the table where there are thirteen persons will die within a year. As a method for preventing the possibility of
this death, all thirteen should arise at the same time.
15047. If you unfold a tablecloth and find a large square or diamond- shaped fold in the center of it, someone in the family will die.
15048. A singing teakettle is a death omen.
15049. To have the soap kettle boil over while making soap is a death omen.
15050. If you drop a tin pie-pan, it means a death in your family; but if you can snatch up the pan before it comes to a rest, that death will
be averted.
15051. The person who finds the first three walnuts, cracked in autumn, rotten, will have a death in the family that winter.

Going Forth (15052-15072)

GOING FORTH
15052. "My son was doing fine and he started to roaming, nothing would keep him home, and he died. They say whenever a person wants to start
to roaming all over the country, it is the sign of death."
15053. A sick person who takes a trip in the fall will not live until spring.
15054. Whenever all the children of a family return home unexpectedly on a visit at the same time, a funeral will soon bring them together again.
15055. A family reunion is always followed by death within a year.
15056. To meet and not to recognize a friend or an acquaintance on the street foretells his early death.
15057. The person who walks on the lines of or cracks in a sidewalk is bringing a death into the family.
15058. To permit a third person to pass between you and your companion while walking betokens a death either for one of you or for some
member of your families.
15059. Four persons (some say each of them must be from a different family) walking abreast down the street indicate either one of the four
or someone in their respective families will soon die; hence the couplet:
"Four in a row,
Crape on your doh [door]."
15060. If you go to a beauty-parlor and find six women ahead of you so that you are the seventh waiting, return home at once; unless you do, you
will die before the end of the year.
15061. If you attend a party and spill your coffee while there, you will be the next person in that party to die.
15062. If a fire breaks out in church, especially during the sermon, someone in the congregation will die before the year ends.
15063. "I was at the hospital and a woman said to me, as I started up the stairs, 'Are you coming up to see someone that is sick? if you are, I
will stand here until you get up before I start down, for I don't want to meet you on the stairs, for I have been up to see a very sick person and
don't want to lose them'."
15064. "If two families call on you at the same time, I mean both meet at the door at the same time, that's a sign you will go to a funeral of
a friend."
15065. Three persons with the same Christian [given] name should not sit in the same room, for one of them will die within the year.
15066. If a person (a child is sometimes specified) is lying on the floor and you fall over his feet, or if a person is sitting down with
outstretched legs and you stumble over them, that person will soon die. This can be counteracted by stepping back over the feet.
15067. "I remember fifty years ago my father was sitting on a rail fence and he fell off backward. If you are sitting on a fence and fall
off backward, that's a sure sign of death in the family. You can fall off sideways or frontways but never backward. We didn't know at the time
who would go, but my father died before the year was out."
15068. The person who falls backwards on New Year's Day will not live to see another New Year's Day.
15069. It is said along the river (Mississippi) that if an apparently water-tight boat suddenly begins to leak, someone will soon drown.
15070. A shark following a ship is a sign that someone on board will die before reaching port.
15071. Whoever counts the coaches or boxcars on a moving train will soon hear of a death.
15072. Never let anyone ride you in a wheelbarrow; you will soon ride in a hearse.

Pastimes (15073-15079)
PASTIMES
15073. If you are cutting a deck of cards and the card cut happens to be the ace of spades, a death will soon follow.
15074. If you are shuffling a deck of cards and the ace of spades falls to the floor, a death may be expected.
15075. If three persons light their cigarettes, cigars or pipes, with the same match, it is usually said that death will soon come to the one
who received the last light; or, he will be the first of the three to die. But some say any one of the three may die.
15076. One of the children who play the game of funeral will soon be dead.
15077. Never write a second letter to a person who did not answer your first one; your second letter will cause a death.
15078. The person who tears up love letters will soon hear of a death.
15079. To let a swing ride (either before or after getting out of it) instead of stopping it denotes death for the swinger or a member of his family.
 371

DEATHS FOR THE YEAR (15080-15088)

15080. A White Christmas and Dark Christmas and Green Christmas are proverbial:
"A white Christmas, a light churchyard;
A dark Christmas, a heavy churchyard."
or
"A white Christmas, a lean churchyard;
A green Christmas, a fat churchyard."
15081. Sunshine on Christmas means a fat churchyard.
15082. Quite different from the preceding white, dark, and green Christmas is the following: "A black Christmas is the sign of many deaths.
That's the reason we are having so many deaths. This year was a black Christmas; Christmas came in the dark of the moon --- that's what they
called black Christmas in the Civil War [days], when it came in the dark of the moon."
15083. A clear and sunny New Year's Day, many white people will die during the year; a dark and gloomy New Year's Day, many colored people
will die that year.
15084. Rain or snow on Easter, a fat graveyard; sunshine on Easter, a lean graveyard.
15085. A hot May, a full churchyard.
15086. A season in which many fruit trees bloom a second time foretells many deaths for the year.
15087. A year in which there is thunder when the trees are bare will have many deaths.
15088. A spring with an unusual crop of roses will be followed by a summer of many deaths.

DIVINATION OF DEATH (15089-15100)

15089. How much longer will you live? Steal a plant slip and put it in water; as many roots as develop, so many years have you yet to live.
15090. If you blow a dandelion seed-ball and the seed fall immediately to the ground, you will not live long; if they float away, you will live
a long time. Here's one you can beat by picking a windy day!
15091. If you throw your hair combings into the fire and they burn quickly, you will not live long; if they burn slowly, you will live a long life.
15092. Examine the lines in the palm of your hand: if they run together, you will not live long.
15093. If a husband's big toe is longer than the second toe, his wife will die first; if a wife's big toe is longer than the second toe, she will outlive
her husband. If the big toes of both husband and wife are longer than their second toes, I do not know the answer!
15094. Before sunrise on May 1 look out the window and the number of live things seen will reveal how many years you have to live.
15095. "My mother and father on New Year's Eve always lighted a candle to see who would die first; the candle that burned out first will be the
one to go first."
15096. On New Year's Eve go into a dark room and just as the clock is striking twelve look into a mirror: if you see a coffin in the glass, you will
die that year; if you do not see a coffin, you will survive the year.
15097. To discover who among your friends is going to die during the year: on New Year's Eve a few minutes before midnight walk backwards
into a dark room and stand with your back to a mirror, when the clock strikes twelve call the name of your friend In the Name of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost and pray, walk from the room, wait outside the door a moment, walk backwards into the room again to your former position, and
then turn around and look into the mirror: if you see a coffin in the glass, your friend will die that year; if you do not see a coffin, your friend will
survive the year.
15098. After someone has blindfolded you and set on a table three plates --- one filled with water, one with earth, and one with meal — walk to
the table and put your hand into one of the plates: if you touch the water, you will live longer than the year; if the earth, you will die before the
end of the year; and if the meal, you will become wealthy.
15099. "I would not try this, but a friend of mine did: if you will take a looking-glass before sunup and hold over a well, you will see your
coffin, your shroud, and what color you will be buried in. And she saw the coffin and shroud and color she was buried in."
15100. If two persons pull a wishbone, the person getting the short flat end will dig the other's grave — will live longer.

DEATHBED (15101-15126)

15101. "My husband was sick. I knew he was going to die because he would pick at the curtains all the time, just keep picking at them. That is a
sure sign of death. All at once he rose up and got hold of the curtain and almost pulled it down, and said, 'Sally, let us go.' I said, 'Not now.' And
he died in a few minutes."
15102. "The week before my husband died he kept pulling and pulling all the time at the sheets. We could not keep them on the bed."
15103. A dying person is always restless just before death.
15104. They say you review your whole life in a vision just before your death.
15105. It is said a dying person always thinks of someone nearest and dearest and will notify that person by a sign.
15106. The person at whom the dying person looks last will be the next to die.
15107. The last name uttered by a dying person will be the name of the next to die.
15108. The child who is absent at the deathbed of a father or mother will be the next to die.
15109. It is dangerous to refuse a person who asks for a drink of water, for if you do you will have a parched throat when dying and be unable to
ask for water.
15110. Severe and prolonged death pangs can be stopped by putting an open Bible under the dying person's head.
15111. "When a person is dying and having a hard time, put a crucifix in their hand and get some wood ashes out of the stove and put a pinch on
their lips, will ease them. They did this to my great grandma. It is an old Indian remedy."
15112. "My brother-in-law was sick for weeks and the doctor told us he could not die on chicken feathers. As soon as we moved the featherbed
from under him he passed away."
15113. A dying person cannot die while lying on pigeon or dove feathers; they must be taken from under him.
15114. If a person has difficulty in dying, make a cross from a piece of palm that was blessed on Palm Sunday and lay it over his heart.
15115. As a method for reviving a dying person, blow your breath into his face.
15116. To make a dying person linger longer, burn candles; blessed ones say some.
 372

15117. You can call back a dying person by repeatedly screaming or shouting his name. However, this might hold him for an hour or several
days, but it will be much more difficult for him when he begins to die again, because such a person dies in agony.
15118. "When a person dies, stand by them and bawl and they will come back, but it won't do them any good. They will never have their right
mind. I know a woman that done that. I said I think it was a shame to have anyone come back."
15119. "My mother always did this: forty years ago when my brother was dying she open the window for his soul to pass on to heaven. If you
leave the window down and the soul stays in, you will have very bad luck."
15120. Death usually occurs between midnight and dawn, because the vitality of the body is then at its lowest.
15121. They say if you die at night, your spirit will go down below for the earth is then upside down; and if you die in the daytime, your
spirit will go up to heaven.
15122. To discover whether a person is dead, hold a mirror to his mouth: if there is moisture on the mirror, he is still alive; if there is no moisture,
he is dead.
15123. To ascertain whether a person is dead, stick a pin into him: if on drawing out the pin the pinhole closes, he is living; if the pinhole
remains open, he is dead.
15124. "I have seen a many pretty wreath in pillows after someone died: if someone dies and after they are dead you open up their pillow and if
you find a wreath [sometimes called a crown in this case] of feathers in their pillow, that's the sign they went to heaven."
15125. A death in the family is always followed by two more family deaths that year. Similarly, a death on a block in your street or a death in
your neighborhood denotes two more deaths on the same block or in the same neighborhood before the year ends.
15126. For every death there will be either a birth or a wedding, or both a birth and a wedding, in the same family.

DROWNED BODY (15127-15136)

15127. Along the Mississippi River a floating corpse is called a floater. Some states offer rewards for the recovery of bodies and immediately
the news of a drowning is received, you will see men in skiffs trying to earn the reward. The ordinary method employed is to drag for the body.
At the end of two or more lines, grapnel or similar hooks are attached, and these are sometimes weighted by pieces of iron pipe slipped through
the lines.
15128. As a last resort in recovering the body of a person who has drowned, set off a charge of dynamite in the water where the person sank. It
is thought the explosion will cause the bladder to burst and thus raise the cadaver.
15129. You can find a drowned person by blessing a loaf of bread and placing it on the water; the bread will float to the body and swirl
around over it.
15130. Set a lighted candle on a piece of bread and put this on the water where the person was drowned and it will drift to the body.
15131. To locate a drowned person, lay some quicksilver on the middle of a slice of bread and let the bread rest on the water where the person
went down. The bread and quicksilver will float and stop above the submerged body.
15132. "Just last week a man went fishing and fainted and fell in the water and drowned. They could not find him, so they went to the house to
tell the wife after they had looked for several hours. She wanted to know if they had his cap. They said yes. Then she told them to put it on the
water and the cap would go to the body. They went back to the water and put the cap on the water and the cap floated to the spot and went around
and around right over the body, and the body was right where the cap went. This is so, for it only happen last week."
15133. One old riverman said, 'If someone gets drowned, take the last dirty shirt they took off and spread it out over the water and it will float
to where they went down; then it will whirl around several times and go right down through the water and you will find the body by the shirt."
Any article of soiled clothing last worn, particularly socks, can be used; but the detail about it sinking to the body is unusual.
15134. You will always find the body of a drowned woman floating face up; the body of a drowned man, face down. Although these positions
are occasionally reversed in some sayings, this is the general belief --- they are the normal positions in coitus.
15135. One exception proves the general rule of the preceding belief: if a pregnant and unwed girl drowns, the body will float face down because
of shame.
15136. If a swimmer finds a floater and he does not stop swimming for the rest of that year, he himself will drown before the season is over.

DEATH AFFECTS WEATHER (15137-15151)

15137. There is always a change in the weather just before a death.

15138. A hard rain while someone is dying shows the person will die happy.
15139. Expect a rain just after a person dies.
15140. If the sun comes out immediately after a death, the soul will go to heaven; if it lightens immediately after a death the soul will go to hell.
15141. A peal of thunder following the burial indicates the soul has gone to heaven.
15142. It is said rain anytime between death and burial means the soul of the corpse has gone to heaven: "Blessed are the dead that the rain falls
on" or "Happy is the soul the rain falls on."
15143. Never bury anyone while it is raining; rain falling on the coffin or corpse will soon bring another death to the family.
15144. If rain falls on the coffin or corpse, two more deaths in the same family will occur that year.
15145. The person who goes to a funeral where it rains on the coffin will go to a funeral in his own family on the same day three years later.
15146. Rain falling into an open grave is a sign the soul of the corpse will go to hell.
15147. If it rains into an open grave, either bad luck or another death in the family may be expected. For this reason, a grave should not be
left open overnight but always dug on the day of burial.
15148. Rain or snow falling into an open grave signifies the death of three relatives that year.
15149. A shooting star is an indication that the soul of a dying person will go, or the soul of a dead person has just gone, to heaven.
15150. If a star shoots to the right, a soul is entering heaven; if to the left, hell.
15151. Many deaths in the autumn foretells an open winter.

HOUSEHOLD ARRANGEMENTS AT DEATH (15152-15188)

False Report of Death (15152)
FALSE REPORT OF DEATH
15152. A person whose death is falsely reported always lives to a ripe old age.
 373

Animals during Death in the House (15153-15167)

ANIMALS DURING DEATH IN HOUSE
15153. If there are bedbugs in the bed on which someone dies, they will leave the bed as soon as death occurs.
15154. "Our bees left the hives when father was sick and the boys got them back. They left again and we got them back. And they left the
third times and father heard us talking and said, 'Let them go, they know I am going to die and don't want to stay.' And he died right after that. It
is an old saying the bees will leave when someone [usually the owner of the bees] is going to die."
15155. "I lost my little girl and I was so worried that I forgot to go and tell the bees. You must go to each beehive and tell them who died so they
will not leave or die. I had two hives and lost them both. They just died."
15156. Unless you tell the bees about a death in the family, they will not work any more that year.
15157. "When my grandfather died fifty-five years ago, we had an orchard full of beehives, and we went out and covered every hive and told the
queen he [the master of the house] was dead, to keep the bees from leaving."
15158. As soon as there is a death in the family, you must move the beehives, if only a few inches; otherwise your bees will not do well
that year.
15159. If there is a death in the house and you have a beehive nearby, before the funeral move that hive farther away to bring better luck to
the family.
15160. A cat will always desert a house just before anyone in it dies.
15161. Never let a cat stay in a room where someone is dying; the cat will go crazy.
15162. Always remove a cat as soon as possible from a house where there is a death, for not to do so will cause the family bad luck — usually
because many persons believe a cat will eat the dead.
15163. If a black cat enters a room where people are sitting up with the corpse, someone in that group will die soon after the funeral.
15164. "Did you ever know that a cricket or frog will not holler when there is a corpse in the neighborhood? I heard my aunt that lived in the
country tell this."
15165. To have a dog howl while a corpse is in the house signifies another death before the end of the month.
15166. As soon as the head of a family dies, someone must tell the horses and cows, all the animals, about his death or they will die.
15167. Immediately after the funeral of the master of the house, new halters must be bought for the horses or they will grieve themselves to
death.

Clock - Mirror - Picture (15168-15188)

CLOCK
15168. "When my father died, the clock stopped running just when he died, and we could not start that clock again so we gave it away."
15169. A clock stopping at the moment of death foretells another death in the family before the year is gone.
15170. The clock must be stopped as soon as possible after a death or you will have bad luck. But never let any member stop it; get some outsider
to do it.
15171. If someone dies and you do not stop the clock immediately, you will have another death in the family within a year to the day and at the
very same time.
15172. "This is what they say about a clock: never let a clock run after someone dies. Stop it as soon as they die and don't let it run until after the
funeral. Then, when you start it again, don’t let it run from the time you stop it --- like if you stopped it at nine, don't start it again at nine, start it
at ten or eleven, anytime, just so it is not on the time you stop it. If you don't, you will have another death right away."
15173. Few persons, even those who observe the practice, know any reason for stopping a clock at the moment of death. It took us six years to
find anyone who could give us a reason: if a clock strikes while there is a corpse in the house, it is striking another member out of the family.
15174. "The clock was striking while my father was dying. Don't count the strikes, if you have a clock to start to striking while someone is dying;
if you do, another will follow before the year is out. Someone of the children counted them. My mother died right after that."
15175. When in the death room you think you hear a sound resembling the tick of a clock, but slightly louder, it is the death-tick. This
mysterious noise is almost synchronized with the ordinary ticking of a clock, though more like an echo, and hence it is sometimes difficult to
distinguish between the two. But the death-tick can be heard even when though is no clock in the room.
15176. Unless you cover the clock while there is a corpse in the house, there will be another death in the family. Sometimes instead of covering
the clock its face is turned to the wall.

MIRROR
15177. If you look into a mirror while a corpse lies in the house, another death may be expected --- before the end of the year is the usual time
given. Formerly this meant the death-room mirror, because there was only one mirror and it hung in the best room where the body was always
laid out, but the belief has been extended to include all mirrors.
15178. If you look into a mirror while a corpse lies in the house, there will soon be another death on the same day and the same time the
looking occurred.
15179. Anyone looking into a mirror while a corpse lies in the house will be the next person to die. Some say this death will occur within a year.
15180. The person who has just looked at a corpse must not look into a mirror too soon afterwards, for he will die before the end of the year.
15181. If a person looks into a mirror and sees a reflection of the corpse, he will always see that corpse in the mirror every time he passes, even
after the funeral.
15182. "We were burying our boy and just before they started out with the coffin someone uncovered the mirror, and I saw the coffin in the
mirror. I almost fainted because I knew we would have another death, and before the year was out we lost our other boy."
15183. If a coffin or corpse is reflected in a mirror, that mirror will become cloudy and you can never use it again.
15184. If a coffin or corpse is reflected in a mirror, that mirror will crack and become useless.
15185. To prevent a person from looking into or a corpse from being reflected in a mirror, the mirror must be taken down and put away, turned to
the wall, or covered with a cloth --- some say a black cloth.
15186. The mirror in the death room is covered to keep the soul of the dead person from seeing itself in the glass said a number of informants,
but not one of them was able to explain why this would cause any trouble — the real reason being that in some mysterious way the soul becomes
caught in the mirror and cannot or refuses to leave the house, and a lingering soul is always dangerous.

PICTURE
 374

15187. All pictures in the death room should be covered with a cloth, turned to the wall, or put away; unless you do this, you will either have bad
luck or lose another member of the family that year.
15188. As soon as a person dies, his picture begins to fade.

PREPARATION FOR BURIAL (15189-15211)

Coffin Maker - Undertaker - Shrouding (15189-15211)

COFFIN-MAKER
15189. "My grandfather lived at Eleventh and Spring Street years ago. He was a coffin-maker. In those days they only made a coffin when
someone died. One morning he was sitting at the breakfast table and all the tools rattle in his tool chest. He said, someone will die soon and I will
get an order for a coffin, for my tools always rattle when I am going to make a coffin.' And in three hours after he heard the tools rattle, he got an
order for a coffin."

UNDERTAKER
15190. "I knew an undertaker twenty years ago was called out on South Twelfth and he happen to stop in front of the brewery instead of the right
place. If someone is dead and they call the undertaker and he stops in front of the wrong place, will be a death in that place before the year is out.
And it was not three weeks before a man got killed in that brewery.
15191. An undertaker leaving anything connected with his trade at your house until after the funeral is a sign of another death in the family.
15192. "If after promising to pay the funeral expenses --- while the undertaker holds his hand upon his forehead, asking, 'Who pays
these expenses?' --- the promise from the assembled family or friends is broken and the bill remains unpaid, the person or persons making the
promise will die within six months. Mr. X. in Quincy used this method and lost little or no money, owing to the strength of this belief among
colored people.
15193. As long as the funeral bill remains unpaid, the corpse will not rest in its grave.
15194. Never stop and look into an undertaker's window on New Year's Day; it will make you unlucky.

SHROUDING
15195. There is considerable prejudice about the possibility of a man touching a female corpse. Some think his touch lays a curse on the body.
Many undertakers in the United States advertise that they have a female attendant.
15196. It was formerly the custom to lay a bag or dish of salt on the chest or stomach of a corpse, which was thought to prevent spoiling or
bloating. Some said salt laid on the stomach of a dying person kept the bowels from moving after death. But this does not explain the similar
custom of a saucer of salt under the bed on which a corpse was lying. Sometimes one was on the corpse and another under the bed. Mr. X., an
undertaker for many years, who had occasionally seen salt on the deathbed in a Negro home, suggested the custom could go back to the use of
salt in pre-embalming days. Perhaps magic rite would be a better explanation, as in the following example: "My mother used to say if someone
died in the State of Louisiana, they would put salt all around the house; that will salt the devil down so he can't get them after buried. My mother
and father were born in the State of Louisiana and came to Quincy many years ago when I were a boy."
15197. Formerly custom required the use of coins upon the eyes of the dead, ostensibly to keep the eyes closed. It was considered unlucky to
remove these coins.
15198. If you can get a coin that was used on the eyes of a corpse and keep it, you will al ways have good luck.
15199. The family should always spend at once the coins used on the eyes of the dead or bad luck will come to the house.
15200. "Another thing my mother did if anyone died, she alway put some money under their pillow so they could have money to travel on. She
did this to my brother forty years ago, put two silver dollars under the pillow in his coffin so he would have money on his way."
15201. In years past it was rather customary to tie up the jaws of a corpse or to put a book under the chin — the book usually being the Bible.
15202. Everything used in sewing clothes for the dead — needle, pieces of cloth, or thread left over --- should be destroyed at once; to keep them
will bring bad luck.
15203. Never let a person be buried in any of your clothing; you will be the next one to follow --- some say, as the clothing in the grave wastes
away, you will waste away.
15204. It is very unlucky to put on a corpse anything that was worn at a wedding.
15205. "About forty years ago my mother's aunt was buried with a veil over her face. The family started to die one right after another until five
were dead, then they took up my great-aunt and found the veil was all sticking in her mouth. They took the veil off, and after that no one died in
the family."
15206. Opinion varies about the use of black for burial. Some say the smallest amount of black makes a spirit dissatisfied, others say you can
use any amount of black provided it is relieved with a little color.
15207. "A woman died here several years ago and they buried her in a black dress and she told them not to. This woman keeps coming back.
They see her all the time. One day she told someone of the family if they would take her up and change her dress, she would stop coming back.
She could not rest. I don't know what they will do about it."
15208. If you bury anyone in black, the person will become an evil spirit; if in white, the person will be satisfied and never return.
15209. Jewelry should never be left on or put on a corpse; bad luck will befall the family.
15210. A corpse buried with jewelry will never go to heaven.
15211. "A little girl died that was three years old, and her mother put a doll and a little horse in the coffin that she always played with. I said
to the mother, 'I would not do that, for there is an old saying, never bury anything with a corpse.' And in a few weeks this little girl's mother
and sister died."

Coffin - Crape - Flowers - Pallbearers (15212-15244)

COFFIN
15212. Never let anyone carry a coffin in one door and take it out the other door; you will have another death in the family that year.
15213. To move a corpse or coffin from one house to another will bring a death into the last house before the year ends.
15214. After a corpse is laid out, coffined or uncoffined, it must not be disturbed in any way before the funeral — turned around, moved to
another position in the room, carried into a different room — for any kind of rearrangement will cause a second death in the family.
 375

15215. A coffin falling off its stand in the house means another death in the house.
15216. If a coffin is dropped while being taken from the house, another person in the family will soon die.
15217. Do not turn a coffin around when taking it from the house; someone else in that house will soon be dead.
15218. Always carry a coffin from the house foot-first; if it is carried out head-first, they say the corpse will look back for someone else to
follow.
15219. If a coffin is taken out through a window, another coffin will soon be taken out through a door.
15220. Any person who walks out in front of the coffin as it is being carried from the house will be the next to die.
15221. A person looking at three coffins the same week will soon attend a funeral in his own family.
15222. To see three coffins within a month is very unlucky.
15223. If a white pigeon circles over a coffin being carried from the house to the hearse or from the hearse to the grieve, it shows the corpse
is going to heaven.

CRAPE
15224. "When my mother died my sister did not like the crape on the door. The undertaker changed it and my father died in seven months."
15225. "When my little girl was dead the crape fell off the front door and my uncle died in ten days after that."
15226. If the crape falls off the door while the coffin is being carried from the house and you look back, you will be the next to go.
15227. Never let an undertaker forget to remove the crape from the door; if he leaves it until after the funeral, there will soon be another death
in the family.

FLOWERS
15228. Do not lay flowers in a coffin; either you will have bad luck or you yourself will soon be in a coffin.
15229. If flowers are laid in the coffin, the soul of the corpse will not go to heaven.
15230. To put flowers in the coffin makes the corpse decay quicker.
15231. "When my grandma died, grandfather took it so hard, and he was standing by the coffin and he forgot the old saying: if you go to see
a corpse and you touch the flowers on the coffin, you will be the next to follow. And he leaned down and his coat sleeve touch the flowers.
One flower just seem to cling to his coat, he had to brush it off. And he died right away after that."
15232. "When they were carrying my little girl's casket out a flower fell off, and we had another death in three weeks. And at that funeral a
flower fell off of that casket and we had another death in the family."
15233. The person who returns from a funeral bringing a flower that was on the coffin will have a death in the family before the year is out.
15234. Never wear a flower that has been on a coffin; you will die within a year.
15235. After you have gone home from a funeral never return to remove the flowers from the grave; you will have very bad luck.
15236. Flowers taken from a grave will never grow.
15237. "I was at a funeral just this week. As I started over to the car I saw a four-leaf clover. I started to pick it and someone said, 'Don't pick
it, for you are picking another death."
15238. "Some people say that the unusually large and beautiful violets which the children used to love to gather around the old deserted
Seaman property [at Fourteenth and Maine Street, but no longer deserted] were unusually beautiful, because years and years ago there was a
cemetery there, and the graves having fallen into abandon, neglected by any relatives and friends, that the spirits of the dead cultivated the natural
flowers for their own sake, and that any that were plucked and taken away immediately wilted and died, so that finally none but children ever
ventured to pick them."

PALLBEARERS
15239. "I remember they wanted my husband to be a pallbearer at a funeral and they wanted all the men to wear grey. My husband didn't have
a grey suit, so he said he knew someone he could borrow one from that would just about fit. They told him never to borrow one; if he wanted to,
rent one, but never borrow one, for he would be the next to go."
15240. Three old men and three young men acting as pallbearers is very unlucky.
15241. Never let relatives of the corpse serve as pallbearers; someone in the same family will die.
15242. If the pallbearers stop with the coffin after they remove it from the house and before they reach the hearse, another death in that house can
be expected.
15243. Pallbearers stopping with the coffin as they carry it from the hearse to the grave indicates that one of them will be dead before the end
of the year.
15244. To have a pallbearer or any relative of the corpse stumble or fall at the funeral means another death in the family.

Property of the Dead - Time of Burial (15245-15260)

PROPERTY OF THE DEAD

15245. If a person dies who at some time in life had an arm or leg amputated which was buried, dig up that arm or leg and bury it with the body;
unless you do this, the spirit will not rest in the grave.
15246. Never put away any clothes left by a dead person but always give them to someone who will wear them out; unless this is done, the spirit
will be restless.
15247. Always give away a dead person's clothes, do not sell them; if you sell them, you will have bad luck.
15248. The one who wears the clothes left by a dead person will either be unlucky or soon die.
15249. If you use a dead person's comb, it will make you bald.
15250. To use a dead person's comb will fill your head with lice.
15251. Shave with a dead man's razor and you will soon follow him to the grave.
15252. A cut made by a dead man's razor never heals.
15253. "I did wear a ring that belonged to my dead cousin. After I heard it is bad luck to wear a dead person's ring, I don't wear it any more."
15254. "I knew a man here in Quincy, he is dead, one of our South End butchers and very rich, kill all of his five wives that way: if a man give a
ring to a girl that came off of a dead woman's hand, that girl will die. When his first wife died she had a very beautiful ring, and he took the
ring off of her finger, and it was not long before he married again, and he gave that same ring to his second wife. And he did the same thing to all
five wives. After his fifth wife was dead, one day a farmer from out in Melrose Township was in the butcher shop and he was talking about losing
 376

his fifth wife. Then the old farmer said, 'Mr. X., didn't you know that if you take a ring off of a dead woman's hand and give to another, she will
die? And that is what you did to every one. If you marry again, get a new ring and you will keep your wife.' He never married again. He died
himself."
15255. "I know this is so. If you wear someone's dead shoes, they will bury you. I remember my brother died and he had a new pair of shoes that
he had only had on several times before he died, and my other brother said, 'I need shoes, I am going to take Bill's.' I said 'Don't, it is bad luck.'
He would not listen. And we buried him in a week's time after he started to wear them."
15256. "I am a fisherman, been on the river all my life, have found many a drowned person. They say it is very bad luck to steal anything off a
drowned person, as something will happen in their family. In the year of 1900 a Quincy woman went to Hannibal [Missouri] on a trip and while
there went out in a skiff and got caught in the waves of a big boat and was drowned. They could not find her body, so the husband, knowing me,
came and took me down to Hannibal to help find her. They said she had a lot of money on her. I found her and turned her over to the undertaker.
And when they wanted the money it was missing. At last the undertaker gave it up. He had it. And before the year was out this undertaker's
daughter went on a big excursion and was drowned. I think her father lost his mind."

TIME OF BURIAL
15257. Let a corpse remain in the house over Sunday and there will be another death. Some say two more deaths.
15258. If you bury anyone on Sunday, you will bury two more in the family before the end of the year.
15259. Thursday is an unlucky day for a burial say some; Saturday say others.
15260. If a person is buried on Friday, two more members of the family will be buried that year.

LYING IN STATE (15261-15319)

How Long Spirit Lingers - Limber Corpse (15261-15266)

HOW LONG THE SPIRIT LINGERS

15261. The spirit stays near the body for three days — from the moment of death until the burial of the corpse.
15262. For seven days after the burial of the body the spirit wanders above the grave.
15263. In the two preceding beliefs the spirit lingers near the body three or seven days, but it is evident from other sections in this book
(Spirits, Second Sight, Witchcraft, etc.) that the spirit may linger for years --- to haunt or to warn --- and that the spirit may assume all sorts of
forms, including animals. On one occasion my sister and I were told a belief which I frankly thought the informant was making up. Several
months later my sister wrote to me as follows: "Well, the ant story is true. An old Irishman at Ninth and X. Street gave me the belief yesterday
morning, and some days before, the old German woman out on Twenty-second and B. Street gave the belief a little differently. She said in her
grandma's day the people in the south part of town would never kill the big black ants; they thought they were dead spirits that had gone on
and that killing them would bring bad luck. She said it was an Indian belief and that the early Germans and Irish got it from them. This woman is
the Mrs. A., whose grandma came over from Germany when there were only thirty houses in Quincy. The Irishman said his grandfather came
over when Indians were still here and he told something else about large black ants in the south part of town. He said the black ants in his
grandfather's day were so large, some persons got all their honey from the ants back parts!"

LIMBER CORPSE
15264. A corpse which does not become stiff is a sign of another death in the house.
15265. If the neck of a corpse fails to became rigid several hours after death, a second death in the family may be expected that month.
15266. A corpse with flexible fingers foretells another death in the family.

Withered Hand - Smiling Corpse (15267-15269)

WITHERED HAND
15267. Persons who die with a withered hand — a hand paralyzed, palsied, or deformed --- are dangerous. Unless a few drops of water (formerly
holy water?) are put on the hand as soon as possible after death, someone in the family will soon follow.

SMILING CORPSE
15268. If you see a smile on the face of a corpse, the soul is going to heaven; if a frown, to hell.
15269. A smile on the face of a corpse means another death.

Suffering Corpse - Photograph of Corpse (15270-15272)

SUFFERING CORPSE
15270. "This is very old. My mother told me. If a midwife would lose a mother, after she was buried, she would go to the grave and put a white
square piece of cloth on it, then take few sticks and pin it down, so the mother would not suffer."

PHOTOGRAPH OF CORPSE
15271. To photograph a corpse is unlucky; some say the family will have the bad luck, others say the photographer.
15272. If you photograph the eyes of a murdered person before the eyes are closed, you will see in them a picture of the murderer.

Grief for Dead - Ill of the Dead (15273-15289)

GRIEF FOR THE DEAD
15273. To prevent your crying at a funeral, throw salt on the fire just before you leave home.
15274. It is unlucky for the mourner who lets tears fall on the corpse.
15275. Tears falling on the corpse show that its soul will rest well.
15276. Do not kiss a corpse; you will be the next to go.
15277. Never think about anyone else while looking at a corpse; the person you are thinking about will soon die.
15278. Whoever at a funeral looks twice at the corpse will be the next to follow.
15279. Involuntary laughter by a relative of the corpse means good luck for the one laughing.
 377

15280. Never allow anyone to play a game or music, sing, dance, or speak loudly in a house where there is a corpse; another death will occur
before the end of the year.
15281. If you hang clothes out in the yard while there is a corpse in the house, you will soon have another death.
15282. Do not lock the door after the funeral procession has left the house; it is very unlucky.
15283. To make the house cheerful by buying anything new or by redecorating soon after the funeral will bring another death before the end of
the year.
15284. "Fourteen years ago my stepfather had a very large funeral. They say if there is a large crowd at a funeral, there will be three to die out of
that family that year. And we lost three in the family that year."
15285. On your way from a funeral never stop to talk to anyone or to do an errand; unless you go straight home from the cemetery, you will carry
a death back to your house.
15286. Never tell your next-door neighbor about a funeral you have just attended; it will cause you bad luck.

SPEAKING ILL OF THE DEAD

15287. Speak ill of the dead and you will have bad luck.
15288. If you tell a lie about someone who is dead, the corpse will turn over in its grave.
15289. They say it is unlucky to wish yourself dead.

Fear of Dead - Mourning Clothes (15290-15306)

FEAR OF THE DEAD
15290. Some years ago the husband of a reputed witch died in Quincy. She held an ax up to the head of the corpse to keep his spirit from coming
back to haunt her.
15291. A piece of old iron hung over the front and back door prevents the spirit of the recent dead from haunting you.
15292. One of the reasons given for stopping clocks and turning mirrors and pictures to the wall or covering them is to prevent the return of
the spirit.
15293. A wife who lays her handkerchief under her husband in his coffin will never worry about him.
15294. "My sister said take off your wedding ring as soon as your husband is buried and lay it away for three months. After the three months you
will never miss him."
15295. You can overcome your fear of the dead by eating mustard seed.
15296. "One day I went in a house where someone had died and the bed was full of salt. The salt is placed over the body before the body is
removed from the bed. They told me the dead spirit would never come back. Also, I was told you could pour salt water over the corpse on each of
the three days it remained in the house."
15297. To prevent the spirit of the corpse from haunting you --- or your dreaming about the corpse, which is often the same thing --- or to
conquer your fear of the dead, you must always touch the corpse when you go to a funeral.
15298. You will never dream or worry about the corpse, if you rub your hand over it three times; some say over the hand, others say over the
forehead.
15299. "My mother always would touch a dead person's toes, when she went to see the dead, for good luck."
15300. The person who pulls the big toe of a corpse never fears the dead.
15301. Always urinate on a new grave for three mornings and you will not be haunted by the spirit of the person buried there.
15302. Unless you clean the house well as soon as possible after the funeral, you will have another death in the house that year.

MOURNING CLOTHES
15303. It is unlucky to wear red to a funeral.
15304. Never buy anything new to wear to a funeral; it will cause you bad luck.
15305. "My father would not let us polish our shoes the same day of a funeral we were going to. You will have bad luck."
15306. If you wear your wedding ring to a funeral, you will soon attend a funeral in your own family.

On Way to funeral - Late for Funeral (15307-15312)

ON THE WAY TO A FUNERAL
15307. Always when leaving home to attend a funeral walk out of your house backwards and close the door to prevent any misfortune or a
possible death. The reverse is also believed: you must walk through the door looking straight ahead as a prevention of death in your family.
15308. "My mother would not do it for anything: if you are starting to someone's funeral and happen to leave something, never go back to get
it; that's a sure sign of a death in the family. I remember once she left her flowers home. She would not go back; took them to the cemetery the
next day."
15309. To meet a white chicken on your way to a funeral is an omen of bad luck.
15310. If while going to a funeral you see a mad dog, bad luck may be expected.
15311. "We were going to a funeral and our horse just balked and balked, and that same week my little boy went fishing and fell in the creek and
was drown, and he was buried before the week was over."

LATE FOR FUNERAL

15312. "Father and I were going to my aunt's funeral and we were late. We met the funeral about a block from the house. Father said, 'I don't like
this, that we didn't get to the house before they started, bad luck.' My father died in two months after that."

Leaving Anything at - Funeral Service (15313-15319)

LEAVING ANYTHING AT FUNERAL
15313. "I had a very dear friend to go to a funeral and he left his umbrella. When he went back for his umbrella he said, 'I will be the next to go.'
In several weeks he died; so he was the next at that funeral to go. It is an old saying, if you go to a funeral and leave something, you will be the
next to go; don't hurt what you leave, if only a handkerchief, just anything."

FUNERAL SERVICE
15314. The person who counts the candles at a funeral service will have bad luck.
 378

15315. A flickering candle at a funeral signifies another death in the family.

15316. Candles at a funeral that burn straight and do not flicker show the soul of the corpse will rest in peace.
15317. If a candle at the coffin falls over or out of its holder, you may expect another death soon.
15318. "My brother's brother-in-law was being buried about two years ago, and he was watching the priest and he saw he had forgotten his
chalice. He said to me after the funeral, 'We are going to have another death but don't 'tell mother, because she has been real sick and will worry.'
And the next week we got word our sister died out in California."
15319. To have the clock stop just as the clergyman begins the funeral sermon is an omen of another death in that house.

FUNERAL PROCESSION (15320-15344)

Animals an - Riding in - Stopping (15320-15344)

ANIMALS AND PROCESSION
15320. A black cat crossing in front of a funeral procession means another death in the family.
15321. "We had a funeral and as we were leaving the cemetery a black and white dog run up and barked at us. Someone said, 'We will have
another funeral soon, for they say if a dog barks as a funeral is going by, sure to have another funeral in the house soon.' And we did."
15322. The neighing of a horse at a funeral foretells another death in the same family.
15323. "A mile right up the road here an old woman was not able to go to the church to see her daughter that they had brought here, so on the
way to the cemetery they stopped in front of her house, took the coffin in the house and open it to let her see her daughter that she had not seen
for some time. I was there. And the horses nicker all the time the corpse was in the house. It's an old saying and it's so: if the horses nicker in
front of a house while a corpse is in that house, another will follow that year. The mother died in three months. Of course they were looking for
her to go, for she was very poorly; but they were not looking for her other daughter to die that she was living with. But she did before the year
was out. It never fails, if the horses nicker in front of a house when there is a corpse in it."
15324. If a horse becomes frisky or prances in a funeral procession, it is usually a token of another death; but occasionally, of bad luck only.
15325. Never let a white horse follow the hearse; you will have another death in the family that year.
15326. "About sixteen years ago there was a funeral in the neighborhood around Monroe Street. While they were all in the house and were just
about ready to start to the cemetery, a big red rooster got up on the hearse and crowed three times looking in the house. That is a sure sign of three
more deaths. We lived across the street and my husband said, 'Look at that son-of- a-bitch, he is calling three more deaths in the neighborhood.'
And they did have another death in that house. In three weeks my husband was the next to go. In about two months after that the third one died in
that neighborhood before the three months was up."

RIDING IN PROCESSION
15327. All relatives going to the grave should ride in the funeral procession and ride in the same type of vehicle; if some ride and others walk, or
if some ride in the cars provided by the undertaker and others ride in their own cars, the family will have another death before the end of the
year.
15328. Do not ride on a hearse unless you are the driver; you will be the next to go.
15329. If you start in a funeral procession and then get out of the car and do not go on to the cemetery, you will die that year.
15330. No matter what happens, never look backward while riding in a funeral procession; you will soon go to another funeral. And if you
are related to the corpse, that death will occur in your own family.

STOPPING PROCESSION
15331. If a funeral procession starts and then is delayed before it can get away from the house, you may expect another death in the family.
15332. A hearse stopping between the house and the church or between the church and the cemetery is a sign someone else in the family will
soon die.
15333. If an empty hearse stops in front of a house, it is an omen of bad luck; if a full hearse, an omen of death for someone living in that house.
15334. To have the hearse get stuck in a mudhole while on its way to the cemetery indicates another death before the year is out.
15335. A breakdown of the hearse or wagon bearing a corpse foretells the death of someone else in the family.
15336. The breaking down of a hearse on its way to the cemetery means it will carry two more bodies within three days.
15337. If the car in which you are riding in a funeral procession stops, there will soon be another death.
15338. If the car in which you are riding in a funeral procession breaks down --- has a puncture, engine trouble, an accident --- someone in that
car will die before the year ends.
15339. If the car in which you are riding in a funeral procession stops or breaks down, the driver of that car will be the next to die. This is
a modernization of an older belief; if in a funeral procession the harness or any part of the wagon or buggy broke, the death of the driver was
portended.
15340. If one of the cars in a funeral procession stops in the middle of the gate as it enters the cemetery, somebody in that car will be the next to
die.
15341. If a funeral procession or a car in a funeral procession stops three times on the way to the cemetery, the family will have another death
within three months.
15342. If any vehicle connected with death turns around in front of your house, there will soon be a death in your family.
15343. If a funeral procession takes the wrong road to the cemetery --- either by mistake or caused by a detour --- look for another death.
15344. "When I went to Miss X's father's funeral, when I came out of the undertaker's parlor, when I shut the door of the car, the horn started
to blowing. I stopped it. And we went down to the church. We all got out and it started to blowing again. I stopped it again. And when we went
out to the cemetery, when we got out, it started to blowing the third time. After we got home I tried to make it blow by closing the door and it
wouldn't blow. Someone said it was bad luck. Someone said there was going to be a death in my family."

Meeting - Watching - Counting Cars of (15345-15371)

MEETING PROCESSION
15345. In order to secure the right of way, it has been customary for some years in Quincy that the first automobile in a funeral procession carry
a white flag on each front fender.
15346. To meet an empty hearse is unlucky; a full hearse, lucky.
15347. Never let your shadow fall on a passing hearse; you will be the next to ride in it.
 379

15348. Anybody seeing his reflection in the glass side of a hearse will soon die.
15349. If you have an appointment downtown and meet a funeral on your way, you will not only have bad luck but also you will be unable to
keep the appointment.
15350. The person who crosses in front of or cuts through a funeral procession makes himself unlucky or brings a death to his family.
15351. "I remember well, when I was a girl, we were walking home down the big road when father saw a funeral coming down the road. He said,
'There is Mr. Wood's funeral. Children, climb over that rail fence. We will go home through the field.' And he made all of us get over the fence
and walk through a field and go through some woods around-about-way to get home. I remember well, I tore my dress. Father said, 'Well, I did it
to keep a death out of our family.' We only had to go about a mile down the big road to get home, but I think the way we went it was almost two.
But that is one thing, father would not go toward a funeral on the road."
15352. Never continue walking towards an on-coming funeral; turn around as soon as you see it and walk in the same direction it is going, to
avoid bad luck or a death.
15353. On meeting a funeral procession you will die before the year is out, unless you follow it to a crossroad or the fork of a road.
15354. You must never pass a funeral procession or let it pass you; always walk off at a right angle until it passes or you will die.
15355. "I always stop when I meet a funeral and wait until it goes by before I move a step, for you will die before the year is out if you don't stop
until it passes." Some say not to stop is merely bad luck.
15356. Do not stop when you meet a funeral procession; keep going in the same direction you are walking or you will die before the end of the
year.
15357. Always turn your back to a funeral procession until the hearse passes or you will have a death in the family.
15358. If you see a funeral approaching and must cross in front of it, go across the road sideways keeping your back to the on-coming procession
to avert bad luck.
15359. Misfortune that comes from meeting a funeral procession can be counteracted by taking seven steps backwards.
15360. Cross your fingers and spit when you meet a funeral procession; otherwise there will be a death in your family that year.
15361. "I always lift my hat, if I meet a funeral, to break the bad-luck spell."
15362. Say a prayer for luck when you see or meet a funeral procession.
15363. If two cars on the way home from the same funeral meet at the intersection of two streets and then go in opposite directions, another
death may be expected.

WATCHING PROCESSION
15364. "My mother always watched when a funeral was going by so no one would open a door. Never open the door when a funeral is passing to
look out, for you are opening a death in the family; even if you accidentally open a door when a funeral is passing, you are sure to have a death."
15365. To watch a funeral procession through a window will either cause you some misfortune or a death in your family.
15366. The person who points a finger at a funeral procession will either have bad luck or a death in his family.
15367. It is very unlucky to watch a funeral procession until it is out of sight.

COUNTING CARS OF PROCESSION

15368. "It has always been an old saying never to count the funeral cars in a passing funeral. I remember my mother was very superstitious over
that. One day I was standing out in the yard and counted the cars as the funeral was passing. I was twelve years old and just didn't think that
mother had told me not to do it. Anyway, my mother heard me. I got a good whipping for doing it. Mother said I would bring a death to the
family. My father took sick before the month was out and died. My mother always held that against me; said if I hadn't of counted those cars my
father would not of died so soon in life. And to her dying day she never forgave me." Sometimes this is only an omen of bad luck.
15369. The one who counts the vehicles in a funeral procession will be the next person to die.
15370. If you count the cars in a funeral procession and there are thirteen, it is a token of your death.
15371. As many cars as you count in a funeral procession, so many will be the years before you die.

RELUCTANT CORPSE (15372-15376)

15372. "About forty-five years ago my aunt's cousin was getting ready to go to a dance. I was only four at the time and don't remember it, but I
have heard the folks tell it over and over again. This cousin couldn't get her hair curled to suit her; she just tried and tried to get her hair to curl
and it would not. She was standing in front of the looking-glass and she started to cursing God over and over, because her hair would not curl,
and she fell over dead. They had the funeral in the little country church. The people had walked around the coffin before they put the lid on and
looked at her like they did years ago. Then they put the lid on and the six men started to lift the coffin to carry it out to the wagon while they were
singing. They could not lift the coffin up. It would not move. Then they started another song to see what was wrong and to keep the people from
worrying. The men took the lid off. And they found this girl's hair all curled beautiful and a big black worm in one curl; that was the devil in the
coffin that had curled her hair, for when they put her in the coffin her hair was straight. The church people came back and they all walked around
the coffin the second time to see what the devil had done. Then they put the lid on for the second time and they didn't have any more trouble
lifting the coffin and taking it out. " The informant did not know she was applying a folk-tale to the cousin of her uncle's wife. A similar tale or a
different version of this one follows:
15373. When my grandmother was a little girl a very mean man lived in their neighborhood [a few miles below Fall Creek]. He was real bad.
Everyone was afraid of him. This man died. Those days they always would take people to the graveyard in a wagon. He had a black walnut
coffin. It cost $25.00. Everyone was ready to start to the graveyard, and the two horses would not move. They could not get them to go. They
pulled and pulled and could not move a step. Then they put two other horses to the wagon. That made four. And they done the same thing. They
could not move the wagon. Then they put two more horses, making six horses trying to pull that wagon, and they didn't move a step. Then they
knew something was wrong. They open the coffin right there in the yard and a black cat jump out of the coffin. Everyone at the funeral saw the
black cat. It was the devil jumping out because he was so mean. They took the horses away and two horses pulled the wagon to the graveyard."
15374. "Some South End [of Quincy] women were out to the cemetery after J's funeral, and they said they tried several times to lower her casket
and they couldn't do it. They had to dig the hole larger than usual. They say they guessed the devil didn't want her either." This refers to the
burial of a reputed witch who died in 1932 and is a good example of the unreliability of eyewitnesses, especially when these witnesses were
expecting something unusual. It should be remembered that by this time a coffin was not lowered into an empty grave, but into a
wooden container; hence the width and length of a grave were much larger than the coffin. Another witness, however, said it was only the
 380

lowering apparatus which refused to work. (Even that would be awesome!) This was probably the case. A third witness said the reason the coffin
could not be lowered was that J. "didn't want to go".
15375. "This is so. It happen right out here near Ursa. And old lady died. They had pronounced her dead. She had two fine rings and the two
daughters went to fussing about them right away, when the old lady raised up and said, 'Girls, I would not fuss about my rings,' and died for sure.
It almost scared the girls to death. They almost had a funeral for one of the girls. She was very sick for a long time. I know there was so much talk
about it that my mother said when she died she wanted her rings buried on her so the children would not fuss about them after she was gone. And
we did."
15376. "Here on Jersey Street years ago, about fifty years when I was a boy, an old woman lived in that row between Eighth and Ninth [these
houses were torn down after World War I] that would take her hair down and let it fall over her face. And she could put seven spells on you. She
was a witch and everyone was afraid of her. Now this is true, for my mother and I were at the funeral. This old witch had a nephew and she was
always putting spells on him. He lived right here in this neighborhood, too. I have lived around Ninth and Jersey all my life. Well, one day this
nephew got sick and he said she had put a spell on him. He just begged for someone to give him something, said he wanted to kill the old witch
before he died. He died. And the old woman came to see him. And when she looked at him in the coffin, he just growl and growl at her just like a
dog — he was so mad because she came to look at him."

GRAVE AND CEMETERY (15377-15415)

Orientation of Dead - Water in Grave (15377-15380)

ORIENTATION OF THE DEAD
15377. A corpse should be buried so that it faces the east and can greet the Lord when He appears in the east with the rising sun on Resurrection
Day.
15378. If you bury a person with the head to the west, the spirit will never rest in the grave.

WATER IN THE GRAVE

15379. "I can remember when I was just a boy living in Missouri, my uncle just kept coming back all the time. They say if water gets in the
grave, the person will haunt you until the water is out. My aunt got it in her head water was in the grave. He was buried on the place [farm] like
they did years ago and she thought they would put him in town. So one day father and several men took him up and the grave was half-full
of water. One of the men open the coffin and I can remember, his face was just covered with a beard, and when they put him away he had no
beard. Just the moment they open the coffin he turn black. Another thing I remember, we started to town, all of us in the wagon, and when almost
there a storm came up. We passed a farmhouse and the man was standing in the barn door. He holler and said, 'Drive in here quick or the coffin
will get wet.' You know that's another old saying, if the coffin gets wet, another will follow. Father drove in that barn and we stayed there all day
waiting for it to stop raining and didn't get my uncle buried until the next day, afraid the rain would go on the coffin."
15380. Another reason against burial in low-lying ground is the belief that water seeping into the grave may petrify the body.

Accident at Grave - Leaving Grave (15381-15391)

ACCIDENT AT THE GRAVE
15381. "I know of a party that was to be buried one day. They took the corpse out to the cemetery. It had rained that morning and the grave was
full of water when they got there and they had to take the corpse back to the undertaker's so they could get the water out. And they buried the
person the next day. If you take a corpse out to the cemetery and have to bring it back, another member of the family will soon die. And another
followed in the family real soon."
15382. A grave caving in before burial is an omen of another death that year.
15383. "My mother was at a funeral and the strap broke letting the casket down, and a woman screamed because she knew the old saying: if a
strap breaks when lowering a casket in the grave, sign of another death soon. In two weeks this woman that screamed was dead. She was an aunt
of the party that was buried two weeks before."
15384. If anyone at a funeral stumbles over the earth thrown out of the grave, you may expect two more deaths soon.
15385. The person whose foot slips into a grave will soon die. It is said a well-known undertaker of Quincy died some years ago because his foot
slipped into a grave.
15386. Whoever at a funeral drops a handkerchief near the grave will be the next one among the people present to die.
15387. "I knew a woman that went to a funeral and happen to drop her umbrella in the grave and in two weeks she was dead."

LEAVING GRAVE
15388. If you are at a funeral and turn your back to the grave or leave before the burial service is finished, it means a death in your family within
a year.
15389. "This is an old saying of my mother's: the first one to turn their back on an open grave when leaving a funeral will have a death before the
year is out."
15390. Never turn and look back at the last shovelful of dirt being thrown into a grave; some member of your family will die that year. 15391.
"Years ago when I was a boy and we were living out here in the country, when we would go to a graveyard, everyone would stand around. No
one wanted to go, to be the first one out of the graveyard, because they would be the next one to have a funeral in their house."

Cemetery Visit - Stepping on or over a Grave (15392-15408)

CEMETERY VISIT
15392. If some member of your family is buried and you return to the cemetery that day, you will have bad luck.

15393. Four persons should never visit a cemetery together; one of them will die before the end of the year.
15394. On your first visit to a strange cemetery always think three times of how peaceful the dead are and you will be lucky.
15395. It is unlucky to visit a cemetery after sunset.
15396. To pass through a cemetery at midnight will cause you bad luck.
15397. They say a murderer always revisits the scene of his crime or visits his victim's grave.
15398. If you stumble while visiting a cemetery, someone in your family will soon die.
15399. The person who points a finger at a grave will soon have a serious sickness in the family.
 381

15400. Never point your finger at a grave; you will soon be buried in that cemetery.
15401. "I knew a woman that her husband died and every time she went out to his grave a neighbor cat followed her. They say if a cat follows
you to the cemetery, sign of another death. And she died six months after her husband."
15402. To take anything out of a cemetery is unlucky; either you will soon return something or you will bring back more than you took.
15403. "They say it is unlucky to plant anything on a grave. My mother put a plant on a grave and she died before the year was out."

STEPPING ON OR OVER GRAVE

15404. The person stepping on or walking over a grave will become unlucky.
15405. Some say the person who steps on or walks over a grave will soon die, others say his grandmother.
15406. "Us three girls years ago --- A., B., and myself --- walked to Woodland Cemetery to put flowers on A's father’s grave. We took our
lunch along because we didn't think we would get home by noon. We ate our lunch by that pretty part overlooking the Workhouse. One of the
girls said, 'I heard it was bad luck to step acrost three graves in succession in one day, that you would die within a year.' So A. did it to show that
she wasn't afraid. And within a year she was dead. She got in trouble with a man. She was nothing but a kid, about fifteen; he was a big lodge
member. I can't call his name. He lived on Z. Street, a married man with a family. And he would write her letters and take her buggy riding. Her
mother was so strict, I don't know how she even got out. I don't know what happen, her mother found a note in her pocket or something to meet
this man. The mother locked her up and she went to meet this man. She went to the post office; that was where they were to meet. I don't know
what she did. When the mother got home, the girl had took rough-on-rats. She was dead.
15407. "Mr. X. said if a horse steps on a grave or even on the grass in a Roman Catholic cemetery, all the souls there will go to purgatory
immediately. Further, the cemetery must be reblessed."
15408. To see a rabbit run across a grave while you are in a cemetery is a sign you are going to die.

Future Grave - Tombstone - Exhumation (15409-15415)

FUTURE GRAVE
15409. If you have an involuntary shiver, either a rabbit is running over or a ghost is walking over the place of your future grave. 15410. Never
buy a cemetery lot before you have a death; some member of your family will soon use it.
15411. It is unlucky to sell cemetery and whether you are a professional salesman of burial lots or a lot owner selling an unneeded grave site.

TOMBSTONE
15412. "My daughter went by a cemetery one day and a white pigeon was sitting on a tombstone mourning. They say if a white pigeon sit on a
tombstone and mourn, and you go by while it is mourning, someone near to you will die. My daughter was just sick when she got home. And the
man she was going to marry took sick in no time and died."
15413. You may make a wish while sitting on a tombstone, but you must enter and leave the cemetery without speaking.

EXHUMATION
15414. To exhume a body and rebury it in another grave makes the spirit restless forever.
15415. "There was a grave dug up many years ago by a laboring man. This was an old cemetery in Adams County. Perhaps fifty years had
elapsed since the death. It was necessary to remove the bodies. Bodies unclaimed were dug up and buried in another field. This special grave, no
one had claimed the body, and it was this man's duty to dig up the grave. The bones had long since turned to dust. The dust was in the form of the
body. The man reached down and took up what looked to him like unravelled cecil rope, and gazing at it more closely he discovered it was
human hair that had grown the full length of the body and curved upward again in its growth. The man was six feet and when he held the hair up
it trailed on the ground."

SPIRITS (15416-15639)

TO CALL SPIRITS (15416-15419)

15416. "I was sick when my father died, very sick --- he was buried down by Barry [Illinois] --- too sick to go to the funeral, so didn't get to
see him. He was dead about a year. I worried all the time over not seeing him. Then I started to praying I could see him just the way they laid him
away. One morning after I started to praying --- I was still sick in bed and had been praying ever since I woke up --- and at ten o'clock he came
and stood at the foot of my bedside with a white shirt on, black suit and black bow tie, black slippers and socks. I had never in my life saw father
with a white shirt on. Then I told the folks about seeing father and they told me that that was just the way he was laid out. I worried so, he just
had to come back and let me see how he looked."
15417. " About twenty years ago [1912] when my aunt was dying she said, ' Do you want me to come back to you after I am gone?' I said, 'No.'
Then she said, 'I will give you a bandage that I have kept for fifty years that was around my boy's head when he was dead.' In those days they
didn't embalm like they do now, they would tie a towel around their head, and she had kept this towel all these years. They say if you keep it, the
dead do not return. So my aunt gave me this bandage and I put it in my trunk after her death. That has been twenty years, and I have never saw
her spirit. I have been thinking of taking it out to the cemetery and burying it by my aunt, to see if I will see her in visions."
15418. " About fifteen year I ago [1921] I had a neighbor that could call the spirits here in Coatsburg. My two boys and I were over to her house.
She had one of those boxes that have flowers in that came off her dead niece's grave. They don't use those boxes now, but years ago they were all
the go. We were all sitting around a stand. The box was on this stand. She put her hand on the box and in a few minutes this box went right
around on the top of the stand, went right up her husband's arm, around his neck, and came down the other arm, right back on the stand top. This
is so, for I was there. She lived right next door in that house you see [are now looking at]. Another time she came running out in the yard saying
she had been talking to the spirits and they were knocking so in the clock that she could not stay in the house. She just stayed out in the yard most
of the day, for the spirits bother her so that day." 15419. 'When I was about ten years old [1893] , I am fifty-two now, an old woman stopped at
my grandmother's house. She said she was a spiritual, that she could make the spirits come or make the table move around the room.
My grandmother said, 'I don't believe in spirits.' The old woman said, 'Well, I will show you what I can do,' and did. We children had a pan of
walnuts on the table we were just getting ready to crack when the old woman stopped [at the house]. The woman said, ' I will turn that pan of
walnuts upside down and they will not fall out,' and did. Then the table started to moving around the room. My grandmother was a good
Christian. I can remember her getting right down on her knees when she saw the table going around the room and prayed O Lord, if this is a good
spirit, let it remain; if a bad one, let it depart.' We all saw a big black object walk around the table and go right through the closed door. This old
 382

woman got real mad at my grandmother and said, 'I will not be able to call the spirits for some time, you have broke my power.'
Then grandmother told her to get out and she did."

THE SPIRIT SPEAKS (15420-15454)

Through Animals - From Leaves and Trees (15420-15429)

THROUGH ANIMALS
15420. "One evening just at sunset two birds sit on a tree on Chestnut Street singing, 'Won't be long. Won't be long. Don't you see? You will.'
Then the birds flew away. I said to the neighbor next door, 'Someone is going to die around here. I wonder who it is?' The next morning those two
birds came back and sit on the wire in front of Mr. M's house on Tenth Street and sang, 'Won't be long. Don't you see? You will.' They did that
for three days and always said the same thing. I said, 'Something is going to happen in Mr. M's house.' And in two weeks Mr. M. died. And do
you know, those two birds came and sit on the wire in front of Mr. M's house and stayed all during the funeral, but did not sing. And just as they
brought the corpse out, the birds flew away and did not come back."
15421. "If an old tomcat comes to your house and says, 'Lord,' and 'Lord have mercy on me,' and keeps raising the devil, run him away; for you
will die, if you don't. An old tom came to my door one night and kept howling, 'Lord,' and 'Lord have mercy.' I went and ran him away. I stood
and looked out of the window to see where he would go, for I wanted to see who would die in the neighborhood. Do you know, he went right up
to the preacher's house and stood on his door, and kept howling, 'Lord,' and 'Lord have mercy.' Do you know, that preacher died in two days."
15422. "My father-in-law had been sick for six weeks and we all thought he was getting better when one night we heard something in the front
room sounded like a cricket howling, then we heard it again in our bedroom, then it went out of our bedroom into my father-in-law's room, got
under his bed and started to holler. He wanted to know what was making that noise. We told him only a cricket had got in the house, but we all
knew it was a token of his death. That same week I went up to my cousin's house for pickles, came back about five o'clock to start supper; as I
was standing at the table peeling potatoes, I heard the noise again in the wall, sounded like a mess of crickets howling this time, and they sang
that way until he died the next day. And we didn't hear the crickets again, it was only a death token."
15423. "I lived in a house myself that was haunted. They say a man got killed in the back yard and was buried there years ago. Every night
you could hear a dog holler all night. When you would go out in the yard you could not find any dog, but just as soon as you would go in it would
start. It was the spirit of this dead man howling like a dog."
15424. "Just before my mother died, a little dog would moan under my window all the time. I said to my husband, 'Go out and stop that dog.'
He said, 'I don't hear any dog moaning.' 'Well, I guess the bad news is for me, for they say the one that hears it is the one it is for.' And my mother
died in about two weeks after that."
15425. "A strange dog followed my brother around for three days. He never knew where the dog came from and we never knew where the dog
went. This dog, after he would follow him all day, would sit by his blacksmith shop and holler all night. The dog did this for three nights. And on
the fourth day my brother got drowned and the dog disappear that day and we never did see the dog again."

FROM LEAVES AND TREE

15426 " A woman out here to Soldiers Home [in Quincy] a few years ago [before 1935] lost her husband. She would cry all the time, would go to
the grave and cry all the time. There was a big tree by the grave and, every time she would cry, that tree would shake all the branches all the time.
It was the spirit of her husband shaking the tree. He could not stand her there all the time crying. One day the tree spoke to her and told her to go
home, he could not rest with that crying. And she stop going to the grave by the tree."
15427. "My mother-in-law was walking along the road one day and she heard the leaves rattling on the ground behind her. She looked back and
the leaves were all in a whirl [a devil's whirl wind], and her husband who had been dead only two months appear in the leaves and said, 'Stop
your worrying. Go on rejoicing in your way and be happy. I am happy and all right, and don't worry over me so much.' My mother-in-law cried
all the time, so he came to help her."
15428 "My cousin Emma and I was up on a hill. We were just romping around and playing, when there was a bunch of leaves going around and
around, just like you had your hand in them turning them around and around [a devil's whirwind]. And just two weeks from that day they had to
send Emma's brother to Jacksonville [Illinois, to the State Asylum]. His mind started to going around. That was a token of his going, the leaves
going around and around."
15429. "In Memphis, Tennessee, years ago a woman was killed and a tree grew up on that spot just the shape of a woman. And they say they
cannot cut it down. At night you can pass that tree and you can see it moving around. Some men tried to cut it down, but every time they hit the
tree with an ax, it would holler and groan like a person; and when they cut into it, it will bleed like blood. It is a poplar tree."

Out of the Wind - In Whispers (15430-15432)

OUT OF THE WIND
15430. "I write insurance on houses and barns. One day I stopped at a farmhouse out here in Adams County. They had put up a big fine new barn
and I wanted to insure it. I talked a while to the lady of the house. Then she called her son. They didn't know what to do. So she said, 'I will go in
the house and talk to my dead husband. ' She went in and called him, asking if she should take out the insurance on the new barn. The spirit of the
wind said to her, 'Feareth not,' three times, 'no danger of fire.' She came out in the yard and told me this. Of course she didn't take out
the insurance because the voice of the wind, as she called it, said, 'No fear.' I went away disappointed. Another time I was out in the country
trying to sell insurance and a woman told me this story. She believe in warnings. One day she said she was driving in to town and a windstorm
came up, when all at once she heard her husband's voice say, 'Stop! Stop! Stop!' And she knew it was a warning, for the spirit always come in
three. She stop right there and a tree fell across the road just in front of her. If she had not heard that voice and stop, she would of been killed."
15431. "They say if someone is dead and are not resting good, their spirit always rides on the crest of a storm and they try to destroy something
they used to own. Just like one of our buildings here in Quincy got hit with the storm last year and again this week, that is a sure sign one of the
old owners are not resting in their grave."

IN WHISPERS
15432. "I had a warning when my sister-in-law died. I was sleeping in the front bedroom and my husband was sleeping in a back bedroom, we
had a bathroom between us, when I heard a footstep come out of the bathroom and come toward my room, could hear them walking plain. I said,
'Charlie, is that you?' and he didn't answer. After awhile I went to sleep. And the next night I heard that step coming from the bathroom and I
holler, 'Is that you, Charlie?' and he said, 'What is wrong with you? I am in bed.' The third night I heard that step again. And this time it came to
my bed, whispering to me. I could not make it out, but I didn't wait to make it out, just started to screaming and screaming. My husband came
 383

running, wanted to know what was wrong. Then I told him someone was in my room whispering to me. But we could find no one. And his sister
died the next night at the same time I had heard the step for three nights."

Using Normal Voice - A Command (15435-15438)

USING NORMAL VOICE
15433. "We were living up here on a farm in the North Bottom about thirty-five years ago [19O3] near Meyer. We had two of the neighborhood
boys helping us cut brush on the farm ---I guess I should say men instead of boys, for one was twenty, the other twenty-two. One morning after
my husband and the boys went out to cut brush, I was washing the dishes, I heard these two boys talking under the kitchen window. I went to
the window to see why they didn't go to cut brush with my husband. When I got to the window they were not there. I went back to washing
dishes. Then I heard them talking again under the window. I knew it was an omen for our family or theirs, for nothing ever happens in the
neighborhood or our family that I don't have a warning. That noon when they all came in for dinner I told them about what I had heard under the
window, said, 'Something is going wrong in your family or ours.' The oldest boy laughed, said, 'Nothing to that.' I said, 'You are laughing now,
but I will laugh last.' My husband spoke up and said, 'She is right, something will come of her hearing you two talking under the window.' They
all went back to cut brush after they were through with dinner. About three o' clock I got a call from Canton [Missouri --- across river from
Meyer, see Adams County map] from these boys' sister telling them to come as fast as they could get there, that her husband had got killed that
morning ---I am not sure, but I think he got hit with a train at a crossing. So that was the omen that came from me hearing the boys-talking under
the window. I had to walk a mile to go down on the Fabius [pronounced fabby] where they were cutting brush. When I told them, the oldest boy,
that had laughed so hard at noon and made fun over it, turn white as death and threw his ax down, almost cutting his brother, he was so upset over
it. Of course I didn't laugh as I said I would at noon, but we got them right off for Canton."
15434. "My niece and nephew lived out here from Quincy on an old hill about ten years ago. My niece was always hearing a man talking in the
house. He talked like a German, for she could not understand a thing he would say. At first she thought she was losing her mind, hearing that
talking all the time, but she got use to it. Her husband could not hear it. One afternoon she took a book and went out to the old barrel hammock,
thinking she would read. She just got started when something turn her out of the hammock on the ground. She got up angry, thinking her husband
done it, but there was no one around. Then she knew it was this same spirit that she heard talking. Her father-in-law came the next day and he
could hear the talking. As he went out to the woodshed he heard this man say, 'Be careful! Beware!' And the next day when he went out to the
smokehouse this same voice said, 'Be careful! Beware of two cars!' And the next day two police cars came looking for a man. And they thought
afterwards maybe the man had been killed around there."

A COMMAND
15435 "I had an omen of my father's death. He was never sick, worked every day. My cousin lived at our house and we slept together because we
both worked at the same factory in Quincy. One night I was lying in bed when someone said to me, 'Look at your father! the death pallor is on
his face.' It scared me almost to death. I woke my cousin, told her what a voice had said to me. My cousin said, 'You have been dreaming, don't
think about it.' I said, 'I was not sleeping, someone said it.' A week from that night my father took sick and died in a week's time."
15436. "I went down to the city dump a few weeks ago where they throw away old can fruit. I took some of the cans. I open a can of blueberries
when I got home and put them in a dish and sit the can on the table. The can looked fine and all right when I empty it. I went out in the yard to
take a smoke in my pipe like I always do when I get home, and as I started in the door a good spirit said, 'Look in that can on the table!' And I did.
I found a great big black spot in the can where it was all eaten off, and when I sit the can there a little while before it was all right. I took and
threw the berries away. It was a clear warning, for if we had of eat the berries, we would of died. It was a good spirit that told me. And I said,
'Thank you dear God for sending a spirit to warn me'."
15437. "I was living in Chicago and my father was living just twelve minutes away. One night something hammer real loud on the steam pipes. I
was in bed and something said, 'GO quickly!' My father was sick. I knew he was worse, so I got up and went to him, for something always calls
me before death. When I went in, father said, 'I knew you would get here, for I was calling you.' And he died fifteen minutes after I got there."
15438. "I sure believe in presentiments. Years ago when I was working one night I was walking home just at dusk with my money. As I was
crossing over a little brook something said, 'Walk fast! Walk fast!' I looked up in the trees and all around but could not see anything. All at once
that voice said real loud again, 'Walk fast! Walk fast!' When I got to the gate I looked back and our neighbor was following me with a big club in
his hand. If that voice had not of warned me to walk fast like it did, I would have been killed for my money. And I was so good to that old nigger,
always doing something for him." (This story came from a Negro woman.)

Person’s Name - Sending Presentiments (15439-15449)

THE PERSON'S NAME
15439. "I was putting coal in the stove one morning several years ago and someone said, 'Esther!' I turned and said to my husband, 'Did you call
me?' He said, 'No.' Then I asked my daughter in the kitchen and she said, 'NO.' It worried me, for I thought it was an omen. Then that night my
sister and her beau was to see me, and I told them about someone calling me. It worried my sister then, because her beau was not well and
they were going to get married. He took sick that very night and got down in bed for two months and died."
15440. "One night I was sleeping and I heard my mother calling me at the door. I said to my husband, 'Get up and go to the door, mother is there.'
He said, 'You are dreaming,' and would not get up. So I went and she was not there. I called, thinking maybe she was hiding, for I was so sure she
was there. And she died just when I heard her calling. It was not long before we got the word."
15441. "One night just before my husband and I went to sleep, I heard my mother at the window calling me. She said, 'Josephine! Josephine!' I
said to my husband, 'Do you hear my mother calling me? that is bad luck. ' He only laughed, because my mother had been dead eight years. It
was a token, for my husband took sick and died that week. And it was my mother trying to tell me he was going to die."
15442. "My brother was coming home from work one night about two-thirty in the morning. He lived on Fifth and my mother lived on Seventh.
My mother often came up the alley for a short cut. This night he heard mother call him three times down the alley. He was so sure, he started
down the alley to meet her, thinking she was sick by coming up the alley so late in the night, and thought he would meet her, thinking she was
coming to our house on Fifth Street. When he saw she was not in the alley he came on home. He said to his wife, 'I heard mother calling me three
times.' The next night we got word our sister was dying in Barry, Illinois."
15443. "One day about thirteen years ago I was ironing and I heard someone in the front yard call my name, 'Lula! Lula!' I thought someone was
calling me, didn't think it was a spirit, so I went out into the yard. And they said again, 'O Lula! O Lula!' I could not see anyone, so I started back
into the house, and as I went through the door I saw something like a white handkerchief fluttering. And I got word right after that my
brother-in-law died just when that calling was going on. It was his spirit telling me of his death."
 384

15444. "I am about to relate an incident that occurred probably in the 1850 decade, perhaps a little earlier. There had been a terrible epidemic
of cholera throughout the whole course of which John G., an honest, pious Irishman, had been indefatigable in nursing the sick and burying the
dead. He was the very last man to die of cholera in that epidemic. He fell sick after dark on that night of his death. He was alone with his faithful
wife who dared not leave him and call the priest. She knew well enough that he was dying. In the midst of her anxiety there came a knock at the
door, and when she opened it there stood the priest with the holy vessel in his hands. 'I have been called to come to John G.,' said the priest; But
no one except the wife who had not dared to leave his side had known that John G. was ill. John G. died, but not without the sacraments. This is
the story as his granddaughter told it to me, and as she received it from her mother, who had it from hers."

SENDING PRESENTIMENTS
15445. "Do you ever have something to tell you not to do something and you do it, then have trouble? Well, I believe if something tell you not to
do a thing, not to do it. I remember when I was a boy about sixteen years old, we lived on a farm over near Edina [Missouri], they were going to
have a big sham battle in town. Everyone was talking about it and I was just crazy to go. The night before, father sent me out to grease up the
wagon, so we would get to start early in the morning. The next morning something just kept telling me not to go. When they started to getting
ready to go, I said, 'Father, I am not going.' He tried to make me go and wanted to know what was wrong, said, 'You've been crazy about it
all week.' But I didn't go. They all went but me. While the sham battle was going on, my father was standing with my brother on one side of him
and the neighbor man on the other side of him just where I would of been standing had I went, and something went wrong with the cannon, or the
man was drunk that was firing it; but, it hit the man standing next to my father and he died. When father got home and told me about it, I told him
something told me all morning not to go. And he said, 'Son, never do anything, if something tell you not to; for you would be dead now, if you
had of went to the sham battle.' And all through life I never do anything, if something tell me not to."
15446. "We moved in a house on Seventh and Jefferson years ago, about forty years ago. When my husband came home from work the first day
he said, 'Don't straighten up this house, we are not going to stay in this house, something is going to happen if we do.' He said this every night
when he came home from work for several days. He said just as soon as he came in the front door something seem to say, 'You are going to have
a death here.' I started to looking for a house. And my little girl took sick and she was carried out the same door he came in every night from
work. He was right. We didn't stay long, only three weeks; but we had the death in the house."
15447. "About five years ago we moved into a house. I was afraid to go in any room in that house at night without my husband. I would make
him go with me all the time. One night he said, 'Are you crazy? what is wrong that you are so afraid in this house?' In just a few weeks after that
I lost my little girl, and a few weeks after her death I lost my husband. I was by him as his breath left him, I could feel it pass me. And I was
never afraid after that. Being afraid in that house was an omen of them dying."
15448. "Years ago when I was a boy I was picking up hickory nuts upon the hill at the College Hill [home of Culver-Stockton College] at
Canton, Missouri. We lived down there [informant is speaking up near Lima] when I was a boy. That morning something just kept shoving me
and telling me to go home, but boy- like I just kept on picking up nuts until I got my sack full, then went home. When I got there I found my
mother dead. It was her spirit, trying to get me home before she died, that was shoving me."
15449. "About forty-eight years ago I could not get my uncle Charlie out of my mind. I would just sit and wonder if he died, if I had a black dress
to wear, and if they would send me a telegram, what would they say. I just could not get that off my mind, so I sit down and wrote my uncle a
long letter, telling him how much I thought of him, that he had been more than a father to me. And when they got my letter, the next day he was
dead."

Writing Message - With Song - By Prayer (15450-15454)

WRITING A MESSAGE
15450. "Two brothers were living in a house. It belonged to one. They had a fuss one day and he [the owner] told his brother to leave, to never
come back on the place with his family again for anything. Time went on and this brother that owned the house died and the other brother went
back with his family. Just as soon as his wife would clean the house up and they would go out in the other side, this spirit of the dead brother
would come and dirty it all up. They could not keep the house clean. They had a little boy and when he would go to bed at night he would lay his
clothes by the bed, and the next morning they would find them in the barn loft. They could not keep anything in place. Even when his wife would
make pies and leave them on the table and leave the room, when she would come back she would find the pies in the coal bucket and the pie pans
all bent up. My aunt was there one day spending the day. She went to see if she could see the spirit. And this is true. She put her hat in the parlor,
and they were out in the other room, and here came my aunt's hat right out the door by itself with all the trimming off. My aunt left after that. She
didn't stay to spend the day or see the spirit. After that the spirit wrote on a slate to his brother, 'If you don't move I will kill you.' So the brother
got out."
15451. "About sixty years ago [1875] in Quincy, a Mr. X. shot himself upstairs in a two-story brick house on Twelfth Street about two miles out
[from town]. The house was haunted after that. You could always see his face in the window of the room where he shot himself. You could also
see handwriting on the wall all the time. At last they tore the house down. No one would stay in the house because it was haunted."

WITH SONG
15452. "My husband's sister was sick in bed, and my son George was standing by the kitchen window looking out and heard someone up in the
air singing Nearer, My God, to Thee. My sister-in-law said, 'Who's that singing?' And we told her it was no one. But my son heard it up in the air.
She died the next day."
15453. "Two years ago I heard my dead husband, that had been dead seventeen years, singing Nearer, my God, to Thee, and the next night my
daughter died."

BY PRAYER
15454. "I had an omen, I believe in them. One night after I went to bed I heard my brother praying loud in my room when he was miles away.
He died when I heard my brother praying, just at that time."

SPIRIT NOISES (15455-15543)

Crying - Groaning - Laughing - Cracking (15455-15466)

CRYING
15455. "On Tuesday night we were all around the supper table eating, we had been to the hospital, my nephew was there, when all at once we
heard a baby crying in the other room. Someone jump up and went and looked in the cradle, was so plain, although we all knew there was no
 385

baby in the cradle, because it was at the hospital. That same night, just at eight o'clock, the baby died in the hospital that belong in that cradle
where we heard the crying."
15456. "I lived in a haunted house, where a baby had been killed years ago, they said. You could hear a baby crying all the time under the floor in
the front room. At times it would scream just like a baby getting hurt. The scream was so much like a baby that my children took up a board in
the floor, thinking they would find the baby. They were small and didn't know about ghosts. And every night at nine o'clock you could hear a
dripping noise, just drip, drip, for about one hour in the northwest corner of the room where the baby cried. We sure didn't stay long. We could
not stand the noise. I am not afraid, but it made me nervous."
15457. "About thirty-five years ago a family moved into a farmhouse out here in the country. They didn't know it, but no one ever stayed in
that house over several days. This family moved in one morning and late in the afternoon this woman started to making bread, and when it was all
done, took it over to put it in the oven to bake. When she open the oven door a baby started to crying right under that stove. It scared her so, she
drop the bread right on the floor and started for the next neighbor's house. She told this woman about the baby crying under the stove. This other
woman had heard about it but didn't believe it, so she said, 'I will go back with you and help put your bread in the oven.' So when they got back to
the house and had the bread all picked up, and started to put it in the oven, the baby started to crying again. So both of them left the house and
went out in the yard and stayed, until this woman's husband came home, to tell him. As the husband came in the yard, the wife went up to him
and said, 'We are going to move right away,' and told him about the baby under the stove, crying. He said, 'We will find out what is wrong around
this house, for I am not going to move.' He went in and took the stove down, then got an ax and took up the floor and started to digging, and he
found baby bones down in a hole. He said, 'That is what is wrong.' He took and buried the bones and put the floor back and the stove up again.
And they lived there a long time after that and never did hear any crying again. Someone had killed a baby to get rid of it in the house, they say."
15458. "My mother rented an old house here in Quincy that years ago was an old hotel. Every night at twelve o'clock until twelve-thirty a baby
would cry. She tried to find the baby but could not, so she told the landlord about it; and he said for her to locate the sounds, he would have it
looked after. So she told him she thought it was in the wall. He came the next morning and said he didn't see how it could be, but would tear the
wall out and see. There was an old reservoir across the kitchen where the cries came from, so he had his men to tear out part of the wall over the
reservoir, and the men found human bones in the wall. They took and buried them, and left the place open, and they put old tin cans and ashes in
the hole to fill it up. And after the bones were taken out of the wall they never heard the baby cry any more."

GROANING
15459. "On the old covered bridge, now torn down, was often seen a ghost stalking to and fro. Now and then there was heard groans, as from one
grasping for breath. It had been discovered that in 1857 a man was set upon by two men, robbed and hanged near the bridge. The body was found
by early settlers and buried. The old Ursa bridge was very old and built on the honor plan. There was objection to it in the days of autos, since
from one end a curve prevented one from seeing the incoming car as it sped from the hill."

LAUGHING
15460. "One day my mother went to rent a house in Ursa. As she went up the walk she heard some children laughing and a dog barking in the
house. When she went in the house to look around they stopped. She hollered but couldn't find anyone. She went out. And she happen to think
she didn't look in the closet, so she went back in to look, but couldn't find anything. When she went back down the walk the children and dog
started to making the noise again. She heard after, that some children were killed around there. But she didn't take the house."

CRACKING
15461. "We were all sitting out in the yard one afternoon and the four corners of the house cracked real loud. We all ran in the house to see what
was wrong and we could not find anything. And my mother's sister away from here died just when we heard that noise."
15462. "We lived in a house at X. and York Street. When you would go to bed at night you could always hear something pound on the wall. The
floor would pop and crack and keep it up all night. I would get up but could not find anything. I would let the light burn night after night and we
would hear it. I thought the house was haunted, but it was a token of my sister's death. One night the walls and floor cracked so hard, and it
sounded like someone took the stove poker and hit on the foot of the bed. It sounded so hard that my little boy, that was asleep, jump up and
screamed, it scared him so. I looked everywhere and could not find anything. And my sister died in a few days after that. We never heard any
noise in that house after she died, so I will always think it was a warning of her death."
15463. "This April my father came to see me one day and as he walked across the room the moulding on the wall cracked with no one near it.
And in three days he was dead."
15464. "I had a friend staying with a woman that had a new baby. This friend of mine went out in the kitchen to get something and the stove
just popped and cracked without any fire in it. This worried my friend because she knew it was death in that house. She didn't tell the sick woman
because she didn't want to worry her. And the baby died that week."
15465. "I am about sixty-two year' old and I have heard the family tell many times about my grandmother's death. They were poor and
grandmother always made hominy and went out to sell it to make a dime or two. One morning, as she was making hominy, the stove cracked all
the time. As she started out the door, her sister said, 'Don't go out today, something will happen, for the stove has been cracking all morning.
Grandmother said, 'I need the dimes,' and went with her hominy. She got hurt and they brought her home almost dead. And she did die, never
went to sell hominy again."
15466. "About thirty-five years ago a family were sitting around a table, eating, when all at once the table cracked like someone hit it with a stick
of wood. And just when that table cracked, that woman's son died in another town."

Breaking - Falling - Unloading - Running Stick (15467-15483)

BREAKING
15467. "We had a friend that lived down in the South Bottom near Quincy twenty years ago. One night the man said he was sitting in the
kitchen, and it sounded like a whole dishpan of dishes fell off the corner of the house and broke. It was so real he went out to see what was
wrong. He didn't find anything wrong. The very next day his little girl took sick and died before two weeks was over."
15468. "One night after we had gone to bed we heard the dishes falling off the kitchen table and breaking. My husband got angry, said I left the
cat in the house and it was on the table. We got up and went in the kitchen, and there was no cat and the dishes were all right. We got word my
brother passed away just when we heard all the dishes falling off the table."
15469. "One evening I was sitting rocking the baby when all at once something hit our closet door. It sounded like all the dishes fell out. I jumped
up to see what was wrong and could not find anything. My brother took his life over in Missouri just when it sounded like all the dishes fell out of
the closet."
 386

15470. "One night I was sitting in the kitchen and I heard all the milk crocks fall off the table I had on the porch. I got up to see if a cat had push
them off, for I had milk in them. I found everything as I had put them. The next morning I got word my nephew died just when I heard the
crocks falling off the table."
15471. "We were all sitting in the sitting room one evening and we heard a noise at the piano, and it sounded like every string on the piano
broke. We looked and we could not find anything wrong with our piano. And in three weeks and at the same hour we heard that noise, my mother
died. It was a token, for she was well when we heard it."
15472. "One night I was in bed and I heard the window break. I just could hear it crash and fall. I said, 'Carl, get up quick, someone is breaking
in the house.' My husband got up and all the windows were all right. The next day we had a death in the family."
15473. "When my sister-in-law died she was living in St. Louis, Missouri. My grandma went to St. Louis to see her, she [grandma] stayed at our
house [in Quincy], and the night my sister-in-law died everything in my grandma's room [in Quincy] fell to pieces. We thought so. My husband
got up and looked. Everything was all right. It was only a token of her death."

FALLING
15474. "After my grandfather died, as soon as he was buried, the same night, after grandmother went to bed, it sounded like all the plaster in the
ceiling fall down on the bed. It was so real she got up and looked, thinking she would find a big hole in the ceiling, but there was no hole. This
happen every night for a week, then grandmother changed her bed into another room. My grandfather was so mean in life that they didn't think
he was happy and he wanted to make her suffer too."
15475. "My husband and I were sitting in one room and all at once we heard a noise in the next room, sounded like all the plaster fell off the
ceiling. We jump up and went into the next room. Everything was all right, but it was a warning. My husband took sick that same week we heard
the noise and died before two weeks."
15476. "My husband and his first wife were living in a haunted house out near Plainville. The first night just after they went to bed they heard
a noise in the cellar. It sounded like tin cans were falling down. They got up and went in the cellar, but they had no cans and could not find out
what it was. The next night they heard the cans again. This time he got his gun and went around the house but could not find anything. And every
night just after they would go to bed they would hear this same noise like cans falling. So they had to move to get away from the ghosts."
15477. "I know a man that his wife was sick and he started to going with another girl. She called him to the bed one day and said she knew he
would marry this other girl when she was gone, and if they didn't treat her two little girls right, she would come back. This woman died and he
married the other girl in six weeks. Every night after they were married they would hear all the tinware in the kitchen fall on the floor. They
would get up and when they got in the kitchen everything was all right, but just as soon as they went back to bed they would hear all the things
fall again. They could not sleep. This woman some way found out the dead woman was jealous of her so she left. The woman said she could not
stand her coming back every night."
15478. "One day when we were living on Seventh Street my mother told me to get two buckets of water. I went out to the cistern in the yard and,
just as I went to set the buckets down, there was such a noise in the closet, it sounded like all the pots and pans fell down. Then the closet door
open and a beautiful girl walked out. I tried to catch her, and just when I thought I had her, she disappear."
15479. "About four o'clock in the morning I heard the whole end of the house fall in. I jump and ran to see what had happen, and everything was
all right. And the next day my father died in the same house."

UNLOADING
15480. "Just last week I was peeling potatoes and had a warning of death. I heard a noise out in the yard, sounded like someone drove up
and threw down some lumber. I got up, went to the window and looked out, and there was nothing there. I went back to peeling my potatoes
again, when it sounded like a wagon-load of glass was being dumped in the yard. I got up again and went to the window thinking it was the
menfolks throwing a load of something in the yard, for they gather old rags and iron around the country and I was looking for them home. When I
got to the window nothing was in the yard. At the dinner table when I told the men --- that's my husband and my brother — about it, my husband
got angry and said I was always getting warnings. I said something always comes from hearing things. That evening we got word my husband's
brother got killed that morning in Iowa."
15481. "My sister was living in Columbus [Adams County] thirty-five years ago. My father was living with her. One night they all heard a
terrible noise in the kitchen. They said it sounded like someone had dump a load of wood on the kitchen floor. My father and sister jump out of
bed and ran to the kitchen to see what had happen. There was nothing wrong, everything was just the way they left it when they went to bed. My
father took sick the next day and died in ten days after they heard that terrible noise in the kitchen."

A RUNNING STICK
15482. "I heard a token just before my father died. My sister and I were asleep in the room next to my father, and we heard a noise like something
run a stick over the top of his bed three times. I got up and said, 'Father, what are you doing?' It woke him up. He said, 'Why I was asleep, I was
not doing anything.' And in three days after that he dropped dead in the yard."
15483. "Mrs. R. and her father were sitting reading one evening. The cradle containing an eight-month's-old baby was between them. Suddenly
the father looked up from his paper and asked his daughter what the noise was. She also had heard the noise. It sounded as if someone had run a
stick over the rungs of the cradle. No one else was in the room and nothing was near the cradle. A few days later the baby died."

Dragging - Hitting - Rapping - Rattling - Shaking (15484-15517)

DRAGGING
15484. "I had a baby that was eight months old that was sick. One night while I was sitting by the bed I heard someone take and draw a
chair across the room three times, and my baby died after that."
15485. One night a woman heard a noise as if someone were dragging a tree branch down the weather boarding of her house. Her eldest son died
within a year. When the author interviewed this woman, a healer living at Marblehead, and was asking about death warnings, she seemed rather
disturbed by the subject. It was then that she told about the noise and her son's death, adding that she had heard the same sound only last night.
This was the cause of her nervousness. As a matter of coincidence, this woman, whom my sister was soon to visit at a hospital in Quincy, died
within the year following the interview.

HITTING
 387

15486. "My father was sick. It was a warm night and I was lying on a pallet on the floor to watch him, when it sounded like someone took
a board and hit three times real hard on the side of the house. I jump up, for it scared me. I looked, and my father was dying. It was a warning,
for I had fallen asleep and would not of saw him die if the warning didn't wake me."
15487. "Just before my husband died, it sounded like someone had threw a rock through the window and it broke all to pieces. I got up and went
to the window. It was all right and no one was near. It was a token. The next day my husband died."
15488. "Just before my father died we heard a terrible clash. I said, 'Father, did you hear that?' 'Yes, I did.' Just when the clash came the clock
struck two and stop running. The next day at twelve o'clock my father had a stroke and died at two o'clock that afternoon. The clock hadn't
run since. That is forty years ago. We have taken the clock to be fix, but they can't make it run."
15489. "One morning I was out on the back porch and something fell down on the porch. It sounded like a big rock hit the porch. My other son
ran out and said, 'Mother, what was that?' We could not find anything that hit the porch. And that day we got word my other son that was out of
town took his life with a gun when we heard that noise."
15490. The day before Mr. L's father was buried, while members of his family were sitting in the living-room around the coffin, something hit
the front door: "It sounded like someone shot a gun right at the door. My mother went to the door. My little brother, nine years old, was out in the
yard. My mother said, 'What did you do to make such a noise?' He didn't even hear it. The woman sitting by the door said, 'Too bad, but I know
there will be another die before the year is out.' And sure enough, my brother that was out in the yard died before the year was out."
15491. "A friend of my father had a token of his mother's death years ago. I have heard my father tell it, the man always built the fire and
then went out to feed the stock. They lived on a farm. My father did then, too. One morning when he was coming down the stairs he heard
something that sounded like a cannon come through the floor and hit the stove, sounded like the stove busted in two. It worried him very much.
He made his fire, went out and fed the stock, and came in and eat his breakfast, but didn't say anything to his mother. The next morning he went
out to feed his stock, back for breakfast, and found his mother very badly burnt. She had started to getting breakfast in one of those old flannel
nightgowns they use to wear and it caught on fire and she burned so she died."
15492. "My mother one night heard a noise, said it sounded like a gun pop on top of the cupboard after they had gone to bed. She made my father
get up and look at the cupboard. He didn't find anything wrong. In three days my brother died."

RAPPING
15493. "The grandmother of my friend Emma had been all her long life it seems a woman of violent and uncontrolled temper, though I never
saw her except as a quiet, rather friendly old woman. She was past ninety when Emma told me that her rages, which had been very hard to bear
by Emma's cousin Bertha who lived with her, had met with a curious check. Bertha reported that latterly when the old lady broke out in fury the
vases would leap from the mantel shelf, pictures would fall from the walls, or the like, and grandmother would become as meek as anyone could
desire. Emma had perfect confidence in Bertha's honesty in the belief that these things happened, but for herself she needed the evidence of her
own senses. What occurred in her presence she described to me within an hour or so of its happening, for she came to see me on her way home
from her grandmother's house. She was sitting alone with the old lady, giving poor Bertha a much needed respite. Some chance remark set
grandmother off into an explosion of rage. Immediately at the window behind Emma came a vigorous, authoritative thump, the sound of a blow
that might have been expected to break the glass. Grandmother subsided into silence. Emma was at the window within a second, but there was no
one there. The house stood a very narrow space from the next one, which presented a windowless wall. There was not room for an intruder."
15494. "I have been hearing knocking on the wall and bed for the last thirty years. When I hear it on my bed, I know it is sickness for me; when I
hear it on the door or wall, I know it is for someone in the family. I believe the spirit doing the knocking is my dead husband. He died about thirty
years ago and he died in sin."
15495. "We were living in a log house and when my husband was out he would always, just before he came in the house, take and knock his clay
pipe on the side of the house to knock the tobacco out. My husband was out this night and I was looking for him every minute, when I heard him
come to the house and knock his clay pipe against the house, knocking his tobacco out. I went to open the door, thinking he was there, and he
didn't come until two hours later. It was a warning for my uncle, for he died just when I heard that clay pipe against the house."
15496. "It was three o'clock in the morning and Mrs. K. heard a terrible knock on the door. She got up and looked out of the window and called,
but no one answered. She thought it was her mother because she lived next door. She went back to sleep. And in three days her sister came over
during the night and knocked the same way she had heard three nights before. Her sister said her mother had fallen down the steps and was very
sick. She said she told her husband she just knew something was going to happen."
15497. "My mother was sick and one day I heard a loud knock on the kitchen door. I said, 'Come in.' No one came. I said, 'Come in,' again. Then
I went to the door and no one was there. I went out in the yard and looked everywhere, but could not find anyone. I got scared then, for I knew it
was a token that my mother was not going to get well. And she died that week."
15498. "One night two sisters were getting ready for bed and something knocked on the window twice, and one of the sisters said, 'That is
mother calling me,' and the other one said, 'It is not for you, it is mother calling me.' And it was only a little time until both sisters did die."
15499. "One night I was sitting in the front room and heard a knocking on the wall. It started at the ceiling and went to the floor. It did that
three times. I could not find out what it was, but it was a token telling me of my brother's death, because he died in two days."
15500. "One night my wife and I went down to take supper with her mother a few years ago and while we were eating supper someone knocked
three times on the front door. I got up and went to the door. No one was there. I came back to the table and we were talking about the knocking
and wondering who it was for, for no one was sick in the family at that time. Two days after that, my wife's mother took real sick and died before
the week was over."
15501. "My husband and I heard three knocks on the front door one night, and my husband got out of bed and went all around the house to see
who was doing the knocking. He could not find anyone. Before daylight we got a telegram telling us my brother, who was an engineer, was in a
wreck and was killed just when we heard those three knockings. It was his spirit telling us of his death."
15502. "My husband and I were in bed thirty-five years ago when one night someone rap on the front door. My husband got up, went to the door.
No one was there. He came back to bed and in a few minutes someone rap again. He got up again and found no one at the door. Then we heard it
the third time. My husband said, 'Someone is trying to fool us' --- he didn't believe in tokens like I do --- and said, 'You go out the back door and I
will go out the front, and we will walk around the house and meet, maybe we will catch them.' We did. But we didn't see a thing. His father died
in two weeks after that."
15503. "One Sunday my cousin and her husband was going fishing. My aunt tried to keep them from going. She just kept saying, 'I don't want
you to go.' But they went. In the afternoon my aunt heard three raps on the front door. She got up and went to the door, she went out in the yard,
but could see nothing. And just when my aunt heard those three knocks, my cousin and her husband were drowning up in the Bay. They brought
them home dead."
 388

15504. "The night my father died I heard three raps on the front door. My husband got out of bed and went to the door. No one was there. We
went back to bed and in a half hour we heard three raps again. I knew then my father was going to die because he was not well. While my
husband and I were talking about the raps, here came my brother telling me to come quick, father was dying. And he died at four o'clock that
morning."
15505. "One night we were all sitting in the kitchen and someone knocked on the door three times and push the door open. I went to see who was
there and no one was there. My father said, 'It is me going and I have only a short time to make it, and it's a long way to go alone,' meaning, he
was going to die. And he died that week."
15506. "My daughter was in bed one night and she heard three raps on the dining-room door. She got up and looked and no one was there. She
went back to bed and heard three raps on the dining-room door again. She knew then that it was the death angel. And her little girl fell in the well
a few days after that and was drown."
15507. "When my sister-in-law was sick we prayed every night for her, and the last three nights when we were praying, there came three knocks
on the door. Someone got up and went to the door, but no one was there. This happen for three nights and on the fourth night we didn't hear the
knocks, but she passed away at that time, so the knocks were token of her death."
15508. "My sister was sick in bed and every night she wanted my brother and I to sing Nearer, my God, to Thee. And one night while we were
singing, the knock came on the door again three times, and no one was there. And the third night the three knocks came on the door while we
were singing Nearer, my God, to Thee. Then I said to my brother, 'We are going to lose sister.' And she died the next morning."

RATTLING
15509. "We had another neighbor that his wife was well one day and out in the yard washing, the next day she was dead. We all thought he
had something to do with her dying, but in those days they took it all out in talking. If it was now, they would find out if he put her off. Anyway,
all the neighbors thought he did. After she was buried, they came home from the cemetery, all the dishes rattle and they rattle all the time.
Someone told him to shoot at the noise with lead, and if he hit the spirit, the noise would stop. He shot into the noise and it didn't stop, only broke
a few dishes. The noise just kept on with the dishes rattling. At last he put all her dishes in one room, but he could hear it just the same. Then the
house burned down. What few things he saved he took to the barn, and thought he would live there, but the rattling of the dishes followed him to
the barn. So he sold his farm and went out west to get away from the noise."
15510. "My mother knew a woman that had three daughters and she liked one a lot better than the other two. She had lots of money and some
very fine dishes. Before she died she gave this daughter all her fine dishes out of the cupboard, she had a cupboard just full of fine dishes, and she
gave her most of the money. The mother died. And that night after the funeral, after everyone had gone to bed, the dishes in the cupboard started
to rattling. They made such a noise that everyone got up to see what was wrong. Even the dog started to barking, thinking someone was in the
house. They could not find anything wrong so went back to bed, but could not sleep for the dishes rattle all night. This happen the next night and
the third night. No one could sleep. On the third night the girl that was the mother's favorite said, 'I will divide all the money and dishes equal.'
And did. And they never had any more trouble hearing the dishes rattle."
15511. "For weeks before my husband died the door knob would rattle all the time. The lady that lived in the house that own it said, 'I just can't
stand that rattle all the time.' My husband was working in another town and one day we got a telegram he got killed. And we never heard that
rattle again after that."

SHAKING
15512. "My father was plowing with my brother one day when he heard the earth shake just like an earthquake. It scared him so, he just
tremble. He turn to my brother and said, 'What do you think that was?' My brother said he didn't hear anything. They went on to the house and he
asked mother if she heard the noise, and she didn't. But that night about dark mother heard my other brother, that was working out of town,
calling her down the road at the crossroad. And he was miles away at the time. It was only a few minutes when my cousin rode up to the front of
the house. He sit on his horse for a long time because he didn't want to tell us the news. Then he told us Lee was dead. He drop dead just when
father heard the earthquake. And Lee was calling mother as my cousin was coming up the road to tell us the sad news. They were both tokens of
his death."
15513. The S. farm is several miles from Plainville. The family formerly living there had two daughters, grown but unmarried. These girls were
in an advanced stage of tuberculosis. Realizing the seriousness of their condition and the possibility of approaching death, they said that if there
was any way for them to return from the grave, they would. Both died within a short time of each other. The evening after the burial of the second
girl, the three brothers were sleeping upstairs and the mother downstairs, the house was severely shaken and filled with a loud roaring noise. The
mother called up to her sons and asked what they were doing, but they were as frightened as she. There were no neighbors closer than a half mile,
and when questioned in the morning they said nothing unusual had happened in or near their homes. Later, the family did not deny that in one
room of the house, presumably the room of the dead girls, the person sleeping in it was unable to keep the bedclothes over him. As fast as the
bedclothes were pulled up, they were jerked off by an invisible force. The house still stands but is uninhabited.
15514. "About twenty year ago my husband and I came home one night. When we open the front door every door and window shook. You would
think the windows were breaking. 'It's a token,' my husband said. My husband was just crazy over it, for he thought the token was for me, for I
was in a family way and not feeling well. And in six weeks my husband took sick and died just before our baby came. It was a token for him not
me, for I am still living, you see."
15515. "The afternoon before my uncle died we heard a loud noise in the house. It sounded like the stove fell over. It shook the whole house
so, that the stove poker did fall off the stove. Mother was upstairs and said, 'What's going on down there? the whole house shook.' The next
afternoon at the same time my uncle shot himself upstairs."
15516. "Mrs. A's mother is close to eighty years old. She was telling a story when she was a young girl. They lived uptown in a flat and the
rats were very bad. They lived uptown in a flat and the rats were very bad. And one night the girls wanted to go to a dance, but the mother told
them they had to do their dishes before they went. But somehow they put the dishes in the sink and didn't do them. The old folks went to bed and
the mother woke up about midnight to see if the girls had got home from the dance. But they hadn't got home yet, so she fell to sleep. And they
heard the worst noise, it just shook the house. But they were afraid to go out and see what it was. It sounded like all of the dishes in the cupboard
broke. And nine days afterwards they got word from Germany that his mother died the very night they heard the terrible noise. They said
[reported from Germany] her last words was this boy's name. And her spirit came to him when she died."
15517. "When my aunt died my sister had a warning. She got up one morning to get breakfast and when she went to the cupboard to get the
dishes the corner of the room shook. It scared her so, she drop several cups and plates and not a one broke. It was the warning of my aunt's death,
for she died that day."
 389

Scratching - Digging - Rolling - Dripping - Ticking (15518-15528)

SCRATCHING
15518. "My mother and a neighbor went over to see my grandma one morning about forty years ago and grandma said to my mother, 'Did you
hear a token this morning?' My mother said, 'Yes, I heard something like someone scratching on old pans, but didn't pay any attention to it.' My
grandma said, 'Well, you had better pay attention to it, for I heard someone scratching on old tin pans this morning too, and it is a token of death
in the family.' And my aunt died the next day."
15519. "My grandmother said that before her little boy was born she heard a scratch under the floor in the room which she was in. This made her
very nervous. It happened the baby did not live only a few weeks. It was a very nervous one. And just before it died it made the same noise as my
grandmother had heard before the boy was born."
15520. "The night my grandma died I had a warning. I sleep in the front room on a day bed, and something woke me up. I listen and something
was scratching on the front table. I could see an object standing there but could not make it out. I tried to raise easy to see what it was and the
bed squeak, and the object started to back out backward into the other room and disappear. It was a token of my grandmother, for she died that
night. I believe she wanted to tell me something. You see if you make any noise, it always scares a spirit away. This only happen last year."
15521. "One night I heard something scratching on my pillow. I looked but could not find or see anything. This happen for three nights. I lost
my husband. It was the spirit after him."

DIGGING
15522. "Forty years ago I moved into a house down below Fall Creek. That house was haunted. Two carpenters were working on that house when
one day they got into a fuss and one of the carpenters killed the other one. After the house was done, you could hear a noise all the time. You
would hear something like a dog digging under the floor in one corner all the time. At night you would hear two snakes rolling over and over in
the ceiling. I was not afraid. I lived there four years. Another woman moved in one day after I left. She moved all her kitchen things first, thought
she would hang up the dishpan and whatever she could. She heard this digging under the floor but didn't think much about it. She went to get the
rest of her things, and when she got back, dishpan and everything she hung up were on the floor. She pick them up, went out in the yard, and
loaded them all back on the wagon."

ROLLING
15523. "Thirty-nine years ago my baby was sick, had the croup. We didn't think she was sick at all, when one evening we heard on the front
porch a noise, sounded like someone was rolling a ball across the porch. My husband went out, but nothing there. We heard it three different
times that night and every time we went out, but could find nothing. It was a warning, for my baby died the next day with the croup."

DRIPPING
15524. "My niece was not sick and one night about sundown we heard a noise. It sounded like water dripping off the eaves of the house. It started
at the kitchen door and went to the front door dripping all the time. I was sick in bed at the time and it scared my mother, for she thought it was a
warning for me. My niece came to visit us in several days and to see me, because I was sick, and they carried her out our front door dead just
when the dripping stop. So the token was for her. This is so. It happen right over here in Missouri about sixty-five year ago. I am eighty-three
now."

TICKING
15525. "I sure believe in tokens of death. I was expecting a baby, and after I went to bed I heard a watch ticking at the head of the bed. A coat
was hanging on the head of the bed. I thought the watch was in the coat, for it was so plain. It worried me so, I got up and took the coat and hung
it in the closet, then went back to bed. And I heard the ticking just the same. I got up again. I said, 'I will get that ticking out of the house.' I
took the coat to the smokehouse and hung it upon a nail, went back to bed. And you could hear the ticking just as plain in the smokehouse as
when in the house. In two days I lost my little girl."
15526. "One night I said, 'Henry, I hear that watch tick in the wall, sure will be a death in a year.' He said, 'That is foolish talk, nothing to it.' I
said, 'Wait and see.' My sister died in three months. I sure believe in the watch tick in the wall."
15527. "When my aunt died down here in the South Bottom we heard a clock in the wall. It was so plain and loud that the men-folks tore out
some of the wall trying to find the clock, but it was only an omen."
15528. "A lady had a very sick mother and one afternoon while they were sitting by her they heard a clock from the inside of the wall strike
three times; and after they heard this, the lady said she knew her mother wouldn't get well. And she died the next morning. The Germans call the
clock wound (wund) uhr."

Ringing Bell - Making Music - Walking (15529-15543)

RINGING BELL
15529. "I had an omen of death when my little girl died. I heard the church bell clap two loud and one small at seven o'clock, and there was no
one near the church, and at seven o'clock the next night my little girl died of whooping cough. We lived up near Marceline and no one was at
the church. And I had another warning when my sister died. She took sick in confinement and was real sick, and one afternoon half hour before
she died, I heard the bell clap two loud and one small. To tell the truth, I always hear a church bell clap when someone in our family died."
15530. "Twenty-two years ago when we were living down on our farm on Rock Creek, my brother's wife was staying with us. She was not well.
My son and I one night heard someone singing Hallelujah, over the hills. I thought then it was an omen. And the very next night when my
brother's wife was in bed, she said to me, 'Do you hear that church bell ringing in the chimney?' We did, but we didn't want to say anything about
it, for she was not well. And she died the next night at the same time she heard the church bell ringing in the chimney."

MAKING MUSIC
15531. "I had a friend that played the banjo and she played all the time, she was just crazy about it, and when she took sick she would play in
bed until she got too weak, then they hung the banjo up behind the door in the living-room. And the daughter said to her mother, 'I know I am
going, and I will pick those strings on my banjo when I go, if happy.' She passed away soon. The day she was buried I was there with her folks,
for we were good friends. After the funeral we all came back to the house and I stayed for supper and was going to spend the evening with them.
About eight o'clock we were all sitting in the sitting-room where the banjo was hanging, when the banjo start to playing just like the daughter had
picked the four strings. Her father got up and went to look at it, thought maybe the strings came unloose in some way, but they were just as she
 390

had left them. And they left the banjo hang in the same place for several years and they often heard her pick the strings. Anyway, they thought it
was her, and they knew she was happy."
15532. "A boy friend of my mother used to play the fiddle years and years ago all the time for his mother. She was very old and sick all the
time. She liked the song Nearer, my God, to Thee better than anything he played. She used to lie on the couch by the window all the time and
listen, because she thought she would soon go. This boy one day took down with typhoid fever and was very sick. Just before he died he said,
'Mother, Eddie will come back and play for you just the same when you are lying by the window.' And Eddie did come back and play at the
window Nearer, my God, to Thee. He didn't do it every night. I have heard my mother say she [the boy's mother] would lie by the window every
night to listen. But she said she only heard him about twice a week."
15533. "One night we heard music. It came from behind the organ, for no one was playing the organ. The music came right over to a bed where a
little girl was sleeping and had not been well. As the last of the music passed over the bed, the little girl passed away."
15534. "A woman's mother was sick and we were all sitting in the sitting- room, no one was in the parlor, when all at once someone run the keys
over the piano. We all heard it, and her mother died that night."
15535. "My mother said she didn't know any of her folks were sick, when she went to the cupboard to get some dishes to set the table, and the
dishes were humming a church hymn. She stopped and listen until they got through, and said Father, Son and Holy Ghost, What is it you want?
for she knew it was a token. And something out of the cupboard said, 'Come home soon, because I will soon be gone.' She got ready and went
home that afternoon. And her mother was very sick and died the next day."
15536. "One night I was rocking my baby, he had not been very well, and all at once two plates I have hanging on the wall started to making a
noise just like someone was hitting them. They would just ring, just like someone was playing a tune. And baby died the next day."
15537. "About two weeks ago our lamp chimney just tinkle and tinkle. If the lamp chimney tinkles and don't break, sign of a death in the family.
We were in bed. I made my husband get up to see if it was broke. It was not, so we are looking every day to hear of a death in the family."
15538. "My father could not sleep one night after he went to bed, he just kept hearing beautiful music out in the air. He was worried over it,
but would not tell us; he just said he could not sleep and went out into the yard. The next day my seventeen-year-old brother stepped on a nail,
blood poison set in, and he died before the week was over. Then he told us about hearing the music."
15539. "Four months before my little girl died, every time I would go by her buggy I would hear music in the buggy. I told my husband
something was going to happen, and she died."
15540. "Three days before my mother died I heard music over her bed. It sounded like someone was playing chimes, and four days before my
brother died I heard the same thing, the chimes playing right over his head."

WALKING
15541. "I was sitting in a rocking-chair in the year of 1917 in the front room rocking when something came out of the corner of the room.
I couldn't see anything but I heard the footsteps walking by me. And they disappear in the next room. 'O Lord, what is that? must be a token of
some of my folks going to die.' That very night I got word my cousin got killed on the railroad train. So it was him walking out of life. And he got
kill just when I heard the walking. When my husband got home I told him. And he said, 'You are always hearing things'."
15542. "My mother when she died wanted me to take my baby brother and keep him, didn't want anyone else to have him. I didn't do it. And
about three weeks after she was buried, I was washing, and everywhere I could hear new- shoes footsteps following me all around the house. I
even heard them up in the attic where I was hanging my clothes. Every step I took she would take one behind me up and down the stairs. This
happen for three days. And the third night she came and stood at the foot of my bed with her hands out. I was living down here in the country and
the next morning I came to Quincy and got my brother and took him home with me. And her spirit never did follow me again around the house."
15543. "A woman and her husband did not get along. This woman killed herself and left a little baby six months old. The woman would come
back every night. You could hear her run up the walk and open the front door. Then you would not hear anything until the next night. My brother
was staying there and he heard the woman every night. About a month after this woman was dead, this baby was sick and was sitting on its
grandma's lap. It looked up to the ceiling and said, 'Mama.' And the child had never talked before. And the baby died that night. And the woman
never walked up the walk again. She was just coming back after her baby, and when she got it that was all she wanted."

ATTACKED BY A SPIRIT (15544-15580)

Hand of Spirit - Light Put Out (15544-15550)

HAND OF THE SPIRIT
15544. "About ten years ago my mother and I were sitting on the front porch talking. We had a wire fence across the front about ten feet away
from the house. My mother saw a hand raise up and open the front gate, then disappear. She said, 'Did you see that hand open the gate?' I said I
didn't. And just when my mother saw the hand, her father had a stroke and could not use his hand, and died in several weeks."
15545. "My girl friend was lying in bed sick. I was sitting by the bed watching her when I saw something go through the door. I jump up and
ran to the door. As I got there the door slammed, but I saw a hand go down and disappear. And my girl friend died the next morning."
15546. "There was an old colored man that used to work for my great-great- grandfather and was hung for killing two small white children 101
years ago [1834] at Palmyra [Missouri]. After he was hung, my great-great-grandfather was sitting by the fireplace, they had one of those old
grandfather clocks in the room, and he happen to look up at the clock, and the face open and a little white hand came out and touch him on his
hand, then a big black hand came out and touch him on the hand. Then he knew it was the spirit of the colored man and the white little girl, for
my great-great-grandfather thought so much of this old colored man, and he just could not rest."
15547. "A woman died and she had a beautiful scarf. She always said when she died she wanted that scarf put in the coffin, she did not want
anyone to have it. When she died they did not put it in the coffin, and every night after she was buried she would come back. You could see a big
black object going over the house every night. So they thought they would give this spirit the scarf. Someone said never to hand a spirit anything.
So they put this scarf on a long pole, and when this spirit came that night, they held the pole out and the spirit took the scarf. And they never saw
the spirit or scarf again."

LIGHT PUT OUT

15548. "Sixty years ago a girl killed herself in a house out in the country a few miles from Quincy, and after she was dead, she would come back
every night at twelve o'clock and walk up and down the stairs. You could hear her walking up the stairs plain. You could even see her hand on the
banister when she was coming up; and when she got to the top of the stairs the lights would all go out in that house, even if you were reading.
This happened every night. They could not keep anyone in that house, so at last they tore it down."
 391

15549. "I lived in a haunted house for five years and the light every night would go down. Many nights when I would turn them up, something
would turn them out. I never got afraid, for I am not afraid of ghosts; for, if you don't touch them, they can't hurt you; but if you touch them,
something will happen to you bad."
15550. "I was taking care of a man with consumption. One night the lamp went out and the front door opened at the same time. I went and lighted
the lamp and closed the door. Just as soon as I sit down by the bed, the same thing happened again. I got up again and my patient said, 'Never
mind closing the door, they are coming for me and I will go out that door in a few days. And he died in three days."

Door or Window Opened or Closed (15551-15558)

DOOR OR WINDOW OPENED OR CLOSED
15551 ."Just forty years ago my aunt was sitting in a room about a week before Christmas. The door open with no one there. She got up, went
and shut the door. In those days they didn't lock the doors. In a little while it open again. She got up the second time and closed the door, but this
time she locked it. In a few minutes it flew open again. Then she knew it was someone's spirit opening the door that was going on soon. And her
boy got shot the next day while out in the woods after rabbits."
15552. "About twenty years ago a man was killed in a house next to me and they never found out who did it. I know this is so, for I saw it
every night. They would lock the door that went out on the porch and it would come right open. They would even put the bolt on and it would
come open just the same. You could hear all kind of queer and odd noises. It got so bad they could not rent the house. I even moved away too,
because we could not find out what made the noise and it worried me. They tore the house down."
15553. "About thirty years ago we worked on a farm. It was a large house of fifteen rooms. The man had died and his son didn't do like he
wanted him to do. They said the house was haunted, and no one would stay over a week. We said we would try it, for we didn't think the house
was haunted, but we found out it was. Every time it would rain, the doors and windows all over the house would open and shut, and keep that up
all the time it was raining. It scared us to death, but we were getting good money and we just stayed on. One night we heard someone at the
kitchen door. It sounded like someone had an ax hitting on the door. My husband went to the door and when he got there the noise stopped, but
just as soon as he sit down, the chopping at the door started again and kept up all night. One of the neighbors told us they didn't see how we could
stay there with all that noise, but we stayed in that haunted house two years, always hearing that noise and scared almost to death. We saved
every cent of our money and bought us a little place and got out of that haunted house."
15554. "I know a woman that has only been dead several months and they had a party in the house last week. While the party was going on, the
doors would open and shut all the time with no one near the doors. It broke the party up. They could not understand it. It was the dead woman
coming back. I guess she didn't like it, having a party so soon after her dying."
15555. "There is a house near Ursa that was haunted. They thought a woman years ago was killed in one of the rooms upstairs, for you could
never keep the door shut or locked. People would not stay there very long. Everyone would move. A family moved in one day and they didn't use
the upstairs. And everything went all right until one day someone there went upstairs looking around and started in the room that the door would
not stay closed. As they started in the door a woman came out the door and disappear in the hall. They moved out right away. And the old
haunted house was torn down sometime after that."
15556. "About twenty-eight years ago my husband was working on an island right above Quincy. They had a house on this place with two rooms
down and one up. There were about ten men working there at the time and they would watch for the ghost. They would lock the window, but they
could see something raise the window, come right in and walk over them and go right out the other window. The men were just lying around on
the floor, and just as soon as the ghost would go through the house, they would get up and go out and find all of their horses loose and out of the
barn. They tried to catch the ghost but could not, but they would see it all the time."
15557. "On Washington Street years ago there was a haunted house. No one would stay in it, for every night at twelve o'clock the transom would
open and shut. People would get up and lock it, but the transom would fly open. And while this transom was open an old woman would come up
out of the cellar singing, 'I am coming, I am coming.' They say this old woman had died in the cellar years ago. One day a woman and her son
took the place. He said he didn't believe in ghosts. His mother didn't want to go. And that night at twelve o'clock the transom started to open and
shut, and the old woman started up the stairs singing, 'I am coming.' She only had to say it once, for the boy said, 'I am going,' and he didn't wait
long enough to hear it the second time. They sent and got their things the next day." This story and the following one, given by different
informants, is evidently a folk-tale.
15558. "My mother-in-law lived in a haunted house near Sixth and Jefferson about twelve years ago. The transom over the front door would
come open every night without any wind. And when they would light a lamp, it would go out. They had a hard time keeping the lamp lighted. I
was there myself when it went out. Another thing that happen almost every night at nine o'clock, it sounded like an old woman's voice coming up
through the cellar door. You see, it was an old house and they had one of those doors in the floor that you raise up and come up out of the cellar. I
was there several times myself and heard it. Just at nine o'clock you could hear an old woman's voice singing, it sounded like at the cellar door,
singing, 'I am coming, I am coming.' The folks in the house were not afraid, for they heard so many things. I told my husband about the singing.
He said, 'I don't believe it. You are always hearing and seeing things. I will get another moulder and we will go and see if you did hear anything.'
So several evenings after that, my husband and another man was there, it was his mother that lived there, just at nine o'clock when the old woman
started to saying, 'I am coming,' my husband jump up and said, 'Yes, and by God, I am leaving,' and got out, the other man going with him. And
my husband never went in that house again as long as his mother was there. They only lived there several months." This story and the preceding
one, given by different informants, is evidently a folk-tale.

Chair Rocked - Bedclothes Disarranged (15559-15570)

CHAIR ROCKED
15559. "I know this to be true, for grandma has told us over and over about the dead folks coming back and sitting in the rocking-chair when you
were in the room. If you are sitting in a rocking-chair, rocking, and you have another rocking-chair in the room and that starts to rocking back and
forth without anyone in it, that's the sign some of your dead folks are sitting in the rocking-chair. They may not appear to you, afraid it
may frighten you, but they are there just the same."
15560. "Our rocking-chair rocked one night with no one in it. I got up and stopped it, got back in bed, and it started again. My husband got up
and put something under it so it could not rock, for we knew it was a warning. My father died in three days after that and he was not sick the
night the chair rocked."
15561. "I had a friend that her and her husband was sleeping on the floor. It was a very hot night and they could not sleep in the bed. The wife
woke up and said, 'Listen, the rocking-chair is rocking.' The husband said, 'You have been dreaming.' She reach over and got a hold of the
rocking-chair and it stop. 'Now see, you do not hear it rocking.' She let loose of the chair and it started again to rocking. Then they got scared.
And that morning at three o'clock the wife's father died, and he had not even been sick."
 392

15562. "About ten years ago we were upstairs, we had gone to bed, and we could hear the rocking-chair in the parlor rocking. My father said,
'You girls have let the cat in the house, go downstairs and put it out.' We went down and could not find the cat. And just as soon as we got
upstairs again, we heard the rocking-chair rocking again. Then we knew it was an omen. And my father's mother died that week."
15563. "I believe in tokens. My mother was not well and just about three months before she died, the rocking-chair she always sit in went up and
down three times, right up in the air with no one near it. I knew then it would be three days, three weeks or three months, and it was three
months."
15564. "Another time in our family when our boy three died; he was not even sick, and one day he was asleep in the cradle and it started to
rock back and forth with no one near. I said, 'That's a bad sign, we will lose him.' And we did before the month was out."

BEDCLOTHES DISARRANGED
15565. "I have heard my mother tell about a haunted house in Quincy years ago. A family was living there and one of the men got typhoid fever.
The family were afraid of the disease and would not stay in the house with him. They all left. And the man was sick alone. Every day they would
bring food on a pan and sit it in the house. This man got so sick that he started to pulling out his hair. And at last he starved to death because no
one in the family would go any nearer to him than the door. As years went on, no one could sleep in that room. They would hear all kind of noise.
And no one could keep any bedclothes on the bed. Something would pull them off all the time. At last the house was tore down."
15566. "There was a house on York Street that was haunted years ago. A woman hung herself in one of the rooms and no one could sleep in that
room. Someone would pull the bedclothes off the bed. And at twelve o'clock the door would open. You could not keep it shut. One family took a
leather strap and nailed the door shut and at twelve o'clock it would open and stay open until one o'clock; then if you shut it, it would stay shut. A
woman moved into the house, not knowing it was haunted, and had several children and she happen to put the children in that room to sleep. And
every night something would pull the covers off of them. They could not keep a thing on the bed. The woman didn't know what was wrong and
she told one of the neighbors about it. Then they told her about the woman hanging herself in that room and the house was haunted. Then the
woman moved the next day. And at last they had to take the house down, for no one would stay."
15567. "Another thing that happen in the house was we never could keep any bedclothes on the bed. Something would pull them off. And we had
double doors in that house and my mother would lock them at night, and when we got up in the morning they would be standing open. One night
she nailed it up and the ghost took the nails out and the doors were open the next morning."
15568. "Forty years ago a house on the corner of Twentieth and Vine was haunted. A woman lived there they say that would keep babies that
belong to girls that were not married. They say that a baby was murdered in that house and buried in the cellar. After that anyone in a certain
room could not keep any bedclothes on. Two boys were sleeping up there and each one would say the other was pulling the bedclothes off the
bed. Then they found out it was ghosts and they moved. They could not keep anyone in that house after that and at last they had to tear the house
down."
15569. "She said her uncle had been dared to sleep all night in a haunted house on Twenty-fourth Street. That night he arose to see where a
queer moaning sound was coming from. When he came back the bed was placed at the bottom of the stairs and the bedclothes were still upstairs.
He carried the cot upstairs again and slept at the top of the stairs. As soon as he would fall asleep the covers would be pulled from him and
thrown downstairs. The next morning he ran home as fast as he could."
15570. "There was a house near Twentieth and Oak Street that was haunted. It is tore down now. But everyone that lived there always heard
things and seen different things. This story I am going to tell you is the truth, for I was living upstairs in some rooms in this house when it
happen. The man that own this house was very wealthy and on his deathbed he had his second wife to promise him several things he wanted done
after he was gone. One, I know, was to give all his first wife's children after he died their mother's silverware. She didn't keep a promise he
wanted. This old man would always come back but it didn't scare her. Their bedroom was the worst. You could always hear or see him in there.
This woman rented out some rooms downstairs when she could find anyone to take them. Years ago you know they didn't let the ladies room at
the Soldiers Home in Quincy, it was only for men. An old man was staying there and his wife was living in a home at Bloomington, Illinois. One
day she came to Quincy to visit him and in some way happen to stop at this house to take a room. The lady of the house didn't have the
room ready, so gave her her own room for the first night, said she would have the other one ready in the morning. Her husband came that night
and we all sit around and talked. After her husband went back to the Soldiers Home she went to bed. After a while she called to the woman of the
house and wanted to know if she had any cats in the house. 'Yes, but they are in the cellar.' 'I don't believe they are, for they are trying to pull the
cover off the bed. I just can't keep them on.' The woman went in and said, 'We will look, but you are tired out from your trip,' but knew it was the
ghost after her. She help her look all around the bed to be sure the cats were not in the room. Of course, she knew they were not. I was upstairs
and heard every word, for I am not afraid of nothing. The woman then turn to go back to her bed and gave a big scream. I ran downstairs to the
room. She saw the picture of a man's face on her pillow, and then disappear. She never went back to bed. In the morning when her other room
was ready the woman took her in to show her the room. While they were looking around she happen to see a picture of a man hanging on the wall
that she must of not notice hanging by the door when she went in. When she saw it she screamed again and said, 'My God! That's the picture of
the man that I saw last night on my pillow.' She didn't take the room. It was the old man's picture hanging in this room. She could not keep it in
her own bedroom. I know this is so, for I was right there."

Nose and Toes Pulled - Hair Jerked (15571-15572)

NOSE AND TOES PULLED
15571. "Thirty years ago [1902] I had two stepchildren. We could always hear a noise on the door. It would sound like someone would take a
whip and hit the door first one way then the other. Every time we would hear that noise the children would be scared to death. One day I went to
the store and when I got back the children were in a corner trembling. They said that while I was gone someone came to the door and whipped
and whipped and the door cracked and the whole wall shook. I said to my husband, 'This house is haunted. We are going to move. I don't want
these children scared to death.' My husband did not believe the house was haunted. We moved thinking we could get away from the noise. The
spirit follow us to the new house. We kept on hearing the whipping on the door. One night my husband 'Was lying back in a chair. He jump up
and said, 'Why are you pulling my toes and nose for?' No one was near him. It was a spirit wanting to tell us our boy eleven years old was going
to die, for he drowned right after that. And we did not hear any more whipping on the door."

HAIR JERKED
15572. "A woman was mean to her mother. The mother said, 'When I die I will come back and haunt you, you will never sleep or rest. When her
mother died, she did come back. When the girl would go to bed at night she would hear chains rattle in the room. And the ghost would put
the bedcovers off and even pull her hair. This girl could not sleep. She could not eat. The ghost would knock the table over with everything on it.
 393

She got the policeman and he could not find anything wrong. She got the policeman the second time and told him she could not rest. The
policeman said, 'Go walk the streets then.' She did. And at last she died over the ghost not letting her rest."

Face Stroked - Shoulder Touched (15573-15575)

FACE STROKED
15573. "I [a woman] was sleeping at my uncle's house one night when I felt something run across me. Thinking it was a rat or mouse, I
turned over and started to sleep, when it went across me again, and it went on three or four times. A cold chill came over me and I felt a cold hand
brush my hair back. Then I got up and got in bed with my uncle. And I have never slept in my uncle's house since and never will."
15574. "About thirteen years ago a man and I started out on a journey, and when we got to the edge of some woods this man said, 'You wait, I
will be right back.' I sit down on a log. It was getting dark and I waited a long time, and he did not come, so I got up and started down the road. It
was so dark I could not see where I was going, so I fall down and went to sleep. Something woke me up, rubbing their cold hands over my face. I
looked up and I could see two girls, one standing on each side of me, with long hair; and one of the girls said, 'Will you please move off of our
grave, we can't sleep with you lying on it.' I jumped up and beat it. I didn't wait to be told the second time. I was in a graveyard and did not know
it. I run until I got to the top of the hill, then I look back and saw the two girls standing there, and I started out again."

SHOULDER TOUCHED
15575. "My sister-in-law and my brother didn't get along well. She started to running around with another man and that made things very bad.
We lived out here in the country. My brother lived about three miles from our house. One day I was out in the field picking beans,
cornfield beans, when someone put their hand on my shoulder and a voice said to me, 'Go to your brother at once.' I looked, for I knew the voice.
It was my dead mother's voice. I knew something was wrong. I started right to my brother's house. And the voice told me twice to hurry on my
way to his house. When I got to my brother's house he was standing over his wife holding a knife ready to kill her, because she had been running
around. I grabbed him around the leg and said, 'Your mother is watching you. She came to me in the cornfield while I was picking beans and told
me to come to you. She even told me twice on my three miles over here to hurry. It was our dead mother wanting to save you.' He drop the knife
on the floor and it went two inches in the floor. But it save him from killing his wife and being a murderer. He left his wife and he never had any
more trouble. I sure believe in tokens. It sure saved him from going to jail."

Body shaken - Leg Kicked - Person Grabbed (15576-15580)

BODY SHAKEN
15576. "Just before the [First] World War my son was away from home and they were papering my room, so I was sleeping in my son's room.
I was lying there and something came out of the closet door next to the bed and took me by the shoulder and shook me and said, 'Wake up, wake
up, wake up, war is on!' Then I heard tramping and tramping through the house from the front door to the back door. Then I woke my husband
and told him. He said I was asleep. I said, 'How can I talk to you and be asleep?' I said, 'I want you to get up and look in that closet,' for I could
see something standing there, and I wanted him to pass by [between her and the closet] and break the spell. And the next morning we got word
war was on, and my son [in the National Guard] got a telegram to come."

LEG KICKED
15577. "MY father had a token when another sister died. One morning he was sitting in the room with my sick sister, there was no one in the
room at the time, and someone came up and kick him on the leg real hard. He looked but could not see anything. And my sister died the next
Sunday when we all thought she was getting better."

PERSON GRABBED
15578. "Monday night I went to bed. I could not sleep and it seemed like someone was pulling and trying to pull me out of bed. I got so nervous I
got up and looked under the bed to see if anyone was there. The next day I met an old German lady. I said, 'What is the sign, if someone is pulling
you out of bed and you can't sleep?' She said someone was going to die and they wanted to ask forgiveness for something they done wrong to that
person and could not die in peace."
15579. "The Burton Cave [about eighteen miles from Quincy] is haunted. A man was killed right in front of the cave. You can go there in the
daytime and everything is all right, but if you go by there at night something will pull you right into the cave."
15580. "I was sitting by the radio about two months ago when I saw something come in the front door. It came right to my chair and knocked
me over and took all the buttons off my shirt, and I have not been able to find a button yet."

SPIRITS GUARD HIDDEN TREASURE (15581-15606)

15581. "Eighteen years ago [1916] I was dressing my baby when the door started to open and shut real easy. I looked around and there was no
wind or anything to make the door move, so I said In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, if you are a spirit and want to talk to me, go
real hard. And the door started to open and shut real hard. After that I didn't know what to say to the ghost and it didn't bother me any more that
day. But that night after I went to bed, something kept snoring at the head of my bed and I thought it was the spirit back, so I said again In the
Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, what do you want? This time it spoke to me and said, 'Go down in the cellar and dig between the gas
pipes, four feet down, and you will find something.' The next morning my husband and I went down. He was carrying the lamp and I was to dig. I
just got started to digging when the light went out, and my husband screamed and ran up the stairs. Up to this day he will not tell me what he saw
on the bank of the cellar [bank = unexcavated portion of cellar]. But I never tried to dig any more. We moved because we found out the house
was haunted over an old woman being murdered there."
15582. "I dreamt one night of a big white horse coming up the road. That was when we were living out on State Street about five miles. The
white horse jump into the pigpen, then run around the house, and when it got to the kitchen door fell over a little boy that was standing there. The
horse disappear but the boy was dead. My father and the hired man was coming from the field. This was all in my dream. Seeing the boy dead,
my father pick up a big white flat rock and buried this boy under it. I woke up. In three mornings after my dream it was all white around this rock,
just looked like someone had sifted flour all around this rock. My mother thought we did it and scolded us for throwing her flour out in the yard.
We said we didn't. Then mother tried to sweep it away. The white would not leave. Then she put some red-hot ashes on, thought she would burn
it away. But that big white spot didn't leave until the third day and left just as it came. People always told us there were money on the place
because years ago it was an Indian village. People told us that dream was a warning and if we had of dug down in that white place during the
three days we would of found money."
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15583. "About fifty years ago right down here below Marblehead in a field was a big flat rock about four feet square. No one ever tried to move
this rock. Every evening about eight o'clock there would be a ball of fire about the size of a small dinner plate. It would raise up about eight feet
high and travel right over to the bluffs. It looked like it would land right at the front porch of a house and go under the front steps. Do you
remember reading about five years ago about finding those Indian bones in a grave? Well, that is just where the fire disappear. And I think that
the Indians had something buried under that big rock and it was their spirits going back and forth all the time."
15584. "Fourteen years ago my husband and I were driving along the creek [Mill Creek] and we saw a big flame of fire fly up. The first time we
saw it, thought something was on fire. When we got to it there was nothing. Several times after that when we went along the creek we would see
this fire, but never found the fire. We told my brother-in-law and he said money must be buried there. So he took another man and my husband to
dig for the money, for we knew just about where the light was. Well, they dug and dug, and last they came to a box. They had it to the top, when
one of the men gave out an oath, and the box sank right back into the hole and they never did get it again. The man that said the oath ran, he was
so scared. If they could of kept still, they would of got whatever was in the box; but it disappear so far down they never tried again."
15585. "If I had of kept still years ago when I was working for the old witch on Broadway, I would of been rich today. One night another man
and I was walking down by Mill Creek and we saw a fire burning under a tree. We went over and when we got there the fire was gone. I kept
talking so loud, just could not keep my old mouth shut. When I got back to the house I told the old woman and she said there was a pot of gold
there, that people years ago always buried their gold, and the spirit only tells someone a few times about it. Whenever you see a fire under a tree
and there is no fire, you will know the spirit is telling you of the gold. You must go up real easy, not speak, and go to moving the dirt away, and
you will find the gold. A pot of gold only comes up three times to the top and then it disappears a-way-down and no one never finds it. So if I had
of kept my mouth shut, I would of found the pot of gold that night."
15586. "Thirty-four years ago my brother and I were out looking for hidden treasure or money. My brother could always tell where there was any
kind of metal. We had heard about some hidden money up on the [North] Bottom Road back of an old brewery [at the foot of Koch Lane]. Years
ago there was an old gambling den up near there and we heard about some gamblers put money there, so we went up to look for the money. My
brother located near the spot, so we each lay down about six feet from where he located it, to wait. When you are waiting to dig up a hidden
treasure there is something that will always come and stand right over the spot, and you must not speak or move until they go away, then start to
digging right where they stood. Sometime it will come in the shape of a chicken, cat, dog or just anything. While we were lying there waiting for
something to come, a big black snake as big as my arm and about six feet long came crawling down through the bushes and leaves. It made
such a noise that my brother forgot and jump up and cursed the snake. He was afraid because it came so near him. That broke the spell, because
the snake was coming to stand over the treasure, and you can't say a word while watching, so we had to go home without the money." 15587.
"About forty years ago some people moved into a house up on the Bottom Road, and one day the woman found a chart in that house that told
where some money was buried, on up the road back over an old fence. This chart also told it was for a certain person and for no one to try and get
it but the right person, for they could not have it. I knew this woman. She was large and not afraid of nothing. So one moonlight night she went
up to get the money. When she got to the fence where the chart told about it, she started climbing over the fence; and when she was halfway over,
something slapped her face and she fell back over the fence. She could not see a thing, so she tried climbing over the fence again, and the thing
slap her back again. She tried three times, then gave it up, for the dead spirit was not going to let anyone have that money but the right one."
15588. "Years ago a man and wife and child were traveling. They were tired out and happened to stop at an old empty log house near Kingston.
The man said to his wife, 'We will camp here for several days, maybe I can get some work.' The man unhitched the horses and said, 'I will go
down here and see if I can find a spring for water and water the horses.' The woman and child went in the house to see what they could find. The
man at the spring heard his wife screaming and hurried back to see what was wrong. She said, 'This house is haunted. Just as soon as we got in
the house an old man with a cane came in the door and kept walking around us, then went out the door. Her husband said, 'You just imagined it.'
After they had some lunch, her husband said, 'I am going up here to this next farmhouse and see if I can find some work.' The man told this
farmer he would like work and he was down in that old house. The farmer said, 'That is my house. If you will stay five years, I will deed you the
house, but no one stays over a night.' The man said he was not afraid of ghosts. And the farmer told him to come up in the morning to work if be
still wanted to stay. While the man was gone this old man came again and walked all around this woman and pointed his cane at
her. She started to howling. The old man said, 'Do not be afraid, I will not harm you,' and went out the door. When her husband came she said,
'Let's go, this house is haunted, I will not stay.' Her husband knew it was, but he would not tell her, only said, 'You are seeing things' and would
not go. The next morning this man went to work. After he was gone, in came the old man again and walked all around this woman and pointed
his cane at her. She started to howling again. And he said, 'Lady, I will not hurt you. I am back here for a reason. I have come to do you good. My
wife and I were murdered here for our money. Only, they did not get it. I want you and your husband to do two things for me. We are buried out
here in a cave. I want you to take us up and bury us on the hill in the graveyard and mark the place.' Then this ghost took this woman in the cellar
took his cane and made a mark on the ground where some money was. Then he took her to the southeast corner of the house on the outside
and said, 'Tell your husband to dig there.' He made another mark with his cane. 'He will find a box of money and the deed to this house. This
house is mine. It is yours if you do what I tell you. Do you see that cave over there? That is where we are buried.' Then the ghost disappeared.
The woman went back to the cellar to see if she could find anything and she dug up an old pitcher full of money. She sit it on the shelf. When
her husband came home from work she said, 'I have made more money than you today.' He did not know what to think, his wife talking like that,
when be knew she had not been out of the house. He went right outside and started to digging, dug up the box with the money and the deed. The
next morning he went to the cave and dug up the bones, got a nice box and put the old couple's bones in it and buried them up on the hill in the
graveyard. The house was theirs, and the ghost did not come back."
15589. "An old man and his wife years ago came to a farmhouse out in the country and wanted to stay in the old hut next to this farm. The farmer
said, 'If you can stay there, I will not make you pay any rent. The house is haunted. No one will stay overnight. A man and his wife were killed
there.' The man said, 'I am not afraid.' So they took the hut. Every night they would just hear everything, but they stayed. One evening when the
man was gone and the woman was alone, in came an old man walking all bent over with long white whiskers and carrying a cane. He said to this
woman, 'This is my house. I am buried out here in that old cave by the door. If you will bury me right, I will give you all I have.' He told her the
deed to the house was in the cellar and some money, that someone had killed him and his wife for their money and deed, but did not find them.
When her husband came home she told him what the old man told her. They went to the cellar and found the old man's bones and buried them.
They were not poor any more. They had the deed to the house and money. The house was not haunted after that, or did they hear any more
noise."
15590. "About eighty years ago [1854] a man wanted to get rid of his wife, so he heard of a haunted house out here in the country about twelve
miles from Quincy, so he went and rented it, thinking when she would see the ghost, she would be afraid and not stay, for no one would stay in
that house over a night. This man did not tell his wife about the ghost, just thought she could find it out. They moved in one afternoon and the
next morning when this woman went to sweeping the kitchen, an old man was sitting in a chair by the fireplace. this woman did not say a word.
The next morning when she went to sweeping, the old man in the chair was by the fireplace again. This woman did not tell her husband that she
 395

had seen a ghost. But the third morning she asked the old man what he wanted, and the ghost said, 'You are the first person that has ever asked me
what I wanted. I will tell you what I want, and took her to a tree in the pasture, and he pointed at the ground and said, 'You will find something
there, if you dig.' This woman started to digging and found eight- hundred dollars. Then she went to the house and called her husband and
said, 'You brought me out here to this haunted house, thinking I would be afraid and leave, but the ghost took me to where the money was. I have
the money now, so you get out. I am going to stay'."
15591. "I remember my grandfather telling it, that when he was a boy they had a big picnic out in the woods, when all at once someone saw a pile
of money lying under a tree. One of the ladies run to pick it up and it disappear. After awhile several saw the money again and tried to get it, and
it disappear. Then later in the afternoon the money was there again, when someone said, 'Let me get the money. I will stand off and throw dirt
over it,' and did. Then they got the money. But I don't remember how much, for that was a long time ago. If you see money lying on the ground
and go to pick it up and it disappear, that is spirit money. If you want to get it, always throw something over it before you try to pick it up."
15592. "We lived in a haunted house at Maywood, Missouri [fourteen miles west of Quincy]. An old woman used to live there and she buried
five-hundred dollars in gold on the place before she died and no one ever found it, but they knew she buried it. She was always coming back to
the house. You could hear her whispering in one corner of the room most anytime. You could hear organ playing at times in the same corner. We
were not afraid. So one day when she was whispering, I said, 'Mrs. X.,' that was the dead lady's name, 'where did you put your money?' And the
whispering stop and we never heard her again. I didn't ask in the right way so didn't find out."
15593. The B. farm is situated about seven miles from Quincy. A man working there some years ago, it being in the days before automobiles and
good roads, was obliged to live with the family until he had completed his task. One night he was suddenly awakened. Someone, for he could feel
the hands, had taken him by the feet and was slowly swinging them from side to side. He was too frightened to move. Then the hands were
withdrawn and someone near his face, he could feel the breath, kept whispering unintelligible words into his ear. At last he found strength to
jump out of bed and light the lamp. The person or thing had vanished. Sometime after this a younger brother of the man happened to sleep in the
same room and he had the identical experience, and still later their sister was also a victim of the ghostly visitor. The owners of the house had
never been bothered by a ghost, though the mistress upon several occasions when looking out of the window saw an old man standing in the door
of the barn loft, but the apparition did not come near the house or attempt to communicate with its occupants in any manner. It was well-known in
the neighborhood that years previously a former owner of the place had been murdered by unknown hands, presumably for his money, since he
had the reputation of possessing wealth. Neighbors thought that this money had been hidden on the farm and that the spirit of the dead man was
trying to tell where it could be found.
15594. "Years ago up on Honey Creek out in the woods near Mendon an old woman died. She had some money and she had it buried in the
cellar. This old woman died before she told anyone where the money was. People would go there to live and dig for the money. Just as soon as
they would start to digging, they would hear chains rattling on the stairs and hear moaning and crying in the house. No one would stay over a
night. And when everyone would go out the yard, three white sheep would go over the fence ahead of them and go down the road without any
heads on. At last one old man said he was not afraid, he would go and dig for money. He stayed several nights trying to dig for the money, then
hung himself on the stairs. He could not stand the noise he heard, that crying and moaning and the noise on the stairs. After that they took the
house down."
15595. "We lived in a house on Madison street, and when I went to bed at night, I would lay there and couldn't go to sleep. I could not move my
hands and feet. And all at once the closet door opened and something came to the bed. My mother said whenever I saw anything to say In the
Name of the Lord what do you want? I did this and they went back into the closet. Sometimes it would be a person and sometimes a bouquet of
flowers. We had to move from this house. An old German lady said there was money buried under the closet and the person was coming back for
it."
15596. "My grandmother was always saying someone tried to wake her every night. They would come and shake her and tell her to go up in the
attic and look in a box and she would find some money. So one night she went with the person to the attic and found the money. Then the person
said to my grandmother, 'Go down by the cow shed and I will show you where to dig and you will find something else.' But my grandmother was
too frightened to go that night. She put the money in a tin box on the table. When she got up the next morning she opened the box and the money
was gone. That night the person came again and told her to do the same thing. So she went to the attic again and found the money. Then she
followed this person to the cow shed and dug down and found the half of a man's arm. She was so frightened she dropped the arm and ran into the
house. The next day they put the arm in the cemetery and that person never returned again. The arm belonged to grandmother's murdered brother,
and the money was in the book in the attic."
15597. Seventy years ago [1862] when I was just a young girl, I was working for a woman. She had two children. This woman died and her
sister came to live with us. Every night just at dusk we would hear three raps on the closet door right by the bed where this dead woman did sleep.
After this lasted so long, it made the sister so nervous hearing these raps every night, she said she would have to move. The day we were moving,
just about time for these raps to come, the boy who was about twelve years old said, 'I am going upstairs.' I said, 'What do you want upstairs?
Everything is out up there.' He said, 'I want to go alone.' I tried to keep him from going but could not. I thought I would watch him and not let
him know it. All at once those three raps came and this boy said In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, mother, what do you want? You
see, he knew it was his mother, and she told him to get a shovel and go and dig under the rosebush in the back yard until he came to an oven.
Then go and get his uncle to help him get the oven out. And he done just that what his mother's spirit told him to do. And the oven was just full of
money. And that boy was very rich after that. We would of left that money if the boy had not of talked to his dead mother."
15598. "About sixty years ago [1875] I lived up at La Grange [Missouri] on Main Street. Across the street lived an old German family. The man
was real small with a bent back, so funny looking. He was very good to me because I had a large family of children, was always giving me
potatoes and beans. He always raised more than he could use. One day when he was giving me some potatoes and beans, he said, joking --- we
were always joking, for this man was so funny --- 'Mrs. X., where will you get your beans and potatoes when I am dead and gone?' 'Oh, I will
find out where you are and come and dig them up around you,' I said, joking. He was very good to me, but I was afraid of him. About a year after
this the man died, and after he was buried he started to coming back. His wife got scared and came over to my house to see if I would stay with
her at night, said her husband was coming back at night. I said, 'No.' No money could of got me to stay in that house at night, even if they did do a
lot for me. I said, 'You can sleep at my house, for I don't want to see Mr. Z's ghost.' She did stay at our house about three night', then she got a girl
by the name of Clara, she was a white girl, to stay with her. She said she was not afraid. The first night after they had gone to bed they heard a
noise out on the cellar door. Mrs. Z. put a lamp in the window and looked out. 'Oh, look! There is my husband sitting on the top of the
cellar door.' Clara said, 'Let him sit there,' and kept her head covered up. She would not look, but she did hear Mr. Z. talking. Mrs. Z. said to her
husband What, in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, do you want back here? Clara heard him tell her to take all the wood out of the
cellar and sell it; only the wood under the steps not to let anyone touch but herself and she would be rich. Everyone thought all he had was his
little place. He said, 'After the wood is gone under the steps, you dig and you will find an old bucket buried. The bucket will be full of money.
Keep that.' And he disappeared. Mrs. Z. turned to Clara and said, 'He sure did tell me some good stuff,' not knowing Clara had heard every word.
 396

Clara was too scared to tell her she had heard. But as soon as it was light, Clara went home and didn't go back, even if she did say she was not
scared. Mrs. Z. wanted me again to come that next night. I said no again and I meant no. I said, 'I will help you get someone to stay with you until
you get the wood out.' She told me she wanted to sell the wood out of the cellar. You see, his whole cellar was full of nice wood. She didn't tell
me about the bucket of money. She thought she was the only one that knew it, and Clara didn't tell it until she found the bucket. She was afraid of
the ghost to tell it. We got a man and his wife up the road to stay with her and she had this man to carry all the wood out of the cellar; and she
would not let him touch the wood under the steps, said she would use that herself. So she started to piling the wood over in another corner, and
when she got it all away she found an old bucket, real rusty, almost fell to pieces when she picked it up. The bucket was full of money, just like
the ghost had told her. That night, after Mrs. Z. had found the money, she was standing in the kitchen door and her husband's ghost came again
and told her, 'Now that the wood is all sold and you have the money,' she should give the home place to the son to live in, but to keep the
money and live with the son, for he did not want her to live by herself any more. And he disappear and did not come back."
15599. "There is a man out to Soldiers Home, Mr. X., that can see omens. He and another man played cards all the time together. They were very
good friends. About four years ago this man died, and Mr. X. said his dead friend came back just as natural as in life and stood by him. He didn't
speak. And the dead man came back the next day. And on the third day when he stood by him, Mr. X. asked him what he wanted in the Three
Highest Names. His dead friend told him he had a trunk down in the cellar of Cottage Y., full of old clothes and rags, and in the bottom of the
trunk he would find five-hundred dollars, to take his wife down and give it to her. Mr. X. took the wife down in the cellar and they found the
money in the trunk just as the spirit said. The wife said she knew he had money but he had never told her. And after she had the money the dead
man never came back."
15600. "Years ago right here in Quincy a man had some money buried. No one knew where it was but hisself. On his deathbed he tried to tell his
daughter three different times but could not make her understand. He was buried, and came back every night and stood at her bed trying to tell
her. He did this for three months, until they thought the girl was going to lose her mind. She was not a Catholic, but the neighbor got her to go to
X. and Y. Street to the priest and they prayed over her. I don't remember how long. But the father's spirit stop coming back. But they didn't find
the money."
15601. "When I was seventeen years old I was living in a haunted house. It had a large basement with two rooms. Every night at twelve o'clock
someone would unlock the door down in the cellar and come upstairs into the kitchen, go out the back door and that was locked, and come right
back in the house and through my bedroom, and go to the front room and disappear. I would not hear anything until the next night at twelve
o'clock. They kept this up for a month. One night this ghost came to my bed and said, 'Do not be afraid, I will not hurt you.' They told me to go to
the small room in the cellar and to move three planks, and dig down until I found black dirt, and under that dirt I would find some tin cans and
broken dishes, and under that a pot of money, that the silver was there, but the greenbacks had decayed. I went down the next day and started to
dig. I propped the door open to the room, but it would not stay open. Every time I would open it, it would close up. I kept on digging, but every
time I put the shovel in the dirt I got cold, and the more I would dig, the cooler I would get. I found everything the way the ghost said, the black
dirt, then the cans and broken dishes. But I was getting so cold. I left before I got to the money. I tried to get my boy friend to dig for the money,
but he would not, because he said, 'If a ghost tells you about money and you go and tell someone else and they dig and find it, they will die.' He
said he did not want to die. So I had to let the money stay there."
15602. "A man up here in the country thinks he has silver on his farm because he tried this and the silver went to the ground. If you take a
peach- stick fork and tie a silver dollar in the middle and walk over where you think there is silver, it will turn down."
15603. "I know a place out here near Liberty and I am almost sure I know just where the money is buried, and when I get five dollars in gold I am
going to try to locate it. If you know where money is buried, about where you think it is, if you will take two sticks, tie a five-dollar gold piece in
the middle, then go along holding the sticks out straight, and if you go over money, the sticks will go down toward the ground and you can't hold
them, just like the peach-stick holding, trying to find water."
15604. "If you are digging for some money or hidden treasure in the ground you must pot dig right down to it, you must dig a little from it and
then come up under it; for if you dig right down to it, it will move away and disappear and you will not find it."
15605. "If you should by accident see a light, like that of a lamp, at midnight, it is a sure sign of hidden treasure there. Cover it with a board In
the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and dig along the side of it to undermine it, and you will find it. "
15606. "Did you know the ocean is full of money, the richest place in the world. When I was young a German man told me if he could get two
more people with as much nerve as I had, we could all get rich, but he was afraid he could not get two more like me. This is what he told me he
would do. Get two white turtledoves, then he would open a window and put a table against it, then one would sit at each end and one in the
middle as the table would be against the window, then he would lay the Book of Seven Moses on that table, then he would pull off one of the
heads of the white doves and take that blood and start at one end of the table and go all around until he got to the other end, then he would pull
the head off the other dove and mark the blood around again, then he would pick up the Book of Seven Moses and read one hour, then the one at
the end read an hour until all read in that circle. You would only have to sit there a few minutes when you would hear an awful noise coming in
that window. If you could stand the noise, you could get what you wish for. If the money from the ocean, it would just come rolling in that
window. Anything you wished for would come in that window. This man's grandfather had brought a Book of Seven Moses from the old country
and he could get anything he wanted."

DEMON RIDER (15607-15611)

15607. "There was an old haunted house near Payson that had one room in it that you could not keep a window or door locked. There was a long
row of trees in front of this house, across the road from the house, and everyone that would go by that row of trees would see lights in the trees.
One night a man, living out in the country, his child got sick and he had to go to town for the doctor. He went by this row of trees and he said
every tree had a light in it. On his way back home the lights were still there, and as he got to the last tree something jump on his horse's back right
behind him. It held on to him so tight he said he didn't move, that he was scared to death. And when he got to the barn lot he jump off and just let
the horse go and ran to the house. When the doctor got there he found the man as sick as the child, for he was scared to death; said he didn't know
what rode behind him, for he didn't look back."
15608. "My mother told me this when I was a young girl, that a man was going to see a young girl, and this man was riding along over the
country road on a horse. He got tired of riding man-fashion. He just put his foot over the saddle and rode girl-fashion for a while. He had not gone
far when something just sprang up and jump on his lap and threw its arms around his neck. When he got in the light so he could see, it was his
sweetheart that was in his arms. It was a token of her death, for when he got to her house he found her dead. And he died a week after they
buried his sweetheart."
15609. "My brother went to see a girl out on the old Columbus Road about fifty years ago. If you know anything about that road years ago, you
would have to go up one hill and down another --- they called it the washboard. There were three bridges on this road. I believe some called them
 397

culverts. My brother always went on horseback. One night as he was riding along, going to see his girl, when he got to this first bridge the horse
stop and snorted, would not move. My brother looked down and right by the horse stood a woman all dress in black. He said if he had of put his
hand down he could of touch her on the head. Instead, he kicked the horse. It gave a start and went on. When he got to the second bridge the
horse did the same thing, for the woman in black was standing there again. You know this woman couldn't run as fast as the horse. And when the
horse got to the third bridge the same thing happen. Then brother knew it was a spirit. When he saw it the third time at the third bridge he never
stopped until he got home. He didn't call on his girl that night. We all thought it was a warning for him to leave that girl alone, but he didn't take
the warning and got in trouble with her, and my father had to pay five-hundred dollars to get him out. If he had of taken the warning, there would
not of been any trouble."
15610. "My cousin was going to see a girl on horseback and there was a place in the road that was haunted and he would always go around. One
night starting home it was late so he didn't go around, he went by the haunted place. Just as he got to the place a man jump up and caught hold of
his saddle with his hands. My cousin said he made the horse run as fast as he could and the man running along at the side holding on to the
saddle. When he started in the gate the man disappear, and my cousin and horse were about dead from fright."
15611. "A man was going down the railroad track one day and he had a bottle of whiskey in his pocket. The railroad trestle was suppose to
be haunted, several men had been killed on this trestle. When this man that day step on the trestle something jump on his back. He was so
frighten, when he got to the other end of the trestle to step off, he fell down. He heard his bottle break into a thousand pieces. Whatever was on
his back jump off when he fell down. He got up and started to run down the road. After he thought he was away from the ghost, he thought he
would stop and take the pieces of glass out of his pocket, afraid they may cut him, and he found his bottle whole. It was not even broken."

DEVIL TALES (15612-15616)

15612. "My half-brother was the meanest white boy that ever lived. Mother could not do a thing with him. He just curse all the time. His words
were just awful. One day we were all out in the timber, the men were clearing out the timber, and my half-brother was along and cursing all the
time like he did. He happen to get up on a hollow stump, while standing there he was still cursing, and something got a hold of him and pulled
him right down in this stump up to his head. Mother was scared to death, because two men could not pull him out. The devil was holding him
down in that stump, because he was so mean. Mother went to calling on the Lord to help her, and my half-brother went to calling on the Lord to
let the men get him out. And the devil let him loose and the Lord let the two men pull him out. This change my half-brother. He was a different
boy after that and didn't curse any more."
15613. "A woman was very extravagant with thread. She was always throwing it. One day this woman got sick and she said to her mother, 'Oh,
look! there is the devil.' Her mother looked but said she did not see him. The woman said, 'Oh, there he is at the foot of the bed, holding up a
large spool of thread.' And the devil said to this woman, 'See this thread? As many threads as are on this spool, just that many days you will serve
in hell me.' It was a token. She died that night."
15614. "We lived at Second and Vermont sixty years ago. The house was called the Old Rebel House. It was used during the Civil War by the
Rebels and was said to be haunted. My married sister lived downstairs and mother lived upstairs. There was a big porch the whole length of the
east side and a door from every room going out on this porch. My mother had three or four pretty quilts and she had them all hanging over the
banister in the hall that went downstairs. Whenever mother went away she would lock all the doors going out on that east porch, afraid my little
brother would fall down. One morning mother went out to work and she left my brother John you see here and me to take care of my little
brother, he was in the cradle, and she locked all the doors so we could only go down the stairs through our sister's house. After mother was gone
we got tired of rocking the cradle and started to fussing over who would rock it, when all at once we heard the door on the porch open. I looked
up. And John looked up and said, 'Look yonder!' And we both stood up, for there stood a man eight feet tall, all red. Looked like the devil to
us, for the man looked just like the picture you see of the devil. We just stood there and looked. And this big man started over to the banister and
took everyone of the quilts and drop them on the floor, then he picked them all up and put them back on the banister just like mother left them,
then he turned right around and started over to where we were standing, then went right out the door he came in. Just as soon as he got through,
we went to hollering. My sister came running up the stairs to see what was wrong and we told her about the red man coming in the door and
throwing all the quilts on the floor. Sister went over to the door and found it locked. She gave us a good whipping. Then when mother came home
she gave us a good whipping, said we were lying about the devil. But this is true. My brother sitting here and I did see the devil come in the door
even if it was locked. But we could not make them believe it. But mother moved real soon after that."
15615. "My mother told me about a married man that my grandpa knew well. Every Saturday night when this man got his money he would go
and drink and gamble it up. His family would go hungry. One night when he was in a place gambling and drinking, something appear to him at
the window and said, 'If you don't quit your gambling and drinking and take care of your family, I will appear again in the same place; and if I
come again, I will kill you.' This man stop drinking for a week and was very good to his family, but the next Saturday when he got his money he
went down again and started to doing the same caper again. He was sitting near this same window playing cards at a table when something jump
right in through the window and started to clawing him to pieces right there before the other men that was playing cards with him. They didn't
know what it was. Said it had two big eyes like balls of fire. That was all they could see. But the man died. This is true because my grandpa was
one of the men at the table."
15616. "Just a few years ago a sister at St. Mary's Hospital was taking care of a boy and he was so afraid of the devil, every time sister would
leave him, he would holler, 'Take the devil away, and keep it up until Sister would come back. One day this boy died. And sister said as he was
dying she could hear the chains of the devil going down the steps. She knew the devil had this boy's soul. I know this is so, for sister would not
tell a story about it. I can even tell her name if you want it."

BLOOD OF THE MURDERED (15617-15624)

Haunted Instrument of Death (15617)
HAUNTED INSTRUMENT OF DEATH
15617. "He was afraid the children would get the revolver and he put it on his side of the bed under the mattress. Several nights after that he
complained about not being able to sleep and he asked me to change sides with him, and he slept better. He said the gun had killed so many
people, that was why he couldn't sleep."

Indelible Stain - Redder During Rain (15618-15622)

INDELIBLE STAIN
15618. "About eight years ago I had a friend move into a large two-story house down on the Bottom Road going north by the ice house. It was
haunted. There was a big spot of blood on the floor in one of the rooms and they could not get it off the floor. No one could sleep in that room.
 398

The doors and windows would be open all the time. They would lock the door at night and when they would get up, the door would be open, the
windows would be open. So they only stayed a few weeks. No one would stay there a month."
15619. "I lived in a house at Twenty-sixth and Maine years ago. It is torn down now and the Madison School is on the grounds. That house
was haunted. I lived there. A woman had her throat cut there by someone. She was at the top of the stairs when they grabbed her. It was a house
with three rooms down and two up, and had a big closet under the stairs. They pull her all the way down the stairs. You could see the blood spots
on the steps. You could never get them out. They put the woman in this closet under the stairs and that is where they found her. You could see
large spots of blood all over the closet floor. When we lived there you could hear something going up and down the stairs all the time. It sounded
like a dog, for this woman had a bulldog. When you would look you could see nothing. You could not keep a door locked on the east side or
shut. If you shut it, it would come open and unlocked. So we gave the place up. Others would move in but no one would stay, for they could
always hear that noise on the stairs."
15620. A story is also told about the old Kinderhook bridge by a Negro. Years ago he and his employer one night were driving a herd of cattle
along the road that led to the bridge; he in front, leading, and the employer in the rear. Two miles before reaching the bridge: "My horse snorted
and would not go on. I looked and there was a large black spot [bloodstain] on the road. I got off my horse and had to lead him around that spot.
And just before we got to the bridge, I saw two men standing on the bridge in white shirts; and when I got to the bridge, they were gone. I told my
boss, George B., and he said not to be afraid, that happened all the time. Two men were killed right where that black spot is in the road." On
another occasion this old Negro was again driving cattle, and when he reached the bridge he heard a noise like a gunshot [the two men had been
shot], and a light flashed up from the bridge: "I was not afraid this time because my boss told me not to be."

REDDER DURING RAIN

15621. "I lived in a house where a woman shot her husband in the kitchen. She didn't kill him right away. He walked around the room with his
blood hands touching the wall. You could see the bloodstains on the wall. Even the bullet was sticking in the wall. But I wasn't scared. The
kitchen had a tin roof on it and every morning you could hear something jump, jump, jump, all the time. This morning I got up, it seemed so
much worse, I said, 'Bud,' that is my son, 'what in the common sense was that noise?' He said, 'You stay here in the door and watch, I will go up
on the roof and see what I can find.' He got up on the roof and a big black object fell right down in front of me and disappear in the ground. It
looked like a black dog. I forgot to tell you that when it rained, those hand spots on the wall got real red like blood and would stay red as long as
it was raining, and disappear when it would stop. You could always tell it was going to rain, for the spots would start to turn red, and you would
hear groaning and knocking on the wall all the time the spots were red."
15622. "I knew a haunted house down here near Barry [Illinois] where years ago a son killed his father. And no one would live in that house. You
could hear something crawl over that house every night and you could go out and not see a thing. And every time it would rain, blood would run
in through the window sills. Everyone would move out of that house."

Continues to Drip - Cries Out (15623-15624)

CONTINUES TO DRIP
15623. "There is an old house seven miles from Kinderhook [Illinois] that is haunted. No one will live in it any more. They give you cheap rent
but people will not stay. I lived in it myself about fifteen years ago and you could always hear strange things. One night we went out to the barn
to get wood to build a fire, and no one was in the house, and you could hear a noise like someone was moving chairs up to the table. About every
other night you could hear blood drip and drip over in the corner where the dead bodies laid. You see, years ago a man was going with a girl in
that house, and her folks would not let them marry. So one night this beau came to the house and killed the girl's mother, the girl and the dog, and
threw them in that corner where you hear the blood dripping. Then he killed himself. They never could get the blood off the floor. They put a new
floor over the blood but that didn't stop you from hearing that blood drip. Everyone that lives in that house can hear that blood dripping and that is
why no one will live there."

CRIES OUT
15624. "One time when this lady was a baby, they moved into a big house. That night when her father was gone the mother was reading, when
she heard a human shriek, and then she heard three knocks on the old dresser. The next day a beautiful cat came out of the cellar. The cat went
straight to the baby and began to play. Whenever the mother wasn't looking the baby began to cry. She didn't know what made it do that. When
the father came home they went upstairs to look at a room that had once been a baby room. They saw a very pretty rug. They began to wonder
why anybody would leave a rug in a house when they moved. The father lifted the rug and saw that much blood stained the floor. They tried to
scrub it up, but it could not be taken out of the floor. The mother went to the store and told the man about it. He said that a beautiful baby had
been murdered in that room and that every night the blood would cry out. He told her the baby once had a black cat but it had died in the cellar.
He told her not to let the black cat get near the baby because it would try to choke the baby. She went home in a hurry and found the cat trying to
get at the baby's neck and the baby was crying. She found out that the cat had tried to choke it whenever she wasn't looking. They moved away
the next day and the woman that was that baby is still living. She isn't over twenty-six years old."

LAYING THE GHOST (15625-15639)

Bible - Blessing - Divine Name - Crossroad (15625-15630)
BIBLE
15625. "Several years ago I started out to my aunt's house near Liberty. I was walking and when it got dark I stopped in an empty house, thinking
I would stay all night and walk on to my aunt's house as soon as it got light in the morning. The house did not have any door and all the
windows were broken out. I was afraid of snakes, because I didn't have any whiskey along. I was tired out, so I lay down on the floor by the open
door with my coat under my head for a pillow. I don't know how long I was asleep, but something woke me up and a man was standing over me.
I asked the man what he wanted. He did not say a word, only looked at me. I thought it was time to go when he did not speak. If I had of had a
Bible to put under my left arm he would of talked to me, for spirits will always talk to you if you have a Bible under your left arm and ask them,
What in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost do you want back here? So I started out the door and step on something. It sounded like a
cat howling. It just kept howling and following me down the road. I don't know if it was a cat or the old man's spirit turn into a cat. I never
stopped to see. I just kept going and got to my aunt's house in the morning all in."
15626. "Ten years ago a white woman was playing a piano on C. Street and her husband shot her while she was at the piano. Not long after that
her brother died very sudden in the dining room. After that everyone said the house was haunted. I didn't care. I moved into the house. I was
sleeping in the front room and my son was in the room back of me. I could always hear knocking on the door and my bed, but I did not care.
Every night this woman came and stand by my son's bed and look at him, then walk around the bed and then disappear through the window. My
 399

son always slept with a revolver under his pillow. This spirit came one night and pulled the revolver from under my son's pillow and throw the
gun down on his feet. Then I did get afraid. I thought maybe this ghost would kill him some night. I got the Bible and read the Ninety-first Psalm
and prayed, and made him sleep with the Bible under his head. And the spirit did not bother him any more. I went and moved my bed out of the
front room into the dining-room. Someone said, 'That room is haunted too.' But I was not afraid. Only, I saw the spirit one time, and the man
came to my bed one night. He was tall. His hands were cold and his finger-nails long. I could just feel them sticking in my side. He was trying to
lift me out of bed. This spirit got me to the edge of the bed, then disappeared. Then I got up and read the Ninety-first Psalm and put the Bible
under my head. After that we did not see any more spirits in that house. But the closet door would always open when I would go near it. I never
had to open it."
15627. "One time we were living in a haunted house, and after we went to bed, you could see people come in the window. They would walk all
over our bed, even take the covers off. Someone told us about the butcher knife and Bible, and we put it under our pillow and the ghost did not
bother us. One night we took it out to see if the ghost would come back, and sure enough they started to walking over our bed, and we put it back
and we had no more trouble with ghosts."

BLESSING
15628. "I have often heard my father tell this story about an old haunted house out here seven miles from Quincy toward Fowler, stands right
on the main road. Years ago no one could live in that house. People would move in one day and out the next. They were always hearing some
kind of noise in the attic and could not find it. One day a party moved in, said they were going to find the ghost. So, at night, when they got ready
for bed, they put the family cat up in the attic to watch for the ghost. They heard the noise just the same. In the morning when they went to let the
cat out of the attic, found it had all four legs broken. They came right in to Quincy got a priest, took him out to the house. He went all over the
house, blessed every room. They never heard any more noise. This is so, but they had to kill their cat."

DIVINE NAME
15629. "One time a lady woke in the middle of the night and looking toward the foot of the bed she saw a man in a blue shirt and dark pants. She
was almost scared stiff with fright. She tried to call her husband but could not speak. Finally she gave such a punch that he groaned and the
man faded. The next day when she went to the store she told the grocerman what happened. He told her that the next time it happened, to say to
it, What in the Name of the Lord do you want? And if it just mumbles and don't say anything, to say, What in the name of the devil do you want?
Because Satan might be wanting to warn you of something that is going to happen."

CROSSROAD
15630. "I used to work for a doctor in Fowler, Illinois, and he died. One night I was walking along the street, after the doctor was buried, and all
at once I felt a warm hand take hold of my hand. I was not afraid because I knew when we got to the four corners of the street they would
let loose, because spirits don't go across a road; and I knew it was the doctor. And his hand slipped right off when I got to the four corners."

New Lumber - Moving - Mustard Seed (15631-15633)

NEW LUMBER
15631. "I knew a man and his wife that lived right out from La Grange. You see, I lived in La Grange for a long time after the Civil War before
we moved to Quincy. This man and his wife was taking care of an old man for his property. He had told them that whenever he died, they would
get everything he had. At last this man did die and was buried. And just as soon as his coffin was out of the house, everything started to going
wrong. They could not sleep at night, the stock started to dying, just everything went wrong. The woman could not stand it, so she went down to
Hannibal [Missouri] to see an old man that someone told her about. He said he could take a spell off, and if the house had a spell on, he would be
able to take it off. This old man was very smart, for I had heard about him myself what he could do. He's dead now. This old man in Hannibal
told her to go home and to take up ha1f the floor in the room where this man died, and to put in all new boards, and to be sure and take up the half
on the side of the room where this man died on, and she would have good luck after that. She went home and told her husband. He would not let
her take the boards up and they kept on having trouble. One day her husband went to Chicago with some stock with some other men. And while
he was gone she had the half of the floor taken up in the room where he died, put all new boards in where the old ones were. When her
husband got back she told him what she had done, and said she had slept fine every night since the old boards were out. He laughed and made fun
of her. But they started in to having good luck and did not have any more trouble in that house."

MOVING
15632. "A white woman and her husband had a little home. One day her husband died and it was no time until she married a colored man. After
she was married, her dead husband's spirit came every night and knock the stovepipe down in the kitchen and all the pans off the stove. At last
she had to give up her home. She got tired of putting up the stovepipe every morning. And just as soon as she moved to another house the spirit
did not bother her.

MUSTARD SEED
15633. "Our house was haunted. Someone would pull the cover off the bed every night. We could not keep a cover on us at night. At twelve
o'clock every night the dishes would start to rattle and keep it up until morning. No one could sleep in the house. So my father went to see
a priest. We didn't belong to his church, but someone told my father a priest could help us. So he went. And the priest told my father to get a peck
of mustard seeds and throw it in all the corners of the rooms and leave it there and the ghost would not come back. So father got the peck of
mustard seeds and put them all over the house. And we never heard the ghosts any more and could sleep after that fine."

Salt - To Cross Water (15634-15635)

SALT
15634. "I know a barn that was haunted. A man hung himself in there. After that you could not keep any stock in there. The person that lived
there would tie up his horses and cows and the next morning they would all be out of the barn, until someone told him about hanging a sack of
salt over each head. He got the salt and put a sack over each head of his stock that were in that barn and he never had any more trouble with them
getting loose."

TO CROSS WATER
 400

15635. "I have heard my grandma tell about two men out near Liberty that got in a fight one day and one kill the other with a pitchfork. One day
this man was going to town with his wife and something kept following the horse and buggy. The wife kept asking her husband what it was.
It looked like a man to her. But her husband would not speak a word to her. She kept asking, but he didn't speak until he got to a little stream of
water. Then he got out of the buggy and said to the ghost, In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, if you have more power than God,
cross the stream; if not, go back. And the ghost turned and went back, because a ghost cannot cross water. And I believe the wife left her
husband after that."

Fulfill Last Wish - Bury Unburied Body (15636-15639)

TO FULFILL LAST WISH
15636. "My daughter was born with a veil on and she was always seeing things. She stayed at St. Mary's Hospital Home. She helped with the
work. And one night a woman that was sick asked for a drink of water and no one gave it to her. This woman died during the night and after that
every night this woman's spirit would reach her hand out for a drink. My daughter saw this hand every night reaching for a drink. Then someone
told the priest about it. He told them to sit a glass of water in the room so the spirit could get it. And the next night they put a glass of water in this
room, and after that the hand never reached out from the bed for a drink."
15637. "I knew a man that told his wife when he died he wanted to be buried at Palmyra [Missouri]. His wife told him if he went first she
would take him there. But when he died she didn't. She took him up to La Grange [Missouri] and put him with some of her people instead of
putting him with his people at Palmyra. After the funeral when they came back they could not keep a door or window shut. They would just open
as fast as she would close them. His spirit came back all the time and tormented her, so she had to take her husband up and have him buried at
Palmyra. And after that his spirit didn't come back."

TO BURY UNBURIED BODY

15638. "One night I saw my little boy drown in a dream. They were dragging for him in the river. The next morning I told a neighbor about my
dream. She said, 'I would not tell that, for it may come true.' And in about a week he did drown in the river and they were dragging for him every
day for about two weeks. After he drowned, the water [from the faucet] would start to run without anyone being near it. We were all sitting out in
the yard talking and the water [from the outside faucet] started to run in the yard without anyone being near it. It done this four different times.
They say that is the sign that the spirit is calling for you to find their body, for they have to be buried to have rest. And two days after that they
found his body down at St. Louis. He was only seven. We buried him and the water didn't run any more."
15639. "About fifty-five years ago my brother was living in a haunted house near Payson. It had one room where you could never keep anything
locked. The door would come open every time you locked it. My brother was not afraid. One night my mother and I went to see them. I was just a
small boy about ten or eleven and was sleeping in the same room with mother. After we had gone to bed an old woman passed through our room
with her white gown and white nightcap like they used to wear a long time ago. Her face was all covered with wrinkles. I didn't move. I was
scared to death. She went into the kitchen and started to making a fire. You could hear her taking off the stovelids and rattling the pans. Then
mother got up and went to the door to see what was going on, and said to the ghost What in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost do you
want? She told mother in a low tone of voice that someone is buried under the porch, would they get them out, and left. The next morning mother
said to my two other brothers, 'Now boys, I want you to dig and get the body out.' So they started in and dug four feet down. And when they
socked [struck] their spades down again, there was an awful odor of camphor. It just filled the air, even went into the barn. They could not stand
the odor. They went and filled the hole up again and didn't try to get the body. The ghost never did walk in the kitchen again. My brother
moved. They have moved that house three times trying to get away from it being haunted. And I believe it is down now."

SECOND SIGHT (15640-15851)

SEERS (15640-15644)

15640. "I was born in November and I can see future events. If you are born in the month of November, that is called the Prophet's Month, and
one can foretell future events. All I have to do is to shut my eyes and keep them closed about ten minutes, and pray to God to see if I should or
should not do a thing, and I see at once on a white board or up in the air what to do. And every death in our family, I know about it beforehand.
My sister here and I are the only ones left in the family, and I know right now which one is going to die first."
15641. "I knew a woman that was born with a veil on and she was always seeing things ahead. One day she started to town with the horse and
buggy to go to the depot to meet some of her people. It was just pouring down rain and her husband said, 'Do be careful. I am afraid something
will happen to you.' She said, 'Don't worry about me but the baby.' She had her little girl with her. She said as she drove out of the barn lot, 'I will
come back but the baby will not.' And before she got very far the lightning hit them and kill the little girl but didn't hurt her."
15642. "My sister was born with a veil on and she could always see what was going to happen. One day she went to the depot with our brother;
he was going away to work in the East. She was wearing a red dress as she told my brother good-by. She said, 'I am wearing a red dress now, but
the next time we meet I will be wearing a black dress and you will be in a casket.' He laughed and said, 'You are sure giving me a good good-by.'
It was just eighteen months from that day when he got killed [1916] and they sent his body back in a casket, and my sister wearing a black dress
went to the depot to meet him."
15643. "I knew a little girl not yet six years old [about 1925]. She was going to kindergarten. I was there ironing that day. She said, 'Mother,
you and Mrs. X. come in quick.' She was playing in the other room. Her mother said, 'What do you want Helen? We are busy.' She said, 'I want to
show you something.' And her mother went in. And she [the girl] said that she saw Jesus: 'Jesus is out there. He has his arms stretched out and
two men are going to get killed on the bridge [the former railroad bridge across the river at Quincy].' And two men did get killed on the bridge
just after that. I was there another time and she said that two people were going to die. And right after that her brother and a neighbor boy went
swimming and were drowned. Once when I was there, her father came home from work. He was a 'lectrician. She said to her father, 'Are you
going to work tonight?' He said, 'No.' She asked him several times. Her father was a heavy drinker. Just after that there was a knock on the door,
and a man came and told him that there had been some kind of a breakdown, and that he would have to work that night. When he was leaving,
Helen said, 'Father, don't drink anything tonight or you will see snakes on the wires' --- she meant he would get a shock and get killed. When he
got down to work, someone offered him a drink but he refused. They were surprised because they never knew him to refuse a drink. He said later
that he knew he would of been killed that night if he had taken a drink."
15644. "One day years ago I had a neighbor that was looking for her folks all day and they did not come. We had an old man on our block that
could see things, so she went over to his house and said, 'Do you see anything of my folks?' This man rubbed his fingers through his hair several
 401

times and said, 'They will be here about dark, driving a white mule and a horse hitched to a wagon, and I see such a big watermelon on the
wagon.' And they did come at dark with the melon, just like the old man said."

SUPERNATURAL ANIMALS (15645-15673)

15645. "One day my father said to my mother, 'Did you see that yellow canary bird come in at the front door and go right through the house to
the kitchen?' My mother and I did not see it. My father said, 'That was my son's spirit and I am going to follow it soon.' And my father died in
two weeks."
15646. "In the year of 1927 I was in bed. One night I saw a yellow canary bird flying around my bedroom. I thought my bird had got out of the
cage, got up and lighted the light, and found my bird in the cage. Then I went back to bed, thinking it was an omen. In about half an hour the
whole back end of the clock flew off, scaring me almost to death. My sister-in-law died just when the back of the clock flew off."
15647. "Forty years ago [1895] we had two pet canary birds. We called one Bill and one Billie. We would often turn them loose in the house.
One day I was turning over the clothes on the bed, getting ready to iron, when I saw Bill and Billie walking around on the bed. Then they
disappear under the bed and I could not find them. I screamed. My mother was out in the yard taking down clothes. She came running in and said,
'What is wrong?' I told her about the two birds. And she said, 'Why, I told you to put the birds in the cage.' I said, 'I didn't even take them out.' We
looked, and there Bill and Billie were in the cage. They had not even been out. In about an hour time we got word my sister's baby passed away
just when the birds were walking on the bed and were not."
15648. "My sister was lying in bed one night and a pink bird flew over her. She said the legs were so pink, looked like celluloid. She got right up
and went and told mother. She thought it was our sister Bertha that was going. Mother said, 'Why do you think that?' 'Well, she was the first
person I thought of when the bird passed over me.' And she died herself within a month time."
15649. "Three years ago I was living on Maine Street and my husband was working in Hannibal [Missouri]. One night I was lying in bed. I had
not gone to sleep yet, and I saw a white bird come in at the window with a chain in its mouth. That bird flutter over my bed three times, then flew
out the door. My husband was killed in Hannibal and that was a token of his death."
15650. "We had a token when my grandma died. Just before she passed away a big black cat came and sit right in front of the clock and stayed
there until she died, then disappear. And there was no cat. Father and I both saw it."
15651. "I believe in warnings. I was going with a man and every time we would go somewhere something would follow me, sometime a black
cat, sometime a dog, and there would be no cat or dog. I quit going with him, for I knew some spirit was telling me to leave him alone or I would
get in trouble, for I never did go one place with him without something following me."
15652. "I went with another woman one night to sit up with a very sick man, and just as we started up the steps, a big black cat jump down in
front of us. I said, 'What was that?' She said, 'It was his spirit.' And that man died that night."
15653. "Years ago out on Honey Creek about one mile northeast of Mendon there was a farmhouse out in the woods. A man lived there that had
ten children. He buried five of them in the yard. And after that family left, everyone that would move into that house could not stay. They would
be sitting in the room and a big black cat would come in the door and come and jump on your lap, then go to the stairs and disappear. My uncle
thought he would go and live in the place. The first night, he was smoking his pipe, this black cat came and jumped on his lap. He said he thought
it was a cat. It was so real that he started to pet it. And it jump down and went to the stairs and disappear. And he didn't live there long. He got
out. They took the old house down."
15654. "One morning while we were eating breakfast a big cat came in the door and came right over and jump upon my father's chair. 'Ain't this
a pretty cat?' I said, 'We will keep this cat.' It was such a big cat. My father got up and went over and sit down by the cookstove to smoke his
pipe before he went out to cut wood. He was clearing a piece of land. The cat follow him over to the stove and jump upon his lap the second time,
then went out the window and disappear. I went out to see where the cat went but didn't see it. Father left in a few minutes to go to the woods.
And at twelve forty-five that day he was dead. A tree fell on him."
15655. "Around X. and Lind Street about twenty years ago a woman was making the bed and she saw an old hen and chickens coming in the
door. She took the sheet and said, 'Shoo, shoo,' and the old hen flew up against the sheet and the sheet was full of blood. The hen and chickens
disappear. Then she called my sister, who is dead now, that lived next door at the time, and told her about the hen and chickens, and showed her
the sheet with the blood on. My sister said right away it was an omen. In two months after that this woman's little girl was starting the fire and it
would not burn, so she put some coal oil in the stove and the fire started and burned the little girl up."
15656. "My mother and a whole wagonload of young folks eighty years ago were going to singing school. They passed a cemetery but they did
not think anything about it. All at once someone in the crowd said, 'Why, there is a little black dog riding on the doubletree!' And one of the boys
took the blacksnake whip and hit it. The dog jumped off. They went a little way and someone said, 'Oh, there is that black dog on the wagon
again!' The boys took the blacksnake whip and hit it again, and the dog jumped off. That black dog done that all the way, jumping on and off,
until they got back to the cemetery, then it disappeared in the cemetery. It was someone's spirit riding with them out of the cemetery to singing
school."
15657. "My sister and I lived at Eighth and Kentucky Street and the house was haunted. One day my sister was wiping dishes and a little brown
dog came up right through the floor and stood there. My sister tried to run it off. It would not go. Then she thought she would throw the plate at
the dog, that she had in her hand. She tried and tried but the plate would not leave her hand. Something just keep the plate in her hand. And the
dog just disappeared in the floor just like he came."
15658. "I was sitting reading one night and our little dog started to bark. I looked to see what was wrong with the dog and there was a big dog
at the kitchen door with his paws on the door trying to get in. Then the dog went over to the window and put his paws on the window still trying
to get in. About three o' clock that night my husband heard a loud noise in the cellar. He thought maybe it was the man that the dog belong to,
cursed me and made me go down in the cellar to see, and I didn't find anything. Then he said, 'Look, there is a man standing in our yard, talking
to our neighbor, with yellow corduroy pants and a blue jacket.' With that he picked up a crowbar that was lying in the house and started to go to
hit the man. When he got to the spot the man was gone. He turned and said, 'Lena, I will never curse you again. That was a token for me.' And the
next day he dropped dead right on the spot where the man was standing."
15659. "Three years ago [1931] my father took sick. My mother had been dead twenty-eight years. And one night we heard a knock at the front
door just at eleven o'clock and no one was there. And the next morning when father woke up he said, 'I dreamt last night mother came and took
me over the river.' And the next night at eleven o'clock the rap was at the door again and no one was there. And my father dreamt again that night
that my mother came and took him over the river. And the third night we heard the rap at the door at eleven o'clock and no one was there. And
again for the third time my father dreamt my mother came and took him over the river. It was my mother's spirit coming for my father. For that
same week I was in bed and not asleep, and I saw a big dog standing in the door flopping its ears. He did it three times. I got out of bed but could
not find the dog. And my father died that week."
 402

15660. "We had a warning when my little girl lay sick three weeks with measles. We planted beans and peas in the morning and for three
nights running a dog would come and dig up the seeds. The first night when my husband saw the dog out in the garden digging up the seeds he
said, 'I will shoot that dog.' I said, 'Don't shoot. You might get arrested.' But he shot at the dog and the dog never run. Then he pick up a clod of
dirt and threw at the dog and the dog just stood there and looked at him. So he picked up the gun again and said, 'I will kill you this time.' And the
dog disappear. We planted seeds again the next morning, and the dog came and dug up the seeds. And the third morning we planted them, and the
dog dug them up. In a little while we lost our little girl."
15661. "One evening my husband and I was driving out Broadway in the car on the country road. The lights were on when I said, 'Drive over,
you will hit that big red hog in the road.' My husband moved over and the hog follow. He said, 'I don't see a hog.' I said, 'Well, I do. You are
going to drive right over it.' He said, 'Well, I am not going to fool any longer, for I don't see it.' And he drove right over the big hog. Well, the hog
didn't holler. Then I knew it was the spirit of some dead person that had passed on and was not satisfied, for they always come back in the shape
of a dog, hog, cow, or some kind of an animal, if not satisfied after they are dead."
15662. "About ten years ago I was sick in the hospital and one afternoon my husband came to see me, and just as soon as he came in the door I
said, 'Our hogs are sick and dying.' He said, 'What makes you say that?' I said, 'The hogs have been running around my bed all morning.' Then he
told me they were all sick and dying. It was a omen."
15663. "Just before my niece died, one night I was sitting in a chair and I saw a white horse coming up the road without any rider on, and just
when the horse got in front of me, it was only a cloud of dust, and my niece died the next morning. I always see a white horse just before anyone
died in the family. About forty years ago I was working for a woman out in the country, and one night when I was lying in bed I saw a white
horse coming up the road without a rider. The next morning when I got up, I said to the woman I was working for, 'I would like to go home, for I
know something is wrong there.' She told me to go and see. I started, and just before I got to the house, I saw a line of my father's clothes all
hanging out in the yard. Then I knew it was an omen, for I was just going over a hill and there was no yard there. And when I got home, my
father had died that night just when I saw the horseless rider coming up the road."
15664. "I was born with a veil on. I believe in dreams and omens. One day I was sitting in the room when I saw my granddaughter coming to see
me on a white horse. The harness was all studded with bright jewels it had on. The face was my granddaughter's, but her hands were my mother's.
As she came up to me, I said, 'What a pity your hands look so poor, just like mother's.' The next day my granddaughter did come on a horse and
bring me a telegraph that mother was dead."
15665. "I was only six months old when this happen. My grandma would not let any of the children go in her bedroom, afraid they would touch
her bed. My father was working at Sixth and Vermont Street in the lumber yards [between Sixth and Seventh on south side of Vermont]. That
night my father had to watch the lumberyard and mother went to bed early. My grandma went in every room trying to find my mother who had
gone to sleep. At last grandma found her in bed and said, 'O Mary. This is me. May I lie down on your bed with you?' Mother said, 'Sure.' And
grandma laid down on the back of the bed and went right to sleep. The next morning at the breakfast table grandma told mother that she had
fallen asleep, then woke up. 'Something woke me and I look up. There was two white stable horses going around my bed. They went around three
times, then snort and disappear.' My grandma died in three weeks after this happen. It was a token. I have heard my mother tell this many a time."

15666. "An old woman was sick in bed. She always would knit all the socks and stockings for everyone in the family. She was worrying because
she did not have them done and was sick. While she was lying in bed, a beautiful white horse came down the steps and came to her bed, and put
its nose in her hand and said, 'I have come for you.' The old woman said, 'Oh, don't take me now. I am not ready. Wait until I get all the stockings
and socks knit for the family.' The horse said, 'I will come back for you.' The old woman got well, and started to knitting, and the nearer she got
done, the more she would worry about that white horse. She was all done but one sock. She started on it, then laid it up on the table and said, 'I
will not finish it because I don't want to die.' But she died that week." This is evidently a folk-tale.
15667. "One night in the winter I had a token. I was living at Fourteenth and State and, after I went to bed and had the light out, I saw a
lightning- bug come down the door, right up in the middle of the door, and go back to the ceiling and disappear. My niece died that night."
Compare 14463 by a different informant.
15668. "One day we were sitting in the front room and I looked out the window. There was a pretty big white rabbit eating out in the yard near
the house. I said to my husband, 'Get the shotgun quick and kill the rabbit.' He went right out. We looked everywhere and could not find the white
rabbit. It had disappeared. It was a token of death, for there was no rabbit. My niece, that was well and healthy that day, took a spasm the next
day and died.
15669. "I am an old woman, now eighty-nine year' old. I have had a very hard time in life. My mother died when I was a baby and my aunt took
me. She didn't want to because she had a large family, but she did and she treated me very mean. I was always seeing things. And when I told it,
she would call me a liar and said I made it up. I remember one time we were sitting around the fireplace, all telling stories. I had saw something
the night before but I was afraid to tell it, afraid I would get a whipping, so I said I had a dream last night and told it. My aunt said, 'Fanny, you
are lying. You didn't dream that, for I saw it too.' This is what I saw. I was sleeping in a trundle bed by my aunt's bed. Years ago the children
always slept in them. It looked like a sheep to me. It came in at the window, stop and looked at my aunt first, then her husband, then came over to
me. I got right up, took hold of it and walked up and down the room. I thought it was a sheep that got in the house. And I was trying to get it out,
when it went right over the bed where my Aunt was, and went out the window and disappear. My aunt saw the same thing, but said it was not a
sheep, it was my dead mother's spirit. And my aunt treated me a little better after that."
15670. "One night, I was just a boy, I was always seeing things, and I lying on the bed when I saw a white lamb come in the door. I jump up and
started after the lamb, and the lamb went right under my mother's bed and I after it. My mother heard me and said, 'What is wrong?' I said, 'A
little white lamb went under your bed and disappear and I was trying to catch it. I had a little sister born that week."
15671. "My grandfather lived out in the country from Marblehead. One evening he was sitting in the setting-room looking out the window, when
he saw two white sheep playing on the lawn, when all at once one of the sheep drop dead. He jump up and ran out in the yard. When he got there
he could see no sheep. It was a warning of death. My grandmother drop dead the next day."
15672. "My aunt years ago came running down to our house one day. She said, 'O Lulu, tell Mary to come here.' That was my mother, Mary. I
holler for mother and she came out in the yard. My aunt said, 'Oh, look at the big snake!' My mother picked up a stick to kill the snake and it had
disappear. It was a token. That night my uncle came home and gave my aunt a hard beating and it cause her death. That snake she saw was a
token of her death and an enemy in her husband."
15673. "In the year of 1903, one morning I got out of bed and started through the dining-room. Just as I got in the middle of the room I saw a big
black spider on the floor. I started to step on it when it disappear. I knew then it was a warning. I felt like it, but I didn't know it was going to fall
on me. The third morning after that, I was up building the fire in the cookstove, my wife was climbing out of bed and as she reached down to pick
up her stocking, she screamed, 'There's a big black spider on the floor.' I ran in the bedroom but the spider disappear again. Three weeks had
passed and nothing had happen, when one night, just after the three weeks, we were all eating at the supper table when my girl, about twelve
 403

years old, got to tickling her little brother on the bottom of his feet, making him holler. I was getting angry at her, and started to get up to punish
her, when she crawl under the table to keep me from getting her, and screamed, 'There's a black spider under the table.' But the spider disappear
for the third time. The next morning I went out to the orchard to turn out some calves into another pasture. I took my gun along, thinking maybe I
would see a rabbit, but didn't. When I came back to the house, I went to set my gun down on the porch, not seeing a bench there, I hit my gun on
this bench, knocking it so hard the gun went off. It hit my hand so that my fingers all draw up in the shape of a spider. So the black spider was the
bad luck for me. That is why I have no arm now, had to have my hand taken off after the gun went off."

MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS (15674-15719)

Bright Light - Colored Light - Fire Ball (15674-15705)

BRIGHT LIGHTS
15674. "It may sound silly to you and some people say I am crazy, but this is so. One night I heard something rattle. All at once the room was so
light, you could pick a needle off the floor if you wanted to, and there stood my father at the foot of the bed. He said, 'Sis,' he always called me sis
when living, 'go ahead and do just as you are doing and you will be with me some day soon. I am not materialize, for you are not until you get
to Heaven.' Then my father disappear. I often see my dead father. One day I heard my father saying, 'I am coming through.' I look up and there he
was going through, as natural as could be. You would think he was alive, he was so natural. He went to the window and went through. As he did,
it looked like dust going out of the window."
15675. "Two days before my father died, my sister and I were lying in bed and we saw a light over our bed. It just kept twinkling all the time.
We could not find out what it was. The next day my father came to my house on horseback, and on his way there his nose started to bleeding, and
he died that night in the bed right under where we saw the light twinkle."
15676. "A little girl was sick and I was watching by her bed that night and I saw a large light-globe at her head. It lighted up her whole head. Her
father was sleeping and I went and woke him up, and told him his little girl was going to die, that I saw this globe. And she died the next night
at the same time I saw the light-globe."
15677. "My mother lived in a house years ago with several families. One day she was walking through the hall and she saw a bright light under a
bed. She thought maybe the bed was on fire and she called to the woman that had that room, and they couldn't find the light. And the woman that
slept in that bed died in two weeks. She gave birth to a child and both died."
15678. "A man that lives back of us lost his mother about six months ago. He told the neighbor lady that the night before she died he heard a
funny noise. He sat up in bed and lighted a cigarette, and all at once a light passed through the room, making the room as light as day. His mother
was sleeping downstairs, and when he went down the next morning his mother was dying."
15679. "My mother had been sick but was getting along real nice. She was in one room, my sister and I were in another room. After we put out
the lamp, we were lying on the bed talking about mother, when a big light hit the door that went into mother's room and the light went
everywhere. My sister jump out of bed on one side and I on the other. We both went to the window but we could not see any light anywhere. We
knew it was an omen. And our mother died that week."
15680. "The first night we moved in that house on Seventh between Maine and Jersey, when we were eating supper, a big light came on the side
of the wall. It looked like a big plate. It rolled and rolled over the wall, then drop down in the sink. It made such a noise. It sounded like shooting
up- stairs. Then right after that shooting we could hear moaning and crying. Then it sounded like someone was dragging someone down the stairs.
There was an old well in the yard, and it sounded like they would throw something in the well. You could hear the water splash. We were afraid
that night, but we got used to hearing that dragging down the stairs every night and throwing something in the well. My mother would lock the
back door, but every morning it would be open, where they would go through to that well."
15681. "One night a bright light went through our house. Several people saw it. It came in the front door and when it got to the kitchen, all
at once you could hear a loud noise, like an explosion or something busting. My husband was very worried, he thought it was a token for me,
because I was sick; but it was a token for my sister in Chicago. She died in several weeks after that."
15682. "The night my son died he was standing at the sewing machine, and I started from the dining room to the kitchen. As I open the door to go
into the kitchen, in the window was a bright light. The whole windowpane was bright. And there was no light in the room. I went back in the
front room and sit down, thinking it was a token. The train going by the house, whistle, and my son said, 'Grandma is on that train.' You see, we
were living just across the tracks from the depot. I said, 'Son, what makes you think that's grandma on the train?' He said, 'You wait and see.' The
train stopped at the depot and we thought sure she was on it. She had just about time to get over from the depot to the house when a knock came
on the house by the door. You see, when she came she would always take her cane and knock on the door to see the children run out. The
children thought it so strange they went out. They even took the lamp and went all around the house, thinking she was hiding like she often did,
but she was not on the train. My son would say, 'Grandma was on the train,' drop his head like in deep thought, and in twenty minutes he was
dead from heart trouble. So the light in the window, him thinking his grandma was on the train, and the knock on the door, all three were tokens
of his death."
15683. "One evening I was returning home with my sister about eight o'clock at night. Just before entering the gate of our yard we saw a light
upstairs in the house moving from room to room. We entered the house and went into the front room where mother was sitting and asked her who
was upstairs. She said no one was upstairs, or for that matter at home. But we went up to make sure. We didn't see any light. Within three months
my father and two brothers died."
15684. "I am always seeing tokens. I had a boy friend years ago that I went around with a lot to dances. One night I had a token of his death. The
night he died I was getting ready to go to bed when a bright light came to the window. Through that light I saw a room with a bed in it. I got right
up and started to the window to take hold of the windowpane. As I took hold of the window, it rolled away, and the light disappear with it. My
boy friend died that night at eight o'clock from nosebleed. He bled to death."
15685. "One night I was lying in bed when a light came through the window and lit on the floor. The light danced all around the room. I said to
my husband, 'See that light dancing on the floor' --- he didn't see it, everyone don't see warnings --- 'it is a warning someone will die.' The light
kept dancing around until it got back to the window, then it went out the same way it had came in. The next morning we got word my brother
died that night about the time the light was dancing in my bedroom."
15686. "One day my grandma and I were sitting on the front doorstep years ago, and my grandma said, 'Look at that light coming up the road.' I
looked but could not see it. She said, 'Why, it is coming in the front gate right up the walk.' And it was no time until she died."
15687. "About a month ago I went to my kitchen door and I saw a light in the heaven. I never did see anything like it before. It looked like
the heaven was on fire. I called someone to show them the heaven, but they could not see it. I believe now it was a token, for my niece's house
over in Missouri got on fire last week. Something went wrong with the stove and it blew up, and blew my niece right out the door on fire. She is
still sick from her burns, and four others are hurt."
 404

COLORED LIGHT
15688. "One night I saw a red light on the wall with a picture in it. I had gone to bed and was just lying there thinking. Knowing there was no
picture on the side of the wall where I saw it, I got up and went over to see what it was, and there was nothing there. The light was gone. I went
back to bed and had just got in when the bedroom door open, and there stood my father in his long night shirt holding a candle. My father was
dead. My father came in the room and walked around the bed three times, then motioned for me to come. I jump right out of bed, got my clothes
on and went right out to my mother's house, for I knew something was wrong somewhere, for I always have a warning when someone is going to
die. When I got home I found my stepbrother was sick. He said, when I came in, 'Thank God my prayers are answered, that you got here before I
died. I have been praying all evening you would come before it was too late.' And he died in three days."
15689. "My daughter was sitting in the room, I was already in bed, when she ran and jump into the bed shaking and saying, 'Mother, look up at
that light. I see red lights and all kind of lights on the ceiling.' I look up to the ceiling and saw nothing but lights, silver and gold and red. All at
once it went out the window just like a spirit would go. I said, 'Daughter, we will hear something bad.' And the next day I got word my son was
dead. I always see something when someone dies."
15690. "I was born with a veil on and am always seeing things. I was just married two months when one night I went to bed, all the lights were
out and I was talking to my husband, when I saw a big light go through the room with three tails on it: one was red, the other blue, and the other
yellow. It lit up the whole room. I said to my husband, 'Did you see that light?' He said, 'No.' I started to crying, saying he was going to die. I kept
it up all night. I worried myself sick, thinking I was going to lose him. And in just three weeks my mother died. So the light with three tails was
for her."
15691. "My brother was taking a bath in the bathtub and one of the light bulbs on the wall broke, and all red and green lights went through
the bathroom. And my sister was standing right by his tub. After the lights left the room, just as soon as my brother got dressed, he went out and
told the woman he was boarding with, that he was going home on the first train out, something was wrong with his sister, that he had an omen.
He left on the next train, and when he got home he found sister dead. She passed away just when that light went through his room."
15692. "Just before my son died, for three nights straight when I went to bed and shut my eyes, I would see beautiful lights --- just every color.
If I would open my eyes and close them again, I would still see those beautiful lights. On the third night late I got word my son died in a hospital.
I didn't know he was even sick."

FIRE BALL
15693. "Two years ago my niece was walking down the road about dusk and she saw a big ball of fire right in the road in front of her, and when
she got to the ball of fire it disappeared. It worried her very much because her mother was not well, and when she got back to the house she
said, 'Someone is going to die because I saw a ball of fire down in the road just now.' And right after that her little girl took down with pneumonia
and died in several weeks. It was not for her mother as she thought."
15694. "My husband and I were going in to town to an oyster supper. As we went by the cemetery, a big ball of fire went up in the air and then
down again. I felt so funny, and said to my husband, 'Did you see that?' He said 'Yes, I did.' My little girl spoke up and said, 'I saw it too.' My
brother got killed just when we saw that ball of fire in the cemetery."
15695. "Fifty-five years ago my stepmother, two brothers, and myself were sitting in a room near an open window, when a big ball of fire drop
right out in the yard where we all could see it. We all ran out in the yard to see what it was. There was nothing there. One of my brothers that saw
the fire was as well as could be. In four weeks he was a corpse."
15696. "My aunt had her baby in the cradle and it was not sick at all, when all at once a big ball of fire came right down over the crib and
disappear under it. That night the baby took sick and died before morning."
15697. "A man and his wife was living down here in the Bottom in a tent and one day the man went out to cut wood, and while he was gone, his
wife saw a big ball of fire come in the door and go all around the tent, then go out the door. And that very day a tree fell on her husband and he
got killed."
15698. "Forty years ago a neighbor was sick and my daughter went over to another neighbor's house to borrow something, and while standing
there in the yard, talking, they saw a big ball of fire go over this man's barn. And this man died just when that ball of fire went over his barn."
15699. "My husband went out to the barn to feed the horses. He was standing right between two horses when a big ball of fire drop right down
between them. He look up and his sister was standing by him dress in white. He came to the house and said, 'Mary is going to die.' And she did
that week."
15700. "My stepsister and my mother were sitting one evening looking at a catalogue. We live down in the Bottom. My stepfather and
stepbrother had gone to town and they were waiting for them. It was not late, about seven-thirty. My stepsister happen to look out the window
and saw a ball of fire. She said, 'O mother, look at the ball of fire!' It almost scared her to death. Mother looked and didn't see anything, and said,
'You are just seeing things. Let's look at the catalogue.' She could not keep her eyes from looking out the window. And she saw the ball of fire
twice more, making three times in about one hour time. My stepfather and brother came home in the wagon. And my step- brother was all worked
up, for he had seen an angel going through the air carrying a big ball of fire. Then we knew it was a token, sister seeing the ball of fire out the
window and my brother seeing it in the wagon. My grandma died that night seventy miles away from us."
15701. "Whenever you see a ball of fire and there is no fire, sign of a death; and if more than one see it, there will be more than one death. A
few years ago my two children were playing out in the back yard by the woodshed and they came running in and said, 'Mother, we just saw a big
ball of fire out by the woodshed.' I went out but didn't see anything, so I knew it was an omen of death. And in about a week's time their uncle
and niece died the same week."
15702. "Two years ago just at sunset I was out in the yard and I saw a big ball of fire in the heaven and a little ball of fire drop from it. I
knew someone was going to die. And my sister took sick and died in two days after that, and her baby died a month after that. The big ball of fire
was for my sister, and the little ball of fire for her baby."
15703. "I know a woman down here in the Bottoms that had a token of her death. She was sick. And one night she could see balls of fire all over
the cornfield, said the balls of fire would jump up allover the field. And the next day she died. No one in the house but her saw the fire balls."
15704. "A man that lived in my mother's neighborhood started to town one day on horseback. They didn't want him to go because the two creeks
he had to cross were overflow from the rains. He went but never came back. They looked for him for about ten days everywhere. My mother was
always seeing things, and about two weeks after that, my grandfather and mother started out to go some- where and they had to go by this creek
and through a heavy woods. Grandpa was walking ahead. I have often heard my mother tell it. Mother was following in a path, when all at once
she was attracted by a large ball of fire through the woods. She forgot she was following grandpa and started to following the big ball of fire on
through the woods and down to the bank where the two creeks met. And the big ball of fire disappear in a big pile of driftwood in the creek.
Grandpa, when he found out she was not following, started to looking for her and found her down by the creek. She told him about the ball of
 405

fire. He got mad and cursed her and said, 'Your foolishness will bring you to grief some day.' But it was a token, for they found that man's head
and arms sticking up in that driftwood, that had been gone over two weeks. You see, they were the first ones to go near where the man was, and
the ball of fire took my mother to it. If she had not followed that ball of fire, they may never have found him. I myself can always tell when
something's going wrong in the family."
15705. "I have lived up around Lima and the North Bottom for years. I have always heard of a Mr. X., who is dead now, and was very rich in
those days and own a lot of bottom land. They tell that one day a pedler came to his place, and they must of had words, for he kill this pedler and
bury him under the kitchen floor by the back porch. It was not long after this happen that one misty night you would see a ball of fire rise up by
this door and would go down the road. The men that worked around there said it sounded like a horse going down the road. The floor by the door
would bulge up every time this ball of fire would come up. It was hard to keep any help on this place. The man lived in Quincy, or his family did.
He stayed down there a lot. And this ball of fire would come until the old house rotted down."

Candle - Lamp - Lantern - Lightning Flash - Star (15706-15719)

CANDLE
15706. "My boy Howard was very sick with pneumonia and one night when he was so low, the double [sliding] doors between the dining room
and front room open very slowly, and I saw on the front table in the front room three candles burning: the center one was taller than the two at
each end, and they went out one by one, slowly. By this time I was almost frozen to my seat with fright. Chills were running up my back, for I
thought it was my boy Howard was going to pass away, for I knew it was a warning of death. The next day I got word that my cousin died that
night when I was seeing the candles burning in my front room. And my son got well."
15707. "I was sitting in a room one day and all at once I looked over in the corner of the room and there sit my son in a chair, and a coffin in
front of him, and on that coffin three lighted candles: one at the foot, one in the middle, and one at the head. I was just sick, for I was afraid I
was going to lose my son, for he was not in the room. It was only an omen. I didn't lose my son, but my son lost his mother-in-law and his
sisters-in-law. So the coffin and three candles were for them."
15708. "My mother always saw a light in the house if there was going to be a death in the family. One day mother was over to my house and we
were sitting there talking. Our little boy that was a year old was sick in the cradle, when we saw a light come in at the window. It looked like a
candle. It went right over to the cradle and circle around it three times and disappear. Mother said, 'That's a bad sign. That child will be put in the
ground in three days.' My husband said, after we told him after he came home, 'That is a bad sign. You want to take good care of little Josie.' I
said, 'I am taking the best care I can.' That night my little girl said, 'Mother, look out the window. Do you see that lamp.' I said, 'Hush, honey, you
didn't see anything.' And on Wednesday I lost my little boy."

LAMP
15709. "One night my mother, you see sitting here, and my husband and I went home from town. It was ten-thirty. As my husband unlocked the
door and started to open it, mother said, 'Don't go in. Don't you see that lighted lamp sitting at the foot of the bed? Someone is in the house.' My
husband went on in, and as he started across the room to see what the light was, it jump up on the side of the bed, went along the side of the top,
then disappear right out the window. My mother sent my husband out in the yard to look around to see if someone was in the house with a
lantern. He could not find anything. It was a token of death, for we lost our son in two week's time."

LANTERN
15710. "Twelve year' ago, one night my daughter and I were starting to church when my daughter said, 'Look! there is someone coming up the
walk carrying a lantern. Maybe we are getting company.' We waited on the doorstep until the light almost got to our house, then it went east and
disappear at the next neighbor's door. That week the neighbor died where the light disappear. It was a token. I am always seeing tokens."
15711. "About forty years ago we lived in the Bottom up around Lima. There was a big hill close to our house. Just about twilight I saw a man
coming over the hill with a big straw hat on carrying a lantern. I watched him and when he got to our barn gate he disappear. It was a token of my
father's death, for the next morning he took sick sudden and die the following night. So the man walking over the hill was his spirit."
15712. "One night about twenty years ago I went out of the house after dark, and right at the corner of the house was a lighted lantern standing
right on the ground; and as I started to it, the lantern went up in the air and went right on over to the woods, and then it disappear right down into
the cemetery. And my mother passed away that week."
15713. "About twenty-two years ago I took care of an old woman that was sick. She had a cancer. She thought as much of me as her daughter.
We lived about a mile from her house. A few nights before she died, she said she wanted to have a prayer meeting and for me to get everyone to
come, for she knew she was going to die. I went home to get my husband and the children. My husband cursed and said he would not go, said he
was going to a card game, and did. He took our only lantern and left me and the children to walk back in the dark a mile. We started down the
road and we had a little light in the path all the way. The Lord lit the way so I could see the way. I told my husband the next day about the light
all the way. He cursed and said, 'Don't tell that to anyone else, for they will not believe you, for you are crazy.' But I know I did see the light all
the way. The Lord done it for me because I am a good Christian."

LIGHTNING FLASH
15714. "A girl was sewing at the sewing machine one day, it was a beautiful day, when all at once she saw a flash of lightning. It hit her machine
and ran down to the floor. It scared her because there was no cloud in the sky. And her mother was not feeling well, so she thought it was a
warning telling of her mother's death, which took place in ten days after she saw the lightning."
15715. "One day a woman and her daughter-in-law and son were sitting in a room when they heard a loud clap of thunder, and lightning went
through the house, went in one door and out the other door. The mother-in-law said, 'What do you think of that? There is no storm in sight. We
have a clear sky. That is a warning of death inside of nine days.' And the son did get killed in about nine days after that."

STAR
15716. "About seven years ago I had been sick. I was getting better. And one night I was lying there looking up at the ceiling and all at once
I saw the blue sky with all the stars in it. I looked all around to see if I could see any cause of reflection in a glass to make me see the whole
ceiling a blue sky and the stars. I could not see anything. The stars were just beautiful. My husband was asleep. He is a little hard of hearing, so I
picked up my shoe at the side of the bed, you see I was awake, and threw it over on his bed to make him wake up to see the stars. I told him to
come over to the bed. I said, 'Lay your head down and look up and see what you can see.' He did, and said, 'Why, I don't see anything.' I said,
'Look again.' He did, and said again, 'I don't see anything.' I said, 'Don't you see the heavens and all the stars? They are beautiful.' He only laugh
and said I didn't see anything. I said, 'Go back to your bed and lie down.' I could still see the stars. I just kept gazing up at them. They were so
 406

beautiful. And I said, 'Lord, if it is a good omen for the future, let the stars fall down.' And they drop down closer. I said, 'Lord, let them rain all
over my bed.' And they started down just like snowflakes. I put out my hand to catch them, but I didn't catch them. They went right through my
fingers. I will never forget that sight, it was so beautiful, all of those stars raining over my bed. The next five years of my life were the happiest
years of my whole life. It was an omen of good luck."
15717. "Years ago I was lying in bed one night and a big star went across the room. It scared me, and I said to my mother, 'Get up and light the
lamp, a big star went through the room and something is going to happen.' My father heard me and started to fussing, saying, 'Fanny, you have
been reading ghost stories to that child.' And while my father was fussing and my mother trying to tell me maybe I didn't see it, someone knocked
on the front door and told us my mother's mother passed away. And we found out she died just when the star went through the room."
15718. "I believe in warnings. I had a neighbor that heard three raps at her door for three nights straight. Each night she went to the door and
no one was there. On the third night, just as she started to open the door, a big star appear on the door, then she knew it was death. Her mother
died out in California just about the same time the star appear on her door."
15719. "One night my boy was sick and we were watching him when a star came from over in the corner and came right to my boy and went
back in the same corner and disappeared. And in about a half hour you could see that boy's soul pass out just the same way the star went."

APPARITIONS CONCERNED WITH DEATH (15720-15786)

Angel of Death - Strange Undertaker (15720-15724)

ANGEL OF DEATH
15720. "About forty-six years ago my baby was sick. I had her in the baby buggy by the window. We thought she was better, so my
husband went to bed. Just before I went to bed I went over to the kitchen table to get some water to mix with the medicine. I was pouring water
out of the dipper into a glass when I looked up and at the window was a pretty white angel in the window. Then it disappear. It scared me. I went
and woke up my husband and said, 'Our baby is going to die, even if she is better tonight.' He said, 'Lizzie, can't you have some hopes for her.'
Then I told him about seeing the white angel at the window while I was fixing her medicine. She died in three days."
15721. "My little brother Joseph was sick. He had not been well for several weeks, only we didn't think he was bad. My aunt had lost her
little baby and she was at our house for several days. One morning she was milking her breast on the hot stove lid on the kitchen stove to dry her
breast up so it would not cake on her. You know that is what we used to do to dry the milk up so it would not cake. Little Joseph was on the bed
in the kitchen and said, 'I will tell Susie on you, auntie.' She said, 'Why Joseph, you can't, for Susie is dead.' The child had only been dead a week.
Joseph said, 'I will, for I see her now, flying over my bed. She is all dressed in white and has wings like the angels.' And he died that night. And
we didn't think he was sick at all."
15722. "My husband and I were out in the garden hoeing when we heard a noise going through the air, sounded like a big bird, when my boy that
was standing nearby spoke up and said, 'Did you see that angel going through the air?' I said, 'No, but we heard the noise.' It worried me, for I
believe in tokens. We got word my sister's baby was born dead just when the angel was flying through the air in our garden."
15723. "My mother was dead about two years, when one night I was sitting in the front room and she appear to me in the shape of an angel and
said, 'You don't know who I am, do you?' I said, 'You are an angel.' She said, 'No, I am your mother. How are you?' I said, 'I am all right.' She
said, 'How is daddy?' I said, 'I will call him. He is right here in the next room.' She said, 'No, I haven't time. I just drop in to let you know you will
get a telegram in the morning.' And she disappear. The next morning at six o'clock we got a telegram that grandpa was very sick. And he died."

STRANGE UNDERTAKER
15724. "One morning I went to the store and on my way home, when I got to the corner, I saw Mr. S. the undertaker going in our yard. I started to
running. And when I got to our yard, my husband was standing out in the yard. He said, 'What are you running for?' I said, 'I just saw
the undertaker come in and thought something was wrong.' He said, 'No one has been here.' At twelve o'clock I saw Mr. S. in the yard, and in the
afternoon I saw Mr. S. again. I told my husband and he said, 'Hell, you got the undertaker on your brain.' And just three weeks after that, Mr. S.
the undertaker did carry my husband out of the house dead."

Weird Priest - Vision of the Cross (15725-15730)

WEIRD PRIEST
15725. "I saw a warning one night. I saw a priest standing at the foot of my bed. I woke my husband and told him to look, but he didn't
see anything. Well, every person don't see omens. We didn't have anyone sick in the family then, but the next day after I saw that warning, my
sister took sick and died before the week was out."
15726. "Four nights before my baby was born, I thought I saw a big hole of water and people standing all around it, with a preacher standing in
the center like preaching to the people. My baby came, and in four days it died, and I saw again [in reality] the people standing around with the
preacher preaching its funeral."

VISION OF THE CROSS

15727. "My son went down to Plainville to see his uncle. His uncle was not well. Several people were sitting around, and my son saw a large
cross on the bedroom door of his uncle. And his uncle died in a few days. The cross was a token."
15728. "Three nights before my brother died I saw a big white cross on the door going out of the house. He was not even sick at the time, and
they took him out that door in a week's time."
15729. "Just before my little boy died, my mother and sister saw a cross in the room. It stayed there until he died, then it disappear."
15730. "My sister-in-law had a warning when her mother died. One night a cross came and hung right over her bed, and went back and forth over
her bed, and her mother died the next night."

Fateful Black - Ghostly White (15731-15745)

FATEFUL BLACK
15731. "Thirty years ago a man was standing on the corner in Quincy near his home and he saw his sister-in-law coming down the street
all dressed in black and wearing a black veil, and go right in his front door. He went over to his home to see why she was all dressed in black, and
she had not been there. This same lady came to his house before the week was over and knocked on his front door, and told him to come quick,
his brother was dying. So it was her spirit he had saw several days before."
15732. "I saw my aunt coming down the walk all dressed in black, she even had a mourning veil on. I said to myself, 'Who's going to die now?'
Next day I got word my aunt died just when I saw her walking down the walk. "
 407

15733. "I had a token one night. I saw a woman all dress in black standing in my door. I called to her and she disappear. My mother died that
week. It was her spirit I saw standing in my door."
15734. "The night before my husband died I saw an omen. I believe in them too. I saw a man come in the front door with a long black cape on,
with a black hat on too. I couldn't see his face. He walked through the house, went out the kitchen door. My husband died the next day."
15735. "The night before my husband died he saw his own warning. It was his own death. That night he woke me up, said, 'Something is going to
happen soon. I just saw a big black object standing in the door. When I spoke, it swamp [sank] right down and disappear. The next day he drop
down in the toilet out in the yard. When I found him he was on the floor dead."

GHOSTLY WHITE
15736. "When my nephew was sick I had been sitting up with him for several days and was very tired. He said, 'Auntie, go and rest on the bed,
mother will stay by me, and if I want you I will call you.' I went over and kissed him on the cheek and left the room. I was lying down, when I
heard the window rattle and rattle. I looked over and saw a woman coming in the window, all dressed in white with long black hair hanging down
her back. She came right on in and came right to my bed and reached over and kiss me right on the same spot my nephew had kissed me, and
went to the door and disappear through it. Just as she went out the door I heard my sister scream. My nephew passed away just as the woman in
white went through the door. It was the angel of death."
15737. "One day I was sitting in a room taking care of a sick woman. Her bed was right by a window. I happen to look out of the window and
saw a woman coming down the hill, all dressed in white. She came to the window and looked in and passed on by, and the woman in the bed turn
over and look out of the window and passed away at the same time."
15738. "When we lived up on the corner at X. and Lind [Street] five years ago, we were all in the back yard and we all saw a woman all dressed
in white walk through our yard and go over the fence. She passed right back of father, but he was the only one that didn't see her. We had no one
sick at the time, but in one hour after that a blood vessel broke in my mother's head and she died before the doctor got there.
15739. "Our neighbor woman got up one night to go to the kitchen to get her a drink. As she started over to the bucket, a man all dress in white
passed between her and the kitchen table. She could not tell who it was. She was not afraid, and said, 'What are you doing here in this kitchen?'
The man disappear. Her father died two days after that."
15740. "I believe in warnings. About a month before my husband took sick, one night after I went to bed, I saw two people coming toward my
bed all dressed in white with flowing robes. Then it disappear. I knew it was a warning but didn't know who. My husband took sick in three
weeks and died before the month was out."
15741. "About fifty years ago some children and I were out in the yard playing just at twilight and we heard a horse coming up the country
road galloping, and as it passed the front gate, all we could see was a baby on this horse with a long white robe. It scared us so, we ran into the
house and told mother. And she said, 'That's a warning, for there was no horse going by.' And in a week time our little sister took sick and died."
15742. "When I was carrying my baby, one night when I was in bed, I looked up and saw a baby with a long white dress just floating around. I
wanted my husband to get up and light the lamp but he would not. And when my little girl was born, she didn't live very long, and was buried in a
long white dress like the one I saw floating in the room."
15743. "About thirty-five years ago I was going from one farm to another up near Clayton. I was driving the horses to the wagon and my old
hound dog was running along the fence barking at everything he saw. When we started out we were going south and everything went fine, until
we turned on the road to go east, when all at once my dog stop barking and stood still. I looked to see what was wrong and saw a big white object
crawling along the fence. It looked like a big child all dress in white. I could not turn back, so we kept on going down the road, and the white
object kept on coming. When we almost got to it, the white object jump right off into a big mud hole on the side of the road and disappear right in
the mud. I knew something was going to happen in the family. The next day my little brother about twelve years old got kicked by a horse and
die. He was lay out all in white."
15744. "I was driving with a man up the road to Carthage [about thirteen miles north of Adams County] to see some people. It was real dark. The
man that was driving said, 'Look at that big white object on the [osage orange] hedge.' I looked but didn't see it. He kept trying to show it to me,
said, 'Why can't you see it. Why it's as large as an elephant.' I said, 'What have you been drinking?' 'Nothing,' he said, 'only it is following us
along the hedge [which bordered the road]. It is some token.' He could see it along the hedge all the way to Carthage and spoke all the way of it
being as big as an elephant. And the next morning when we were out in the hayfield, we had went up to work on a farm, as he picked up the
pitchfork he said, 'Look there! that big white object again.' The man was dead in a week's time."
15745. "My father and another man were walking down the street just fifteen years ago [1923] when a newspaper flutter in the air and fell right at
my father's feet in front of him. He thought the man with him drop it, and said, 'You drop your paper.' The man said he didn't have any paper.
And my father said he sure felt very foolish when they didn't see any paper. It was only a token of death. My brother got shot the next day while
hunting."

Phantasmal Winding Sheet - Uncanny Crape (15746-15755)

PHANTASMAL WINDING SHEET
15746. "This is a great-aunt of my mother's, and it happened during the Civil-War period. At that time cholera visited the United States in its
worst form. More especially was Kentucky visited by a real scorge of cholera. This aunt who related this to my mother told her the story.
There were three sons and each of these boys was studying for the ministry. They had gone to spend the night with a cousin a mile away and were
in perfect health. The mother of these boys awakened and she was crying, and her husband sought the reason of her grief and she told him this
story: 'Hanging in the great hall below I saw three sheets, new, and waving in the breeze. Suddenly I went to them and touched them. They were
material. I came back and started to examine the sheets again and they were gone. The boys will be buried tomorrow,' she cried. She went back to
her bedroom but not to sleep. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and the cousin with whom the boys were visiting said, 'Come, aunt Susan,
your boys are dying with cholera.' She turned to her husband and said, 'Now I know the meaning of the sheets. They were winding sheets for
my boys'."
15747. "Sixty years ago we lived on a farm out here by Payson. I was a girl. We had a long row of gooseberry bushes in the yard. My mother
would always lay some of the clothes over them to dry when she would do her washing. One night my mother went out in the yard to do
something and saw a large white sheet lying over one of the bushes. Thinking she forgot some of her washing, she went over to get the sheet, and
just when she got to the bush, the sheet went right up in the air and disappeared. She knew then it was an omen. And her favorite sister took sick
and died before ten days."
15748. "My father seventy years ago went out in the yard after dark and the clothesline was just full of white sheets blowing on the line. He went
to the line and there were no sheets on the line. He knew then it was an omen, and his wife took sick and died in a few days after that."
 408

15749. "Brother and I had been uptown on a Saturday night, I believe it was the seventh of May, and on our way home a big white sheet floated
in front of us about three feet ahead all the way home. And when we got to the gate it went right over the house and disappear. And on the
twenty-fifth of May my father was a corpse."
15750. "I could play the organ fine. I always would after supper. About twenty-five years ago after supper one night, just before I was going to
get in bed, I thought I would play Home, Sweet Home. I went to the organ and tried and tried, but could not get a sound on the organ. Then I
thought I would go to bed. My husband was not home. He was working. The bed was in the front room where the organ was. I lay there awhile,
wondering why I could not play, when all at once the organ started to playing Home, Sweet Home, and at the same time I heard someone at the
front door, saying, 'Lou, 0 Lou.' I jump out of bed and went to the door. No one was there. So I started for the kitchen door, and as I went through
the kitchen a big white sheet went right up in front of me and disappear in the ceiling. When I open the door no one was there. So I went back and
sit down in a chair to wait for my husband. He always got home about six o'clock. This morning he came in about four. I said, 'Well, as long as
you are home early I will go back to bed, for I have had no sleep tonight.' He said, 'You had better not, but put on your good clothes.' I said, 'Who
is dead?' Then he told me he had come to take me to my mother's house. She had passed away when the organ played Home, Sweet Home."

UNCANNY CRAPE
15751. "One evening I was coming home from work just about dusk. As I came along by our neighbor's house I saw two men putting crape
on the front door. I went in the house and I said to my mother, 'I did not know anyone was sick next door,' and told my mother about seeing the
crape on the door. She said she would go over in the morning, and did. When she got there no one was even sick. Then my mother told her about
me seeing the crape. This neighbor said, 'That is a token, I am going to move right away.' And she got out of the house the next day. Another
woman, that had been wanting that house, moved in the same week. That woman was only in that house two weeks and took sick and died."
15752. "I had a little girl, it was the only girl we had at the time. We had two boys. My girl took sick. And one day we thought she was so
much better, when my oldest boy came in the room and said, 'Look, mother, at the curtains by Alice's bed. They're not curtains hanging there! It's
crape hanging there!' I looked. Sure enough, I didn't see the curtain. I only saw crape at the window. And my little girl died before the week was
out. I do believe in warnings of the dead. Some people make fun of you, but I don't care. What I see, I see."
15753. "One night I went out in the yard to get a bucket of coal, and as I started up the walk, I noticed a lace curtain flying back and forth at
the kitchen window. I didn't know what to think, for I had no curtain at the window. It worried me all night, for I knew something was going to
happen. And my daughter took sick in about ten days and died."
15754. "One night I woke up and saw a clothes-rack in my bedroom with a snow-white curtain on the rack flying back and forth. Of course there
was no rack in the room. It was a token of my husband's father's death. He died in two months after I saw the curtain flying in my room."
15755. "Just before my brother-in-law died I was standing out in the garden when a great long white veil, it looked like a veil, floated right by my
face and disappear. At noon when my husband came home he said, 'I have something bad to tell you.' I said, 'I know it. Charlie is dead.' He said,
'How did you know it when he was not sick and only got killed this morning?' Then I told him of the long white veil floating by me, and it seem
to say Charlie."

Unearthly Flowers - Spectral Coffin (15756-15772)

UNEARTHLY FLOWERS
15756. "My mother was lying in bed one night, saw a tree by the house with all-white flowers hanging on the tree. About two weeks after that she
called me and said, 'Daughter, I am going to die in a month's time.' I said, 'What makes you think that? you are not even sick.' She said,
'Well, seeing the white flowers, and just now, I saw my coffin sitting in the front room with me in it, and you standing by it all dressed in black.'
And she died before the month was out."
15757. "Seven years ago my son was sick in the hospital here in Quincy. We were out to the hospital and the nurse told us he was doing fine and
getting along all right, for us to go home. When we got home I was undressing to go to bed, when I looked up at the window and saw a big
bouquet of ferns and flowers hanging in the window. The flowers had lights of gold all over them. The bouquet was swinging back and forth. I
said to my husband, 'Look!' He didn't see it, for he never sees signs, when I see a token every time someone died in the family. I started to putting
my things back on to go. And my son died in forty-five minutes after I saw the bouquet of flowers and ferns."
15758. "One day I was walking through the sitting room and I saw a green and white wreath hanging in the window, and my mother died in no
time after that."
15759. "Just before my stepfather died I saw a big bunch of red roses in the room one night, and a man standing there holding me a letter. And
the very next morning I got a letter telling me he died through the night."
15760. "One day I was going down the road and I saw a bunch of white flowers. In that bunch were two lavender flowers; one was all wither and
dead, the other fresh. When I got to the flowers they disappear. My father died that night."
15761. "My husband saw a warning before he died. One evening he said to me, 'Look, over there at that table covered with flowers and the
twelve people around it!' I knew right away it was the Twelve Disciples. And he died that week."

SPECTRAL COFFIN
15762. "Years ago near Clayton several men and I were going with a thrashing [threshing] machine. One night after supper we were all
lying around in the yard waiting for a man to come and fix that machine. It had broke down that afternoon. Mr. Clay and I were lying together. I
remember well if it was yesterday. We were lying on an old barn gate to keep from getting dirty. Mr. Clay and I were talking about going to bed.
We didn't want to stay up, for we thought maybe we would have to help on the machine, and we were going to have a hard day's work the next
day. All at once Mr. Clay stop right in the middle of what he was saying. I looked to see what was wrong, and saw a big white box, about five
feet long, going up the road. I said, 'Clay, what was that?' He said, 'God only knows, but it looked like a long white box to me, and I know it is for
me.' We didn't say a word but got up and went in the house. In four months Mr. Clay was in his coffin."
15763. "One day after working hard all day in the field, after eating my supper, I took my pipe and went out in the yard to rest. I lay down on
the grass with several others and, while smoking and talking to them, I saw a small coffin floating along the hillside that was not far from our
house, for we lived near the creek. I knew right then it was an omen for someone in our family. At that time not a person was sick on the farm.
The very next morning my wife was washing clothes. She set the boiler on the floor with hot water and clothes in it. While she was not looking,
in some way our small child fell in this boiler of hot water, and got burn so bad that she died before the week was out."
15764. "My aunt was pregnant. The folks were all sitting at the table eating their supper when my aunt said, 'Do you see that coffin coming in
at the window?' We all looked but did not see it. She said, 'It came right over here to me and touched my side, then went out the front door.' My
aunt said to my uncle, 'Sam, I am going to die. That was my coffin going out the front door.' My uncle laughed and said, 'You are nervous and did
not see anything.' When they were getting ready to go to bed, my aunt's little girl, three years old, was playing with her mother and kicked her
 409

real hard in the side. It hurt my aunt so bad she said, 'Get the doctor Sam, I am going to die. You see, that coffin was for me.' And she died before
morning."
15765. "About thirty years ago [1900], on the first day of May just at noon, some girls had a looking-glass looking in a well to see their
future husband, when one of the girls screamed and said, 'I see my coffin,' and started to running to the house, the other girls after her. When she
got to the house she said, 'Look! that coffin is coming in at the window.' And that girl died in a month's time."
15766. "About thirty-five years ago, one night I was lying in bed and all at once I saw a coffin floating by my bed. It kept going by, and my
sister- in-law was in the coffin, all dressed in white. It worried me so, I got up out of bed and went downstairs. I could not sleep. I thought it was
an omen. It was two o'clock in the morning. I didn't go back upstairs that night, worrying about the coffin. We were living out in the country, and
the first thing that morning we got a telegram telling us to come at once, that my sister-in-law was very sick. And she died before the week was
over, and looked just like she did in that coffin I saw floating by me."
15767. "I had a warning two weeks before my husband died. One night I was lying in bed and all at once I saw a white coffin in the room with
my husband in it. In two weeks I saw my husband in a grey coffin, not a white one. But it was a warning."
15768. "Twenty-two years ago I was rocking my baby and I happen to look down and saw a coffin at my feet with my oldest boy in it. I said to
myself he would not be buried like that, for he didn't wear the kind of tie he had on. It worried me, but I didn't say a word in the house. Again,
several weeks later, I started to take a picture off the wall, of my dead daughter's, to clean behind it, and as I lifted the cord, a coffin passed from
the back of the picture and went right out the open window, just like the one I saw at my feet with my boy in. It scared me so, I turned and didn't
take the picture down, and said to myself, 'It will have to be.' For I knew it was an omen of my boy's death. Again I didn't tell the folks, because
my husband would laugh. That very week my son was plowing on road work and the plow got fasten under a tree root and the mule could not
move. He put his hand on the mule's hip to pat him, trying to make him pull, when the mule jump and broke the doubletree and it flew up and hit
him in the stomach. And he died the next day. And when I looked at him in his coffin, he had on a necktie just like I saw in the coffin on the
floor. The undertaker had put it on him."
15769. "I am always seeing tokens. I was going with a fellow, and his mother was real sick in another town. He wanted me to go along with him
up to his sister's house, said I could stay overnight with her and go and see his mother, for she was in the same town in the hospital. I went. We
were all sitting in a room at his sister's, after I got there, before we went to the hospital, when all at once a sizzing noise went through the room.
Sounded like a train. I knew it was a token. No one else heard it. We went to the hospital and his mother was lot better. When we came home, as
they open the door, I put my hand on something. I thought it was a chair that I knew was sitting there, but I looked down and didn't see a chair,
only a black coffin lined with white. I screamed and fainted. When I came to, they wanted me to tell what was wrong, and I would not. His
mother died the next day. Then I told them what I saw."
15770. "Mrs. H's mother and father were sleeping in one room and she and her sister were sleeping in the alcove right off the other room. She
said everyone was asleep except her, and she saw a black coffin but she couldn't see who was in the coffin, but it was an old-time black coffin
with cut-off corners. In the morning she told her mother and said not to say anything to anybody, because their grandmother was very sick and
they thought it would worry everybody. She died in a few days, and her father and uncle picked a black coffin with cut-off corners just like the
one she saw."
15771. "One day my granddaughter came running in the house and said, 'Grandma, I saw father out here in the back yard in a coffin.' I said, 'Oh,
don't say that.' But it worried me, for I thought it was an omen. MY son-in-law was not even sick at the time, but it was not a week until he took
sick and died. The day of the funeral, when her father was in his coffin, my granddaughter said, 'Grandma, that is just the way father looked out in
the yard last week'."
15772. "One night in the year of 1878 I saw a rock [substitute image for a coffin?] tied on a rope swinging down in my room from the ceiling
[rope lowering coffin into grave?], and all at once it fell and shook the whole house. I called my mother and told her what I had saw and heard.
We looked and nothing was wrong in the room. Mother said, 'Well, that's a warning of your father's death,' he had not been well, 'he will not be
with us long now, after you seeing and hearing that.' He died that week."

“Spiritual Wagon” - Phantom Funeral (15773-15780)

"SPIRITUAL WAGON"
15773. "Seventy years ago my uncle was sick in Ursa, and one night a dead wagon backed up against the front porch. The folks in the house
heard the noise and looked out, and as the wagon started away, a coffin was in the wagon. The uncle died that night. And that dead wagon they
saw was the spiritual wagon."
15774. "Just a few years back my husband and I were in bed asleep and something woke us both up at the same time. He said, 'What was that
noise?' I didn't know, but I heard it too. Our bed was right at the window. We looked out and you could see a wagon standing there full of dirt
with the end of the wagon to the window. And all at once the end of the wagon fell out and the dirt started to falling out of the wagon. It was an
omen, for my husband took sick in a few days and died before three weeks."
15775. "One night I stepped out of the kitchen door for a few minutes. We had an old shed out in the yard close to the house. It was nine-thirty at
night. And I saw an old wagon under the shed, and under the right wheel in the rear was a big white dog in that wheel. We had no wagon in that
shed. The next morning at nine-thirty my aunt died."
15776. "I believe in warnings. We lived in the country about ten miles from Quincy when I was young. One morning my mother said, 'Go down
the road and see now Aunt Mary is. I know she is dead because I saw the train and baggage coach go by this morning with her.' We didn't have a
train track in miles of us. I went down to Aunt Mary's house and my aunt was dead. So it was a warning, for we brought her to Quincy and took
her in the baggage coach to Missouri just like my mother saw it."

PHANTOM FUNERAL
15777. "My daddy always got up at night and would look out the window, and said, 'So-and-So's funeral is going by the house.' Of course there
was no funeral, but the person he named would die soon in the neighborhood. He always could tell."
15778. "A woman was dying and she raised up in bed and said, 'Look at Mrs. Smith's funeral going by.' They all looked and no one was going by.
Mrs. Smith was a neighbor that was well. Mrs. Smith took sick that week and died before the week was over."
15779. "One day I went to the store. I said to the woman in the store, 'What are all those carriages doing out in the front?' She looked and
said, 'Why, I do not see any carriages,' when I could see them everywhere. The next week a woman and her daughter died on the block, and there
were carriages everywhere."
15780. "About two weeks before my mother died she was sitting on the front porch, and she saw several cars go by her house and come on down
the road by my house, and go on down the Bottom Road. I was only living one-half mile down the road and she could see everything that went
by. I was out in the yard at the time she saw the cars going by. And that night I was up to her house and she wanted to know who were in the
 410

cars. I said, 'Why I didn't see several cars go by.' And she kept saying they did, and that I was out in the yard and she didn't see why I didn't see
them. In two week's time the cars were taking my mother to the cemetery, and they had to go down the road and pass my house, and go on down
the Bottom Road to the cemetery."

Unnatural Grave - Eerie Tombstone (15781-15786)

UNNATURAL GRAVE
15781. "When they took my boy to the hospital, just as he went out the yard I saw an open grave in the yard; was a token of his death, for he died
at the hospital and never came home again."
15782. "Mr. L., according to his granddaughter, who told the following story, was the first druggist in Quincy. One of the few doctors in town
had his offices in Mr. L's drug store and it was the custom, whenever the doctor left on a case and another call came, for the druggist to answer it.
Saddle horses were kept in a stable behind the drug store for this purpose. One night while the doctor was away he had an emergency call and the
druggist answered it for him. The place was some five or more miles from town and the road merely a trail through the woods. Mr. L. reached the
house, did what he could, and then started back to town; but on the return journey a violent storm overtook him. When he reached what is now
Eighteenth and State Street, the edge of the woods, he found that a large tree had been blown over and lay across the path. He was just preparing
to ride his horse round the obstruction as a flash of lightning revealed three open graves by the side of the fallen tree. He continued his way to
town but was worried. On arriving at the drug store he received news that his mother and two sisters, who lived in Quincy and had taken sick that
day, had just died of cholera."
15783. "One day my sister and I came in from uptown and my brother was sitting in the parlor. As we came in the room my brother said, 'Girls,
don't walk in the middle of the room, for if you do you may fall in that big hole.' My brother was well when he told us that, and before the week
was out he was dead, and his coffin was sitting in the middle of the room just where he told us not to walk."
15784. "I was born with a veil on and you can always see things before they happen. One afternoon just five years ago down here near Seventh
and Vermont Street, I was asleep on the bed when in my sleep I saw my neighbor, that I knew didn't like me, come over to the fence and was
digging a little hole in my yard. In her hand she was holding a small coffin. I jump up, it scared me so, and ran to the window, and there she was
digging just like the dream told me. I threw up the window and she ran back into her house. If I had not had that warning, she would of buried the
coffin in my yard and I would of faded away. I moved right away from that house."
15785. "Years ago a man and his girl were to be married out here around Liberty. They had everything ready, even the wedding dress and his
suit. Several days before the wedding a gypsy fortune teller came along and wanted to tell this girl's fortune. The girl laughing, said, 'Can you tell
me when I am going to get married?' The old gypsy started to telling her fortune. The girl said, 'When is my wedding day?' The old woman said,
'You go out to the field and look in that old well you do not use, with that big white stone on.' The gypsy didn't tell her a thing about her wedding
day. And she was to be married that week. They even had a farm to go on. So after the gypsy didn't tell her a thing about her wedding day and she
was to be married that week, she went out to this old well in the field, took the stone off and look down. And instead of seeing water she saw a
cemetery with an open grave and a coffin by the grave. She started to running and screaming, and going through the orchard she fell down and
fainted. They got the doctor and the priest. She told them what she saw in the old well. They talked with her and did every- thing for her they
could. She died. And the day that she was to be married was her funeral day. The old gypsy didn't want to tell her she was going to die, so had her
look in the well." This looks like a folk-tale.

EERIE TOMBSTONE
15786. "Sixteen years ago my uncle was fishing one night with some other fellows in the river and he saw a white tombstone come up out of the
middle of the river and float down the river. He said to the fellows with him, 'I am going to die, that was an omen.' They said, 'You never
saw anything, we didn't.' Then he went home and told his wife he was going to die, told her about the white tombstone. 'Clarence, get that out of
your head. You didn't see anything.' But he kept on saying he saw it and it was for him. He was a well man at the time. He took sick the last of
that week and he never did get well."

SPIRIT SEEKING GRAVE BEFORE DEATH (15787-15790)

15787. "I was working in Jacksonville [Illinois] on the street lights. I had another colored man helping me. One night I was standing with my
ladder ready to light a light when this man said, 'Move your ladder and let these people pass.' I looked and could not see anyone. And he said they
were spirits going by to the cemetery to hunt their graves."
15788. "When I was nine years old, one night just at dusk I went to the spring to get a bucket of water. On my way back I met my father coming
down the path. Thinking that he had come to help me carry the water, I started to reach him the bucket. He did not take it. I watched him. He
went right by me and straight on to the cemetery. I knew then that he was going there to pick out his grave. When I got to the house he was sitting
in the kitchen by the stove. I looked so funny, mother said, 'What is wrong ?' I said, 'I just met father down the path.' Mother said, 'That was his
spirit you saw, for he has not been out of this room.' And my father died that week."
15789. "I had been keeping company with a girl friend for a long time. I used to go over to see her several times a week. One night I didn't go. I
was walking down the road to another neighbor's house and right in front of me I saw a woman walking in the road all dressed in white. I tried to
overtake her to see who she was, but I could not catch up with her; and when she got to the crossroads that lead down to the cemetery, she
disappear down the road that led to the cemetery. And I didn't see her again. When I got home that night I had only been in the house a little while
when my girl friend's brother came and said, 'Come quick, if you want to see my sister before she is dead.' And I went right over to her house
with her brother. And she died that night."
15790. "My little girl was sick. A white dove came in one door and out the other. Before it went out I had a time fighting it off the baby. It just
hung right over her. We didn't have screens those days, but we had mosquito bar over her. When I got the dove out, it flew down the road to
the old church [near Marblehead] and went in one door and out the other. You see, it was one of those old-type country churches that had one
door for the men to go in and one for the ladies. I didn't see the dove go in the church door, but a woman going by the church did and told me
about it after the funeral. And we carry our little girl in the door the dove went in, and out the door the dove went out, to the cemetery. It was a
token, the white dove, that the child was going to heaven."

HEADLESS SPECTRE (15791-15793)

15791. "One night my father was coming home from a dance and he saw his girl Nancy on the corner. She was all dressed in white, with a
white sunbonnet with pink trimming. He went over and looked into her sunbonnet and said, 'What are you doing out this time of the night?' And
 411

he found out she did not have her head on. She started to running him and ran him all the way home. He fell in the door and his mother said,
'What is wrong with you? I told you that the devil would bring you home some night.' He said, 'It was not the devil, it was Nancy's spirit running
me home, because I looked into her face'."
15792. "About thirty years ago I had a girl boarding with me. She was born with a veil on and was always seeing things. One night about
nine o'clock I was reading and this girl was studying, when all at once this girl screamed and threw her head on the table and got hysterical. It was
fifteen minutes before we could find out what was wrong. And she told us she saw a man coming down the stairs with his head off and lying on
his shoulder. We could never get that girl to go up the stairs again, only when we went with her. Time went on and she married a man in Hannibal
[Missouri]. She was always seeing things. Her husband died five years ago and she sets the table for him every time she eats and puts a chair for
him, and he always comes and sits with her and talks to her through the meal."
15793. "I sure do believe in warnings. My daughter-in-law had been sick and I was sitting in the chair thinking about her, and all at once I saw
eight heads in the room, all together, and one of the heads lying down. Just then the lady I was boarding with came in and said, I will go and
telephone to see how Mary is this morning.' 'Mary is dead,' I said, for there were eight heads in their family [and Mary was the "one of the heads
lying down"]. And in a few minutes we got word she was dead."

WRAITH (15792-15851)
15794. "Near Fowler twenty-three years ago my daughter-in-law was sick in bed with T.B. [tuberculosis] and fistula. She could not even turn in
bed, someone had to turn her every time she wanted to move. One night she came to my bed in Lorraine in her flannel nightgown and stood at the
foot of my bed throwing her arms up and down. I said, 'Sis, what's wrong with you being here? Why, you even could not move when I was at
your house yesterday.' After I spoke she turn right around and went out of the room. I went to Fowler the next morning, for they found her dead
in bed. She died during the night. It was her spirit at the foot of the bed. I always see and hear something when there's a death in the family."
15795. "My sister-in-law had T.B. [tuberculosis] and could not get out of bed. My mother and I were sleeping in the same bed. My mother looked
up and my sister-in-law was standing at the foot of the bed with her striped flannel gown on, waving her hand. Mother said, 'Why Sis, what are
you doing out of bed?' She turn around and walk right back. Mother got up and follow her, and when she got to her room, she was fast asleep.
This was about two o'clock in the morning. In the morning when mother went in she was dead." Note: Mother in 15794 and daughter in 15795
were interviewed separately at different times and in different places.
15796. "My little girl had scarlet fever about thirty years ago. We were living out here on a farm. Just before she died, one evening I went out
to milk and left her asleep on the bed with my brother-in-law to watch her. I was sitting milking on a stool when I look up and saw Georgie
standing there holding her cup for milk. I milked some milk in the cup and said, 'Georgie, you should be in the house, not here.' I stopped milking
and she started to run toward the house and me after her. When she got to the kitchen door she went on around the house and me after her, then
she disappear. I went into the house and there she was asleep just as I had left her. My brother-in-law said she had never been out of the bed. I
knew then that it was a token. And she died the next morning at five o'clock."
15797. "My grandfather saw his old mother going around the house, and she would have to climb a small fence to go around the house, so he
went to help her. He follow her all around on around the house. He looked in the door and she was sewing at the window. 'I thought I saw you
going around the house,' said my father. His mother said, 'I have not been out of this chair since you went away.' While he was talking to her, he
saw her going around the house again, making three times. Three days later she died."
15798. "I knew a woman well that always kept her vessel out at the eaves of the house. One night about nine o'clock she went out to get it. A man
was standing right by the vessel. She knew her husband had gone to bed but she thought he came out to scare her, and she never said a word, only
pick up the vessel and went back in the house. Her husband was in bed just as she had left him. It was a token of his death, for she lost him in a
week."
15799. "My aunt was staying with us. One morning she said she wanted to go to town and my husband took her to the train in the buggy. I was
sitting by the window after they left, and heard something going up the stairs. I looked and saw aunt Toby going up the stairs all dressed in a long
black dress; it was so long it was dragging on the stairs. And she was at the depot about that time. It was an omen, for she died in no time after
that."
15800. "When I was a girl about fourteen years old I went out in the hall and my aunt grab me in her arms. I screamed and ran back in the room.
It was my aunt that was living in the South. And my mother got word that my aunt died just when she grabbed me in her arms. I always have an
omen if anyone dies in the family."
15801. "My aunt one night had a warning. She slept downstairs and her two sons upstairs. After they had all gone to bed, my aunt gave one loud
scream that brought both of the boys downstairs, running to see what was wrong. My aunt said, 'Get your clothes on quick, boys, something is
wrong with your father. He was just standing here at the foot of the bed.' And my uncle had not got home yet. The boys dress and went to the
barn to get the horses to go look for their father, and they met their father's team coming in the barn lot without the father. They had run away and
the father was dead on the roadside."
15802. "I was sitting in a wheel-chair patching one day and my mother came and threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. I said, 'Mother,
did you come all the way to see me or did Mr. Gee come with you?' I went and fixed supper for her and put everything on the table but the tea.
She took my hand and set the tea back and said, 'Darling girl, all ma wants is for her darling girl to come and take care of me until I die or get
well.' I knew then it was a vision, and just as soon as I got my pension I went and took care of her until she died."
15803. "I had a token of my mother's death who was in California. I didn't know she was even sick. One day I saw her sitting in a big arm chair
holding up her foot to me and saying, 'You had better come. My foot is so bad nobody can do me any good. I am going to die.' The next day I got
a letter from California saying, 'Come at once, mother has blood poison setting in her foot.' I left right away. And my mother died in a month's
time. I always see things like that before they die."
15804. "Years ago I was kneeling down to say my prayers. Chancing to look up, I saw a man staring at me, then he vanished. Several days later
I received a letter stating that my uncle had just died in the East. My aunt soon came to Quincy. Among her effects was a photograph of my
deceased uncle. When I saw the picture I was startled to find that it was the very likeness of the man whom I had seen a few weeks before
standing by my bed. I had never seen my uncle nor had I ever seen a photograph of him."
15805. "Forty years ago my sister saw her little girl's picture on the wall in her bedroom. It stayed there. They sent and got the preacher to come
and pray for the picture to leave after it had been there three days, but her little girl died the same week."
15806. "One day I was peeling carrots and when I looked down in the sink to wash them, I saw my brother's picture in the bottom of the sink. He
died very sudden sitting up, and he looked just like that picture I saw in the sink that morning."
15807. "We went down to visit my stepfather. He had been sick for six weeks. We went home about nine o'clock and went to bed. After I was
asleep my husband said, 'Sue, someone is in the house,' and pulled the cover up over my head so I could not see them. I said, 'No one is in the
house.' 'Oh, yes there is. It's a man with a black arm, and his face is all turning black. He just passed out the window. Don't look.' And about three
 412

o'clock that morning my stepfather choked to death, and he was all black. And my husband said he looked just like the man he saw go through the
window that night."
15808. "This lady you see here, I have been boarding with her for a good many years. About seven years ago her husband was sick, had been sick
for some time. One evening I was sitting by the bed and I happen to look up, and a tall man came in the window, walked around the bed, and then
went back to the window and disappear. And her husband died that night."
15809. "We lived down here in the Bottom with nothing but willows and water all around our house. One night I went over to the neighbor's
house and their house was just like ours, nothing but water and willows. No one could get near the window. And I saw my sister looking in the
window. I tried every way to make the rest see her but they didn't. And my sister died just when I seen her looking in at the window."
15810. "About twenty-five years ago I was living on a farm near Marblehead and my brother was living in Marblehead. He was sick, so I dressed
a nice big chicken and took it to him. About three o'clock I said, 'I will have to go home so I can feed my chickens.' He said, 'You have got nine
hours yet.' I went on home and when I was getting my supper he came and look in at the window. Then I went into the other room and I heard
him walking in the kitchen. Then he started to singing Home, Sweet Home. And he was dying while his spirit was singing Home, Sweet Home in
my kitchen."
15811. "When my husband was sick I saw a man going by the bedroom window several times. I went out to see what he wanted and there was no
man there. The ground was covered with snow and there were no tracks, so I knew it was an omen. And my husband died that week."
15812. "About a year ago I had been ironing, was a little tired out, so went and laid down on the bed. While I was there I saw something pass
the window. I didn't see the head, but I saw a orange and blue checked coat go by the window. I jump up and ran to the door, thinking my cousin
would be there, for she had a orange and blue coat just like the one I saw go by the window. When I didn't see her at the door, I was so sure, I
went out and looked around the stove wood ranked up, thinking she was hiding from me. Didn't see anything. It was a token, for she died the next
night."
15813. "I have a friend that believes in tokens strong. I have often heard her tell this one. One day she was sitting by the window sewing and Mrs.
So- and-So, that lived up the road and was very sick at that time, flittered pass her window with a shawl over her head. She went to the door, but
she had disappear. When her husband came in from the barn, she said, 'Mrs. So-and-So is dead.' He said, 'Why?' She said, 'Well, she just flittered
by my window.' And she did die just about that time. This happen up in the North Bottoms."
15814. "I was real sick in bed. Something told me to get up. They didn't want me to get up, but I did. They put me in a rocking-chair and pull me
into the kitchen by the cookstove. I put my feet upon the stove to keep warm, was late in the fall, when all at once I saw a woman going by the
window, with a sunbonnet on, toward the stove. I said, 'Who is that woman going by?' They didn't see her. She passed that window three times,
always going the same way. I said, 'Put me back to bed, that is a token of death.' That night when the train came down, we got word my father fell
and to come at once, if I wanted to see him alive. And he died the next day."
15815. "Forty-five years ago mother and some girls were out on a hill. They were looking for pecans, when one of the girls threw up her hands
and screamed. The other girls thought she saw a snake and ran to her. She said, 'No, I didn't see a snake, I saw my sister.' 'Oh, where!' they said.
'Right here. She was all dressed in white.' My mother was seventeen years old at the time and said they stop looking for pecans and took this girl
home. As they got near the house this girl's mother came running to meet them and grabbed her daughter In her arms, crying, and said, 'This is
my darling girl. Your sister is dead.' She had got the word after the girls had gone for nuts. She [the sister who died] was miles away."
15816. "When I was ten years old, the fever was leaving me from typhoid, and I thought I was on a big high hill and had a long white dress on
with a harp in my hands. Below me was a big stream of water, and I thought my brother was standing by the water begging to come to me. I said,
'You can't come now, but some day.' Then he said, 'Play a piece on your harp.' I sit up in bed and started to singing In the Sweet Bye and Bye. It
was a warning that my brother was going to get in the pen [penitentiary], for they sent him to the pen that week for stealing."
15817. "About forty years ago on my way home from school out here in the country I met one of the school girls. She was about twelve years old.
She was standing under a tree crying as if her heart would break. I said, 'Why Mary, what is wrong with you?' She said, 'Look over there at that
big oak tree. My mother is standing back of it watching me and I know I will get a good whipping for playing along the road and being late.' I
said, 'Come on, I will go home with you and maybe your mother will not whip you.' We went over to the big oak tree but we could not find her
mother any place. I was young then and didn't know people had tokens of death. We went on to the house and as we were coming through the
gate, her big sister came to the door and said, 'Hurry, Mary, your mother is very sick.' And her mother died that night."
15818. "We were living in a place where there was two old stumps in the yard; one was black because it had been burnt down, and the other was
a white stump. I was about eight years old at the time and that was about forty years ago. We were all sitting on the back porch and I saw at the
white stump something white rolling over and over, it look like ducks, then it disappear. Then at the black stump I saw my father standing by it,
and he said, 'Children, I am gone, I am gone, I am gone.' The next day we got word that my father died just when he said, 'I am gone,' to us
children."
15819. "Six years ago, before my friend's mother died, she was sitting on a screen porch. She look out and saw a tall woman dressed in a
sunbonnet with a long dress. She could see her very plainly as she came through the yard gate and walked up through the grape arbor toward her.
She asked her what she wanted and she disappear. And in three days her mother took sick and died that lived several blocks away. That woman
walking up the walk and through the grape arbor was her mother's spirit telling of her death."
15820. "About forty-five years ago I was working up on Bay Island. We were loading a barge of willows [Willow saplings 10-15 feet long used
to riprap the river bank where the current washed against and eroded it]. I had been working hard all morning, it was Sunday, and about noon I
said to my brother, 'I am going to quit and go to Quincy.' My brother said, 'What is wrong with you? We have to get this barge loaded today and
you can't go.' I said, 'I am going and you will follow me soon.' And he did come in three hours. The reason I left, my father in spirit came on the
barge just before noon and said, 'John, have you any tobacco? give me a chew.' I knew it was a token that he must be sick, and they could not
make me work or stay; so I went to Quincy, and when I got home found my father real sick. And when I went in the room the first thing he said
was, 'John, have you any tobacco? give me a chew.' I gave him a chew but he could not chew it, he was too sick. And in no time we sent a skiff
up the Bay for my other brother to come right away. And my father died the next morning."
15821. "Fifty years ago one night my cousin came to our house on horseback. I said, 'Why don't you put your horse up and stay all night with us.'
He said, 'I believe I will.' I went with him to the barn and while in the barn lot I saw a man go in our henhouse. Turning to my cousin, I said, 'I
will go and see what that man wants in my henhouse.' My cousin followed me. When we got there he was not in the henhouse. All at once I said,
'Look, that man is going toward the house!' We started to follow him, and when we got almost to the gate, the man disappear. It is a token, I told
my cousin. My father died in three weeks. It was his spirit I saw in my henhouse and yard."
15822. "My brother was in the Civil War on the Union side. He was a bugle boy. One day I said to my mother, 'Lewis is going to die because I
saw his spirit this morning. He was blowing his horn as he went to the spring to get his canteen full of water to drink.' The very next day we got
word Lewis was dead. And the soldiers were dying just like sheep, for some women had put poison in all the springs there. So me seeing my
brother's spirit was a warning he was going to die."
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15823. "Years ago I went to the well to get some water and when I got there, on the crossboard over the well was sitting my mistress's sister in
her nightgown. I dropped my bucket and ran back to the house to tell my mistress, for her sister was sick in bed. My master and mistress both
went back with me, and she was still sitting on the board, and they saw her. If they had not seen her, I would of got a good whipping. And she
was dying while we were at the well. We got word that day she was dead."
15824. "My brother was working out in the field one morning and he saw his father coming up the road, walking with his overcoat across his
arm. He stop his work in the field and went to the house to see his father. When he got there he said to his wife, 'Where is father?' She said, 'What
is wrong with you? Your father is not here.' He thought he was hiding, and looked every- where for him, not believing his wife. It was an omen,
for his father died when he saw him coming up the road. They got word that day."
15825. "Up here on Rock Creek there is a place [near Ursa] where there is five graves --- four white, and one old colored woman that would be
over a hundred if she was living. A man and his wife came out of Quincy last summer [1934] to Rock Creek to pick up some rocks for a rock
garden and while they were picking them up they got close to these graves, and they saw an old woman with a long black dress on to the ground
and a sunbonnet on with a black veil over the sunbonnet. She was just walking around the creek. This man and his wife were not afraid, but they
left. They talked about it all the way home and said they would go back again. They were not afraid. So in about a week they went to this same
place again and put their car up near the place of the graves, and not seeing anything, started to picking up rocks again; when one of them happen
to look up and saw this time the old woman was all dressed in white, with white sunbonnet and white veil. This time she was not walking. She
was flying around their car. She fly around their car several times, then disappear in the woods. And the people from Quincy went home."
15826. "Years ago a young man was going with a girl for a long time and they fell out. He said, 'I will never marry you.' The girl worried so over
it that at last she killed herself. In no time this young man started to going with another girl. Every night when he would go to see this girl, on his
way home down Vine Street he would meet the spirit of this dead girl right on the sidewalk. She would not let him pass. She made him stand
there for a while, then the spirit would disappear and he would go home and worry. He could not sleep or eat. At last he went to see a priest out at
Z. Church and told him about meeting the spirit every night. The priest told him, that night when the spirit stopped him, to call her by name and
say, What is wrong that you can't rest in your grave? [For restless spirit see also 15829.] He did. The spirit said, 'Pray for me, pray for me,' and
disappeared. He went home and prayed all night. The next morning the man went and told the priest that this spirit said, 'Pray for me.' The priest
said, 'I am going to hold five- o'clock mass in the morning and see why that poor soul wants us to pray, and you pray for her every hour.' The next
morning the priest prayed so hard at mass he did not have a dry stitch on him, but he found out that this girl was to become a mother and that was
why this spirit was stopping this man every night. She was worrying over killing her unborn child."
15827. "There is a house on Maiden Lane between Fifth and Sixth. There is a diagonal clevage across one side of the house, from east to west, a
crack in the bricks. People moving into the house from time to time were frightened. Awaking from their sleep they discovered a luminous
object resembling a person. It walked around the room and made motions as if to beckon them out of the house. People's nerves became wrought
up to such an extent that after a few days they left. Again and again families moved into the house and the same thing occurred night after night.
One man followed the apparition. It seemed to vanish. He apparently walked past it or through it. Again it stood gleaming in the corner of the
room, seeming troubled as to its mode of exit. He said the luminous object finally sought the crack of the building and disappeared as he came.
The owner of the building has since tried to rid the building of this ghostly visitor by forming a garage of the first story. By so doing, most of the
crack in the wall was removed. People took heart and began to rent the upper rooms. The same experience followed and the building is now
vacant. A woman had died there who had been unhappily married and they seemed to think that it was her spirit that haunted this house that had
so cursed her life. She faded away and died from grief."
15828. "I have known two persons who asserted that they were able to see ghosts. The first was a lady of good standing and fair education,
the daughter of a Presbyterian clergyman, wife of a fairly successful merchant, related to the most respected people in town, mother of two sons
of perhaps fourteen and sixteen years when she told me this. I have the impression that the two experiences that I am setting down were not the
only ones she had. She may even have mentioned others, but these are the only ones I remember. She was a visitor in the family of her fiancé
whose dwelling was what we now know as the Commandant's residence at Soldiers Home. She sat with other girls, one of them her future
sister-in-law, in the upstairs-front chamber which had been assigned for her use. Through the open door of the room she saw pass down the
corridor toward the head of the stairs the figure of a man. He looked in upon her with a fierce angry stare. She sat amazed and silent for a
moment, wondering who he was and how he got there, and almost immediately she saw him returning along the well of the stairway. When
she realized that he was passing horizontally above the stairs and not descending upon them, she found voice to cry out. He brandished a stick
threateningly, frowning upon her all the while, and vanished from her sight. At her outcry the other girls gave the alarm and search was made for
the intruder in vain. Long afterward she was told that her description of the man tallied in every detail with that of a man, only son of the builder
of the house, who some years before returning at night from town intoxicated as was his habit had fallen into the creek that runs through the
grounds of Soldiers Home just north of Locust Street and had been found there in the morning drowned. The second experience she related was
of an apparition of the same man. She was now a bride living in this same house with her husband's family. Her room was on the ground floor in
an ell that extends toward the west. You can locate it for yourself if you drive through the grounds. A party of members of the family and callers
were gathered in her room. Through the door, which nevertheless did not open, came this man, dark and sullen, and threatening as before. He
moved to a small table on which were fruit and cakes, seemed to help himself to a cake, again looked threateningly upon her, and vanished
as before. She told me this herself and she was serious about it. I have never heard that that house had the reputation of being haunted, although I
know very well a lady who lived there for years, her father being Commandant." Note: Since the preceding ghost tale concerns a well-known
house and an Illinois-State-owned one, I must give my authority for it. This story (10521 in first edition), as well as the two following and 15827,
were written by my former high-school teacher and long-time friend, Miss Ella Randall, whose ten or more contributions I have mentioned in the
Introduction.
15829. "The other ghost seer of my acquaintance was a pleasant old German woman, mother of the one-time sheriff P., and mother-in-law of a
lady who was for several years our housekeeper, Mrs. M. by name. Knowing my delight in ghost stories, Mrs. M. introduced me to her
mother-in-law. Yes, said Mrs. P., she had been seeing ghosts ever since she was ten years old, though she had seen none lately. There were no
ghosts about that place where she was then living [the former domed Courthouse]. She told me about quite a number of apparitions, most of
which I remember but vaguely. One ghost she saw on moving into a new residence. It was a bright moonlight night, and stepping without a lamp
into a room in an ell she saw through the curtainless window a young man, red-headed, blue-eyed, pale, peering into the room. He moved above
the ground not on it, and so she knew him for a ghost. She learned afterward that the cause had many years before had an evil name and that a
young Irishman had once disappeared from the place and never afterward been heard from. I fancy you will think worth recording what Mrs. P.
told me in connection I think, but am not quite sure, with the very ghost mentioned here. Mrs. P., being in the habit of meeting a very pathetic
and appealing apparition, mentioned it to her confessor. He said that this was plainly one that had almost passed through its purgatorial period
and that it wished to communicate some message that weighed heavily upon it. He advised Mrs. P. to speak to it and give it the opportunity to
 414

unburden itself. [For similar advice see 15826]. But Mrs. P. never did so. She was not at all afraid of these apparitions, but she had never spoken
to one and could not bring herself to do so. You understand of course that ghosts cannot speak unless spoken to."
15830. "Her husband [Miss Randall is still writing about the woman in 15829] at one time conducted a saloon on South Fifth Street just opposite
the old Franklin School. The ghost of a woman haunted this place and Mrs. P. often met her in the corridor. The house burned down one night.
The family had scant time to remove themselves with but few of their belongings. From the sidewalk across the street Mrs. P. saw the roof fall in
and just before it fell she saw her ghostly lodger standing at the window gazing apparently at the crowd below. A year later the husband had again
established a saloon on the corner of Fifth and York, the same close neighborhood. A man from the country came in for refreshment and spoke to
the proprietor about the frightful misfortune that had overtaken him the year before. The saloon keeper said that the misfortune had not been so
terrible, his new venture had prospered and except for a passing inconvenience he had nothing to complain of. 'But your wife,' said the man, 'you
lost your wife in the fire!' The saloon keeper said that his wife was alive and well at the moment. She had come to no harm in the fire. 'Who was
the woman then that was killed in the fire?' asked the man. 'No one was killed in the fire,' insisted the saloon keeper. 'But I swear to you,' said the
man, 'that with my own eyes I saw the roof fall in upon a woman who was standing at an upper window! Who was that woman'?"
15831. "My mother rented a house thirty-five years ago and the man when he rented it said to my mother, 'I will let you have this house because
we have always been friends, but I want you to promise me you will lock my dead wife's bedroom, for she told me before she died she didn't
want anyone to use it.' So my mother took the house and locked the door. I was working away from home and lost my job so I came home. I was
about fourteen years old. I found this bedroom door locked and I said, 'Mother, what is this door locked for?' And she told me the man's wife
didn't want anyone in there. I said, 'Mother, I am going to take that for my room.' We had a fuss, and at last mother said, 'If you come screaming
out of that room, don't blame me.' I said, 'I am not afraid of ghosts.' So I fixed the room up that day and that night when I went to bed I did leave
the lamp burning even if it was a moonlight night. I was lying there looking at the window and the moon when a white dog jump up on the
window. It jumped down on the floor and when it jumped it shook the whole house. It even scared my mother, for she screamed and said, 'What
is wrong ?' I would not speak to my mother because that would make the ghost leave. But the lamp went out when mother screamed. I was not
afraid. I lit the lamp again and there stood that dead woman at the foot of the bed, looking so mad at me, with her arms folded. I said What in the
Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, do you want? Then she told me she didn't want anyone in her room. I told her I had no place to sleep,
could I not stay there. Then she said, 'If you will let no one come in the room but you, don't even let them sit down or change their clothes or do
anything in the room, I will not bother you; but if you let anyone in this room, beware!' And she disappear. And I never let anyone in and the
ghost never came again."
15832. "Seventy years ago [1862] a couple came and built a cabin on Mill Creek and lived there awhile. The man chopped wood. Then one day
this man died and they buried him right close to the cabin. His wife and the dog stayed in the cabin and worked around the neighbors. One
morning she did not show up to work. Someone came along the next day and saw the dog dead with his head all mashed in. They could not find
the woman. But after that, every moonlight night they would see this woman come from the woods and walk around this cabin, then go back to
the spot where she came from and disappear in the ground. Then an old negro couple came along and wanted to rent the place. The neighbors told
him the place was haunted. He didn't care. So he and his wife saw the ghost every moonlight night. She would still come from the woods and
walk around the house and go back. This old negro one night thought he would follow the ghost. He did. And the ghost disappeared right in front
of him. This negro started to digging right where the ghost went down and he found the body of that woman that had lived in that house. They
could tell her by her hair. They took this body of bones and put them in a box and buried it. And the ghost never walked again."
15833. "Five miles below Quincy on an island [in the Mississippi River] there is an old haunted house. They say years ago a man killed a woman
there and this woman is always coming back. She will come to the house, then she will always go and stand in the barn door with her hands up
just like she is going to fly, then she disappear. But every time this ghost comes she turns out the horses and cows that are tied in this barn."
15834. "A man in our neighborhood when I was a little girl, I am seventy- seven now, went to town after some calves. When his wife saw him
coming down the road she went out to the big road to open the gate, thinking it would help him from getting out of the wagon. When his wife
had the gate half open, one of the horses got scared at something and started right over the gate. The man fell out of the wagon and got killed
right there. After the man was buried, several days had passed when a neighbor came and wanted to use his saddle to go after stock, and forgot to
bring it back. The man that got killed always kept his saddle hanging in the old summer kitchen. Just as soon as the saddle was gone the man
came back and you could see him fooling around in the summer kitchen every night where the saddle did hang. It worried this woman so,
that after a week's time she came to see my father and told him about it. Father said, 'Why don't you open the door and ask him in the Three
Highest Names if he wants his saddle back?' 'I am afraid to open the door.' 'Well, tonight I will come over and when we hear him in the kitchen
fooling around, you open the door and ask him In the Name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, if it's his saddle he wants back.' That night she did
just as father said, and said, 'I will get your saddle back in the morning.' Then the noise stop. My father was standing right by her all the time. The
next morning she got the saddle, hung it up on the old plug in the kitchen where it had hung for years, and he never fooled around in the summer
kitchen again."
15835. "When I was a girl I worked out. I was working in a big boarding house where we had lots of railroadmen and cattlemen. We had a large
lumberyard about three block from us and they never could keep a night watchman. He would work one night, then give his place up. I didn't
know what was wrong. One day several of our boarders were late for dinner and I was waiting on them when one of the men said, 'Do you know
the night watchman left last night again down to the lumberyard?' And one of the men said, 'What is wrong down there?' This man said, 'I will tell
you, for I saw it myself. Every night between twelve o'clock and one o'clock a man comes all dressed in white with a long measuring stick,
measuring lumber; and when the night watchman sees that ghost going around measuring lumber, he just leaves and you can't blame him.'
The man said, 'What is wrong with you?' The other man said, 'Well, if you don't believe it, I will take you down about twelve-thirty to the
lumberyard and I show you the ghost and you can see for yourself. I stood and took in all they were saying. So one night real soon after that, at
twelve-thirty they went to see the ghost. Sure enough, they saw the man all dressed in white going around measuring lumber. They talked so
much about it around the boarding house that the man that owned the place heard about it. And he went to the priest and told him he wanted him
to go to the lumberyard at twelve-thirty and see what he could do about the ghost. So the priest went. He took two boys to carry two candles, and
a boy to carry the cross. All four went out one night at twelve-thirty. The priest saw the ghost measuring lumber. He went up to the ghost and
said, 'What are you doing here? Can't you rest in peace?' The ghost said, 'I have been cheating the people on the measure of lumber.' The priest
said, 'Are you willing to make that all right?' The ghost said, 'I am here to be relieved.' The priest said, 'Go in peace.' And the ghost left and they
never did see him again in the lumberyard. The ghost was one of the firm that had died, and when he was living he cheated everyone he waited
on." Is this a folk-tale theme localized?
15836. "I knew of a house that was haunted. A woman had a lot of trouble in that house and was always coming back after she died. No one
would stay in that house until one day a woman that was not afraid of ghosts rented it. She was ironing one day and had just pick up her ironing
to put it away when she happen to look up and there this old woman was standing with her arms folded. Just for the moment the old woman was
scared and drop all her ironing on the floor, but only a moment, for she went right in the other room and went to praying for God to take the ghost
 415

away. Then she went back in the room and the ghost was still there. Then she went back and started to praying and prayed for one-half hour, then
went back and the ghost was gone. And she never saw the ghost again and lived there a long time."
15837. "I always see spirits when anyone dies in the family. After my baby died and was buried I never went out at night that I didn't see her.
It looked like she was guiding me, for she was always in front of me. After I moved to Quincy I didn't see her any more, because they say a spirit
can't cross water, and we crossed the Mississippi River to get here. So I have never seen her since I moved to Quincy."
15838. "About seventy years ago I was working for a white man. I did all the washing and ironing. We had a white man on the place that was
kind of a foreman. He would stand around and make you work. We had an old colored man he live down in one old room on the place and he was
so mean too. At last both of the men died. And the white man came back all the time to watch. You could always see him standing out in the yard
watching to see if you were working. I saw him many a time looking in the window to see if I was ironing, after he was dead. I was not afraid, for
it was so natural that you thought it was he. The colored man you didn't see, only the lamp in his window. You could never go by the house at
night without seeing the light in the window, just the way he had it when living. They say good spirits never come back, but mean ones do, and
haunt people all the time. These old men were sure mean and that is why we saw them all the time."
15839. "A negro boy told me this. Ever so often the spirits of the dead in a family return in the form of someone, a stranger, asking aid. It may be
an old man or woman who has died, returning as a beggar asking food or money. It may be a child begging, to sell something or to be given
something. If you turn the person down, you are turning down the spirit of your departed dead. Probably a reason why negroes are so generous to
beggars and agents."
15840. "About fifty years ago we were living at Thirtieth and Broadway in a double house. An old woman that lived on the other side went out to
milk her cow one morning and came in the house and laid down and died. My mother found her. We had a grapevine over the back porch and a
cistern on that back porch. My mother and this woman would always wash out there. We children took the diphtheria three months after this
woman was dead and my mother got up one morning at two o'clock to go to the cistern to get us some fresh water, and when my mother got to
the cistern, she met this woman standing there. My mother said, 'Why, Mrs. N., I thought you were dead,' she was so real. And the ghost said, 'I
am dead, but came back to wash my clothes,' then disappear in the grapevine. We moved as soon as we got well."
15841. "A man near X. and Ohio Street was sick in bed. He had been sick a long time. His wife and son were sitting at the bedside when the wife
saw a man walk through the house. She said to her son, 'Clarence, did you see that man walking through?' He said, 'No.' In two more nights they
were both sitting by the bed again when the man walked through the house again. This time the son saw it and said, 'Why, that is uncle Will, who
is dead,' who was the twin brother of his father. This was Friday night. And Sunday night the man died."
15842. "About fifty years ago a school teacher, that lived on the south side of Vermont Street between Eighth and Ninth, went back on her beau;
and one morning while she was sitting by the window, putting on her shoes and combing her hair, the beau came and shot her. Every morning
after that you could see that girl sitting at the window in the morning combing her hair. I used to take care of some horses that were in the alley in
a big barn, and every morning when I went to take care of the horses, I would see her myself sitting there. No one would stay in the house and
they had to take it down."
15843. "My brother-in-law had two children, one twelve, the other nine. Their grandmother was taking care of them, for their mother was dead.
They were living out here in the south party of Quincy. One morning the grandmother sent them to the coal shed to get a bucket of coal, when
they came running back and said, 'O grandmother, come quick, there's a man hanging by his neck in the shed.' Grandmother ran back with the
children, but there was no man, he had disappear. Grandmother was telling it to some of the neighbors and they said that happen often. A man
years ago hung himself in that old shed, and it was only his ghost. But the folks moved away. They didn't want the children to see it again."
15844. "A woman at Coatsburg lost her daughter and after she was buried she would come back every night and go around the bed floating like a
dove. When she would reach out her hand to get it, it would go away; when she would lay back, it would come back. This happen every night for
about a week, then the woman made her husband move over in the other side of town, trying to get away from the dove. But it follow her there,
and the woman didn't live long, worrying over it."
15845. "After Mrs. D. had gone to bed she saw her daughter in a light-green dress come to her dresser. She called to her but she didn't answer, so
she got up and went to her room, and she was asleep. The girl in the green dress came back the second week and the third week, but whenever she
talked to her, she would disappear. Shortly after that they took her daughter to a hospital and she lay between life and death for three weeks. Mrs.
D. said it was her dead sister that came back to warn them that the other girl would be very ill."
15846. "My daughter was sick a long time. She had a little girl and she didn't want to leave her. She died. And every night she would come back
and stand at the foot of her bed. Every night my granddaughter would wake her daddy up and say, 'Look at mother standing at the foot of the bed.'
This went on for a month. And they had to move out of that house. And the little girl didn't see her mother any more standing at the foot of the
bed."
15847. "Years ago a rich southerner built that place [a well-known house in Quincy]. When he died it is said that a cousin put a live bee in his
mouth and took his hand and made him to sign his name to the will, so the cousin could say he had life in him when he signed the will. The will
left everything to the cousin and nothing to the rightful heir. It is told that for years the old man with long white hair would come back every
night and wander through the rooms upstairs and unlock the doors and sit by the fireplace. And everyone that has lived in that house since Mr. T.
died has parted [husband and wife have separated] and lost all their money up to right now."
15848. "A brother and sister was living on Eighth Street. One was living on one side of the road and the other was living on the other side.
Their father died and made a will and wanted them to change houses, and they did not want to, so they kept on living in the same houses. So one
night the old man came back with his big straw hat on and his cane. He walked up and down the road on Eighth Street just like he did when he
was living. He kept coming back every night and walking up and down the road, and everyone seeing him, that it worried the brother and sister,
so they changed houses just like their father wanted. And the father stopped coming back."
15849. "About eighty years ago a man died and left two old boys and one little one. And the two elder boys were taking everything away from
the little one, they were not giving him a thing, when one day the father that had been dead came walking in the house with his cane just like he
did when living and said to the two older children, 'If you don't share up with the younger child, I will devil you the rest of your life,' and walks
out of the house. Then the two older boys shared up with the other brother and the father never bother them any more."
15850. "My aunt Lizzie had been sick a long time and the doctor gave her up. My mother had been sitting up with her, been there day and night,
so this one morning she [Aunt Lizzie] called her daughter and told her to get her dress, gloves and gold breastpin, and give them to my mother,
she wanted her to have them. Mother took them home and put them in a trunk in the closet and said, 'I will never wear them, I will always keep
them.' Aunt Lizzie only lived two days after that. About two months after aunt Lizzie was buried, mother went to the closet to get a dress for one
of my sisters, and there stood aunt Lizzie in the closet all dressed in the dress she gave mother, and had the gloves and the gold breastpin on, that
was put away in the trunk. Mother said she saw how nice aunt Lizzie look in it, she thought she would try them on, for she knew aunt Lizzie
could not rest. It just fitted mother, and she looked so nice she wore it out. And her sister never appear again. You see, she wanted her to wear it
and not keep it in the trunk. That is why she came back and stood in the closet all dressed up."
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15851. "About forty-eight years ago a man was dying and just before he died he wanted his wife to promise, on the ninth day after he was buried,
she would come to the cemetery; he said he would talk to her. She would not promise, but on the ninth day she went and stood at the window.
You could see the cemetery from their house. She said she saw something walking around and around his grave. She didn't know if it was him or
not, for she was afraid to go and see."

WITCHCRAFT (15852-16537)

ORIGIN OF POWER (15852-15897)

Caul Born - Four-Jointed Finders (15852-15853)

CAUL BORN
15852. "If you are born with a veil and your mother keeps that veil, you can have power over other people. I was also born with my face
all drawn up to one corner of my mouth, as you can see. It has always made me talk funny. Of course I couldn't help that, but some people would
make fun of my talking so funny. We lived up here in the Bottom near Ursa. As I got so I could work, I always went around and cooked. I
remember one day, when I was cooking for the neighbor, another woman came to help. When she found I was helping, said, 'I will not work with
that old funny-talking person.' It hurt me so, that I broke down and cried, said, 'I hope if she ever has a child, something will be wrong with it.' I
knew I had the power, because mother had saved my veil that I was born with. About two years after that, this woman had a child born with a red
streak across its face, down from one ear to the nose. This woman was almost crazy about it. They said she cried all the time. It was mean of me,
but I sent her word, 'That's what you get for making of other people.' I don't know if the child ever lost her birthmark or not, but I do know that
someone told her if you would lick a birthmark every morning before sunup and every night after sundown, would take the mark away. They say
she started to licking the child, but I don't know if the mark left, for we moved away from up there. But it's an old saying --- licking a
birthmark will take it away." German.

FOUR-JOINTED FINGERS
15853. "I knew a woman once and she had four joints to her fingers. Four joints in their fingers, they are a witch. And she was sure a witch; could
put a spell on you at anytime." Irish?

Evil Eye - “Two-Headed Nigger” (15854-15856)

EVIL EYE
15854. "There was an old woman living on X. and Cedar Street. Some people thought she was a witch. They told it if she was talking to you
and she would look in your eyes, she could put a spell on you; if she didn't look into your eyes, she could not. I know a carpenter that done some
work for her and she didn't pay him. He went back three or four times and didn't get any money, and every time he left her house he would be
sick all the way home. Then someone told him she could put a spell on anyone that looked into her eyes. After that he came out to see my wife [a
fortune teller and healer] and she gave him a good-luck piece to wear, and told him to try again. So he went back again. This old woman had a lot
near her house and she made some arrangement with him about it, so he got the lot as a payment for what she owed him. He never looked in her
eyes all the time they were making the arrangement, afraid she would put another spell on him and that he would not get his money this time."
German. 15855. "If you see someone on the street and they are very beautiful and look real strong at you, you had better turn around and spit
three times, for they may have the evil eye and will throw a spell on you." German.

TWO-HEADED NIGGER
15856. "A two-headed nigger is one that can hoodoo you without giving you anything. All they have to do is to touch you. I told you that a
two-headed nigger came down one street and a man was standing at the gate, and she touch him on the shoulder and his love turned away from
his home." Negro.

Witch Power Inherited - Sold to Satan (15857-15862)

WITCH POWER INHERITED
15857. "This happen in my mother's home when my sister was a little baby. She was sick all the time, they could not find anything wrong with
her. Mother lived out on South Eighth Street in the old homeplace. We had a neighbor that lived across the street that was in love with my
sister. This neighbor would come over almost every day to borrow something, then would go over to talk to the baby. Mother said this woman
seemed to always be out of everything. Someone told my mother that they believe this old woman had the baby in a spell, that it would not hurt to
see if she did: for mother to take four broomstraws out of her broom, to make two crosses out of them, to put one under the front porch and one
under the back porch before she came again to borrow --- 'If she has your baby in a spell, she will not walk over the porch. Two days after that,
she came to borrow again. She stepped up on the porch, but just stood there. She didn't even try to cross the porch. Mother said, 'Come in, but I
don't have what you want this morning.' Before that, if mother didn't have it, she would always come in and talk to the baby. She went back home
and never did come back again to see mother. My sister got well soon. After that, mother found out her mother was an old witch and on her
deathbed had handed her power down to her daughter. This old woman died a horrible death. Old witches always do. I guess it is because they are
so mean to everyone else. My mother knew about eight old witches that lived in the south part of town." German.

SOLD TO SATAN
15858. "An old witch's daughter told me this; said her great-grandmother, her grandmother, and her mother did this to put spells on people. If you
want to be able to put spells on people, take a bat alive, put it in a cigar box, make three little holes in this box, nail it up, then take a hatpin and
stick this bat until dead, then take the blood off the end of that hatpin, then take that blood, making a cross over both of your eyes; and then you
can have the power to do anything, for bats are evil." German.
15859. "A woman tried to make a witch out of me years ago, told me if I would do what she said, I would be able to bewitch people and make
them do anything. I was afraid of this woman, for I thought she was a witch and would put me under a spell. But this is what she told me, but
don't put it in your book, for someone might try it and they will be putting spells on people, and I don't think it right. She said, if I wanted to put
spells on people, go to a running stream of clear water, take a new pie pan that had never been used by anyone. Go to the stream before sunrise,
for the sun must not shine on you at all while doing this. Do this for nine mornings, taking a handful of sand out of this water, wash the pan with
this sand every morning. On the ninth morning hold up your right hand and swear that you haven't a drop of Jesus Christ's blood in your heart.
You will after that be able to bewitch people. I would not try, for I was afraid of this old woman."
 417

15860. "Years ago [1870] I was working for a rich fellow who hired eight or ten men because we always plowed single those days. One day a
new fellow came along and he hired him. Several days after that there was going to be a ball about two and a half miles away across the ford. The
men all asked for horses to ride to the ball, and the man let them all have one but this new man. He wanted to know where his horse was, and the
man of the place said he had nothing left but work-horses, and they were too tired for anyone to ride. So this man got on the back of another
man's horse and rode with him down to the mill and across the ford. On the other side of the ford is a grove of saplings. When we got there, this
fellow slipped off behind the horse and said, 'You go on, I will catch up with you.' Then we had to go through a barn lot. In a little while here
comes this fellow riding on a big black horse. We called him by name. I said, 'Where did you pick up that horse?' He said, 'Never mind. I told you
I would not walk all the way.' Just before we reached the ball we had to pass through another patch of timber, and when we got to this patch of
timber, this man said, 'I have to stop here. You go on.' The others went on to the ball. In a little while here comes this fellow walking in. After the
ball we started home. This fellow walked back to the timber, it was just a little ways, and when the other fellows got through this timber, here
came this fellow riding on the big black horse again. Then someone said, 'Where in the hell did you get that horse?' He said, 'Never mind.' Then
we went on and passed through the barn lot again, and came to the saplings, and went on to the river. When we got to the saplings he said, 'You
fellows wait for me at the ford.' So we went on to the river. We waited for him. In a few minutes he came down on foot, got on behind the fellow
like he did before, and we went on home. Things went on for about a month and we was always talking about it and wondering how he got that
horse. One fellow that was always asking questions said, 'John, how in the hell did you do that?' John said, 'You can do it, if I tell you. You can
get a horse any time without asking that man. I will tell you. Go to the river at the ford, at night, and wade out knee-deep in the water, call the
devil and tell him what you want, and you will get it.' This man the next night thought he would try it. He did just what the man told him. The
next morning John said, 'How did you make it last night?' The other fellow said, 'I made it back home and quick. When I was standing in the
water the whole earth shook. I thought it was going to open up. The sand and gravel rolled away from under my feet and I could hear chains
rattling everywhere. I can still hear that fellow."
15861. "About fifty year ago [1885] two girls up around Ursa said they were going to tell their fortune, and they called on the devil. Someone had
told them to do this. They went in a dark room, lit two candles, and called the devil's name two hundred times. And the devil that night did appear
to the girls. It worried one so, she took sick and died. The other worried all her life. I knew these two girls well."
15862. "About forty-five years ago [1890] I was living out here on a small farm and we had a neighbor that everyone thought was a witch
because her mother ahead was one and was always putting spells on people. I liked this woman and didn't believe anything wrong with her. One
day she invited me over to help her pick grapes. I went. While we were picking grapes she said to me, 'I want you to help me, after we get
through with the grapes, to turn a pair of scissors in a sieve.' I said, 'Why do you want to do that for?' She said, 'I want to work a spell on my
husband because he is so mean to me, and I want to get him out of the way and make him die.' I said, 'I will not do a thing like that, for I don't
believe in it.' But I was scared to death of her after she said that, and was glad to get home. It was no time after that that her husband die. She
must of got someone else to turn the sieve. And she sure put a spell over me for not helping her, for I have had bad luck ever since I would
not help her. Everything has gone wrong with me. I have tried for years to find someone to take the spell off, but so far I have not been able to."

How to Conjure - “Black Cat Bone” (15863-15873)

HOW TO CONJURE
15863. "We had a man in our neighborhood [in Iowa years ago] by the name of Mr. B. that could conjure you. A Mr. W. wanted to learn how,
so Mr. B. told him to get some frogs and lizards on a piece of iron to dry up --- that never to put them on the ground or a board to dry, must be
iron --- when dry, pulverize into powder, put the powder in a bottle with the saved liquid over the powder; then, after that, he was to go and find a
bush called devil('s-) shoe string --- that's a bush with red berries on that grows in the woods --- go to the east side of this bush and get a root. You
must not chop this root, just pull on it until it breaks off, for they break very easy. You must never break this yourself, just keep pulling out.
Sometimes you get a real long piece before it breaks. I don't remember how long a piece this Mr. W. got, for that was years ago when I was a
young boy. I am seventy-five now [1937]. My folks told about Mr. W. so much, learning how to conjure, that I should remember, but I don't
remember like I use to. Anyway, he got the root, went back to see Mr. B. Then Mr. B. told him to take his [Mr. B's] pitchfork, to carry that over
his right shoulder, then to lay the piece of devil-shoe string over his left shoulder, and to carry the bottle in his left hand with the head up and no
stopper in; then, to walk by the house with all this just that way, wishing whatever luck good or bad on the person. If it worked, the
devil-shoe string would go right down in the bottle. If the root stay on his shoulder, for him to go home, that he could not learn to conjure; but if it
didn't stay on, to come back to his house. I have heard Mr. W. tell it many a time --- just as he got by the house the devil-shoe string slip right into
the bottle. He said the root was red and as it slip into the bottle it turned white. He also lost the pitchfork just then, but he didn't see where it went.
He turned right around and went to Mr. B's house. As Mr. B. saw Mr. W. coming up the walk he went to the door and reached for the bottle, for
he knew it worked without saying a word. Then he said, 'Where's my pitchfork you took along?' Mr. W. said, 'Oh, I don't know. I had it on my
shoulder until the root slip in the bottle, then it was gone too. I didn't see it when it went.' Mr. B. said, 'Well, there's the pitchfork standing against
the door. Take it to the shed.' After that, as long as he had that bottle he could conjure you or take it off." Negro.

BLACK CAT BONE

Note: This belief was (before 1935) strictly Negro in Adams County.
15864. "If you want to be a evil fortune teller, take and kill a black cat, and take the bones out of the top of the cat's head, and a teaspoonful of
brains, and a bone out of the cat's neck, and a chicken wishbone; then go out to the four corners of the road on a very dark night --- if it is
raining that would make it still better --- holding all these things in your left hand. Then turn your back first on the east, swearing, using the
Lord's Name in vain; then turn your back on the north, swearing, using the Lord's name in vain; then the west, and the south last. Then kneel
down and pray, using the Lord's Name in vain again. Now you have turned your back on the world. Go home and you can do any evil you want
to, for you have the devil on your side."
15865. "Take a black cat, it must not have one white hair, and take it out in the woods after dark without saying a word. Then build a hot fire and
have a kettle of water. When that water is boiling hard, put that cat in that hot water alive. After that cat is dead, take that cat to a running stream
and throw it in the water --- it will all sink but the lucky bone that a cat has. Then pick up that lucky bone and carry it. And you can get anything
you want."
15866. "If you will put a black cat in a pot of boiling water alive, just at midnight, and say I now give my soul and body to the King of Bedlam,
then throw pot and cat in running water, the lucky bone of the cat will always go up the stream; and if you get that bone and wear it, you can do
anything you want."
15867. "They say that if you kill a black cat and skin him and put him in boiling water and let him boil until a bone comes to the top and floats
around on the water, you can take it and put it in your mouth and become invisible. There is a man in Memphis, Tennessee, that goes around at
 418

night and beats up people. They caught him two or three times, but they never could hold him. They put him in the police wagon and locked him
up, and when they got to the station he will not be in the wagon. He wears one of those lucky bones from a black cat."
15868. "An old colored man said he knew a colored man that had one of those black cat lucky bones, and he had got out of almost every
penitentiary in the United States; that if you had one of the bones, they could not keep you anywhere; that you could just turn yourself into an ant,
or fly, and just get out any place they put you."
15869. "I was living in a house. I would lock my door every night and the next morning my door would be open; and a man that was living in
that house would be sitting on my bed. He could hoodoo you. He always carried a black cat lucky bone in his pocket. I even put a chair under my
door knob after I locked it, but that did not keep him out. I had to move to keep him from hoodooing me."
15870. "If you want to have money, you go up the river-road about twelve o'clock at night on a Sunday night. On your way up there you look for
a black cat. When you find the cat you tie the cat so he can't get away and leave it without anything to eat. On the third night you go get a iron
pot full of water, and put the cat in the pot alive, then make a fire under the pot; and when the pot starts to boil and the cat meows, you curse
God, and you will see everything in the world: cats, dogs, lizards, snakes, just everything. When the cat gets done there is a bone that comes from
his rectum that fits around your teeth. Then you take the pot and throw it in the water where the stream runs both ways --- that is, one goes up the
river and the other down the river. You can put this bone in your mouth and go in any store or bank you want to, and get anything you want out,
and nobody will see you while you are doing these things."
15871. "If you want to rob a bank, get a black cat and put it in a pot of boiling water and cook. Then take the pot with the cat in it and stand
in front of a looking-glass, and take each bone out of that cat, one at a time, taking each bone and pulling it through your lips, looking in the
looking-glass all the time. You will not see yourself in the glass until the right bone goes through your lips, then you will appear in the glass. The
bone that you have in your lips when your face appears, take that and carry it, and you can rob a bank, just do anything, and get by as long as you
have that bone."
15872. "Burn a black cat up and there will be one bone that will not burn up; that is called the lucky bone; and if you carry that bone you will
never have bad luck."
15873. "Always carry a black cat bone in your pocket, if you think someone is bewitching you."

Diabolic Music Master - Devil Book - Curse (15874-15883)

DIABOLIC MUSIC MASTER
15874. "If you want to learn to play a fiddle, go on a dark night at twelve o'clock to the forks of a road. Sit down with your fiddle over your
shoulder just like you were going to play. While you are sitting there, a big black snake will crawl by you with his head up in the air. Don't get
scared. The snake will go up the road and turn around, and a big black man with a fiddle will come back down the road, and stand by you
and play three or four pieces on his fiddle. Then he will disappear and you can go home and play any piece on the fiddle you want. I knew a man
in Missouri that done this, and he was the best player in the State on a fiddle."

DEVIL BOOK
15875. "A man [1923] came to our house one day. He was a south- Quincy farmer who used to bring us chickens, eggs and butter. He trembled
as he sat there, and as he sat there his eyes dilated. He had an obsession and we could not dissuade him into a saner way of thinking. He said, 'I
can't live long,' held up his shaking hand as evidence that he had been ferhexed. The strange part that came from his conversation was that a man
possessed a devil book from which he read backwards. This man had said to our farmer, 'I shall read you to death out of my devil book.' And
when our farmer asked him from where he got the book, he said that he had inherited it and that originally and years ago it had come from
Germany. When plowing the man was unable to control a straight furrow. Always when these spells were upon him he would look up and find
this man reading from the road across the way in a field or perhaps sitting on horseback. As time went on he received a phychic communication
which told him his blood, sinews and muscles were drying up. You could trace the muscles and veins up his arm and see where they were drying
up. Life's pump was beginning to fail. As he pitifully gazed into my face he said, 'I shall not be with you long, for the spell of the ferhexing will
carry me to the next world.' And he never came back any more. He died." Written contribution from Miss Randall; see note following 15828.
15876. "My aunt years ago [1870] near Columbus [Adams County] had the Seventh Book of Moses. [This is never called The Sixth and Seventh
Books of Moses and I never heard the name Albertus Magnus.] My daughter's husband's grandmother took it. She bewitched my son-in-law's
mother. She took sick and was sick a long time. They did everything for her but nothing done her any good. Then someone told her to take her
urine and put it in a bottle and hang it up in the chimney, and that would make whoever bewitched her suffer so they would come and confess. So
she put her urine in the bottle, put it in the chimney, and the old woman did come and confess, and brought the book back, too. Just as soon as the
book was in the house she got well again and didn't have any more trouble." German.
15877. "A man in the south part of Quincy had the Seventh Book of Moses and he gave it away to a man one day downtown, and when he got
back home the book was on the table. After you have that book you just can't give it away, for it will always come right back to you." German.
15878. "About ten years ago [1923] a woman out at Liberty was a witch. She was always bewitching someone. One day she got real sick and was
sick a long time. She sent for the Lutheran preacher. He told her she could not get well or die until she would give up a witchcraft book she had.
She said she wanted her son to have the book so he could bewitch. The preacher talked and talked. He talked with her four hours until the sweat
just rolled off of him. The preacher told her she could not die in peace until she gave him the book. At last she reached under her pillow and got
the book out and gave it to him. The preacher went and put it in the cookstove to burn; and while it was burning, this old witch died." German.

CURSE
15879. "One of our prominent lawyers in Quincy some years back [before 1937] was taking care of an old maid's estate. When she died
this lawyer took $1,500 out of a $5,000 estate. The brother was very angry over it and had words with this lawyer, and cursed him and said, 'I will
put a curse on you --- that I hope your flesh will all dry up on your bones and you will not be able to walk the street before you die.' This curse is
coming true, for the lawyer is walking the street now, a walking skeleton."
15880. "When I was twelve years old [1865] my mother and I were visiting at a friend's house. We were all eating supper when someone look up
at the it window and there stood an old witch with her hand on the glass. When she left, the print of her hand was burnt in the glass, and [also the
print of] a roll of money on the glass, under the hand. I didn't know it then, but mother told me this woman we were visiting owed this witch a lot
of rent money and she was putting a curse on her, because she hated this woman for not paying her rent. That same week after the hand was on
the window this woman hired a skiff and went out on the river. And the old witch was so mad about her hiring a skiff and not paying her, that the
 419

curse came true. The skiff turn over and the woman drowned. Mother said all the neighbors thought the old witch wished the skiff to turn over."
German.
15881. "My cousin [years ago] did me real dirty and I took a pinch of salt, bread and lard, and burned it every day and said For all dire dirt you
have done me, I hope the veins in your body will bust. My cousin got so sick that everyone thought she was going to die. I just kept on until my
father found out what I was doing and made me stop. My cousin got well again. I was so mad at her I would of let her die." German.
15882. "We went out in the yard together [1931] and X. [a woman considered a witch] was looking at the trees and flowers, and she made fun of
this pear tree. It was a pecular-shape tree. The tree was all right that year, but the next year the tree never did come out. There wasn't bugs or
anything in it. The tree died. We had to chop it down. Mother said she guessed X. hoodooed the tree and made it die."
15883. "I was running with a girl here and she is from a very nice family. This only happen last year [1935]. She wanted me to go out in the
country with her in the evening, it was midnight, and we went out Twelfth, then over to Twenty-fourth Street, and when out about five miles we
came to some woods. She said, 'I am going to get out. I am going to work some black art on a person I don't like.' She had a picture of a person
and a knife. She went over and made a hole with the knife by a tree, and cursed this picture and put it in this hole face down, then covered it up.
As she started away from the hole something said, 'Stop that.' I said, 'What was that?' 'Let's get back to the city, it is only their ghost calling,' she
said. We did get back. And I have never went any place with her again, for if she would do one person dirty she would do me dirty."

Hair-Ball - Witch-Ball - Witch-Bag (15884-15886)

HAIR-BALL
15884. "A cow licks her hair and that hair goes down in the left side of the pouch and that forms a ball, and if you have one of those in your hand
you can bewitch anyone." German. See also 15885.

WITCH-BALL
15885. "I heard years ago about a family out here [near Kingston] that only had one cow. And there was a neighbor that could put a spell
on anyone and didn't like this man that had the cow. One morning the cow didn't come up for milking and they went out to find the cow and
found it dead. It had been shot in the thigh with a hair-ball [see 15884]. You see, a witch always uses a silver bullet or a hair-ball to kill anything,
and this man had shot the cow with one of those witch hair-balls. Everyone talked about it years ago." German. For the word witch-ball, see
16151.

WITCH-BAG
15886. "When I was about ten years old [1880] they had me scared out of one fit into a thousand fits. We were living on Mill Creek in a little log
house and across the road was another little log house with two rooms down and one up. The woman that lived in it moved out, and mother, my
sister twelve years old and myself went over to look around to see if the old woman left anything we could take. We went in the front room and
there was an old clock on the wall that run with weights. We didn't touch it, for we wanted to go upstairs. But mother saw a little bag hanging
over the door and she did take that down to see what it was, and this bag was full of green powder. She didn't want it, so she threw it down on the
floor, not knowing it was a witch bag. We started upstairs. The sun was shining. And when we got to the top of the stairs an awful storm came up.
It slam the doors this way and that. The whole house just rocked. We thought it would go over every minute. My mother was frighten. We came
down thinking every minute the house would go over, and it was so pretty when we went in a few minutes before. When we got down, the
door was locked. Mother said, 'Children, stand still, we are locked in and may never get out.' Mother fell on her knee and said, Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, what have I done to be locked in prison? And the door click and went open about a foot. We never stay to look at the clock or
anything else. Mother told an old woman all about us being locked in and she said, 'Did you touch the witch bag hanging over the door?' And
mother told her about throwing the green powder on the floor. She said, 'If you had not touch the witch bag, nothing would have happen.' But we
never went across the road again in that house." Mixed Indian.

Healer’s or Witch Doctor’s Bag - Salt Bag (15887-15889)

HEALER'S OR WITCH DOCTOR'S BAG
15887. "My mother knew two old German women about sixty years ago [1879] that lived in the south part of Quincy. They were very friendly
until one day they had a fallin'-out over knitting socks. One of the women told the other she would do her all the harm she could. Time went on
and the other lady's girl got married. Everything went wrong with this girl. Still, this girl didn't think this woman was doing her any
harm, because they had still been friends after her mother and the other woman fell out. Anyway, mother said this old woman went to see this girl
every day, took her every nice thing she could. The girl got in a family way and the old woman came still more. Every time she went there she
would throw her arms around this girl, making over her. This girl started to getting sick. The truth is, she just went nuts. They took her to several
different doctors, but they didn't help. Someone told them there was an old man up at Coatsburg, that he could break the spell if she was in one.
They took this girl up to Coatsburg to see the old man. He prayed over her. Then he made a little white bag, sewed it up with red thread, put a
penny in this bag, then sewed it up so the penny could not get out, told her to wear this bag around her neck and not take it off, that she would
soon be out of this old woman's power. She wore the bag. It was no time until she was all right again. And the old woman never came to her
house again after she put the bag around her neck." German.
15888. "A Miss B. that stayed with me, her father never would give her mother his pay. She had a hard time getting along. One day an old lady
came and asked her for some money. She said, 'I can't give you any because my husband don't give me any.' She said if Mrs. B. would give her a
loaf of bread she would give her a little bag of beans to wear. She did. And the next pay day her husband walked in and gave her every cent of his
money. Mrs. B. almost fainted. She kept wearing that bag until she died and got all his money." German.

SALT-BAG
15889. "Someone tried to put a spell on me and part me from my husband. One day something came over me just as soon as my husband came
in the house. I went right out in the yard. I even took my bedclothes out in the yard. He could not do a thing with me for a week. I would not stay
in the house at all when he was home. Then one morning my husband found a salt- bag under the porch with salt, pepper and sulphur. My
husband took that bag and put it on the fire, and just as soon as that bag was all burnt up, I went back in the house and we have not had any more
trouble. Someone had me bewitched, trying to part us." German.

Hoodoo Ball - Hoodoo Bottle - Hoodoo Bag (15890-15894)

HOODOO BALL - HOODOO BOTTLE - HOODOO BAG
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15890. "I remember another thing this Mr. W. did after he learn how to conjure [see 15863]. There was a woman up there [in Iowa many years
ago] that was sick for a long time in bed. Someone had put a spell on her. She could not walk, had not walked for months. Everyone knew she
was in someone's power because the doctor could not help her. So Mr. W. thought he would take his bottle [described in 15863] and get some
devil ['s] shoe string and see if he could find anything around the house. At last he found a small bottle under the porch with some kind of liquid
and a ball of old rags and strings. He poured a little of the liquid out of his bottle into the small bottle he found and it blew right up in his hand,
and he had a handful of needles [that came out of the small bottle]. He took the needles home and stuck them all in this rag ball he found under
the porch, and put them in the fire to burn. In about three hours this old woman that had not walked for months came walking to his house and
wanted to know what he wanted. He said, 'I never sent for you.' 'You surely did.' The bottle worked again and the spell was broken off of this
woman, for she was not sick any more." Negro.
15891. "Someone put a hoodoo ball under my mother's front doorstep years ago and when she started to go through the door she could not move.
She just stood there. They found the hoodoo ball and threw it in the stove and all kind of light shot up from it [thanks to the powder secretly put
on the ball by the conjurer who found? the latter].
15892. "The old man eighty-four years old told me he went down to Washington Park this fall. Someone hoodooed him. He was sitting on the
bench, and when he wanted to get up and go he could not get up. Someone had to help him up and to the car. So the next time he went down he
said he was going to fix his shoes, so if he walked over any hoodoo balls it would not hurt him and he would be able to get up off of the benches.
So he went and burned some alum, some salt, and took some tallow, and put that all together and put it on the bottom of his shoes. That will keep
anyone from hoodooing you. After he put that on his shoes, he went down in the park and did not have any more trouble." Negro.
15893. "I found a hoodoo bag in my yard one day .I guess someone was trying to hoodoo me. I opened it and found salt, pepper, chicken feet,
a rabbit foot, ashes, and a little piece of razor. I took and burned it up. So the spell was broken." Negro.
15894. "Three years ago [1930] my sister got married and her mother-in-law didn't like her. She was very strong and healthy when she went to
live with her mother-in-law, and just as soon as she got in her house she started to going down, she just kept falling off. They could not find out
what was wrong. One day they found salt all under the carpet of my sister's room. You see, if anyone has it in for you, they put salt in your room,
that will pull you down. And another day she sent her washing home for her mother to wash. And while she was washing the dress she wore most
of the time, she found something in the hem of her dress. She took it out and it was a little bag with sulphur, black pepper, red pepper and salt.
That was another thing that was pulling her down. My mother took the bag out of her dress and my sister started to getting better. She left her
mother-in-law's house and she got well." Negro.

“Hand” - “Talking Hand” (15895-15897)

HAND
15895. "My daughter made hands. She took one of your old shoes and scraped the bottom good, then burnt the shoe, took the ashes and scrapings
and put some oil and rice with it, made a dough of it, and put it in a little cloth bag. That is just a hand for good luck." Negro.
15896. "I was going with a man years ago and wanted him real bad. One day a fortune teller stopped at our house and told me if I would give her
fifty cents she would tell me how to get the man I wanted. I gave her the only fifty cents I had in the house and here is what she told me to do. If
you want to get a man, get a little hair off of his head, under his arms, a piece of his shirt he has been wearing, get the piece as near under the arm
as you can, then get a piece of lodestone, put them all in a little bag and wear under your arm for three days. Don't let anyone touch that bag but
yourself. The third day wet on that bag, then bury that bag under your front door. You will get your man. I did this and got my man." Negro. This
is a love hand. There is no formula for making a hand. Ingredients vary with the maker.

TALKING-HAND
15897. "One time I paid fifty dollars for a talking hand. And I went somewhere and I took it off and put it in my muff. When I got home I forgot
about it and could not find it. Then I went to Mr. T. [a white healer and seer] and told him I had lost my hand. He told me I had put it
in something hairy like a muff. And I went home and found it just where he said it was. It was just the shape of a hand. It is made of medal
[metal]. I wore it right over my heart. I got it in St. Louis. And while I had it I never was sick or had bad luck. It is good for heart trouble too. You
talk to that hand, ask it anything you want. It hangs down on a string. You say to it [after asking a question], 'If it is so, say so.' If so, it will rock
back and forth. You just can't hold it in your hand. You say to it, 'If it ain't so, say so.' And it will just quiver." Negro.

DO-IT-YOURSELF WITCHCRAFT (15898-16086)

Note: This sub-section containing little new material is a combination of parts of two sub-sections in the first edition --- Methods of
Doing Evil (pp. 462-480, Nos. 9108-9274) and Hoodoo and Witchcraft in Love and Marriage (pp. 498-515, Nos. 9355-9503).
15898. "I had been going with a man four years. His mother didn't like me. She tried everything to break us up. At last one Sunday morning after
I came home from church I forgot and put my Bible on the table. Several hours after that I went to look for my Bible. It was gone. I was just sick,
for I was afraid she took it, because I knew she would steal it the first time she could, as she lived on the same block I did. In the afternoon she
called over the [sidewalk] fence, 'You will soon lose my son, for I took your Bible and burned it up [any object owned by your enemy and
considered precious by him or her may be burned; the more precious the object, the more effective your evil intention].' I was just sick for losing
my Bible I had for years and knowing I would soon lose my friend. I lost him before the month was over. This only happen five years ago [1934]
and we still don't speak."
15899. "I know a woman that had a man and he was running with every woman he saw. She made a big pot of vegetable soup and put something
red in it, and a little blood out of her arm; and say, he got so tame that he never went away from the house any more and would not look at
another woman." Negro.
15900. "I had a beau once and I thought a lot of him. I thought I was going to lose him, so I took two drops of blood out of my arm. My, but my
arm was sore, for three weeks; but after I put the two drops of blood in his I coffee, he could not do enough for me." Irish.
15901. "If a woman can get a little of your blood on a piece of cloth and tie it up in a bag and wear it on her leg, she will run you crazy in
nine days." Negro.
15902. "If you take a needle and draw the blood on your left hand between the thumb and the first finger, and take the blood and write on a piece
of white paper with a toothpick the three initials of your beau's name, and wear this in the toe of your left shoe, you will hold their love, for you in
other words can guide them." German.
15903. "If you want someone to love you, take the blood out of a live pigeon and some of your blood, and write your beau's name and your name
with that blood on your arm or forehead, crossing the writing of the names, and he will always love you." Irish.
 421

15904. "If you want to make your sweetheart love you, take a needle and pick your ring finger of your left hand until it bleeds. Then take
that blood and write his name and your name on a piece of paper. Draw a circle around the names with the blood. At nine o'clock at night bury
that paper in the ground without anyone knowing it and he will always love you." Negro.
15905. "Let a woman write her sweetheart's name with some of her menstrual blood and he will fall in love with her." German.
15906. "I know a woman down here in the country [near Marblehead] said thirty years ago she could get any man for her daughter that she
wanted, if she could get them into the house to eat some of her cake she baked. There was a man in Marblehead that just hated her daughter, and
this girl was just crazy about him. One day this old woman got the man in her house some way. The man said afterward he don't know why he
went, but just the same, he eat some of this old woman's cake; and he married the girl even if he did not like her. They say this old woman put her
[daughter's] monthly in the cake, and that is why he married the girl." German.
15907. "A girl bewitched my brother. She gave him blood from her D-A-R rag in something, then gave him a red-set ring to wear. My brother
was just crazy about this girl. He would come home from work and just as soon as he got in the house he would start to crying and cry all the time
and just worry. He could not eat. I went to the girl myself and made her take the red-set ring back. I could not make her take the blood back out of
the D-A-R rag she gave him, but after she gave the ring back he started to getting well. But we had a time with him to give that girl up."
15908. "This is so, for I know several that tried it. Someone you want to love, if you will put just three drops of your monthly blood in something
cold he eats for three mornings straight, he will love you to death; but if you get over [exceed] the three days, he will hate you good."
15909. "Take nine drops of your menstrual blood and put into something your husband eats or drinks, preferably in his coffee, and he will never
leave you." German.
15910. "There was a man who wanted to get rid of the woman he was going with and every time he tried something kept him from doing it. He
has been trying fur ten years to get away. He found out just lately she has been burning her monthly rags on the stove and putting the ashes in his
beer; and when they do that you can't break away, will just hold you. He is still going with her, said he could not break off."
15911. "A man went with a girl and he got mad at her. Some way he got a piece of her undershirt with some blood on it and wore that in his hat,
so he could put a spell on her. One day he asked her to go fishing. She, thinking he wanted to make up with her, went with him. While they were
fishing, a big snake came out of the water. She said, 'Oh, look at that snake! It is after me!' If she would of put her hand on that man right then,
the spell would of been broken; but she did not, and he threw the spell on her. And she is still seeing snakes all the time." Negro.
15912. "If you get someone's sick clothes that you don't like and bury them in an old hollow tree, they will start to bloating and never will come
sick again unless you take the rags out of the tree." Negro.
15913. "If a man wants to get rid of his wife, take and make a hole in a tree, then put her monthly rags in that hole and stop it up. That will
kill the tree; and when the tree starts to dying, his wife will die." Negro.
15914. "If anyone finds your monthly cloth and buries it, when the cloth rots you will die." Negro.
15915. "If you have a boy friend and another girl is after him, try and get some of her garments that has some of her monthly on and throw it in
running water. As it fades out of the clothes, she will fade out of his mind." Negro.
15916. "If you have a beau or husband and you have a fuss and he leaves you, and you want to bring him back, take something he has given you
and scald it, then make a wish he will come back, and dry whatever you scald, and it will hurt him so, he will have to come back. I had a woman
friend that was sick in the hospital and I went to see her. She was crying. Her sweetheart had just left. Said he was not coming back. I told her
about scalding something he had given her. She said, 'I have only a book here, but I cannot get out of bed to do that.' I said, 'I will take the book
home with me. I will make him come back to you.' That night I gave the book a good scalding, then opened the book and made a wish that her
beau would come back, then closed the book up and put it up to dry. The next day I went to the hospital and my friend said, 'Oh, you did it, for I
knew just when you were doing it. My beau came back this morning and said --- What did you do to me last night. I could not wait until I got
back here to see you this morning ---'." Irish.
15917. "I was hoodoo by a woman years ago. I was just crazy about her. I could not sleep or do anything for thinking about her. She would come
to the house where I stayed and go and see everyone but me, knowing I wanted her to come to see me so bad. I just could not stand it, so one day
I told a man about it, and he said, 'You throw the hoodoo back on her and make her suffer. You go down the road, and the first bone you see, pick
it up and hold it high above your head, and wish your bad luck on her while you are swinging that bone around your head three times.' I did. After
that I got all right and didn't care for the girl. And she got crazy about me, but I didn't care for her." Negro.
15918. "If you want someone to move out of a house, if you will go and stand in front of that house on a dark night and whirl and whirl a
frontice bone out of a person's body (corpse), tied on a string, they will move. No one will stay in a house after you whirl one of those bones in
front of the I house." The old colored man who gave this item said that a "frontice bone comes from down in front of the body." Later, an old
colored woman explained that it "was a bone right down close to your privates, right in front" --- further, that if you whirled this bone at night in
front of anyone's house, it would make such a mournful sound that the occupants would think their house haunted and move."
15919. "If you eat the wing of a chicken, then take that little bone that is almost at the end of the wing and drop it in the pocket of the fellow
you are going with, without him knowing it, he will ask you to marry him." German.
15920. "If you love someone and they are indifferent to you, get a piece of their clothing that they have worn next to them and pin it next to
the clothing you wear next to you, and they will soon grow to love you again." German.
15921. "If you love someone and want to bring them back, take a piece of cream cheese and some flour and make a ball of it, and drop it in
their pocket without them knowing it." German.
15922. "If your boy friend has left you and you want him back, put your dish rag under your steps; and when it rots, he will come back." Irish.
15923. To keep your husband from leaving you, hold some dragon's blood in your hand on Friday night between eleven o' clock and midnight,
and say:
"Not this blood I want to burn,
But your mind I want to turn,
That you can neither eat nor drink,
Nor sleep nor rest until you ---
(Say what you want your husband to do) ---
In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost."
Then burn the dragon's blood. The operation must be repeated three times. This rite was used without results during the past year [just before
1935] by the informant. A druggist said that dragon's blood is still sold, though not so much as formerly. It is usually burned for good luck.
15924. "An old Indian woman telling my mother's fortune years ago, I will say about sixty years [1876], told my mother this. I heard her. If a
girl wear a brooch and then give it to her beau she wants to marry, and let him carry it in his pocket a while, then him give it back to her and she
wear it for a while again, then bury it by the door where they will both walk over it, he will marry her. They must both walk over it to get
married. And when they come back home, then she must dig it up and wear it, and they will always be lucky."
 422

15925. "I heard my mother tell this. Years ago when a girl wore those brass earrings they would take one and pin in some boy's vest pocket next
to his heart, and pin the other one on her shirt next to her heart, and wish they would marry and have a happy married life, and wear them that
way until they got married. Then the girls would wear both again for a while, then bury them, and they would always be happy." German.
15926. "I had a friend that a man was hanging around her house all the time and she wanted him to leave and he would not go, when someone
told her if she would get some of his stool and burn it, she would not have him long. She did. And after that he would come in the house and say,
'I don't know what is wrong, I just can't stay in the house or out.' And the next morning he left and up to this day she has not heard a word from
him." Negro.
15927. "She [a South-End witch who did about 1932] wrote a note and [to conceal it] put it in a bouquet and throwed the bouquet in her
[second] husband's grave after he was dead, and on the note she wrote she didn't want him to have no rest until she got the place [the home they
had occupied]. She wanted everything." German.
15928. In the first edition of this work I have three brief sayings about "gopher dust" (9132-9133, 9382). As I later learned while collecting
Negro hoodoo in the South, this word should be "goofer dust". This dust can be one of several things, as I shall explain in my book on Negro
hoodoo.
15929. "Pull a hair from the head of someone you wish to love you, and bury his hair along with one of yours. He will love you forever." Irish.
15930. "Take the hair out of the top of your husband's head and bury some under the front doorstep, and he will never leave his home for good. I
keep some of my husband's hair in a bag so I will not run out. I keep a little under the front step. I know he will never leave me. I don't care how
mad he gets when he leaves the house, because that hair under the door will make him come back to me." Negro.
15131. "If you want someone to love you, take some of their hair and sew it up in a little red flannel bag and bury it two inches in the ground
under their doorstep; and you must put a piece of pine board over it before you put your dirt on, and they will love you forever." Negro.
15932. "If you fall out with your beau and you don't want him to go with another girl, take some of his hair and put it in a little sack and pin
the sack so it will lay on your bosom all the time. He may try to go with others, but you will be on his mind all the time and he will come back."
Irish.
15933. "If you want to keep your husband or lover, take three hairs out of his head and three out of yours, and put them between gold and silver.
Wear it and he will not leave." Negro.
15934. "Take a lock of your hair and put it in your sweetheart's hatband so he don't know it, and let him wear it; and he will always love you."
German.
15935. "If you want your man under your control, take his hair and make a bag and wear it on your leg and he will be easy to handle." Negro.
15936. "If you want to keep your husband from running around, when he is asleep cut off some of his hair on the top of his head and wear that in
your right shoe, and he will never leave you." Negro.
15937. "If a man wants to run a woman crazy, he can take a strand of her hair and wear it in his shoes for a week." Negro.
15938. "If a man get your hair and put it in a bottle of vinegar, it will make you crawl on your stomach for him." Negro.
15939. "If your beau is getting to stay away from the house, try and get some of his hair off of his head and put it in a bottle of alcohol and set
it in the closet. He will come back to you." Negro.
15940. "Take two hairs out of your head and one out of your lover's head and tie them together. Then put them in a small bottle. If you lose
that bottle, you will lose your lover; if you don't lose the bottle, you will keep him forever." Irish.
15941. "If you are going with a man and you don't want him to come back, get some of his hair and put it in a bottle, then go to the middle of
the river and throw it in, and the man will go whichever way the bottle goes." Negro.
15942. "If your husband is running around, take some of his hair and a piece of his necktie and put in a bottle, then throw that in the river;
and when that necktie rots, that will change him." German.
15943. "If you want to make someone disappointed, get some of their hair and put it in a bottle, then wet in the bottle and put a cork in the
bottle and throw it in running water. It will turn their hair white and they will not have any peace as long as that bottle is in the water." Negro.
15944. "If you fall out with someone, take a lock of their hair and a small photo and put it in a bottle, and wet in the bottle, and they will lose
their life and they can't wet any more until they die." Negro.
15945. "If you want to get rid of your husband or wife, take some of their hair and wrap it around a black string. Then tie it to a rock so the
rock will hold it down. Then throw the rock with the hair on in running water, and they just can't keep out of the water. They will jump into the
water and the rock will hold them down and they will drown." Negro.
15946. "If you can get someone's hair and bury it by a running stream, it will make them fade away and die." Negro.
15947. "If you want to make someone lose their mind, throw some of their hair in running water and their mind will wander on just like the hair
is wandering on in the water." Negro.
15948. "I know this is so. I am ashamed to tell it, but I tried it. If your man is running around with another woman, if you can get some hair out
of her comb and burn it, will break them up. I was out of town and when I came home I found hair in the comb at our house where the woman
had been while I was away. And someone told me this and I did it. I am sorry, for my husband has had nothing but bad luck ever since. But it
broke the woman and him up." German.
15949. "If someone is combing their hair and they pull the combing out of the comb and throw them on the floor, and someone else picks up
those combings of hair and will burn them at your back door, it will bring you very bad luck." Negro.
15950. "You can harm a person in whatever way you want to by getting a lock of his hair and burning some and throwing the rest away." Negro.
15951. "If you don't like someone, if you can get some of their hair and nail it on a tree; when that hair starts to grow, they will die." Negro.
15952. "If anyone puts your hair up in a tree when the sap is coming up, you will be hoodooed, and you will not get well unless you get a
hoodoo doctor." Negro.
15953. "If you want someone to die, take and drill a hole in a tree, then take some hair off the back of their head and put in this hole, then plug
it up; and they will start to fade and then die." Negro.
15954. "If you want to make someone lose their mind, take some of their hair to a young growing tree and cut a small hole, then put the hair in
that hole, then put the piece of tree against their hair. As the tree grows against their hair it will be growing against their brain, and in time they
will lose their mind." Negro.
15955. "If your hair is cut with sheep shears and the shears then hidden, your hair will never grow again. Years ago when my mother was a little
girl, she would cry every time she would comb her hair. So the woman that was raising my mother got mad and went and cut all her hair off with
sheep shears and hid them under the henhouse so her hair would not grow, and it did not grow." Negro.
15956. "I know a woman that had beautiful hair and another woman was jealous of her hair but didn't let her know it. She was always wanting to
comb it, and she bewitched it. While she would comb it, she would always put pee on it. The other woman did not know it, and one day all her
hair fell out of her head over her putting that pee on to bewitch her hair." Negro.
 423

15957. "If you have it in for someone, try and get some of their hair and take a cocoanut and put a small hole in the end. Then put the hair in
that cocoanut and put it in the ground with the hole down, so the milk in that cocoanut will drip out. And as the cocoanut dries up, the party will
dry and fade away." Negro.
15958. "If you want to catch a man and keep him, take three hairs out of his head and three hairs from your private hair. Tie these together and
bury them, and you will sure get him and keep him." Irish.
15959. "Pull out a few hairs from your privates and put them in the hatband of the man you want to love you. These hairs will lie against his brain
and make him crazy about you." German.
15960. "If you want to catch a man, take some of your private hair and put it in his coat pocket and do not let him know it, and you will sure get
him." Negro.
15961. "Cut some hair from a woman's private hair and some from a man's head, and tie it together and wear it in your left shoe, and he will be
crazy about you." Negro.
15962. "If a girl wants to bring her lover back, on a midsummer eve [Midsummer's Eve?], if the lonely maiden will take some hempseed and
scatter them as she walks along, saying:
'Hempseed I sow,
Hempseed I hoe,
Let him that is my true love,
Come after me and mow' ---
She will meet her lover in three days after sowing." Irish.
15963. "If you want someone to love you, take their handkerchief and take it to the garden and completely bury it under a bean hill, and don't go
back; and be sure you do this just at nine o'clock at night and don't tell anyone." Irish.
15964. "My son got in trouble. He got in jail. I sent to Chicago and got three lodestones; one to get him out of jail, one so he would not pay a
fine, and the other to get a job. They sent them. I took them down and told him to wear them. Do you know, he got right out of jail, he didn't pay
no fine, and got work right away. He is still wearing two, one to keep him out of jail and one to keep work. He is still working." Negro.
15965. "Some women say, if you don't want a man to leave you, just get a mole-toe bag [put a mole's toe in a bag] and wear it on your leg."
Negro.
15966. "Write the girl's name you want on a piece of paper and sleep with that under your head, and she will come to see you in a month."
Negro.
15967. "If you want to get rid of someone, write their name three times in red ink on a piece of paper. Throw the paper in running water and
say, 'Depart from me ye worker of iniquity and wander on until the day of judgment'." German.
15968. "I had a boy friend, we fell out, and I had not seen him for six months, not even a line from him, didn't even know where to find him. I
was worrying about him, for I did like him. So on [last] Saturday [May 14, 1938], when I was sitting on the bed, I happen to think of what this
woman told me to do. I got a piece of paper, wrote his name three times on it, then put it my left shoe so it would be there in the morning when I
got up. So I wore it all day Sunday, all day Monday, and all day Tuesday. Tuesday was the third day [you must wear it three days]. After supper
about seven-thirty I was sitting thinking about the third day being up and about the paper in my shoe, about eight o'clock who should walk in but
the boy friend whose name was in my shoe. Was I glad! I'm telling you, no one will know how glad I was over the old saying coming true. We
made up. We are going to be married in two weeks. If I hadn't of put his name in my shoe to get him back, maybe I would not be as happy as I am
today." Irish.
15968a. "I had an enemy. She was talking about me all the time and saying things that were not so. One morning I got up and wrote her name on
a piece of paper before sunrise and went out in the yard and buried it, standing, looking to the east, and saying the Lord's Prayer. I did this for
seven mornings. Right after that this woman got real sick and sent for me and told me she was very sorry for what she had done." German.
15969. "If your man is going away from the house and has another girl, you can bring him back by tying his necktie for him every time he puts it
on." Irish.
15970. "If you want a man to leave, take the pockets out of his pants and he will go away." Negro.
15971. "A man's wife left him and took their only child with her. I happened to pass their house and I said, 'What are you looking so sad
about, Fred?' He said, 'Glady is gone.' I said, 'Have you got anything that belonged to her?' He looked around and found an old pair of pink
bloomers. I told him to scald them good, then lay them out, make a wish that she would come back home, then fold the wish right up in the
bloomers and hang them up to dry. He did. Several days after that I went by again. Fred said, 'Glady and the girl are back home.' I said, 'Lord,
Lord, it did work'." Irish.
15972. "If you want your beau to come back to you after you have fallen out, take a large green pepper, then a darning needle and heat it in the
stove; then stick that needle through and through the green pepper and say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, that he will come
back. And he will come back." Irish.
15973. "If someone is going with your husband or your beau and you don't want them to go, go to their house and throw red pepper and salt in
front of the door so they will walk over it. That will start them to quarreling and they will fall out." Negro.
15974. "If you want a man and his wife to separate, take some dog hairs, some cat hairs, and salt and black pepper, and a little dirt, and mix that
all together; then put it on their front doorstep, and they will start to fussing and at last separate." German.
15975. "I know a woman that's a witch here in Quincy. If she don't like you, it's too bad for you. She will take flour and red pepper, mix them
good, and put that on your doorstep at twelve o'clock midnight — will start everyone to fussing in that house." German.
15976. "There was an old woman down in the Bottom around Ursa that was always putting a spell on someone. She had some girls and one night
the girls had a dance. When this old woman thought they had danced enough, she put red pepper around on the floor to burn the girl's legs. They
got to burning so, they had to run. They just could not stand the pain in their legs." German.
15977. "If you have not seen anyone for a long time, take their picture and set it up against the wall on the floor and you will see them soon."
German.
15978. "If your sweetheart gets another girl, take his picture and place it upside down on the wall. When the picture fades, he will come back to
you." German.
15979. "If a man see a woman he wants, he can get her by taking a picture of her and sleeping with it face downward under his head for a week;
and she will look for him until she finds where he live." Negro.
15980. "You can give someone a headache by taking and turning their picture upside down." Negro.
15981. "If you want to get rid of your sweetheart, just turn his picture upside down and he will die." Negro.
15982. "If a person leave you and you want them to come back, just take their picture and turn it upside down and they will come back to you."
Negro.
 424

15983. "If you want some particular person to come to your house, just get a snapshot of them and lay it face downward on your dresser under the
cloth, and they will come inside of three days." Negro.
15984. "If you have trouble with your beau and want him to come back, take his photo and bury it face down, wishing he will come back; and he
will sure come back in three days." Negro.
15985. "If you don't like a person, take a tintype picture of that person and bury it right where they walk over it; when it fades, they will
die." Negro.
15986. "A woman fell out with her beau and she didn't want him to go with anyone else. So she took his photo and put it under his doorstep,
where he could walk over it all the time, to make him die. This man started to getting sick and weak. One day he went to a fortune teller and she
told him about the photo being under his step, and to take it out, and the one that put it there would die. He went home and found the photo, just
like the fortune teller told him. He took it out and got well. This girl that put it there died before the year was out." German.
15987. "If you don't want your friend to come back to your house, put his picture in the ground in salt, with the face down touching the salt and
the head away from the house, and he will not come back." German.
15988. "If you want your friend to come back, put his picture in the ground with the head to the house, wishing In the Name of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, that they will not eat, drink, rest or sleep until they come back." German.
15989. "I know a girl that had a beau years ago and he got angry at her, and took her tintype and put it in a little box and took it out to the
cemetery and buried the box; and the girl started to fade, and it was no time until that girl died." Negro.
15990. "If you fall out with your beau and you want him to be real sick, take and dig a hole in the ground just the shape of a coffin and put
his picture in the hole with the face looking down. As the picture fades he will fade." German.
15991. "If you want someone to die, take their picture and draw their coffin on the back of the picture and sit it upside down on the mantle,
and they will fade away and die." Negro.
15992. "If you want to make someone love you, take and get their picture and some of their hair and bury it." Irish.
15993. "A woman told me that when Henry F's wife died, Mary told a neighbor she always wanted him. So one day Mary was out in the back
yard. She had Henry's picture and a pair of her earrings, burying them. The neighbor said, 'What are you doing?' She said, 'I always wanted Henry
and I am going to get him.' And she did." German.
15994. "My brother went away. He would not write or come home. Mother wrote all the time. One time mother was very sick. We didn't think
she would live. We sent for him but he didn't come home. One day someone told her about putting his picture at the corner of the house, face up
so the water will drip on it all the time when it rains. As the picture starts to fade, they will think of coming home and be back before it fades out.
Mother did. She would go out and look every day to see if it was fading away. At last it started to fade and mother was very glad, for she thought
maybe he would come, for she believed in old sayings. Before the picture faded he was home."
15995. If your husband or wife has left you, take his or her photograph, and while making a wish that he or she will return, place the photograph
behind a picture hanging on the wall, and see that the photograph faces the way the erring person has gone. Within eight or nine days the husband
or wife will return. Irish.
15996. "My brother was going with a girl so much older than he. My mother did everything she could to break them up. But everything
failed until someone told her to take the girl's picture and put it behind another picture hanging on the wall with her head down, and that would
start them to fussing, because the girl would be standing on her head. Mother at last did this and it worked. The next day after the picture was
behind the other picture, they had a fuss, and kept on fussing until they broke up."
15997. "If you have not seen anyone for a long time, take their picture and put it behind the looking-glass and they will come soon." German.
15998. "I don't believe this but my boy friend went away, said he was not coming back. I didn't want him to go. Someone told me to put his
picture back of a looking-glass so his face would be looking into my face every time I looked in the glass. I tried it and looked in the
looking-glass a plenty. Well, my boy friend came back before the week was out."
15999. "I kept my husband in hot water for six weeks. I put his picture up against the looking-glass. If you put it up against the looking-glass,
they will just feel like other people feel about them. And he thought the sheriff was after him all the six weeks; that was what the people
thought about him, that the sheriff should have him because he was so mean to everyone."
16000. "If you take someone's picture and turn it upside down so the party is standing on her head, facing a looking-glass, she will feel just the
way people are talking about her." German.
16001. "Turn your boy friend's picture upside down in front of a mirror, if he has left, and he will come back to you." Irish.
16002. "Put your sweetheart's or husband's picture behind the looking-glass. Stick a pin through his heart and he will never leave; if he does, he
can't stay away." Negro.
16003. "If you want someone to come back, take their picture and put it back of the looking-glass, and stick a needle through their heart and
wish they will come back, and they will." Negro.
16004. "If you fall out with someone and you want them to come back, take their picture and sit it upside down looking through a glass of water,
and put the glass of water in front of a looking-glass, and they will come back." German.
16005. "To make someone come back to you, take their picture and sit it down over a glass of water in a dark place without anyone knowing it,
and they will come back." Negro.
16006. "If you fall out with your beau, take a glass of salt water that will hold an egg up. Then take his picture and put it upside down over the
glass, and stir it every day. Make your wish every day while you are stirring, and don't let anyone know it. You either wish him good luck or bad,
and you will get it." German.
16007. "If you want to put a spell on someone, take their picture and sit it upside down back of another picture, then take a pitcher of water and
sit it behind the picture of the one you want to die, and don't let anyone know it, and the person of the picture will be laid out dead." Irish.
16008. "Take a glass of water and take the picture of the man you have fallen out with. If you want him back, put his picture upside down over
the glass so the hair on the picture will touch the water. Then set that behind the piano. If you have no piano, put it back of some musical
instrument. It must be back of music. And let it set for twenty-one days and he will come back to you." Irish.
16009. "Put a person's photograph on the wall and drive a tack into the heart and he will die." German.
16010. "K. [a reputed witch] said before her boy died she nailed his picture life size [she drew it] on the summer-kitchen wall upside down. And
she drove a nail through both hands and feet, and one through his heart, and said he wouldn't live the year out. This was in June. He died in
September." German.
16011. "A man was crazy about a girl. This girl did not like this man. This man's mother said, 'I would fix her. You take her picture and just fill it
with pinholes and then bury the picture with the face down; when the picture starts to rot, the girl will start to suffering.' And he did. A woman
said it was just a shame how this poor girl suffered over this man doing her picture that way until she died." German.
 425

16012. "My sister-in-law loved a man and they could not get along. She said she would make him die before she would let anyone else have him.
And she did. She took his picture and took fifty pins and stuck each pin in the picture, wishing as she put in each pin he would die, then she
buried the picture. And in fifty weeks he drop dead. She has always worried over her killing him, but said no one else got him. This is true. It
happen right here in Quincy." German.
16013. "If you fall out with your beau, take his picture and put a pin through his heart, and put his picture upside down back of the bed on the
side where you sleep, and don't let anyone know it is there. Make a cross and say, In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost making your
wish. Either wish him good or harm, and you will get it." German.
16014. "If you fall out with your beau, get his picture, take three needles and stick two needles through his heart one way and the third needle the
other way, and he will have heartache in all his life." German.
16015. "If you want to get rid of someone take their picture and fill it with pins, starting at the head and going to the feet. Leave all the pins
in that picture, don't take out a one; then put the picture in a box and put the box away. And in no time they will die." Irish.
16016. "If you want someone to die, take a tintype picture of them and put it in water with the face down, and when the picture fades they will
die." Negro.
16017. "If you are going with someone and want to stop, get a can of acid and pour over their picture and it will burn you two apart." Negro.
16018. "If you fall out with your sweetheart, get up on a Friday night at twelve o'clock and put his picture on a cross and burn it up, and he
will come back to you." German.
16019. "If you want someone to die, dig a hole in the ground, then put some straw in that hole, then get the picture of the one you want to get
rid of and lay on that straw, then light that straw without touching that picture, and let it burn. The ashes will fall in that hole, then cover them up
with dirt, and they will soon get sick and die." German.
16020. "Take a person's picture or photograph, take it out into the yard at midnight, burn it [something is first said over it] and the person
will die." German. Within recent years an old German woman in Quincy was thought to have thus disposed of her sons for their insurance
money.
16021. "If you want to get even with someone, take and draw their picture on a board and put it on a white oak tree. If you put the nail through
their eyes, their eyes will go out; if you put it through the side, they will have a pain in their side. You can make them hurt wherever you want
them to. Just drive the nail where you want them to hurt." Irish.
16022. "A woman at Y. bewitched me and my husband. She was stuck on my husband. And I lived nine blocks from her. I took a board five feet
long and draw her picture on this board and called her by name. Then took a stick and beat her belly first, then her face, and beat her all over from
head to foot. Then turn the board over and beat it on the back. [The contributor then digressed to give some directions as follows] --- Then you
stand the board up, and if you hit her on the back of the head, she will fall over on her face. — I hit her on the back of the head and she said [was
reported to have said later], 'Oh, mamma, aunt Alice knocked me down.' And I was nine blocks away. And she never did bother me any more."
German?
16023. "If you want to get rid of someone, let them sleep on a wet pillow." German.
16024. "If you like someone and you want them to return, take a pin and lay it down with the point toward your front door, and leave it there
nine days, and they will return." Negro.
16025. "If you want someone to love you, make a love powder out of a half teaspoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of peppermint and one
teaspoonful of grated candied orange peel. Then give to that person one teaspoonful of this mixture in a glass of wine or coffee, and he will love
you forever." German.
16026. "If you want to make someone's hands ache, put acid in their hand prints." Negro.
16027. "If someone come to your house and you don't want them to come back, go out and find their tracks and nail them full of nails and they
will just keep walking and walking, will not be able to come back." Negro.
16028. "If you do something to a person they don't like, they can drive a nail in your footprint and it will make you walk yourself to death; and
if they want you to stop walking, they take the nail out of your footprint and throw it into running water and they will stop walking." Negro.
16029. "If you get a man's footprints and put a rusty nail in it, his foot will burn him all the time." Negro.
16030. "If you put a rusty nail in a man's footprints and it burns him and you want to stop it, take that rusty nail up and throw it in water and it
will not burn any more." Negro.
16031. "If you don't want someone to come back to your house, stick three nails in their heel of their shoe where they leave a track in the yard."
Negro.
16032. "If you don't want your man to talk to another woman, take a nail and drive it at the end of his heel prints, and he will run from her the
next time he sees her." Negro.
16033. "If you want to make a person restless and can't stay in one place long, just sprinkle some salt and pepper in their footprints and they
will keep moving." Negro.
16034. "If you are going with a young man and you don't want him to come back, put some red pepper and salt right in his foot tracks and he will
never come back again." Negro.
16035. "If you have a beau and he goes away from the house and you want him to come back, take a needle and thread and go to the front gate
and find his footprints and start to sewing toward the house. That is sewing him back." Negro.
16036. "If you want someone to move on, pour turpentine in their tracks and they will start to running." Negro.
16037. "If you have two men coming to your house and one don't want the other to come, let one of the men take a new piece of zinc just large
enough to go under his [the other man's] footprints in the dust, and when he goes to see the girl, take that piece of zinc and put it under the
footprints where the toes are pointing towards the house, and turn that piece of zinc around with the toes pointing away from the house, and he
will never come back to see that girl again." Negro.
16038. "If your man runs with another woman, when he is sleeping take the quilt that he is sleeping under and take your right hand, pass it over
your left hand and turn the quilt over. He will not run with her again. A colored man was living in my neighborhood. He was running with
another woman. He got sick. Every morning this other woman would come to the house and ask how the man was. The wife did not know what
to do. Someone told her, 'While he is sleeping take your left hand, turn over the quilt he is sleeping under.' She did this. When he got well he did
not even look at the other woman again." Negro.
16039. "If you don't want a girl to marry another man, just get her engagement ring and wear it for three days, then give it back to her; and she
won't marry that man, and it will give him bad luck too." Negro.
16040. "If you think your beau or husband is drifting away from you, burn black pepper and salt three times a day for three days, wishing In the
Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, that they will not rest or have any peace until they come back, and they will come." German.
 426

16041. "You can get any wish you ask, if you make salt rings on a stove lid. You make three salt rings, one real large, one smaller and one small
[these rings are made within each other]. You have to make them in the hours of three, six, nine, in the morning, without anyone knowing it, and
make them for three mornings, and make your wish and you will get it. I know a man that was running with another woman, and his wife took
salt and made three rings on a stovelid for three mornings without him knowing it, and each morning at the same time, and he gave up the other
woman and came back to his wife. I know another woman whose husband was running with gamblers, and she made the salt rings and he gave up
the gamblers." Negro.
16042. "Years ago [in slavery times] my mother said they took their master out after dark through the keyhole every night and would ride him all
night because he was so mean to them. And just about daylight they would put salt all over him to freshen him up, because he would be about
dead over the witches riding him all night, and would put him back through the keyhole early in the morning." Negro.
16043. "Sew some salt in a man's pants pocket without him knowing it and he will not leave you." Negro.
16044. "If your husband is running with another woman, just before you go to bed sprinkle some salt on the cookstove; then go and hang his
pants on the foot of the bed. This must be done for nine nights and he will stop the other woman." Negro.
16045. "If your man is running around with another woman, when you are ironing his shirt, stick a needle in the collar so he will have to pull
it out, and he will give the other woman up and come back to you." Negro.
16046. "I knew a girl that did this, wanting to marry a certain man, and after she tried this, they were married in three months. Get a piece of
his shirt tail in the front and a piece of your shirt, then sew the two together, then bury them under your front doorstep." Irish.
16047. "I know a woman down in Hannibal [Missouri] that did this, and she has been married over ten years and they have never had a fuss.
When two are engaged to be married and the first meal they have after married, if the wife will take as many toothpicks off the table as she is
[years] old and take a piece of her husband's shirt tail and sew the toothpicks up in it, then bury it somewhere in their yard, they will live happy
and never fuss." Irish.
16048. "Bury your husband's shoes in the front yard with the toes toward the door and he will never leave you." Negro.
16049. "If you want to get rid of someone, take a pair of their old shoes and burn them, wishing they will leave, and when they burn up, they will
leave you alone." Negro.
16050. "I was going with a fellow and I got tired of him coming, so I took his right shoe and pinned it up under a box car that was leaving town,
and that fellow left; and up to this day I have never met him again." Negro.
16051. "If you want to get rid of your husband, take a quart bottle and put some gun shot in it; then put half water and half vinegar and fill that
bottle. Then add a few drops of whiskey. Put that under his pillow and let him sleep on it without him knowing it, and he will leave and never
come back." Irish.
16052. "If you are going with a fellow and you can get one of his socks he has worn but has never been washed, and sleep with that under your
pillow, he can never get away from you." Negro.
16053. "If you want to keep your husband, bury an old pair of socks and he will not leave." Negro.
16054. "If your husband is running around with another woman, take his dirty sock and bury it just the same way he took it off, wishing he will
stop the other woman. When that sock rots, the other woman will give him up." German.
16055. "My husband left me and I went to a fortune teller, and she told me to put his dirty sock under his pillow. I did it. And he came back in
about two days, went through the house real mad, would not look at me or speak. But he got over it, and we made up just like the fortune teller
told me." Negro.
16056. "If someone leaves the house and you think they will not come back and you want them to, take one of their socks and put that under the
carpet by the front door just the toe sticking out, and they will come back." German.
16057. "I knew a woman a few years ago that was afraid her husband would leave her, and she took a pair of his old socks and filled them with
dirt, then put them in an old hatbox, standing them up so he would not leave. They stayed in that box for three year, and one day someone was
helping her clean up, and thinking the old box was no good threw it on the barnfire [bonfire] to burn with some other things. When the woman
found it out that night she was very worried, and the next morning her husband left before she had time to fill another pair of socks. This is true,
and up to this day the woman had not heard from her husband." Negro.
16058. "If you want to keep your husband home, take his old dirty socks and hang them up behind the dresser, and don't let anyone know it and
he will never leave the house." Negro.
16059. "My mother-in-law was over to her daughter's house one day, when she was starting to wash, and without letting her daughter see her she
picked up three pair of socks and took them home with her, two of her grandson's and one of my brother's. [The soiled clothes had been sent
home from a nearby military camp.] The folks were looking everywhere for the socks but could not find them. The three boys were in the [First]
World War. And she took them home, folded them wrong side out, and put in her trunk so the boys would come home safe from war. And all
three did come home. Then my mother-in-law showed them the old dirty socks they had been looking for, that she had put in the trunk to bring
them back safe." Irish.
16060. "My husband was running around with another woman, giving her all his money, wouldn't give me a cent. I went to an old fortune teller
and I gave her five dollars to tell me this but it was worth it. If you want them to come back to you, take his sock or her stocking, it must be the
right one, start at the head to roll it up and roll toward you, making a wish they will come back and stay home; then, when all rolled up, bury it at
the front door. I sure got my husband's right sock, started at the head and rolled it toward me, making the wish, then buried it by our front door. It
was no time until I had him back home again giving me all his money. I am sure glad I tried it. Now, if you want to get rid of someone, take their
left sock or stocking and start at the head and roll from you, then bury it by the back door to lose them." Irish.
16061. "If your sweetheart or husband go away and leave you, and you want him to come back, take his left foot sock and boil it twenty-four
hours, and it can't help but bring him back to you. He will not be able to stay away." Irish.
16062. "If you want your man to be true and you to be the boss, take a pair of his socks that he is wearing and a pair of your stockings that you
are wearing. You must both wear them the same day. Then you put your stockings in his socks and boil them hard for about ten minutes. Then
after dark bury them and do not tell anyone. Do not let anyone see you. If you do this you will bury all your troubles together." Negro.
16063. "If you want to get rid of your beau, take and put his sock on a railroad track; and when the train runs over the sock, he will travel the
same way the sock went." Irish.
16064. "About seven years ago [1927] I wanted to get rid of my husband, so one day I took a pair of his real dirty socks, rolled them up in a ball,
went down in the railroad yards, and as a freight train was leaving town, threw the ball of socks in an empty box car, and he sure did travel from
home; has not been back for seven years." Negro.
16065. "If you want to get rid of someone, take their dirty sock and throw it in running water, and they will never bother you again." Negro.
16066. "If a woman wants to get rid of her husband, she can by getting his socks and put salt and pepper in them, then bury them in the ground
for five days, then take them up and throw them in running water, and she will never see him again." Negro.
 427

16067. "If you are going with a man and you want him to come back, spit on his back just as he is leaving the door." Negro.
16068. "If your husband is running with another woman, take a red string and measure his privates while asleep nine times, and tie nine knots in
that string and wear that string around your waist, and he will stop the other woman." Negro.
16069. "If you don't want your husband to have any nature for you, when he is sleeping measure his privates with a cord string and tie three knots
in it; then hide the string in the house and he will not have any desire for you." Negro.
16070. "If you want to keep the desire of your husband, take a white cord string and tie nine knots in it and wear that next to your body." Negro.
16071. "A woman [the informant who speaks in third person] fell out with her beau. She cried for several days, then went to a fortune teller; and
she told her she could get her beau back for her, if she would give her two dollars and a half. So the fortune teller told her, 'If you want to get
your beau back after he has left, get a new tin pan that no hand has been on after you got it, go in a dark room and write a prayer on the bottom of
that pan with a new nail [since the writer is in the dark, she goes through the motions of writing], and put that pan away where no one can find it,
and he will come back.' So this woman got a new pan and wrote the prayer on the bottom of it with a new nail, wishing he would come back, then
wrapped the pan up and put it in the bottom of her trunk, and in a week's time he came back." German.
16072. "If you take a wishbone out of a turtle and put it in a man's pocket, he can't leave you. He will just cling to you." German.
16073. "Some women say, if you don't want a man to quit you, just buy him a suit of underclothes and wear it before he puts it on." Negro.
16074. "If you don't want your sweetheart to go with another woman, take the right sleeve out of his undershirt and wear the sleeve around your
waist." Negro.
16075. "If you wash your front door every morning with your pee, it will draw men to your house." Negro.
16076. "I owed a bill and the man would come all the time and he was so hateful, he would just talk awful. So one morning I saw him coming. I
ran and got some urine and put it on the sidewalk so he would have to walk over it, and when he got to the door he was all smiles and said it was
all right if I didn't have the money. It sure worked fine." German.
16077. "If your husband don't give you his money, take your urine and put red pepper in it and sprinkle it through the house, then sweep it up into
one corner of the room. Do this for three days and he will give you his money. I know a woman that is putting her urine and red pepper through
the house right now, and her husband is giving her every cent of his money. She told me it worked fine." Negro.
16078. "A woman should take her first urine on Monday morning, put it in a jar, in former days it was left in the chamber pot, and place it under
the bed. Leave it there for nine days and it will hold your husband." German.
16079. "If your beau or husband goes away with another girl and you want him to stay with you, take your urine and sprinkle it under your own
bed and that will bring him back." Irish.
16080. "If your husband is running with someone, take some of his hair out of his head and put it in some of your urine and boil it. Then bury it
under the door and he will not go with her any more." Negro.
16081. "If you want to bring someone back you love, take some of your urine and put it in an old can with nine needles and a lock of their hair.
Put it on the stove to boil, and while it is boiling, they will come in." Negro.
16082. "To bring your husband or beau back, take a piece of gold, a piece of silver, some of his urine, a lock of his hair, a lock of your hair;
put that all in a bottle and fill the bottle with whiskey. They just can't stay away from you as long as you keep that bottle." German.
16083. "Take nine drops of your first urine in the morning, put into your husband's coffee, and you will hold him." German.
16084. "If your husband is going back on you, put a teaspoon of your urine in his coffee for several nights and he will come back." Negro.
16085. "If you want a man to stay with you, take chamber lye and put it in his pancakes twice a week, and he will never leave." Negro.
16086. "I know this is so. This woman was my neighbor about forty years ago. She thought she was losing her husband's love and she went and
put her urine in the cedar water bucket for him to drink. And company came in for supper, and they all drank water out of that cedar bucket with
the urine in, and she did almost lose her husband; and the company they almost vomited themself to death that night." German.

A WITCH'S LIFE (16087-16110)

Note: Here are a few beliefs concerning a witch which could not be listed conveniently elsewhere. The complete witch's life, what she
can do and how to guard against her, will follow this brief sub-section and continue until the end of this book, closing with the death of a witch.
16087. It is said of a certain healer, actually called a witch-doctor, that he also casts spells in order to increase his business: "I had a woman
live up the street, he tried to put a spell on her. He came by her house making all kinds of signs and talking to himself." Concerning him another
person remarked "When a certain woman sees him coming down the street she will turn around and go back. She is just scared to death of him,
afraid he will put a spell on her." German.
16088. "Mrs. X. considers the priests at Y. Church unable to remove a spell. According to her, they merely take it off one-person and put it on
someone else. She even hinted that priests cast spells for business reasons. German.
10089. Similar to the two preceding beliefs is the following: "A person able to read the cards has the power of hoodooing. Keep away from
fortune-tellers." Negro.
16090. According to an old colored woman, a hoodoo woman never faces the preacher during a church service. This is merely a witchcraft
belief transferred to hoodoo. As stated by an informant of German descent, when a priest turns to announce the final blessing on Good Friday and
sees a woman in the congregation with her back turned toward him, he knows she is a witch.
16091. "If you want to find out if anyone is a witch, place a pair of open scissors under her chair, and if she is a witch, she will not be able to
get up out of the chair." Irish.
16092. A woman who on moving into a new neighborhood borrows salt before the neighbors call on her is considered a witch. German.
16093. "If someone borrows salt, never let them bring it back, for if you use it, it will bring witches to the house." German.
16094. The tapping of a keg of vinegar after dark attracts witches. Geman.
16095. "If you put a dirty dish rag behind the cupboard, will bring a witch to the house." Irish.
16096. Never talk about a witch on Friday, for she will hear you and retaliate with evil. German.
16097. "When the smoke all comes down in the house from the chimney, sign the witches are sitting on the top of the chimney." German.
16098. "Did you know witches are always the worse just before Easter or a holiday; that's when they do their dirty work." German.
16099. On the day a witch begins a spell she must visit the person who is the object of her designs. German.
16100. It is necessary for a witch attempting a spell to borrow some sharp-pointed article from her intended victim. German.
16101. Unless a witch always keeps someone in her power, the devil will make her suffer. German.
16102. The devil tortures witches who fail to kill one person yearly. German.
16103. Pain in a witch is cured by her applying salt, sugar, vinegar and hot water. German.
 428

16104. "If someone hoodoo or bewitch you, if you are a woman, you must go to a man to take it off; and if a man, you must go to a woman."
German.
16105. A witch doctor can diagnose a case of bewitcbment as soon as he looks at you, for if you are bewitched he will see white clouds floating
about your body. German.
16106. If a witch bewitches you and dies, no one can break the spell until she has been dead a year. This is particularly true of spells cast from
a deathbed. German.
16107. The victim telling how a spell was taken off soon finds his cure a temporary one, for the permanent removal of spells requires the
utmost secrecy. German.
16108. Spells still unbroken at the witch's death are never removed. German.
16109. A spell lasts seven years and then reverts to the one having caused it. German.
16110. Every seven years a witch enters your life. German.

SUPERNATURAL DISTANCE IN WITCHCRAFT (16111)

16111. "My own dear father got bewitched several times. One evening when he was a boy [about 1835] they sent him for the cows and he could
not find them. He saw two little old women. They just took him, he said, through blackberry briers up one hill and down another through the
woods and all the thorny places they could find; but he kept following them, thinking he could find his way out. And at last he came to a little old
hut. He thought it was a chicken house, it was so low. As he walked up to the door a little old man said, 'Come in. Go right over there in the
corner and lay right down.' Father said he was scared to death, but he went over and got in the corner. There was nothing in this hut but a big old
fireplace. He had no more than sit down when the two little old women he had been following came down the chimney and sit each on one side
of him. Again he said he didn't breathe, he was so scared. They all stayed awhile, then he said the old man and the two women fly up the fireplace
again and left. He was too scared. He didn't move. Just about daylight the old man came back through the chimney and said, 'Now you get out,
for no one knows I am here.' When father got out he was only about fifteen yards from home. He went home and told them about the
witches having him all night and didn't let him go. They all started out to find the witches' hut. They never did find it. And it was so close. So
they gave up."

IMMOBILITY OR ARRESTATION A SPELL-CAUSED CONDITION (16112-16119)

16112. "About twenty year' ago [1918] a little girl was playing on Madison Street. A woman came along that was an enemy of her mother, pick
the child up and sit her on a fence post and said, 'You sit there,' and went on. The child could not get down. The mother tried to get her down but
she didn't move. They had to send for one of the Fathers out in the northeast part of town. He came, said a prayer, and lifted the child right down.
The woman had put a spell on the child."
16113. "Fifty years ago [1883] some young folks were in a yard and a girl came out of the kitchen to get some water at a well, and a man in the
yard said to the other folks, 'Watch me stop that girl from getting water.' After the girl had turned the handle on the well several times, she stop
her hand on the handle, stretch out straight and did not move. She got all blue in the face. This man could not take the spell off after he put it on
her, and she would of died right there, if they had not of found someone else to take the spell off." German.
16114. "Years ago [1870, near Marblehead] when my husband was young he would haul two loads of lumber a day. One evening he came home
he was so tired he took a piece of bread and chicken and went out and sit down on the well to eat and rest. The neighbor that lived next door had
some hogs and they kept bothering him, so he pick up a rock and hit one of the hogs real hard. The old woman saw him and came running out,
said, 'I will fix you for throwing at my hogs.' She was a witch. And the next morning when my husband got ready to haul his lumber he could not
sit down. He tried and tried. He had to stand up for two hours. So he could not haul any lumber that day."
16115. "A witch [about 1903] was living at Thirteenth and Ohio Streets and she was mad at her daughter because she stayed out all night, and a
witch had to put a spell on someone when the are mad. She called in the neighbor girl to wash the dishes. This other woman [the informant, who
speaks in third person] did not want her daughter to go. After she went, the mother had such a funny feeling about her daughter, so she went over
to see what her daughter was doing, and she was standing up by the sink just like dead, she could not move. The woman said, 'My God, what did
you do to my daughter? I am going to have you arrested.' The witch said, 'Oh, do not, I will take the spell off. I just had to put the spell on
someone --- my daughter was not here and I was so mad.' So she took the spell off of my daughter and I took her home." German.
16116. "When Mrs. B. was about four years old [1863] she was in Schaffer's store, and four men were there playing cards and someone looked up
and said, 'The Indians are coming.' The three men that lived east from the store ran home. The fourth man, Mr. G., got up and walked around the
table three times, saying something all the time. Then he said, 'The Indians will not come in here or go west of the store where I live.' And they
did not. Mrs. B. said to me this morning she could see those Indians walking backward even today, after Mr. G. bewitched them so they could not
come in the store."
16117. "A man had a lot of cherry trees just full of cherries. Two boys came and told him that someone wanted him down at the store. He went
out and walked three times around his trees, then went to the store. After he left, the boys and several others got up in the trees, starting to
pick cherries. When they had their buckets full they tried to get down and could not. He had the boys bewitched. So they just had to stay up in the
trees. When the old man got back he laughed and said, 'Boys, give me the cherries you have picked while I was gone.' And he got a tubful of
cherries." German.
16118. "The minister bewitched me. When I was a girl about sixteen at church with my first beau, I got to laughing and making light of the
sermon. All of a sudden I had a terrible pain in my side and back. I got so sick I could not stand it. I just doubled up. I could not even sit up in
church. So my beau said he would take me to the doctor. I got up. I could not walk. My beau had to half carry me to the door. When we started
down the stairs to the doctor, the minister said out loud, 'Bring that girl back upstairs.' And they did. The minister gave me a glass of something to
drink and I got well immediately, was able to walk, and the pain was gone. The minister said out loud he would teach the young people how to
behave during the sermon. He sure did not have to teach me after that." Negro.
16119. "I have heard my sister-in-law tell this over and over again. She said it was the truth. A woman lived out here east of what is Liberty
now. In those days it was all woods around there and people only had very small homes. There was an old woman that lived out there that always
wore a three- cornered rag tied over her head all the time. No one ever seen her take it off. They also had an old woman living in that part of the
woods that didn't like the old woman with the rag over her head. Everyone called this other woman a witch, and my sister-in-law said she was.
One day the witch met the old woman with the rag on her head and she said to her, 'Some day something will happen to you that you will not be
able to take that rag off your head again.' Not long after that the old woman's ears started to dry up and drop off. The old witch had wish them off.
And the old woman did have to wear the rag on her head until she died. My sister-in-law said this was so, for she lived out around there in those
 429

days." Note: Further immobility in 1638; and Index. For immobile horses, see 16236-16241. A witch herself can be transfixed to the spot,
16392,16430, and Index.

WITCHES CAN MAKE THEMSELVES INVISIBLE (16120-16123)

16120. "About sixteen years ago [1916] there was an old woman that lived at Mendon. This old woman lived about a mile and a half back into
the woods at the outskirts of the town. Her name was Mrs. K. She married Mr. K. when she was young and they lived in town. After his death she
went to live at this lonely old place. One time a woman from Mendon went out there to see her. She was sitting in the room with two bags of
paper money and one of coins. When the woman went into the room the money disappeared. The old woman made a sign for the woman from
town not to talk, but she couldn't understand it and said, 'Good day, Mrs. K.' As soon as she said this, the old woman disappeared, and the woman
ran out of the house and back to town. She told everybody the old woman was a witch and she lived in a bewitched house. Ever since that the old
woman was known as a witch. About two weeks after the visit of the woman, a man went out there. He found the old witch was dead and that
there was a scrap of paper in her hand that said, that if you lift the bricks from the front walks that they would find money. No one was ever
brave enough to go and look."
16121. "Years ago an old witch live out in the country that weave carpets [see also 16122]. Everyone said she could put a spell over you. One day
a woman sent her little girl over to her house to see if their carpet was done. When she got to the house she could not find the old woman. She
looked in the window and saw the spinning wheel going, but the woman was not there. The girl started home and told her mother. Then the
mother of the girl said, 'I will go back with you to get my carpet.' And just as she started in the door, the old witch spoke to this girl and said,
'Why didn't you come in? I saw you all the time.' The woman stood there and saw the old witch measure off twenty-five yards of carpet, and paid
her for twenty-five yards and took it home. When she got home she only had ten yards and had paid for twenty-five yards. The old witch took
back fifteen yards while the woman was taking it home."
16122. The theme of the cheating carpet-weaver, 16121, was also told by a different informant: "Years ago we had an old woman living in our
neighborhood. She weaved rags all the time for carpets. One day my grandma went over there to buy ten yards. She stood and watched her count
off the ten yards. And when she got home she had only five yards. Several days after that my grandma went back to tell the old woman about the
carpet. She knocked and knocked and no one would come to the door. She looked in the window and saw her rocking-chair going back and forth
with no one in the chair. After no one would come to the door she went home. Several days after that, this old woman came over to grandma's
house, to borrow a cup of coffee. Grandma would not let her have it because she thought she was a witch. And the old woman went away, saying,
'I will get even with you.' In about two weeks later, grandma was holding the baby and it started to crying and just kept it up. She took its diaper
off and there was two rusty pins, one sticking on each side of the baby. She took them out and the baby stopped crying. The next morning the
baby started to crying again, and grandma looked and there were the two pins in the sides again, one on each side. Then grandma knew she was
bewitched and wanted to call in a witch doctor. Grandfather would not let her, said he would get the preacher [priest]. And he came and anointed
the child and the child got all right. But the old woman took sick and was sick a long time, and then died."
16123. "Years ago a girl down in the Bottom near Marblehead was going with a man her mother didn't want her to go with. So one night she went
to a dance her mother told her not to go to. They had to walk about three miles, and when they got started, the girl look back and saw a hand
carrying a big lantern. They could not see anything but this hand with the lantern. It follow them all the way to the dance. This girl knew it was
her mother's hand. They went on to the dance and stay late. When they came out of the building, the lantern was sitting on the steps. The hand
pick up this lantern and it follow them all the way home, just keeping a little back of them. The girl knew it was her mother's spirit watching her.
The lantern follow her to the door. But that man never took that girl to another dance. That was enough for him." German.

SHAPE CHANGING BY WITCHES (16124-16160)

Witch in Shape of Cat - Deer - Dog - Fly (16124-16145)

WITCH IN SHAPE OF CAT
16124. "Seventy years ago [1864] a woman was sick on Jackson Street. They had one doctor after another and they could not find out what was
wrong with her. A woman was living on that block and everyone thought she was a witch. She would never go in to see this sick woman or take
her anything, and all the rest of the neighbors would go in and try and help her. One day this woman died. And the day of the funeral, while the
hacks were all standing in line, a big black cat came down the street and looked in all the hacks, and when it got to the last one it disappeared.
The hack drivers could not see where it went. When the funeral procession went by the corner house, there stood that big black cat in the yard
watching the funeral go by. It was that old witch standing in her front yard watching the funeral go by." German.
16125. "We had a mammy cat and it got lost and we could not find it. Someone told us they saw a cat and two kittens down in the field, but
they could not catch it. One night I went out to pick up some chips and I heard a cat meow. I looked and there sit our cat and two kittens on the
fence. I dropped my chips and ran in the house after father. He went with me to get the cat, and when we got to the fence the cat was gone. Father
said, 'Don't that beat your!' Then I heard the cat again and it was on the other fence. Then it disappeared and then we heard the cat under the
house fighting. We found out it was not our cat at all. It was our neighbor, old aunt Sarah, and her daughters Helen and Lindy. They had turned
into a witch in the form of a cat and two kittens to make us think it was our cat." Negro. See also 16300.
16126. "Years ago I lived by a woman that I thought could put a spell over you. I tried to be good to her because I was afraid of her, but one day
we fell out over a child's fuss. Not thinking, one day I let her oldest girl have something, and in a few days when I came home from town and
started up the front-yard steps, a big black cat kept getting in front of me. I thought it was a cat and started to pick it up, when it went right
through my fingers. When I got to the porch, there it was again, and I gave it a good kick. The folks on the porch said, 'What are you trying to
do?' I said, 'I am trying to kill a big black cat.' And ever since that, every two years I have some very bad trouble. The bottom just falls out for me.
Everything will go wrong. I know that woman has never taken the spell off." German.
16127. "I was living out here in Ursa and there was a woman living out in the country that everyone thought was a witch. I had four boarders. We
got along fine. We never had any trouble. They had been at my house for months. One night I came home from church and as I started up the
stairs I stumble over a big black cat. I gave it a kick and went on. When I got up a little farther, there stood the black cat again. I gave it another
kick. And when I got to the top of the stairs, there stood the cat again. Then I thought it was my daughter's cat, for she was living on the corner
and had a big black cat, so I started to pick it up, this time thinking it was hers. It went right through my hands, because there was no cat. It
worried me so all night that I went and told my neighbor about it. She said, 'I know what that means. You have a mortal enemy and she lives in
whatever direction the cat's head was pointing.' The next day all four of my boarders left without even telling me they were going. So I knew it
was the old witch out in the country that had put a spell on me and made my boarders leave, because the head of the cat pointed that way."
German.
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16128. "I have often heard my father tell this witch story about two men that lived out on the Prairie at Twentieth and Vine, which happens to be
where the Quincy College stands today. Of course this was sixty years ago [1878] At that time there were only a few houses scattered over the
Prairie. In those days everyone had a small tract of land with their house. There were two men that each owned a small tract of land joining each
other. My father said they were always quarreling about the land, afraid one would get over on the other one's land. One of the men had an old
witch for a wife. Everyone on the Prairie called her a witch and was afraid of her. These two men had a big fuss one evening over their land. The
next morning one of the men were out shucking his corn. He heard a noise and looked up and saw a big black cat coming down the row toward
him, spitting and showing its teeth — just looked like it was going to scratch his eyes out. Just when the cat was ready to jump at him, he picked
up several ears of corn and threw at the cat. He hit the cat right between the eyes. The cat turned around, howling, and ran back through the row.
The next morning the man found out his neighbor's wife had been hit between the eyes, had two black eyes, and her head all tied up. If Everyone
said the black cat this man hit in the row in his cornfield was the old witch, the other man's wife." German.
16129. "We lived on Sixteenth Street and the woman that lived next door put a spell on our house. She is dead now. We were so afraid of her. We
never had any luck in that house — she was always borrowing, I was afraid not to let her have it --- until everything we did went wrong. You
could hear all kinds of noise going over the house at night. You could hear something slide off the roof every night. One night my daughter saw a
big black cat in the window and the next night it was there again. Then we sent for Mr. X. [a well-known witch doctor] that can take off a spell,
and when he came in he said, 'I will leave the front door open so if anything is in this house it will go out the door.' And while we were sitting
there, the big cat came and sit on the sofa. I didn't see it, but Mr. X. did. [Some witch doctors and healers are also seers; see Index;] He said, 'I'll
fix whoever is putting this on you,' and said, 'I will come back tomorrow night.' The next evening early my son went out in the yard to do
something and there was the black cat sitting on the roof. He pick up a brick and threw at the cat. He hit the cat and it fell off the roof on the other
side. He ran around to see if he could find the cat and didn't see anything. Just then Mr. X. came and he said, 'We have fixed the witch [when he
heard about hitting the cat].' And we found out just a little later our next-door neighbor got sick in church and fell over on the floor just when the
cat fell off the roof. And they had to take her home in the ambulance. She was sick a long time, but we never had any more trouble in that house."
German.
16130. "Just about five years ago [1930] a little boy was sick all the time and a neighbor woman told his mother that the child was bewitched, and
if anyone came to borrow salt, not to let her have it. That night a big cat came up to the front door and looked in. This woman picked up a stick
and threw at the cat and cripple the cat in its leg. Not long after that the woman upstairs came down with her leg all cripple and wanted to borrow
salt. The woman would not let her have it because she knew she was the witch. And the boy got well. This happen down on Fourth and
Broadway." German.
16131. "A daughter-in-law [1906] was sick all the time. She had nothing but hard luck for about two years, even her children would die. Well,
just everything she did went wrong. Her mother-in-law didn't like her very well, but they went to see each other. People told her maybe her
mother-in-law was putting the spell on her, because lots of the neighbors were afraid of her. Someone told this daughter-in-law that people could
turn themself into a black cat, and if you could get that cat, it would break the spell. Things went on from bad to worse for about three months,
when one morning a big black cat walked into the kitchen. This daughter-in-law, I know her well, had a hard time getting the cat, but she did, and
threw it on the kitchen stove and burnt its feet. Several days after that she went to see her mother- in-law and found her sick. She had burnt her
hands." German.
16132. "My mother told me about an old bachelor that had two girls stuck on him and he showed one more attention than the other, and one day
when he started to eating his breakfast, a big cat jump up on the table and, as he started to eat, knocked the fork out of his hand [see also 16133].
He ran the cat away. And the next morning the same cat came again and the same thing happen again. And on the third morning the cat came
again. He knew that something was wrong. As the cat jump upon the table he picked up a knife and hit the cat across the nose. The cat jump
down and ran. This time he follow the cat and saw where it went. The next morning he went over to where he saw the cat go, to borrow some
coffee, and there was the girl with her face cut around her nose. He almost put her eye out where he hit the cat. It happen to be the girl that was
jealous of the other girl because he showed her more attention." German.
16133. "About sixty years ago [1875] a man and a girl were sweethearts. The girl fell in love with another fellow and turn her old friend down.
After awhile this girl wanted to come back to him, but he would not take her back; said he would rather die than take her back, because he hated
her for turning him down for another. She said, 'If he don't take me back I will bewitch him, and every time he goes to eat he will not be able to
eat. I will fix him if he don't take me back.' He would not make up. And it was no time until every time he would go to eat, a big black cat would
come and appear right on his knife or fork and knock off his food [see also 16132]. It didn't make any difference where he was eating, this cat
would come. He even left town and the cat would appear and keep him from eating. The cat worried him so, that he could not eat, and he just
starved to death, because he would not make up with this girl. My mother knew the man." German.
16134. "Years ago a woman out in the north end of town was bothered with a big cat around her house all the time. She didn't know if it was a
witch or not, but one day she got mad and pick up a stick of wood and threw it at the cat. It hit the cat right on the side of its face, and the
neighbor on the next block had the whole side of her face black and blue where that stick of wood hit her." German.
16135. "A black cat came all the time to a farmer's house. He was losing all of his stock. Everything went wrong. He shot at this black cat
several times but he could not kill it. One day this cat said 'You tried to kill me.' The farmer said, 'Damn it, I will get you now.' And he reached in
his pocket to get a silver dime [to put in his gun ---see also Silver bullet in Index], and this black cat begged so hard to let her go that he let her
go. It was one of the neighbors. After that he did not have any more bad luck." German.
16136. "A little girl was crying all the time. She would cry every night. The doctor could not find out what was wrong. And a witch doctor came
along. He said, 'Someone has your little girl bewitched. Someone is squeezing her kidneys and making her cry. You watch tonight at twelve
o'clock and a black cat will go through the yard, and your little girl will be better. Try and kill the cat if you can.' They had all the neighbors
looking for the cat, but when it went through the yard at twelve o'clock they could not kill the cat." German.
16137. "Years ago some men down here in the Bottom were always playing cards and gambling in a log cabin. One of the men's wife was always
fussing and telling him what she would do, because he went to this cabin and was always staying out late at night. One night these men down in
the cabin had a blanket down in front of the fireplace trying to play cards, and a big cat's paw kept pulling at the cards. so they could not play. So
they put down a lunch about eleven o'clock on this blanket, to eat, and the cat kept pulling the things off the blanket as fast as they put them on.
So one man got mad and pick up the butcher knife and cut this cat's paw off. And as the paw fell on the blanket it was a woman's finger with a
ring on. The man, that his wife was always fussing, knew the ring on the finger belong to his wife, so he got up and went home, and found his
wife sick with her finger cut off. She had been the cat." I later found variants of this ring-on-the-finger theme, while collecting Negro hoodoo in
the South. See also following.
16138. "My grandma told us this over and over when she was living. She was a slave. She said her mistress was a witch and at night she would
turn herself into a cat, and ride all her slaves so hard, that they would all be worn out the next morning and would not be able to work. The master
would whip them every morning because they were not able to work because they were so tired. One slave thought he would tell the master his
 431

wife was a witch. He got tired of the cat riding him every night at twelve o'clock. He knew he would get a beating anyway, so he told his master
his wife was a witch --- 'I will prove it to you, if you will do what I tell you to do.' The master said he would kill him if lying. The slave said,
'Every night at two o'clock your wife turns herself into a big cat and rides us Negroes all night, that is why we are all dead in the morning. Master,
tonight, if you will just before twelve o'clock sprinkle salt and pepper all over your wife, you will see what will happen. And if the mistress come
to me tonight to ride me, I will try and cut off one of her paws, will keep a knife so I can, and you will see what happens.' The master did what the
Negro told him about the salt and pepper, for he thought the Negro was lying. The woman at twelve o'clock turn into a cat, and this slave did cut
her paws off. She ran back to jump into her skin on the bed. Her husband saw her trying to jump into her skin and cursed her and cursed her, and
said, 'Go on and die.' And she could not get back in her skin and died right there on the bed. The slave came in and gave the master her paws with
the wedding ring on. And that save the old Negro's hide. I have have heard grandma tell this many a time."
The informant, or her grandmother, has combined two themes, the one in 16137, and the "Skin-don't-you-know-me" one --- the witch
trying to get back into her skin.
16139. "When I was a young man about twenty years old I stayed with a woman out on the old Broadway Road. That was about forty years ago
[1895]. The house is that old log house near Mill Creek. Everyone said she was a witch and I know she was one, although she never did me any
harm. I worked for her until she died. I think she had me bewitched, for mother and all my folks tried to get me away from her, but I just stayed
on. She had a large farm and lots of cows. We took butter in to Quincy. The boys around on other farms wanted to know if I were not afraid to
stay with a witch, said she could turn herself into a big cat or calf; wanted to know if I didn't see them running around at night, said other people
did. I will tell you what I did see one night, and every word I am going to tell you is so, for what I see with my own eyes I know is so. She had
two adopted daughters, got them from the orphan home in St. Louis. I was just a little sweet on one of the girls, was trying to flirt with her. One
night after the chores were all done on the farm and in the house, we were all sitting in the front room of the old log house --- if you have ever
been out Broadway, you can remember seeing the old house near Mill Creek --- the old woman said, 'Let's have some fun.' How well I can
remember it. Never will forget it. She started to saying something and waving her hands over her head. Did you ever see a table move? We had
one of those old-fashion square tables with drop-leaves like they used to use years ago. I am not lying to you. Every word is so. That table started
to walking all around the room. Then the pictures on the wall one by one drop to the floor and didn't break. Was I getting scared? I can't tell you
how I felt, but I could not move. Even the looking-glass came down. I thought sure it would break, but it just slip down easy. I didn't move. I just
could not get off that chair. Then cards started to coming down from everywhere. The floor was just covered with them. I had never seen but one
deck of cards in the house. I just don't know where so many cards came from. I happen to look up to the ceiling and there was a big black cat on
the ceiling. It was sure a big one. I believe it looked as big as a calf. Oh, such big eyes! And the tail! Well, I think it went across the room. I
thought so that night. Man, O man! Was I getting scared! I couldn't of moved if the house had of been on fire. I never will forget that night. It has
always been with me. She liked me and never did do anything to me. She could see how scared I was, and after it was all over, she gave me a
piece of pie. I ate the pie, for I didn't know what she might do to me. I am getting ahead of my story. Before she gave me the pie, she went to
saying something and waving her hands over her head, and every picture went back on the wall --- even the looking-glass that I thought would
break any minute. The cards disappear. Even the black cat went through the ceiling. After I went upstairs that night I looked everywhere to see if
I could find a hole where the cat got through, for I slept up in a little attic room over where we were sitting in the front room. You bet I didn't
sleep any that night. Sure was glad when daylight came. My folks done everything to get me away, but I stayed three years after that, stayed until
she died." Mixed.
16140. "My mother lived in Zanesville, Ohio, about sixty years ago [1878] before they moved out here on a farm. Said they had a man witch in
the neighborhood that could turn himself into a black cat. Said this cat would hang around the house every day, not only hers but other houses.
When this cat would appear, this man would disappear. This man would go around and tell everything that happen where the cat had been, even
could tell what you had to eat. She said everyone was scared to death of him. The old witch man died before mother moved out here. Said
everyone was sure glad, for they could not do a thing he didn't know." German.

WITCH IN SHAPE OF DEER

16141. "My great-grandmother knew a woman that had two daughters and they could turn themself into anything and put a spell on you.
Everyone around in the country was afraid of them. People would miss things all the time, like corn, and even garden things like beans and peas
and cabbage would go. Everyone was afraid to say anything, afraid they would put a spell on them. One day a man got up and found a lot of
things gone, and he happen to look out in his garden and saw two deer eating up his peas. He went and got his gun and shot at the deers several
times but didn't hit them. He was so mad he pulled off a brass button off of his coat and put it in the gun and shot at them. This time he hit one of
the deers in the front leg. Then they left. Several days after that, this man was going by this old woman's house, and one of her daughters was out
in the yard with a broken arm where he shot the deer in the front leg. The neighbors never had any more trouble with deer eating their garden
things after that." German.
16142. "My mother's uncle was a great hunter, he was always hunting, he just lived in the woods. There was a woman that lived about one-half
mile from my [great-] uncle's house. He always thought she was a witch. His mother thought it was because he didn't like the woman. One day
when out hunting, a deer came real close to him. He shot at it several times and could not hit it. This happen several times when out hunting. So
this time he went and drew a picture of this woman he thought was a witch, and shot at the picture, calling her name. He just grazed her forehead.
He said if he had of shot at her heart she would of died. He didn't want to kill her even if she was a witch. My uncle started home and when he got
there, this woman's daughter was at his mother's house wanting her to come and help her mother, said she had fell down and cut her forehead. My
[great-] grandmother went and took care of her. In those days the neighbors would go and help one another. My uncle knew she was a witch then,
but didn't say what he had done, about drawing the picture out in the woods, to his mother. And this woman left my uncle alone for a long time,
until one day the deer was following him again and he could not shoot it. It bother him for several times, then he knew the witch was up to her
tricks again. So he sit down in the woods, drew another picture of this woman, and this time shot at her arm. The daughter came the second
time for his mother, said she had broke her arm. My uncle came up just as his mother was leaving and said, 'You stay home, I am going this time.'
My uncle told this woman, 'If you ever bother me again, the next time I shot I will shot to kill, and left. And the woman never bother him again.
Then he told his mother what she did and she never went again." German.

WITCH IN SHAPE OF DOG

16143. "This is so and it happen right out here in Ellington [Township]. Two farmers were talking about seventy-five years ago [1860] and one
said to the other, 'I could come to your farm all the time and you would not know me --- the truth is, I come all the time and hang I around and
you don't know me.' The next morning a big dog was hanging around in the barn lot with a collar on. The man thought the dog was after his
sheep, so he picked up the cornknife and hit the dog on the collar real hard. The dog holler. And there stood his neighbor instead of the dog. He
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had turn him back [to his human shape], hitting the collar. And they were never friends after that. This is so, for my grandfather lived out in
Ellington at the same time." German.
16144. "I had an uncle that was bewitched. Every night between nine and ten o'clock a strange dog would come and sit by the house and bark all
the time. They could not run it away. It always stayed about one hour, then would leave. My uncle was not sick, but he was fast wearing away,
his patience was about worn out, when one night he had my cousin to shoot the dog. He didn't kill it, for the dog left. They found out the next
morning that the neighbor woman that lived about a half mile away had sent for the doctor. She was shot in the leg. My uncle started that very
day to getting better. And the woman was a cripple for life in that leg. They even took the No. 12 shot out of her leg that my cousin shot at the
dog. In those days there was sure a lot of witches around Quincy." German.

WITCH IN SHAPE OF FLY

16145. "This happen about ninety or ninety-five years ago [before 1937], for my mother was a young girl, for I am seventy-two year old. This
happen out around Newton. My grand-dad owned most of the land out around there then. My mother knew the people well. The man and wife
had some milk cows, and the younger one was a pretty heifer. Some woman wanted to buy this heifer. They didn't want to sell it. She knew the
days this woman churn butter, and this woman would come every time she was making butter and dingdong her to try and get her to sell this
heifer. When this woman would leave, there would always be big flies trying to get in her butter, and she didn't know where they came from.
They only came when churning and after this woman left. So one day after the woman had left and the big flies were bothering her so, she said to
her daughter, 'Get the broom and knock that big fly out the door.' And she did. In a few minutes this old witch came, said she wanted some butter,
said she fell down [and wanted the butter for a salve]. They didn't give her the butter, because she would still have them in her power. But they
sold her some. She must of still had them in her power, because in two weeks the heifer died. And this old witch moved away. She was afraid to
stay around out there after that." German.

Horse - Pig - Rabbit - Snake - Indefinite Shape (16146-16160)

WITCH IN SHAPE OF HORSE
16146. "My great-grandfather and great-grandmother lived on Pigeon Creek down in the Bottom. My great-grandfather was an Indian and my
great-grandmother was a witch. She was always putting a spell on someone. I have heard my grandmother tell how she would turn her
husband into a horse every night and ride him all through the timber, and in the morning he was almost dead. He couldn't stand it, so he went
down in the Bottom to live all alone in a tent to get away from her, but he could not get away. She would turn him into a horse just the same, and
he would come galloping up to the house, and my great-grandmother would put the saddle on him and ride and ride through the timber. At last he
died. She just rode him to death, for she was crazy about riding horses." Mixed.
16147. "A man worked in a foundry and was telling the men that he worked with that he was so tired every morning. And one of the men said,
'Maybe your wife is a witch.' He said, 'No.' Then he told them that every night he would be riding a beautiful horse. Then he would come back
and tie the horse to a post out in front of the house. Then he would go to bed. His wife was always sleeping when he came to bed after tying the
horse. The next morning when he woke up, his wife was too tired to get up. One of the men said, 'The next time you are on this horse, take it to
the blacksmith shop and have the horse shod.' So that night when he was riding, he went to the blacksmith's house and the man said, 'It is too late
for me to shod your horse.' The man said, 'I will pay you yell.' So they started to shodding the horse. The horse kicked and kicked. They just had
to tie the horse to be shod. He rode the horse home, tie it to the front porch. When he got in the house his wife was sleeping. The next morning
when he got up, his wife would not get up and get his breakfast, said she was too sick, 'I can't get up.' Then he pulled the covers off of her and the
horse's shoes were on her hands and feet. So she was a witch and she was the horse he had been riding." Irish.
16148. "A man married a witch and he did not know it. He would sleep fine, but when he got up the next morning he was all in. One day he said
to his neighbor, 'I don't know what is wrong with me. I am so tired all the time.' The neighbor said, 'I spy a horse each night with you on its back.
Tonight you act like you are asleep, and in the morning look in the bed and under it, and see what you see.' So that night after the man was
sleeping, his wife turned herself into a horse and put this man on her back, and took him to the pasture and run around and around with him. In
the morning he looked and found on the bottom of her feet the prints of the horse's shoe, and under the bed the horse's shoe. That was why this
man was not resting. His wife was taking him riding every night through the pasture on her back." Irish.
16149. "A man had two horses in a barn and one would fret all the time. He could not do a thing with him. He would foam at the mouth all the
time. He thought this horse was bewitched, so one night he cleaned out the trough and never left a thing in it. Then he sit down to watch. Just at
twelve o'clock a white feather went to floating over this one horse, and this man grabbed this white feather and jump on the horse and rode to the
blacksmith shop, thought he would get even with the witch. And while he was having the horse shod, a man came running in and said, 'Stop
shoeing that horse. My wife's hands are burning up'." German.

WITCH IN SHAPE OF PIG

16150. "This old woman, that used to bewitch everyone, would come sometimes in the shape of a pig, just to scare the boys. Years ago when they
had the water trough in front of the saloons, this pig would come and drink out of the trough. One night the boys thought they would catch the pig
and they did. Kept pulling its legs to hear it squeal, and the pig just kept squealing all the time. Then they let it go. And the next night that pig did
not come. The old woman, that everyone thought was a witch, came and kept walking around the trough. But the boys did not say anything to
her. They knew better." German.
16151. "A witch wanted to buy my sow and I would not sell it. And she came in the shape of a real poor pig and would just squeal at me all the
time around my heels and follow me around. And I said, 'I know who you are. Damn it. I will fix you.' Then I got the board. I said to the woman
at my house, 'You watch when I go to beating this board.' I beat the board. They sent for me. She live two miles away. And when I got there she
was black and blue all over, and she said, 'I am going to die.' I said, 'I will not forgive you until you give me all the witch-balls [see 15884-15885]
you have and [witchcraft] book.' And at last she gave them to me. And I took them home and I put them in a hole seven feet deep and put a fire
under them. And she died while the book and balls were burning. I just thought the books and balls would not burn." German.
16152. "A woman [the informant, who begins in third person] was walking down Madison Street and passed a neighbor's house, and a pig came
out of the yard and started after her. She picked up a stick and hit the pig over the neck real hard. The pig squealed and turned around and went
back. The next day a neighbor came in with her neck all tied up. I said, 'What is wrong with your neck?' She said, 'You hit me last night.' I said,
'Why, I only hit a pig last night.' And she said, 'Well, that pig was me'." German.
16153. "My grandma told me about an old witch at La Grange, Missouri, where she was living about ninety years [1845]. Said every time they
would go by the lumberyard an old hog would run everyone. People got tired of it. No one could find out who the hog belong to. So one night just
about dusk the old hog ran out at a man. He had a cane. He gave the old hog a good hit over the head and went on. The next day the old woman
that lived next to the lumberyard had a broken nose." Negro.
 433

16154. "This story happen around Kingston where my grandmother was living around eighty-two years ago [1857]. She said there was a woman
that had a little baby in a cradle, or box they used for a cradle, and one day she was out in the kitchen working, like a woman would be doing in
those days --- not like they do now, on their way to town all the time --- when she heard a noise in the other room. She went to the door and saw a
big hog with its two front feet on the cradle. She run back in the kitchen, got the butcher knife, and hit this old hog over the feet. The hog
disappear. In several days after that an old woman in the neighborhood had some of her fingers cut off, and she never did tell how it was done.
Everyone thought she was the witch that this woman cut when she had her two front feet on the baby's cradle. This is so, for it happen in the
family that live right up here on the corner." German.
16155. "My husband's great-grandmother had a son that an old witch tried to bewitch. She had him out in the yard in a little box cradle they made
out of a soap box. His mother was washing under a tree. She had the baby there so she could watch it. And while she was washing, a big hog
came up to the cradle and puts its front feet on the cradle and started to grunting. The father of the boy came along about that time and thought it
was the old neighbor witch, because she could turn herself into anything, so he grab the corn knife and cut the hog's foot off, and the hog went
home limping on three feet. This man follow the hog right home and found the old woman very sick with her fingers cut off." German.

WITCH IN SHAPE OF RABBIT

16156. "Years ago, over a hundred [the informant was eighty-five in 1932], my grandfather was over one evening visiting a friend. It was just
about dusk. They were sitting on the old well, talking, when the dog started to barking and carrying on at the corner of the house. Grandfather
wanted to know what was wrong with the dog. The man said, 'The dog has only chased a rabbit to the corner of the house, and when the rabbit
goes under the house, we will put a board over the hole and keep it in the cellar so we can go get it.' The two men having put the board over the
hole went in the house and went down the inside steps, so the rabbit would not get away, and as they started down the steps, they didn't see
one rabbit, but the cellar was full of rabbits hopping everywhere. As soon as they got to the bottom of the steps they started to catching rabbits. I
have heard my grandfather tell it many times, how hard they tried to get the rabbits. He said he would get a good hold on them, he could feel their
ribs, but the rabbits would go right through his hands one after another. His friend was having the same luck; he could not hold one. He said,
'Bill, what luck are you having?' He said, 'Damn it, I am going to get one out of this bunch. They are not all going to get away.' And grandfather
said the rabbits disappear one by one and they never got a rabbit, because they were witches in the cellar."
16157. "A friend of mine years ago said there was a white rabbit at the spring every day drinking. Several men tried to shoot this rabbit but
they could not kill it. So someone said it must be a witch or someone would kill it. So one man made a silver bullet and shot at the rabbit. The
rabbit disappear, but it left blood after they shot it with the silver bullet, so they trail the blood tracks to an old woman's house that they all
thought was the witch. And they never saw that white rabbit at the spring again, and no one ever saw the old woman out of the house after the
shooting. And she always stay in bed. They thought they had hurt her in some way." German. For witch in shape of rabbit, see also 16205.

WITCH IN SHAPE OF SNAKE

16158. "A woman that lived near Tenth and Cherry Street told me that her brother was bewitched when they were living in Mt. Sterling, Illinois,
forty years ago [1899]. Said her little brother was three years old and they had a neighbor woman that was just crazy about him; they thought so.
Every day she would bring him something --- was not much, sometime an apple, sometime a cookie --- and every time after he eat whatever she
would bring, he would get sick. At last he was sick all the time. Even the doctor could not find out what was wrong. Still, they didn't think
this woman was doing anything. They just thought the boy was crazy about the woman, because he would start to cry as soon as she left and cry
until she came back. The only time he didn't cry was when the woman was in the house. Things went on this way for a long time, when one day
this woman brought him a nice goose egg. After she left, the mother broke this goose egg and a snake crawl out. Said it must of been the devil
crawling out. Just as soon as that snake was dead, the boy started to getting better, and got well, and the woman never came to their house again."
German.
16159. "I was working for a woman for three long years. Two Negro women wanted my job, so they bewitched the basement of the house. I
would get up every morning feeling fine. I would get sick every time I would start down the steps to the basement. The iron would not work. I
had trouble with everything in that basement. I said to myself, 'Lord, help me to conquer my enemies.' I dreamt that night I was going to a spring
and the road was full of snakes, but I didn't kill any, they all got away, so I knew I still had enemies. I said again that night, 'Lord, help me to
conquer my enemies.' That night I dreamt four big frogs were on the window, so I got a bucket of hot water and knocked them in the hot water. I
killed two and two got away. I am telling you the truth. Do you know one of those Negro women reached her hand up out of the bucket and tried
to get me. I said again the third night, 'Lord, help me to get those two Negroes.' I dreamt that night I went down in the basement and there was
two big black snakes, one on the ironing board and one around the water pipes. I said to myself, 'I am going to kill you two Negroes. You are not
going to get my job.' I got a kettle of hot water and poured over the two snakes and killed them both. So I conquered all of my enemies that
night. The next morning I went to work feeling fine, and the iron and everything worked. I had taken the spell off the basement, and I stayed there
for seven years after that, happy and without any more trouble." Negro.

WITCH IN INDEFINITE SHAPE

16160. "A neighbor gave another some cucumbers, and this woman that gave her the cucumbers could put an evil spell on you. So this woman
did not eat any, but her husband did. That night after her husband went to bed they could just hear him fighting with someone downstairs. He was
lying on a couch. He told his wife that this neighbor came and was sticking him in the ribs so he could not stand it, and he scratched and
scratched. The next morning this man's arms were all swollen up so he could not do anything. And this woman was so scratched up they took her
to the hospital. She told at the hospital that she had a fuss at home, but it was this man that scratched her up when she came to his couch that night
in the shape of some object. This woman died, and as soon as she was dead, this man's arms got well again and all the swelling left. " German.

ZOOANTHROPY AND POSSESSION (16161-16166)

16161 ."My grandfather's parents lived [years ago near Plainville] on a farm next to another farm where an old woman lived. They called her an
old witch. She did not have any children. The people who lived on the other side of her had three girls. This old witch always wanted the smallest
girl. She would ask the woman for her all the time, but the mother would not part with her little girl. One morning this little girl disappeared.
Everyone looked for her but they did not find her. About two weeks later a stray sheep came to this girl's parent's farm. They could not find the
owner for the sheep so they kept the sheep. When sheep-killing time came the man brought it up to kill, but the sheep looked so sad out of its
eyes. It even had tears in its eyes. They would run down the sheep's face. This man started to kill this sheep the second time, and the tears run
down its face. That old woman happen to be there that time, and she told this man to get a skunk and cut off some of its tail, and wipe the blood
 434

across the sheep's eyes, then bury the tail, and when the tail was rotten, the little girl would come back. And in about three weeks the sheep
disappeared one day and the little girl came walking in." German.
16162. "Talking about witches and being bewitched --- I believe some people can put a spell on you. Mother often told me about my being
bewitched when I was a baby. I will be sixty years old this winter [1939] and I was bewitched before I was a year old. We were living out here in
the south part of Quincy. My cousin's father-in-law was living next door to us with my cousin. Everyone said he could put a spell on you and take
it off if he wanted to. Mother said one day she had me on the flour-board over the old flour barrel, in the corner of the kitchen, like everyone used
in those days. She had undress me and was going to give me a bath, when she happen to look up and saw my cousin's father-in-law standing in
the door. He said, 'I came to see the new baby I have heard so much about.' Mother didn't invite him in. She just held me up to be seen where she
was standing in the corner, because she was afraid of him. He looked at me and turned away, saying as he went off the porch, 'A swell baby you
have.' Mother put me down and started to washing me. Mother said he had no more than got out of the yard when I went to bleating like a lamb,
said my face got all white and looked like a lamb. She could not stop me, said it was awful. Mother got frantic and called her cousin. As soon as
she came and saw how I looked, she wanted to know who had been there. Mother spoke up and said, 'No one but your father- in-law. He came to
see her.' She said, 'Oh, that devil!' Then she went right home and told him what he had done, told him he would have to go back, and take the
spell off, for the baby was belling like a lamb. He told her he would not go back, but after awhile he did tell her a prayer to say, said it would take
it off. She came back and prayed over me, and the spell was broken, mother said." German.
16163. "Years ago an old witch was living in our neighborhood. I knew her well. And I was well acquainted with another woman that had a
pretty little girl. This old witch was always begging this woman for her girl. She was just crazy about the little girl, but the mother would not give
her up. One day the old witch begged and begged and said, 'You are going to be very sorry you didn't let me have the girl.' In about a week's time
this little girl started to braying like a mule. It was just awful. She even got down on the floor and would kick and kick like a mule and foam at
the mouth. They could not do a thing for the child. They done everything they could think of. Then the mother went to a fortune teller, and she
told her this old witch had a spell over her, and for her to go and try to get something this old woman wore, and to get it as near as she could to
the skin. This woman got hold of her undershirt and took it at night to the corner of the [witch's] house, and got as near as she could to her bed,
and burnt the old shirt at the corner of the house, holding the little girl by the hand. Then they went home without looking back at the fire. And
the next day the old woman could not get out of bed, as they had put the spell on her. And from then on she never had a well day, and died before
the year was over. German.
16164. "My sister was bewitched. We thought the neighbor next door bewitched her. She would howl like a dog and crawl on her hands and
feet, would go up and down the steps that way. You could not do a thing with her. We took my sister to the monks. They have more power than
the priests. They prayed over her several times and she got well." German.
16165. "A boy forty-two years ago [1891], only fourteen year' old, was living just three blocks from me on Madison Street. A woman in the
neighborhood bewitched this boy and everyone else. This boy would just crawl up the wall all the time. It would take several men to hold him
down. It was very sad. My aunt would go there all the time to help. At last they found an old-Negro-man healer and he said, 'I will fix that old
witch.' And when he started to working on the old woman, this boy started to vomiting. The first day he vomited up a bundle of sticks with a
string tied around them, and the second day a bundle of sticks, and the third day a bunch of keys with a string tied around them. After that he got
well and they did not have any more trouble with him crawling up the wall." German.
16166. "When I was going to school, a German teacher [a teacher in a parochial school] put a curse on a boy that lived across the street from
me. I run with this boy's brother. Every time this boy would open the oven door of the stove, a big black cat would jump out and all kind of
animals. It was just a pity. His brother and I went to a colored man that takes off spells. He gave us a small bucket. We did not look in the bucket
to see what was in it. He told us not to. He told us to bury that bucket in the corner of the yard where that boy lived. Not to let anyone know it.
Whoever put the curse on his brother would come that night at twelve o'clock and dig up the bucket. After we buried the bucket, we went across
the street to my house and sit up on the bank to wait. Just at twelve o'clock the old German teacher came and dug up the bucket, and the boy got
well. The father took all his children out of his school and the church where this man went." German.

LIVE THINGS IN YOU (16167-16177)

16167. "My folks lived up on a farm in Iowa. I [seventy-five years old in 1937] lived with them until I got married and came to Quincy to live,
and have lived here all my life, only when a boy. But what I want to tell you is, we had a man in our neighborhood, that could put a spell on you
or take it off, by the name of Mr. B. I don't myself believe that people can put something down and you walk over it and you will be hoodoo, like
lots of people do, but I believe they can feed you something and will hoodoo you. This is so. We had a man and his wife in our neighborhood that
didn't get along. The man left his wife, got another. They were colored like me. The first wife did everything she could to get him back. When she
saw it would not work, she started in to getting friendly with them. If they had of let her alone, they may not have suffer so. Well, they went to
this old woman's house to eat one day. After that the woman started to getting sick right away. She would bloat all the time. She got so large she
could not wear any of her clothes. She was just a sight. My folks went there all the time. And I sit by her bed many and many a time, because the
folks make me watch her. I remember often when I was sitting by her bed she would scratch her chest. As she did, hair would come out of her
body. You have heard frogs sing haven't you? Well, I even heard frogs singing in her while by her bed. I have join church in late years and don't
like to think people are so mean, but I do like to talk about the past, for this is so about this woman. Someone gave her the dried frog powder and
human hair, or I would never have heard the frogs singing and that hair would never have came out of her body. At last she died, suffering all the
time. Then her husband came to Quincy. But he didn't live long, for this old woman had him in a spell too. He died an awful death." Negro.
16168. "I had a friend that her husband was very jealous of her. They did not get along a-tall. He was always telling her, when he got mad, he
was going to hoodoo her. So one day he got real mad and left town. In a few days after he left she got a little frog in her throat. It worried
her, because her grandma died with a frog choking her to death over someone hoodooing her. This frog kept choking this woman, so she went to
a hoodoo doctor. And he told her her husband had put the spell on her, and if she would write him a letter and send it to this hoodoo doctor, he
would send the letter to her husband and break the spell, but it would kill her husband. This woman is in love with her husband and didn't write
the letter, for she did not want him to die. But she still has that frog in her throat, choking her at times." Negro.
16169. "I was going with a man and was engaged to him, and another girl wanted him. One day we were all at a picnic and she had a bottle of
whiskey, and she gave me some to drink, and after that I got sick. I felt a quiver in my arm. And it just kept quivering all the time in my arm, and
I started to wasting away. The doctor could not find out what was wrong. Mother had one doctor after another. One day I was sitting on the
porch and a hoodoo doctor came along and said, 'I know what is wrong with you. If you will listen to me, I will help you.' He told me not to eat
anything for nine days but milk and crackers, and on the ninth day he would come. He did, and set a pan of hot milk on a chair by me, and I could
feel something up my arm and right into my neck, and a frog jumped out of my mouth right in that pan. And I got well and married the man, and
the girl that had me hoodooed, died." Negro.
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16170. "Years ago I was working on Broadway between Sixth and Seventh. I was out sweeping the sidewalk when I saw something on the walk.
I went over to see what it was, and it happen to be a little puppy-dog [salamander]. I started to killing it, and a colored man that was walking up
the street holler over at me and said, 'Don't kill it. Give it to me.' But I killed it just the same. I said to this man, 'What did you want with that? It is
poison.' He said, 'I could dry it up and make a powder out of it, and put it in a little paper bag and carry it, and if anyone was across the street I
could drop it on the sidewalk, and if the wind was in the right way to carry it across the street, it would go up in their nostril and poison them,
and they would be full of puppy-dogs.' I was glad I didn't let him have it, but I was always afraid of that man. The woman I was working for said
he could not hurt me, but I was scared of him just the same for years." Negro.
16171. "Years ago a woman living on Chestnut Street, someone put a spell on her with a lizard. You could see this lizard crawling under the skin
all the time. They could not do anything for her until one day a hoodoo doctor came along and he said he could take it out of her leg, for it had
crawled down there; but said if it came out and you didn't kill the lizard, the woman would die. So they thought they would take the lizard out
after church, so some of the men could go there to help kill the lizard when it came. I was there myself, and four or five men with sticks to kill the
lizard. The hoodoo doctor put a tub of water on the floor, and this woman held her foot over the tub for the lizard to go in. The hoodoo doctor was
working on her leg, working it [the lizard] down. He kept rubbing down on her leg so it would work out through her foot, when all at once the
lizard came. It didn't go in the tub, it went on the kitchen floor, and the men after it with sticks. Do you know, those darn fool men let that lizard
get away. They just could not get it. It went in first one corner and another, under everything, but it got away. And the woman died because they
didn't kill the lizard." Negro.
16172. "My father and a neighbor woman went to sit up with another neighbor woman that had been sick for three years. Everyone told us her
mother was a witch and said not to eat anything in that house, for everyone that did got bewitched. My father and the neighbor woman said they
would not eat anything. When this old witch made some coffee real late in the night, it smelt so good that my father and this woman took some.
My father said while this witch was making the coffee she reach up and got an old cup from over the fireplace and lighted whatever was in the
cup. It made all kinds of beautiful lights. The next morning on the way home my father felt something crawling on his arm. He could not shake it
off. When he got home he found he had a lizard under his skin. While he was showing it to his wife and me, here came the neighbor's husband all
out of breath and said, 'Go quick for the doctor, Renty Pole is just climbing in the fire and trying to get on top of the fireplace. We can't do a thing
with her.' So my father got on his horse and almost killed our horse getting to the doctor's house. The doctor was standing on the front porch, and
before my father had time to tell him what was wrong, the doctor said, 'You go back home and when you get there Renty will be all right, and that
lizard under your skin will be gone.' And sure enough, everything was all right when father got home, but we never did find out how the doctor
knew without being told." Negro.
16173. "Years ago two men were always playing cards together and the one man won all the money, so the other man got jealous of him and
thought he would hoodoo him, so he could not play cards for a while and maybe he would win something. The next time they started to playing
cards, he took and put lizard powder on the cards; and when this other man started to dealing the cards, his thumb got to hurting so bad. And it
got twice the size it should be, and he started to suffering so he could not play any more cards that night. And in the morning his thumb had a
lizard in the end of it. And the man did not get to play cards, and the other man got to win the money." Negro.
16174. "My uncle was hoodoo. Someone put a lizard and a beetle-bug in his arm. You could see them run up and down his arm. He would just
have fits every time the lizard and beetle-bug would move, he was in such pain. His arm got as large as a stovepipe. They had one doctor after
another and he could not help. Then a hoodoo doctor came along and they got him to take the spell off. The first thing he done was to throw salt
all around the room. Then he took a bottle out of his pocket and chew up some roots and spit that in that bottle. Then he put a heavy cord string
around this man's arm, right where those things were, and tied it real tight. Then he cut his arm and let all that blood run in that bottle. The
hoodoo doctor put the bottle on the shelf and said, 'Don't look in it until I come in the morning.' And said, 'The man that hoodoo you will come
tomorrow at twelve o'clock.' And he did. He ran right by the house at twelve o'clock. He didn't look in. When the hoodoo doctor came the next
day to show us what was in the bottle, and there was that lizard and the beetle bug that come out of his arm, in the bottle, and the man got
well right away." Negro.
16175. "A woman here in Quincy was always grinding up snake heads and making a powder out of them to put you in spells. She didn't like
her daughter-in-law, she was visiting with her, and one day this daughter-in-law had poured out some coffee to drink and turn around to do
something else, and she saw her mother-in-law slip up behind her chair and put something in her coffee. When she came back to the table she
took the cup of coffee and walked over to the door and threw it out. When her husband came home she told him and he wanted to put her out
right then. The wife said, 'Let her stay until morning. Don't put your mother out at night.' They found the bag of snake powder under the chair
where she sit. The next morning they sent her home. It was not long after that that this old woman burnt up. It was very peculiar her death. They
found her in the middle of the room all burnt to a crisp. The undertaker had to put her on a piece of canvas. It was funny --- her clothing was not
burnt at all and nothing in the room was burned. They could not find a match or anything to tell how the fire started. Some people thought it was
a punishment on her for giving people spells with snake-head powder." Negro.
16176. "I had a man boarding with me. He was always borrowing money from me. I would let him have it, for I was afraid he would put a spell
on me. One day he asked me for a dollar. I didn't have it. And he got real angry. I didn't have the money and I couldn't give it to him. It was no
time until I started to getting sick. My stomach hurt all the time. One day my stomach I was hurting so, I look and there was a black snake right
across my stomach. It hurt so bad. The man was gone, so he could not take the hoodoo spell off. So I went to Keokuk [Iowa] to a hoodoo doctor,
for him to take the spell off. And in several weeks I was all right. I am sure afraid of them hoodoo people." Negro.
16177. "A man was hoodoo. Someone put a spider on his brain. He turn against his mother. He was preaching and cursing all the time. The
mother got a hoodoo doctor, and when the doctor came in the room he threw a big ball of fire on the floor, and it rolled from room to room taking
the evil out of the house. Then this ball of fire jump up and hit the man [the patient] on the head, and the fire fell on the floor. The doctor then
told this man to blow his nose hard. He did, and the spider came out of his nose and run across the floor. The doctor killed the spider and the man
got well right away." Negro.

BEWITCHED ANIMALS (16178-16185)

Black Bug - Lice - Potato Bug - Rat - Chicken (16178-16185)

BLACK BUG
16178. "I know a woman who was always seeing a big black bug crawling on the ceiling every night. She would not see it until she got in bed;
then it would come and crawl over the ceiling right above her head [Purkinje figures?]. Her grandma was a witch and had bewitched that bug
on the ceiling. She could not sleep, so she went out to the priest out here on X. Street and he prayed for her and took the spell off, and she never
saw the bug any more." German.
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16179. "About sixty years ago a family living here in Quincy got full of lice. When they would sit down, they would crawl all over them. The
old woman that lived next door had bewitched the lice on the family. They were just crazy with them. They were not on their heads, but on their
bodies. They at last had to go to a witch doctor and he told them --- to get three lice and put them in a bottle, and close all the windows and doors,
then put this bottle in the stove to burn; and when this bottle is burning, the old woman will come and want to get in; but don't let her in and you
will get rid of the lice. So the man put the three lice in a soda bottle and put it in the stove to burn. And while it was burning, the old woman came
and almost knocked the door down trying to get in. They did not let her in and they got rid of all the lice right away." Irish.

POTATO-BUG
16180. "My grandfather could bewitch anything. About sixty years ago [1873] my brother came in and he said, 'Grandpa, the potatoes are full
of bugs. You had better let brother help me pick the bugs off.' He said, 'Don't you go in the potato patch until tomorrow night. I will get rid of the
bugs.' My grandpa wrote a note to the bugs and said, 'If you don't get out of the potato patch by tomorrow night, you will all get killed.' He took
the note out to the potato patch and put it right down by the first row and put a big piece of dirt on it so it would not blow away. The next night
when we went out to the potato patch the bugs were all gone. Grandpa's note did the work." German.

RAT
16181. "I moved into a house a few years ago that was just full of rats. They say, if you have rats around the house or any kind of bugs, you can
write a letter to them and tell them you want them to leave, and put this letter in an envelope and seal it, put the letter where they will walk over
it, and they will all leave. I wrote the letter for the rats to leave and put it down for them to walk over and they all left." German. 16182. "If you
want to get rid of rats --- this is an old saying of my mother's --- take an old shoe, one you don't want any more, on the first day of May; take this
shoe and walk around the house three times, then throw this shoe over your shoulder, whichever way you want the rats to go, not looking
back, and walk away. Whichever way the toe of that shoe points, the rats will go that way." German.

CHICKEN
16183. "Years ago I had a very dear friend. We both had the same amount of hens. One day I moved in with her. We said we would not have
any trouble over the eggs. We put a curtain up across the kitchen. She had one side and me the other. We cut a round hole in the curtain so we
could put things through. She always got the eggs. I didn't get any eggs. One day I was over in her side and she had a bucketful. I didn't say a
word, but I thought she was bewitching my hens. Right after that I set an old hen with twenty-one eggs and she hatched out nineteen chickens.
My friend kept talking about the nineteen chickens, so I thought I would move and take my chickens before she got them. After I got moved, my
chickens would just jump up and down all the time and die one by one. I told my husband she had my chickens bewitched. He said, 'I will fix
her.' So he drawed her picture with her pipe in her mouth. It sure look like she was standing right there. My husband is a witch doctor and he did
not have to take her picture to a white oak tree, he just spit tobacco juice in her eyes. Several weeks after that I met my friend and she could not
see. Her eyes were all sore. I said, 'What is wrong with your eyes?' But I knew it was the tobacco spit in her eyes." Irish.
16184. "Years ago my aunt had some very pretty speckle hens. They were just finer than any in the neighborhood. A woman wanted some eggs
to set and my aunt would not let her have them. The woman got angry and said, 'You will not have them long.' It was no time after that, one by
one the hens would come to the door and flop their wings three times and fall over dead. My aunt lost every hen that way. The old woman
bewitched the hens because my aunt would not let her have any eggs." German. 16185. "We had a rooster that would come and crow in the door
all the time. I would get it and throw it out and it would come right back. We couldn't stand it crowing in the door all the time. We had an old
witch around the corner [near Ninth and Jersey] and she made the rooster crow all the time. The more I would throw it out of the door, the more it
would come back. And at last we killed the rooster and throw it over in her yard and she got sick." Irish.

Duck - Goose - Guinea - Hog - Cow - Horse (16186-16241)

DUCK
16186. "My grandma lived down here on the Bay Island. She had a lot ducks and they started to getting sick. It got so, that whenever she would
go to feed them, they would go to kicking and having fits, and some would fall dead right down in front of her. She told a neighbor man about the
ducks. He said, 'Someone on this Bay has your ducks bewitched. We will soon find out.' He took one of grandma's door keys and turn to a
certain chapter in the Bible, I forgot which one, then he put the key in the Bible, let it lay on that chapter a little while, then got one of the ducks
that was still alive, then tie the key to a white rock [magic object] then to the duck's leg, and threw them out in the Bay as far as he could. That
night at twelve o'clock they had all the people on the island running around trying to save an old woman that took very sick. They came to my
grandma's house to borrow something and she told them she didn't have it --- for the man that threw the duck in the Bay told grandma, if the
ducks were bewitched, whoever did it would get very sick and would want to borrow that night, and if she let them have it, she would lose all
her ducks; if not, the person that had the ducks bewitched would almost die. And this woman was sick for a long time and never got well again.
And grandma didn't lose any more ducks. They got well." Mixed.
16187. "I am going to tell you something this old witch did [about 1898] after she moved next door [near Fourteenth and Elm]. There was an old
colored man and his wife living back in the alley in an old tin house. The man had some nice ducks. He had a board that went down through the
cellar window and every night the ducks would go in the cellar to sleep. He had ten nice young ducks just ready to eat, and he was very proud of
them. One evening about six-thirty this old witch went to the back fence and was looking over, and said, 'John, you have got a hell of a lot of
fine ducks. How do you do it?' The next morning one of his fine young ducks was dead at the fence. Again the next night she looked over and
said, 'Looks like one of your young ducks are gone.' He said, 'Yes, one kicked the bucket last night.' This old woman did this every night until
John only had one duck left. He was just sick. He didn't know if she was bewitching them or if they were sick. Well, the last night when she was
at the fence and he had only one left, she said, 'Take good care of that duck. I am going away for three days, will see you when I get back.' After
she left the fence, John said to his wife, 'Let's kill that duck. If we don't, it will be dead by morning anyway.' His wife said, 'No, it may have
something wrong with it. I would not eat it for anything. Only, we will sit up tonight and watch, and if the duck dies before twelve o'clock, we
will find out if the ducks are sick or bewitched.' They did watch, and the duck died before twelve o'clock. Right away they put the clothes boiler
on the stove, full of water, and started a fire under it; took the duck, tie a rock to both feet, tied a brick around it's neck, and put the duck in this
water to boil. When the water started to boiling, the duck went up and down; it took both of them to hold the lid on, the duck was jumping so. See
what power that old witch had! They stood there all night letting the duck boil, so if anyone did have the duck bewitched they would suffer. The
old witch came back the next morning. She didn't stay her three days. She went over and told John and his wife that she had never put in such a
night as last night, was just terrible, that right after twelve o'clock she could not lay on the bed.' I just went up and down on the bed all the time. I
was jumping all night. I did suffer awful.' After that she went home and never did bother them again. You see she had bewitched the ducks. And
if you make a witch suffer, they always come and tell you." German.
 437

GOOSE
16188. "I have told you about the old witch I worked for. Well, she was not the only old witch out Broadway. There was another witch farther
out Broadway about two miles from us. She lived across Mill Creek. We lived on this side. I would not work for her for anything. One day in
hay-cutting time they sent for me, wanted me to help. I just would not go. Sure was afraid of her. I was not afraid of the witch I stayed with, but I
would not work for this other old woman, would not even help out. Do you know, she had a neighbor and they had some trouble over the fence
and stock. This man had a big pond on his farm just full of water and this old woman told him she would fix him, and the next morning when he
got up his pond was dry, not a drop of water in it, and he could not get any unless he took his stock to the creek. He sure had a time. About a
month after that they all made up. And the next morning when he got up his pond was full of water. Do you think I would work for a woman that
could turn a pond dry overnight and fill it overnight! I would of just starved first. Another thing this woman did when she would see anyone
coming, she would turn her front field full of white geese, just hundreds of them would be running around when she just had about six. She
did this to make the people think she had a lot of white geese. A number of times I have went by and seen white geese in the front field. It looked
like over two hundred. But I never did get real close to her house." Mixed.

GUINEA
16189. "I am eighty-nine. My grandmother was visiting another lady's house around Kingston eighty years ago [1859] and there was another
woman there that everyone was afraid of. They called this old woman a witch. The woman of the house was making soap out in the yard in a big
kettle and had a big wood fire under it like they did in those days. While they were standing around the kettle the old witch said, 'Look! coming
up the path.' And there was an old hen with seven little guineas coming along. The old hen had stolen her [the mother guinea's] nest out. The old
witch wanted the guineas right away. My grandmother said she begged for them, but the woman they really belonged to said she wanted to keep
them. The old witch then said, 'If you don't let me have the guineas, they will never do you any good either, or anyone else.' After a while, when
the old woman started home, as she went out the gate, she said, 'Do I get the guineas or not? Remember, they will do you no good.' Just as the old
witch shut the gate, all seven guineas flew under the kettle of soap into the fire and burn up. The woman couldn't save a one. So neither got them.
The old witch bewitched them. I have heard my grandmother tell this many times." German.

HOG
16190. "I remember this well. Fifty years ago [1889] there were two farmers [between Camp Point and Clayton] living right close to each
other. The women-folks were real friendly, went back and forth. Also, one of the ladies was afraid of the other, was always afraid she would put a
spell over her. This woman was over to her house one day and she said, 'We have a fine lot of hogs, they are doing so fine this year, I will show
them to you,' and did. The other woman when looking at them said, 'You sure have a fine lot of hogs. If you can just keep them that way and they
don't go back on you and stop growing, you will have a fine lot, for I never did see a prettier bunch of hogs anywhere.' In three days those hogs
started to going back, would not grow at all. They just wither away until the man had to sell them for nothing, afraid they would die. Didn't make
no difference what he fed them, they would not pick up. After the pigs started to going down, they sent this woman word to never put her foot on
their farm again, because she had bewitched their hogs. And she never did." German.
16191. "A man had a bunch of hogs. They were sick all the time. He just could not get them fat. One day he told a neighbor about his sick hogs.
This neighbor said, 'Maybe someone has them bewitched. I will tell you how to find out. You take nine pieces of wood and drop them in a tub of
water and if they sink, the hogs are bewitched; if they stay on the top of the water, they are not.' So the farmer drop the nine pieces of wood in the
tub and every stick went to the bottom. Then he told him to take one stick and bury it somewhere and don't let anyone know it or see you do it.'
The farmer did, and all of his hogs got well after that." German.

COW
16192. "Mr. X. in the north part of Quincy just last summer [1938] had two nice cows. A neighbor wanted the cows, and Mr. X. would not sell
them. The woman said she would put a spell on them and she did, for one of the cows died. The old woman worried so, after several months she
went to Mr. X. and told him she was sorry she put a spell on his cows, for she got it back, for she had lost three people in her family. Mr .X.
didn't do anything about her putting the spell on his cows, for the law don't believe you can bewitch anything --- when people can do you harm —
so he had to let it go. I sure believe people can put a spell on us right now. When I leave my cat out of the house we can't sleep at all, and when
we keep it in we sleep fine. You see it's a black cat and they can do more harm with a black cat than any other kind." German.
16193. "We had a cow, about sixty-five years ago [1873] that was bewitched. She was a fine cow and always gave good milk and a plenty of it.
One morning she would not drop her milk, that night she would not drop it again. My father got real angry and said, 'That old witch on the corner
has behex our cow, I will go right over and tell her so,' and that she had better let the cow's milk down that night or he would make her a lot of
trouble. Father came home and went to milking her again, and she gave twice as much milk. The old witch did have her behex. I have heard my
father tell this many a time how much trouble all the neighbors had with this old witch on the corner." German.
16194. "I had a fine cow, never was sick, got sick, would not give any milk. Some days she would give lots of milk, other days nothing. One of
the neighbors told me one morning that she saw a certain person, in our neighborhood, behind our barn every day. I didn't believe this woman,
for they were fine people and they didn't have any cause to be behind my barn. Just the same, I went to a fortune teller, not that I believe in them,
only to see what she would tell me. And she describe the same person that my neighbor told me about. I lived in the south part of Quincy, so I
went out in the north part to the fortune teller so she would not know anything about my cow. She told me that my cow was bewitched and would
not be any better until the spell was broken, told me what to do. I didn't do what she told me to do, for I believe in God and didn't want any
trouble with my neighbors. I went home and sold my cow the next day. And while I was selling it I said, 'May God with His almighty power do
righteous to me.' In two weeks this person that they said was behind my barn took sick and died." German.
16195. "A farmer had a lot of Jersey cows and he could not get any milk. He was wondering why. One night, when he was driving his cows up to
the house, he happened to look over to his neighbor's house, and this woman had two large white towels in the window and was milking these
towels just as fast as she could. And she was milking this man's cows' milk into her own bucket, and that was why this man was not getting any
milk." German.
16196. "A friend of my stepmother was living in a house with a woman. Everyone thought this woman was a witch and were afraid of her. One
morning this woman came in to my stepmother's friend's room. She had a big towel hanging behind the door, and this witch went behind the door
where the towel was hanging, and this woman could hear something just dripping and dripping behind the door. All at once this woman came
from behind the door with a bucket of milk. The neighbor's cow next door did not give any milk that morning. And they say this witch milked the
neighbor's cow right through the window and into the towel." German.
 438

16197. Here is a variant of the folk-theme given in the two preceding stories. "A man out in the country went to town to buy several barrels
of molasses. He had to pass an old woman's house that everyone called a witch. On his way to town, when he went by, she had a large white
towel hanging in the window and a large white kettle under the towel. On his way back, this woman was at the window pulling on the towel just
like she was milking. Just when his wagon got by her door, the barrels in the wagon started to dancing and danced all the way home. When the
old man got home he did not have any molasses in his barrels. The old witch had drained out every drop of his barrels into her kettle in the
window." German.
16198. "My mother had a cow that gave fine milk, never did have any trouble with her, until one day a certain party wanted to buy her. Mother
would not sell her. In a few days she came again and offer her more, but mother would not sell. She came again and offer still more. Look out
when they offer you money three times! They will bewitch you the third time if you don't sell. Mother refused to sell the third time. That night
when she went to milk, the milk was all streak with blood. The next morning it was worse, so much blood. My father, he was not afraid of her.
He went right over to her house and talked to this woman, and told her he would clean up on her if she didn't take the spell off. She came over
and said something over the cow. Father and mother didn't know what. Then she told mother she was sorry this all happen. Mother didn't find any
more blood in the milk after that." German.
16199. "I knew a woman that had a cow about forty years ago [1893] that was bewitched. The woman tried and tried to milk her cow. She tried
for three days. It would not let the milk down. Her son tried but he could not get any milk. While they were standing around the cow, talking one
morning about the cow, the neighbor come who this woman thought bewitched the cow and said, 'What's the matter here?' The woman said, 'For
God's sake, if you can help us, why don't you, for we can't get any milk and we are afraid her bag will bust.' The neighbor said, 'I will see what I
can do.' She went over to the cow and passed her hand under the cow's bag three times, saying something to herself, and started to milking the
cow and got milk right away. " German.
16200. "I knew a woman that had a fine cow and one morning it would not give milk. They just tried everything. So one of the neighbors thought
it was bewitched, so they sent for another old woman that could take a spell off if you were bewitched. She could tell as soon as she looked into
your eyes. The woman came and looked at the cow and said she was bewitched. So she took her hand and rubbed it all over the cow's back three
times, then she rubbed over the bag three times, then said, 'I will come back tonight again.' She did, and rubbed over the cow's back and bag three
times again, then said, 'Give me a bucket.' And she started to milking and milk came." German.
16201. "About thirty-two years ago [1903] a woman was running a milk dairy out here in the South End [of Quincy] and her cows would not give
milk. She could not even get in the barn, the cows fight her so. Then she went and told an old German man. He said, 'We will soon find out what
is wrong. I am not afraid.' He went and hit each cow right on the forehead real hard, and told this woman to watch, that whoever had her cows
bewitched would come with their head tied up. It was no time until the neighbor woman came with her head all tie up to borrow salt. And after
that she didn't have any more trouble with her cows or getting milk." German.
16202. "Years ago two farmers were living out in the country. One went and put a spell on the other man's cow and made it holler all the time.
The man went and got a priest to take the spell off the cow. The priest took the cord on his robe and whipped the cow so bad that he [she] had bad
marks all over him [her]. The farmer said, 'Why did you do that?' The priest said, 'Go and see your neighbor and you will see that he has marks all
over him like the cow, and the spell is broken. The cow will not holler any more'." German.
16203. "About fifty years ago [1885] out here near Mill Creek Bridge an old woman lived on one hill and everyone thought she could put a spell
on you. Across the road on the other hill a family lived and they were always having trouble with their cow. They just could not keep it home.
One morning this man was looking for his cow and he saw it across the road in this old woman's pasture lying down. He was afraid to go for it,
so he told another neighbor about the cow, and he said, 'I will tell you how to find out what is wrong with your cow. You put a dime in your shell
and shoot at the cow, not so it will kill her, just so it will touch her.' And he did just what the man told him. And when he shot at the cow the old
woman up in the house fell over all cripple up and sent for the folks to come right over. And she told them she had put a spell on the cow, and
said, 'I will take it off and the cow will go home,' and begged and begged them to forgive her, said she would not do it again. And the cow went
home. If he had of killed the cow, the old woman would of died; but she got all right after the cow went home." German.
16204. "A farmer living out here [a few miles from Quincy] in the country was bothered with a black cat. Every time he would go to the barn a
big black cat was around his cows and his cows were giving bloody milk all the time. He could not find out what was wrong with the cows. So
one day the cat bothered him so much that he got after this black cat with the pitchfork, and when he got this cat up in the corner of the barn and
was about to kill it, the cat turned into an old woman and begged this farmer for mercy. And after that his cows did not give any more bloody
milk." German.
16205. "About sixty years ago [1874] my mother had a fine cow. It got so she would not eat, give milk or do anything. She thought someone on
the block bewitched the cow, because this woman was always doing something to you. A neighbor told my mother that, 'The next time you go
to the barn and the cow will not eat or give milk, take a handful of salt along and the first thing you see around the cow throw the salt on them.'
When she went to feed the cow that night she would not eat. She looked around and saw a little rabbit [see 16156-16157] around the cow's feet.
She threw the salt all over that rabbit. And the next morning that old woman on the block had sore eyes that had bewitched the cow."
16206. "A lady had a cow. It seemed to be very healthy, but it would not give milk. She thought the neighbor had the cow bewitched, so she got
an old man to take the spell off the cow. He told her to make a red-hot fire in the cookstove, then go to the barn at twelve o'clock at night and
watch, and something would come through a hole in the barn and she should grab it, run to the house and put it in the fire. When she did, one of
the neighbor women came in and pleaded with her to take it from the fire. She didn't. And in three days that neighbor was dead." German.
16207. "I am almost ninety years old [1936], and my mother has often told me, when she was a girl she would go along with the old colored
woman to milk. And when this colored woman picked up the bucket, she would take and turn her apron wrong side out and her sunbonnet wrong
side out; and when she came back and put the milk bucket down, she would turn them right again. She did this every time she went milking. My
mother said she didn't ask her for a long time, and one day she said, 'Nancy, why do you turn your apron and sunbonnet when you go milking?' '0
Miss Martha, that is to keep the witches away when milking. If you turn your apron and sunbonnet, the witches will not bother you at all'."
Mixed.
16208. "When I was a young man I lived down in the Bottom in Illinois across from Louisiana, Missouri. There were lots of witches then. I
remember once a man had a fine cow and a neighbor wanted to buy it. The man didn't want to sell it, because it was his best milk cow. Several
days after the man would not sell, one morning when he went out, the cow would not give any milk. At noon he went again and she didn't give
any. At night was the same way. And the next day she didn't. Her bag looked like it would burst open. While he was talking to his wife about the
cow, this man's daughter came down the road that had the cow bewitched and said, 'Do you want me to take the spell off your cow? Will, if you
don't tell.' Of course they did. Said, 'Give me a fifty- cent piece.' They got the fifty-cent piece. And she went up the road to the first old stump she
saw and buried it under that stump, came back and said, 'Milk your cow.' They got a bucket and milk came so fast that it run the bucket over and
went on the ground. While this was all going on, the father came along on horseback and knew his daughter had broke the spell, and said to her,
'God damn you, I will get even with you for this.' I was only a work-hand out in the country, cutting rails for fences, so don't remember what the
 439

father did to his daughter for breaking the spell on the cow he wanted to buy, but I do know everyone was afraid of this man around there."
Mixed.
16209. "Eighty years ago [1853] my grandfather had a cow and she would sweat all the time. The cow would have a drop of water on every hair.
He thought someone had the cow bewitched, so he went to a healer and he told him to go to a undertaker and ask for some old rings off of a
coffin. Years ago whenever they would dig up someone that was dead, the undertaker would always save all the old rings, hinges and nails off of
the coffin, and if you could get them, they would always take off the spell if someone had you bewitched. So this undertaker let my grandfather
have two old rings and he hung one ring on each of the cow's horns one night, and the next morning the cow was all right and did not have any
more sweat." German.
16210. "Mrs. K. had a cow and the neighbor lady next door bewitched her cow. The milk would have blood in it all the time. So a man told Mrs.
K. to say some holy words and put the cow's manure all over the cow's bag. In a few days the lady next door lost her own cow." German.
16211. "About seventy year ago [1865] a man and his wife had a house at Fifth and State. It was a double house and they would always rent half
of it out as they didn't need it all. One day they rented it to an old couple. Some of the neighbors didn't like it, for they said the old woman was a
witch and they were afraid of her. The man that owned the house didn't believe in witches and said, 'She's a nice old woman, can't hurt anything.'
They said, 'You will see some day when she put a spell on you how nice she is.' This man had a fine cow and everything went on fine until one
night the cow started to hollering and kept it up all night. He went to the stable several times and could not find anything wrong with the cow, but
the cow holler all night. The man always milked the cow before he went to his shoe shop. This morning when he went in the stable the cow
would not let him in the stable. He just stood there and looked at the cow. Its bag was so large and swollen. All of its tits were standing out and
every hair on the cow had a drop of water on. It looked like the cow was covered with dewdrops. He could not get in. He went to the house and
told his wife about the cow, but had to go on and open up the shoe shop. The cow holler all day. And when he got home that night someone told
him they knew the cow was bewitched and if he wanted to get even with the witch, that night at twelve o'clock to put the clothes boiler on and
fill it with water, then put a shovelful of cow manure in the boiler and keep it boiling-hot from twelve o'clock until one o'clock, stirring it all the
time with a pitchfork; and to stop up every hole and crack in all the windows and door in the room, while it was boiling, to keep the witch out; for
if she got in the room she would jump right in the boiling water, he would not be able to keep her out. The man didn't believe in witches, but he
was so angry about his cow he thought he would try it. So he put on the boiler and done just what the man told him to do. A little after twelve
o'clock this woman came to the kitchen door and tried to get in. She just hit on the door all the time, and was moaning all the time, she
was suffering so. She kept this up the whole hour from twelve to one o'clock. Then after one o'clock they didn't hear any more that night of her,
because he stop stirring at one o'clock. The old man told him not to use the next morning milk after the boiling, because it would still have the
devil in it, to throw it away. They didn't see the old woman the next morning, but didn't say anything about it. In several days she didn't show up
and this man's wife asked the other man where his wife was. He said she was very sick in bed. They let them stay there until the old woman got
well, then made them move out of the house and neighborhood." German.
16212. "Down in the Bottom a man's cows were bewitched. They would not give any milk, only a little, and he thought an old woman that lived
near had them bewitched, because they [the man and woman] could not get along. One morning when he only got a little milk, he went and put
the milk on the stove to boil, and whipped it all the time it was boiling, to make the witch come, and it was no time until this old woman came
and wanted to know why he was beating the milk. He told her he was beating the witch out of his milk, and for her to leave. She left and he got
plenty of milk after that." German.
16213. "Sixty years ago [1874] a family were living out in the south part of Quincy. A neighbor came to borrow all the time from them and
would not pay it back. So one evening she came for something and they would not let her have it. She went home angry over it. And the next
morning when this man went to milk his cows, he got bloody milk. She had bewitched them. Another neighbor came in and he said, 'Take that
bloody milk and put it on the stove to boil, and start to beating it and saying all the time I beat the devil, I beat the devil. Just keep saying this
over and over and they will come to borrow again.' This woman that was a witch had two children, so when they were beating that bloody milk,
one of the children came and wanted something. The people would not let her have it. In a few minutes she sent the other child to borrow, and
this child said, 'Mother said to take that off the stove,' for she was burning. But they would not take it off. In a few minutes the old woman came
and said, 'My God! Take that milk off the stove. I am burning to death. If you will, I will never do that again.' And they took the bloody milk off
the stove. And they were all friends after that." German.
16214. "A woman had a child and it was sick all the time. It got so thin that they had to carry it on a pillow. They were taking milk from a
woman. They thought maybe she had bewitched the milk, because it would not agree with the child. Someone told them to boil the milk and,
when the cream came to the top of the milk, take something and stick the milk just full of holes. 'Lock the door while you are doing it and let no
one in. The witch will come.' While they were sticking this milk full of holes, this woman came, that they were taking milk from, with her face
full of holes, and wanted to come in. They would not let her in. They stopped the milk and the child got well." German.
16215. "I knew a man out here near Rock Creek that his cows came up every night from the field and gave bloody milk. He went and put a
handful of needles in a wash pan to boil on the stove. A neighbor woman came and begged for mercy, said she would not do it again if he would
take the pan off the stove." German.
16216. " A woman had a cow and it gave blue milk all the time. She tried everything but could not do any good. So someone told her it was
bewitched, so she got a witch doctor. And he took a steel knife, ii must be steel, he took two knives, and went to cutting the milk. He just kept
cutting and cutting the milk. And the woman that had the cow bewitched came with her face all cut up." German.
16217. "About fifty year' ago [1887] my mother's cow gave bloody milk. She was wondering what was wrong with it. When she told a real old
German neighbor about it, she said, 'Your cow is bewitched.' Told her to make a circle around the cow and to put the crucifix in the middle of the
circle, and to get the cow to lie down on the crucifix, then put some of the cow's milk on to boil, when boiling good, stick with a butcher knife,
that the witch would come and beg for mercy. She did just what the old German woman told her. When she went to sticking with the knife, one
of her good neighbors came and beg her to take the milk off, said she would not bewitch her cow again. This happen out in the south part of
town." German.
16218. "Out near Rock Creek years ago, a man had five cows and they started to giving bloody milk all the time, after he fell out with an old
woman that lived near that could put a spell on anything whenever she wanted to. So this man, to get even, went and put a poker in the stove, got
it red-hot, then put it in the milk of all the cows. And it was no time until this old woman came begging for mercy, said she was just burning up,
and would never put any more spells on the cows, if he would take out whatever he put in the milk. They can always tell that you are doing
something to them. The man took the poker out and the cows didn't give any more bloody milk after that." German.
16219. "About sixty years ago [1876] a neighbor was living next to my father and mother. His cows gave bloody milk all the time. There was an
old woman that lived in the neighborhood could put a spell on you. One morning before sunrise my father saw this old woman standing in the
field where the cows had been. In those days they let everything run without fences. She came along where father was milking and asked how his
cows were. He said, 'They are bewitched. I can't take the spell off, but my uncle can.' His uncle lived about five miles away and he told him about
 440

the bloody milk. His uncle told him, the next morning after milking, to take a spoonful of the milk, put it in the door knob and turn, In Name of
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Do this before sunrise and do this for three mornings. He did. On the third morning this old woman came and
stood in the door. She could not speak. My father went up to her and gave her a push out of the door. She went. And the next morning the cows
didn't give any bloody milk." German.
16220. "My mother was going away on a trip about sixty years ago [1874] and I was about fourteen year old. She didn't want to leave me alone,
because we had an old woman on our block that we thought was a witch. The woman heard mother was going away and wanted her daughter to
stay with me, but mother was afraid of this woman and went and got another girl to stay with me. This made the old woman angry. And just
before my mother started, this old witch came to the fence and called me, and said, 'Here is a pan of milk for you to drink .' The pan was so full I
could not carry it. She said, 'Drink a little off of the pan, then you can carry it without spilling it.' Not thinking, I did. And as soon as I got in the
house I took real sick. I almost died and mother had to put her trip off over her bewitching that milk just because she was angry over mother not
getting her girl to help me take care of things while she was away." German.

HORSE
16221. "Years ago a farmer was living in Melrose [Township]. He said every night at twelve o'clock the witches would come and curry his
horses. He could hear them clean the curry comb. They would hit it on the side of the barn. And his horses's tails would all be braided up. At last
he got a goat and put it in the barn, and the witches did not bother them any more. He said his horses were all in from being curried all night."
Mixed.
16222. "You talk about witches fifty-years ago [1890]. I saw many a horse that was bewitched --- their mane were all tied up in bunches of hair.
I never did see anyone that could take the knot out after the horse's mane was bewitched." Mixed.
16223. "Years ago a family in the north part of Quincy had a team of black horses. Every night something would braid the horses' tails. So they
thought they would lock the barn door and keep them out. But the next day they were braided again. The owner of the horses said, 'I will stay in
the barn tonight and see who is bewitching my team.' Just between twelve o'clock and one o'- clock he saw a big black shadow over the horses.
He took a big pitchfork and hit it over the head with it. So the next day the man said, 'Whoever it was in my barn trying to bewitch my horses will
sure have a split head.' Sure enough, a woman in the neighborhood had a split head the next morning and had the doctor." Mixed.
16224. "My husband's horse was bewitched about ten years ago [1925]. We had an old woman that lived up on the corner from our house that
was always putting a spell on someone. My husband had a horse that he could work fine some days and other days he could not even put the
harness on him. The horse would not even let him get near him. He noticed that whenever this horse would not let him come near, this woman
would be standing on the porch. He would always see a shadow of a woman's hand going back and forth over the horse; he said about the size of
mine. One morning when he went into the barn, he got the harness on this time, and the hand went back and forth over the harness. Then he could
not do a thing with the horse. He took out his knife and cut a cross right through the shadow of the hand. As soon as he did it, he ran to the house
and told me not to give anyone anything for a sore hand if they came to borrow from me. It was only about thirty minutes when this woman came
running over and said, 'Oh, I dropped the butcher knife on my hand and have almost cut my hand off! It is just awful. Will you give
me something to put on my hand.' I looked at her hand. It was all bleeding. But my husband told me not to let her have anything and I did not.
She went home. And my husband never saw the shadow of the hand any more and got along fine with the horse after that." German.
16225. "My uncle's barn was bewitch one time. Every morning when he would go to the barn he would see the shadow of a woman's head up
over the door. When he would go into the barn he could not do anything with the stock. It went on for several weeks, and one day he told a man
about the shadow of the head over the door. The man said, 'Your barn is bewitched. Take a carpet tack and drive it into the forehead of that
shadow, will break the spell and bring to the house the witch.' He took and drove the carpet tack in the forehead the next morning, but he was
silly enough to pull it out after he put it in. And the old woman in the neighborhood came over with a hole in her forehead, said she fell down on
a tack and sure had a time getting it out. She wanted to borrow something. I forget just what it was now. But I remember my aunt saying she
didn't let her have it. She went home and my uncle never had any more trouble down at the barn with the stock." German.
16226. "Mrs. P. had a fine horse [1903]. They thought the woman across the road bewitched the horse. The doctor could not find anything wrong
with the horse. He would not eat, and they could not do a thing with him. So at last the doctor had to shoot the horse. When the doctor left, the
folks went out to the barn, cut the horse open, took his heart out, took it to the house, put it in boiling water and let it boil. The priest told them
that this would give the one that bewitched the horse so much pain that they would come to your house. After several hours of hard boiling of the
heart, in walked Mrs. P.'s mother-in-law. She sure got a good whipping." German.
16227. "I heard my husband's father tell that a man had a fine colt. He was poor. And a rich man was always wanting to buy it, would give any
price, but the man would not sell. This man said, 'You will be sorry.' After that the man could not keep the colt in the barn. He would even lock
the door, but it would always get out. So one evening after he had lock the door he thought he would watch, and he saw a big black horse go
through the lot. And the next morning the barn was open. So he thought that night he would watch again. And sure enough, the black horse went
through the yard and the colt was out again. So the third night he got his gun and waited for the black horse and, as it went through the yard, shot
at its legs. And the next day that rich man that wanted the colt was in bed over someone shooting him in the legs." German.
16228. "Sixty years ago [1874] a man was living out here in Melrose [Township]. He had two fine horses. A man wanted to buy them. He kept
coming over to see this man, trying to get him to sell them, but he would not let him have them. Several days after he was over the last time, both
of the horses got sick, got down on the floor in the barn. He could not do a thing for them. He sent for the doctor and he could not do a thing for
the horses. This old man never went to church and he did not believe in church, but he went to the priest and said, 'I want to buy a bucket of holy
water.' The priest said, 'I cannot sell you holy water. What do you want with it when you never go to the church?' The old man told him someone
had bewitched his horses and he wanted to give them the water to drink, maybe it would help them. So the priest gave him the bucket of water
and told him to say, when he gave the horses the water to drink, he should say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The man took the
water, went home and gave each horse half, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And in two days his horses were well."
German.
16229. "A shoe cobbler had a fine stallion. He did not want to sell it for any money. A witch in the neighborhood wanted to buy it and he would
not sell it to her. Every time this witch would came near his place, this man could not do a thing with this stallion. It would start to running all
over the place. He could not stop it. One day we saw this witch coming. I said, 'Here comes that old devil. I would stick your awl in the chair
before she sits down and she will not be able to get up until you take it out.' This shoe cobbler went and put his awl in the bottom of the chair just
before she got in the door. And the old witch started to talking. All at once you could see her face getting blue, and the stallion out in the yard
stop running. This old witch said, 'I must go home,' but she did not move. The cobbler said, 'Damn it! Why don't you go and stop saying you are
going?' The witch said, 'I would, but you have got me pinned down to this chair with your awl and I cannot move.' So he took the awl out of the
bottom of the chair. This old witch got up and said, 'I will never bother you or anyone else, for I am a dead woman.' She went home and dropped
dead in her door. After she was dead and we were getting her ready to bury, I looked and her bottom cheek [buttock] on the right side was all
 441

black and blue where the awl stuck her, and the awl was not even through the chair. But we got rid of her and had no more trouble with the
stallion." German.
16230. "My aunt's brother had a team of mules [870] and a man wanted to buy them. He offered him a certain price and he wanted more. One
day my aunt's brother needed money, so he was going to let the man have them for his own price. He started with the mules over to this man's
house. They had to ford Little Mill Creek [near Columbus] on their way over. When my uncle got in the middle of the creek he got off and
baptised the mule and went on. When he got to the place he said, 'I have brought the mules over at my own price.' And the man took them and
gave him his money what he wanted." German.
16231. "I knew a man up around Loraine that said his grandfather was riding home from Quincy on his fine horse and just as he was coming in
the barn gate a witch jump on his horse and rode it away and he never did see the horse again. This is a very smart man that told this and he
believe it because his grandfather told it, but that's not what other people thought those days about the horse." German.
16232. "My uncle had a horse, and a woman who was a witch wanted to buy it. He said, 'My horse is not for sale for any money.' She said,
'That horse will never do you any good, if you don't sell it to me.' The old witch went away and came back the next week and wanted to buy it
again. My uncle said, 'Damn it! I told you before that horse was not for sale and I don't want you coming here trying to buy it any more.' The
witch said, 'All right, that horse will never do you any good,' and left. She only got about fifty feet from my uncle when the horse dropped dead."
German.
16233. "An old farmer came to town one day peddling something. An old woman came out to the wagon and wanted to buy something, but
wanted them at her price. He would not sell it at her price, and she said, 'I will fix you,' and started in the house. The man's horse fell down and
broke his leg. The man didn't say a word, just went and took out his knife, and cut a piece of the horse's ear off and nailed it on a tree standing by.
The horse got up and the old farmer drove his wagon on. It was a witch meeting a witch." German.
16234. "A farmer was peddling apples one day and he drove by a witch's house. She wanted some apples, but said she had no money to pay for
them. He said, 'I can't give my apples away without money.' She begged and begged, but the man would not let her have the apples. Then they
had a fuss and his horse fell down and broke its leg. The man went and cut off the corner of the horse's ear and nailed it on a tree close by. The
horse got up and walked. The witch started to howling, 'Take that ear off the tree.' She was suffering. But the apple man would not do it. He left
and let her suffer." Irish.
16235. "A man was going down the street, driving a team of horses. A man standing on the corner laugh at him, and one of his horses fell down
and broke his leg. The man on the wagon said, 'You are not so smart.' He crack his whip, and the man on the sidewalk fell down and broke his
leg. It was a witch meeting a witch." German.
16236. "This is another story I can remember about the old witch out on Broadway that I worked for years ago. Everyone called her a witch and
that is why I am doing it. I believe now she was a witch, and wish in those days I had of found out how she did it. One of her daughters married a
man and he didn't treat her at all right. She [the mother] told him several times about it, but he didn't pay any attention to her. They lived on part
of the farm that belong to the old woman and had to drive through her yard and through Mill Creek to get to town [Quincy] or back home. He
always took butter and eggs to town several times a week. One morning as he was going by to town with eggs, the old woman said to me, 'Watch
me stop him when he comes back.' I said, 'How can you do it?' 'Wait and see. I can do it. He didn't treat my daughter right yesterday and I am
going to show him I am boss.' When he came back, she let him go by the house, on to Mill Creek. When he got in the middle of the creek his
team stopped. They would not move. He could not make them go. Then the old woman went down to the bank of the creek and told this
son-in-law that she had stop his horses, and they would not move until he promised to treat her daughter better, and the next time that she would
fix him and not the horses. He sure did promise. And the horses started right on for home. And he treated his wife all right after that. He was sure
afraid of the old woman." Mixed.
16237. "There was an old woman we thought was a witch. Everyone was afraid of her. She lived up on the top of a hill and we lived down in the
Bottoms. You would have to go by her house, going anywhere. My husband started to town [Quincy] one day. When he got to the bottom of the
hill he just could not make the horses go up the hill. He tried every way. This old woman came out and said, 'Lee, you might as well go back
home, for you are not going to get up that hill with that horse.' He said, 'I will show you.' Again he tried and tried, and the horse would not move.
He tried again in the afternoon and had the same luck. The old woman said, 'You are not going to get up that hill today.' And he didn't." German.
16238. "About forty year ago [1898] in the neighborhood of Fourteenth and Elm Street several of the neighbors bought eggs and butter from a
farmer woman that lived about seven miles out here northeast from Quincy. She was always inviting us to come out and spend the day. At that
time there were several old witches that lived in the same neighborhood with the farmer woman, and we would have to travel over the same road
that one of the witches used, and we were all scared to death of her. One of the ladies in our neighborhood, that was invited, happen to be a
sister-in-law to one of the witches, and they had fell out over some money. She had always told her if she ever met her on the road, would be just
too bad. We just kept putting off going until one day the farmer lady told us to come on a certain day, she would have fried chicken for us. We
made up our mind to go, praying and hoping we would not meet the old witch on the road. The neighbor across the street had an old gentle family
horse they called Dolly; anyone could drive her she was so gentle. We hitched old Dolly up to the spring-wagon early, put a board across the
wagon for several children and I to sit on, two other ladies sit on the wagon seat, and we had several children on the floor. We threw in an armful
of corn for old Dolly, and I put two umbrellas in the spring-wagon so if it would get too hot or rain we would have them.
We started out Broadway, old Dolly trotting along fine. We stopped at Pinkeman's to water Dolly, and at Thirty-sixth and Broadway,
for that was the last watering trough. Then we turn out Thirty-sixth, going north, all happy and still praying we would not meet anyone, for now
we were on the road that the witches traveled when they came to town. [For the path or road used by a witch, see also 16280] We went up one old
clay hill and down another. And as we started up the second hill, who should we see but the witch. The woman on the front seat said, 'We might
just as well turn back, for we will have nothing but bad luck from now on.' And we all wished many a time that day we had of turn around and
went back. I spoke up and said, 'Let's hold the umbrella over our head, maybe she will not see our faces.' We did. Just as their wagon passed us, I
looked from under my umbrella and she was laughing at us. Just as soon as she was passed, old Dolly stopped. She just spread out her legs and
there she stood on the top of the hill like glued. Dolly just would not move. I said, 'Maybe the load is too heavy for Dolly, we will all get out' ---
and did, only the woman that was driving Dolly. We talked to Dolly, we petted her, we pull grass in the hot sun on the top of the hill — it was
just terrible --- we gave her some corn we had taken along for her dinner; when all at once she gave a leap, almost knocking one of the children
over, and ran about one-hundred yards and stopped on another hill, we following along, walking behind. When we got to her, we pulled grass,
did everything we could; then she gave another leap and ran again a little way, and stop again like glued to the ground.
The sister-in-law and I said, 'We have walked this far, we might as well walk on to the first farmhouse and see if we could get any
help,' leaving the other woman with Dolly. We had about a mile to walk; sure was hot, up those old clay hills, no hard road like now. When we
got to the house, the children were crying. One of the girls had on new shoes and her feet were killing her, she said. The woman at the house
when she saw us she said, 'Why are you all walking? You look like you are about ready to pass out.' Then we told the woman at the house what a
time we had and about the other woman sitting in the wagon on the top of the hill, that she could not get her old gentle horse to move, the horse
 442

had never did anything like that before. 'Did you meet anyone on the road?' Then we told her who. And she said, 'That settles it! I will get my son
out of the field to help you, for that horse will be there all day.' The boy came in from the field, went down horseback to the wagon. He hitched
his horse to the wagon and tied old Dolly on behind. He had a time. Old Dolly broke loose three times while he was helping the woman up to the
house where we were. Dolly was sure bewitched. It was just terrible how the horse did. We all rested, then got in the wagon and started on, for
we had two miles to go. Dolly trotted along fine, for this old witch didn't travel the road we were on now.
We didn't get to where we were going until after one o'clock. The woman had given us up. Of course we had to tell her all about
meeting the old witch and what a time we had. We had dinner, then walked around and looked at the chickens and her garden, saying we would
not stay long for we didn't know how we would get home, because there was no other road to take back home, only the one the witch travel over.
We started back about three o'clock. The farmer woman gave us some lunch to take along, saying, 'If you have any trouble on the way
back, the children may get hungry.' Old Dolly went along fine until we got to the turn in the road where this old witch went over, and there she
stop again, spread out her old legs and just stood there. Again we all got out, coaxing her again, saying, 'Come on, Dolly! What is wrong with
you?' We did this three times, prayed, did everything we could think of again. Then we had to go and get the farmer boy again and his horse
again. He hitched his horse to our wagon to help us over that bewitched road. He didn't want to go all the way. He started to leave once and had to
come back, seeing old Dolly would not go. Then he help us to Thirty-sixth and Broadway. Then he hitched up old Dolly to the wagon, saying, 'I
will stay here to see if she will go down Broadway.' Dolly trotted down Broadway and he turned back home. We all got home about dead from
our trip. Old Dolly lay right down in the barn. They called the doctor and he could not find anything wrong with Dolly. The doctor came for three
mornings, old Dolly still lying in the stable, but he didn't find out what was wrong with her. On the third night she jump up and was well again.
The spell was broken.
A very funny part about this old witch, I am going to tell you. Three years after this happen, the woman on the west side of me died
and her husband sold his house to this witch. I didn't know it until she moved in. I was just sick when I heard it. I wanted my husband to build a
high fence between us. He would not, but he did nail up the gate that was in the fence between the yards that I used to go back and forth to see the
other woman through that died. I did pull down all my curtains on the west side of the house, and kept all my windows down on that side for over
a year, so she could not see in. I led an awful life, scared to death all the time of her, until someone told me about putting a file under the front
door and the kitchen door so a witch can't do you any harm. My husband got two files. I put them one under the front door the other under the
kitchen door. I never had any trouble with her. I still have the two files up in the attic, been keeping them all these years. I have lived in this house
forty-six years. The sister-in-law that did live on the corner of the block moved out just as soon as she heard she moved in on the same block. The
witch is dead now, but I am going to tell you what she did to another family in this neighborhood." German.
16239. "About fifty years ago [1885] a man by the name of B. was hauling wood. He would always drive out Fourth Street. One morning when
he was going after wood, when he got to Lind Street, an old woman standing on the porch said, 'B., your team always take a steady gait,' and
laugh, 'don't they?' When the old man came back with his load, the old woman came out again on the porch and laughed, and said, 'Your team
will not take that wood home.' And the team stop right there, and B. could not make them move. His team had never stop on him before. So he
got mad and got off, and took a stick of wood and hit the wheel real hard and broke a spoke out of the wheel. And the old woman on the
porch fell down and broke her arm. She got up and said, 'B., I didn't think you would do it.' B. said, 'You should be glad I didn't hit the front of
the tongue, for if I had of done that, you would of fell and broke your neck.' And his team started on. But he never had any more trouble on
Fourth Street." German.
16240. "Sixty years ago [1873] there was a funeral on Washington Street. On the way to the cemetery the horses in one hack stopped and would
not go. There was a man at the funeral that bewitched the horses. He never went to a funeral without bewitching the horses. So the driver got off
the hack and unhitched the horses. He tried every way to get the horses to go, but they would not move. Then the driver took the neck yoke and
hit the tongue of the hack real hard, and the man that had the horses bewitched dropped dead right there. Then the driver hitched up the horses to
the hack, and they all went on to the cemetery without any more trouble." German.
16241. "Forty-five years ago [1887] a funeral was going up the hill on Fifth Street to the [Woodland] cemetery and the horses in the third hack
just balked and balked. They would not go. The driver got off the hack and put sand in the horses' ears. He tried everything but they would not
move. An old witch was in the funeral and she had the horses bewitched. She did not like someone that was in that third hack. At last the
mourners in that hack had to get out and walk up the hill; and, just as the mourners were walking through the gate, the horses started up. This old
woman took the spell off of the horses. Years ago we never went to a funeral unless someone was bewitched or the horses." German.

WITCH IN THE CHURN (16242-16254a)

16242. An old Negro woman said, when she was a girl and butter failed to come, she would repeat by the hour the following rhyme:
"Come butter come,
Come butter come;
Peter's waiting at the gate,
Waiting for butter and cake;
Come butter come.
I used to carry marks on my hands for weeks, if I would get tired of churning, mother whipped me so hard."
16243. "I can remember my grandma telling that a woman in the neighborhood was churning and the butter would not come. The woman was
getting so tired out, for butter would not come. My grandma came along and said, 'What is wrong?' The woman said, 'I have been churning all
morning and can't get butter.' Grandma said, 'I guess the witches are in your churn. Someone has you bewitched. You know we have a woman on
this block that can put a spell over you. Take and turn your churn over three times and turn the witches out of the churn.' The woman turned the
churn over three times and butter came right away." German.
16244. "One day a woman was churning butter. She never had any trouble with her butter; it would come right away. There was a woman that
lived on her block that they said could put a spell on you or take it off. This morning about time for her butter to come, this woman came over and
said, 'Oh, let me see your butter.' This woman open her churn and there was just as pretty butter as you could want to see. This neighbor said, 'It
sure looks fine. Can I have some on a piece of bread.' This woman said, 'I will run home and get a slice of my own bread. I don't want you to give
me the bread and butter too.' This woman came back with her bread and they took out enough to put on her bread, and talk a few minutes. Then
the woman went home. The other woman went in the house to get a dish to put the butter in, and when she open the churn there was no butter. All
of her pretty butter was gone back into the milk again. She started to churning again and kept it up for a long time, but the butter would not come.
After this woman churned several hours off and on and this butter didn't come, the neighbor came out in the yard to get some water and said, 'Are
you still churning? I thought your butter was done when I was over there several hours ago.' 'I thought so too,' said the woman. The neighbor said,
'Well, I guess I will come over and show you how to make butter. You can't do it as good as you thought.' This neighbor came over, took the
 443

churn and said, 'Watch me,' took the stick and started. She just made the sign of the cross back and forth three times and open the churn, and the
churn was full of pretty butter again. This woman had bewitched this woman's butter because she was always bragging how quick she could
get butter." German.
16245. "Twenty years ago [1918] my husband was out of work, we moved over on a farm in Missouri [in Lewis County, just across the river
from Quincy] for a year to see what we could do. One day I was trying to churn and my butter just would not come. A farmer boy that lived down
near the creek was sitting in the kitchen and said, 'Maybe the witches are in your churn and that is why your butter will not come, for we have an
old witch down on the creek that is always putting spells on people. My mother always uses a three-cent piece [a small silver coin no longer
minted] to keep the witches away from her churn. I will go home and get it, so you can put it in your churn, to see if the butter will not come right
away.' He went right home, got the three-cent piece, drop it in my churn; the butter came right away. 'You see, the witches were in your churn.' I
lived in Missouri just a little over a year after that. I never churned after that unless I had a three-cent piece to put in my churn. We moved back to
Quincy and I didn't churn any more." German.
16246. "When I was living down in the Bottom I always made lots of butter. One day [1908] a wood chopper came and bought a pound of butter
from me for forty cents [an excessive price] but didn't pay for it; said he would pay later. Several days after that I started to churning and the
butter would not come. I just churned and churned and could not get any butter. I told my husband that the butter would not come. My husband
said, 'Your cream is bewitched.' I said, 'Oh, no!' My husband said, 'We will soon see if the cream is bewitch.' He went and got a pair of scissors
and a steel file, and crossed them and put them under the churn and said, 'You start to churning and we will see what happens.' I did. And the
butter came right away. And the man that had not pay for the butter came in and paid the forty cents for the butter. He had the cream bewitched."
German.
16247. "In the year of 1886 we lived north of Camp Point. The couple that lived just west of us had two children; a boy and girl. One day the girl
on her way to school stopped and asked if we had any butter, said she didn't want any today, just wanted to see if we had it. We told her we would
churn tomorrow and they could have some that evening. My wife started to churn the next day. Butter would not come. She would stop awhile,
then try again, but the butter just would not come. Then she thought someone was doing something to her butter. She took the churn and set it on
the cookstove and got it real hot, then took it off and went to trying again, and butter came right away. At this time we didn't know who
bewitched the butter. Several days after that, when they didn't come for butter, my wife was going to wash and she sent me over to their house to
borrow their wash boiler. I found this woman with her head all tied up. Her face looked like it had been scalded with something hot. I asked her
what was wrong with her face. She was so mad she would not let me have the boiler, but didn't tell me what happen to her face. I went back
home; told my wife I didn't get the boiler but we got the one that bewitched our butter. And she didn't try again to stop our butter." German.
16248. "About seventy-five years ago [1858] my grandma and grandfather were churning butter. They had churned all day and the butter would
not come. An old woman that lived near there was in the house sitting and watching them churn. They thought she was a witch, but they always
treated her nice. My grandfather was getting angry, because the butter would not come, and he went over to the fireplace and pick up a pair of
red-hot dog tongs and said to this woman, 'You get your ass out of that chair and to hell out of here,' then drop the tongs in the cream. And as
soon as that woman went out of the door, butter came right away." German.
16249. "About eighty years ago [1854] a man at Mendon was always churning butter, and his mother and him fell out over the butter. She
thought he was churning too much butter. They did not live in the same house. One morning when he went to churning the cream, the butter did
not come. He thought right away his mother bewitched the cream, because she was angry at him. A neighbor told him to put a horseshoe in the
fire, and when that got red to drop it in the cream; and if the cream was bewitched, the butter would come and the witch would burn.' So he put
the red-hot horseshoe in the cream, and the butter came; and his mother got burned bad." German.
16250. "I knew a woman well that lived out on South Twelfth near Greenmount Cemetery on a farm. Someone was always bewitching her butter.
She said she would churn and churn; the butter would not come. Someone told her to put a rusty nail under her churn, when she started to
churning again, and the witches would not bother her. So the next time she put the rusty nail under her churn. She didn't have any more trouble
with witches." German.
16251. "A woman wanted some butter from her neighbor. The neighbor got tired of loaning her butter, because she would not bring it back. She
had been borrowing for some time, so she said she did not have any. When she started to churning the next day, this woman tried and tried to get
butter, but it would not come. So she went and told another neighbor she believe this woman, that she didn't let have the butter, had bewitched her
cream, because she could not get butter. This woman told her to go home and put a nail in the fire, and when it got red-hot, to drop it in the
cream. This woman went home and put the nail in the fire, and when it got red-hot, dropped it in the cream, and the butter came right away. And
this woman, that had the cream bewitched, got a blister on her side just the size of that nail." German.
16252. "My mother was churning butter one day with one of those old- fashion churns. She never had any trouble. Butter would always come.
But this day she just could not get butter to come. The cream just foamed and foamed. She could not do a thing with it. A neighbor came in and
look at the cream. She said, 'Your cream is bewitch.' This neighbor we all called a witch doctor. She said, 'I will bring your butter.' She walked
over to the fireplace, picked up the poker, got it real hot, then wipe it off, and put it down in the cream to burn the witch, then said, 'Churn.' She
did. And in a few minutes butter came." German.
16253. "A woman was making butter years ago and all at once she looked at the butter and it was gone out of the churn. She went and told a
neighbor woman about her butter. She said, 'Maybe someone has bewitched your butter. Go home and stick a poker in the stove, and when it gets
red-hot, keep sticking it in the stove. If your butter is bewitched, the butter will come back.' This woman went home, took her poker and put it in
the stove, and when it got real red, started to sticking it back and forth. All at once a neighbor came and wanted in; said she was burning up. This
woman would not let her neighbor in; and when she looked in the churn, her butter was there."
16254. "I knew a German woman that her butter would not come and she thought the cow was bewitched. She took a stovelid, red-hot, and went
out and milked on it. It was to burn up the witch. And butter did come the next time." German.
16254a. "My grandmother always made good butter. She never did have any trouble. One day she started to churning and the butter would not
come. She just tried and tried but she could not make the butter come. Then she said, 'Someone has my cream bewitch.' She went out in the
garden and got a poison vine and wrap it around her churn, and started to churning, and butter came right away. The poison vine was to poison
the person that bewitch the cream. But my grandmother never had any more trouble with her butter." German.

WITCH WREATH (Bewitched Feathers in Pillow or Bedtick) (16255-16323)

Note: Since wreath or witch wreath is a belief special to persons of German descent, I have omitted the origin of the following stories.
Occasionally called circular (16308) the wreath comes in various forms, which I have indicated by margin titles and underlining.

Feathers in Circular Form (Normal Shape) (16255-16284)

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FEATHERS IN CIRCULAR FORM

16255. "Now I am going to tell you a story that was told by one of my [school] children. A baby [about 1931] was born in a family. Although it
received the very best attention, it was not thriving. An old mother in the neighborhood entered the house one day and said, 'There is a wreath in
the baby's pillow.' The mother wished to open the little pillow and take out the wreath, as had been suggested. The father scornfully laughed and
forbade the mother's opening the pillow. From that moment the child grew more delicate and passed out. The old neighborhood mother entered
the room and said, 'Let me examine the pillow,' which she did, and took from the pillow a perfectly formed wreath of feathers, all going in one
direction. The center of the wreath was the size of the baby's head. The feathers forming the wreath were all going in one direction [see also
16277] like the down on a dress hat. I will draw you a diagram. I saw it. It was marvelous. [The informant's diagram of this wreath I have
reproduced in this book.] Underneath the wreath it seemed to be flesh, like the flesh on a chicken's breast with large pores. It had no odor. Dead
chicken flesh has an odor. The skin was moist as if alive. The feathers seemed to be growing. The old woman took the wreath out and burned it,
and said if ever another child came to the house, to give it a new pillow and it would thrive."
16256. "About forty-five years ago [1892] a wash-lady had two very pretty daughters working at the Egg Case Factory at Fourth and Oak Street.
A young man got stuck on one and married her against his mother's wishes. She wanted her boy to do better than marry a wash-woman's girl. The
boy took his wife home. In a month's time she took down sick. The doctor came. He could not find out what was wrong. And the girl kept getting
weaker and weaker, until at last she was so thin and looked so bad that it worried her mother. She went and told an old German woman about it
and told her to go and look at her daughter. She went there. She went back and told the mother to get her daughter out of that house as quick as
she could away from that mother-in-law, that she had her daughter bewitched, and be sure and take the pillow she was sleeping on, not to leave it
in the house. So the mother told her son-in-law she was going to take her daughter home to see if she could do anything for her. When she picked
up the pillow to take, the old mother-in-law said, 'Don't take that pillow, it is mine.' But the mother kept the pillow. They had words over her
taking the pillow, but she would not give it up. Just as soon as she got home the old German woman open the pillow and found a wreath. 'See this
wreath. This is what's making your girl sick. It's the mother-in- law's work. She is trying to kill her.' They burnt the wreath and the girl started to
getting better. When the husband came home that night, the mother told him if he love his wife, just as soon as she was well he would have
to take her out of town away from his mother. He said he loved his wife, and took her away just as soon as well. This is so, for I knew the party.
I worked with them at the Egg Case Factory."
16257. "About sixty years ago [1880] a woman in the north part of Quincy had two girls. They were sick all the time. She did everything and
nothing help them. One day she found a wreath in the bedtick they were sleeping on. She took the wreath out and put it on to boil. She had heard
always to boil anything you find, but didn't hear whoever bewitched you would come. Well, after this wreath had been boiling about half an hour,
who should come in but her best friend and say, 'What are you boiling?' Not thinking it was her best friend that had the spell on her girls, she told
her about finding the wreath. Her friend said, 'Don't you think it has boil long enough?' and help her take the feathers off the stove — the very
wrong thing to do. Well, the two girls kept on being sick, when one day this mother happen to tell about her friend taking off the feathers, but had
not been back to her house since then. They told her to go to the priest to help her, for the woman sure had a hold on her now --- taking off the
feathers from the stove. They hadn't stayed on long enough to burn her good. Well, she got the priest to pray for her girls. They got well. But they
never had thing to do with her again."
16258. "I did know a woman in the North End [of Quincy] that was sick for a long time. They could not find anything to cure her. So one day
they found a wreath in her pillow. Then they thought she was bewitch. So they put the wreath in boiling water and put it on the stove to boil, so it
would come apart and the spell would be broken. They just boiled and boiled, and the wreath would not come apart. So the woman died under the
spell. They could not break it."
16259. "About sixty three years ago [1882] when I was a little girl about two years old I was sick all the time. I would lay in my crib; never sit
up. All the neighbors who lived near us would come in all the time to see how I was getting along. They would say, 'What's wrong with that
child? She's getting so frail.' I was too young to remember this, but I have heard my mother tell it so often that I think I remember being there.
They said I didn't eat anything. My older brothers and sisters would stand around the crib, thinking I was going to die. The doctor came several
times. He could not find anything wrong. Still, I was slipping. One day an old friend of mother's came in. She was a very good friend. She didn't
want to say anything. At last she said, 'What's wrong with Minnie? She looks so sick." Then mother told her she didn't know; the doctor could not
find out what was wrong. This good friend just visited and visited with mother. She kept looking at me. The more she looked the worse she felt.
Then she said, 'If the doctor can't find out what's wrong, maybe she bewitched.' Mother said, 'No, who would do my baby harm?' Mother said,
'Well, what can I do if she is bewitched?' The friend said, 'I will tell you what to do. You go to a priest and tell him what you think.' We were
Protestant but mother went to the priest. He said, 'Did you ever look in her bed or pillow to see if you could find anything?' Mother came home,
tore my bed apart. I had two little pillows in my crib, tore them apart. She didn't find a thing in the bed, but in each little pillow there was a small
wreath almost woven together. That was why I was getting weaker all the time. I would of died if the wreaths were finished. The priest told
mother if she found anything to come back. The priest told her to burn the two little wreaths, saying a prayer, and, 'In a week's time you will have
a lady friend come to your house' --- he even told her the color of her eyes, hair, and her height — 'watch her.' In a week's time she did come, I
was sitting in my high-chair when she came, eating. I was getting better now that the wreaths were burned up. She said, 'Oh, how good
Minnie looks! I thought she was sick.' Mother said, 'She was sick but she isn't sick any more.' At that she started over to love me. Mother said,
'Don't you touch Minnie. ' With that she left and never did come to see mother again. I got well after that. She was the one that had me
bewitched."
16260. "I knew a woman some years ago [before 1933] who had a boy. He was sick all the time and so mean they could not do anything with
him. One day another neighbor said, 'I would open his pillow and see if anything was in it' They did and found a large wreath. They took that
pillow, wreath and all, and threw it in the privy [See 16489], which was a very bad mistake, for the boy lived to be an old man, sick all the time
and never was out of trouble. If they had of burned that wreath, he would of been a good man and got well."
16261. "About eighty years ago [1854] three children were sick. They just done everything for them, but could not help them. There was an old
woman that lived at the bottom of the hill, and some of the neighbors told the mother they thought the children were bewitched by this woman;
but she didn't believe it, and so two of the children died. Then one of the neighbors said, 'You will not look, but I am going to look,' and she did;
and she found three wreaths in the bed, two of them were all done and the other one was almost finished. The two that was done was for the two
little girls that died, and if the neighbor had not found the wreaths, the other child would of died; but she took all the three wreaths and burnt them
up, and the other little child got well."
16262. "The woman next door to our house said when she was a little girl her cousin was bewitched. She went to a fortune teller and the folks
thought she bewitched her. She was sick all the time and they could not find out what was wrong with her. One day they opened the pillow and
found three wreaths in it; two were finished, but the third one was not. If that had of been finished, she would of died; for that was an old saying:
if you have three wreaths in your pillow finished, you would die. My aunt took the three wreaths and put them in the cookstove to burn. They
 445

always say, when you are burning the wreaths, the witch will come because she will burn. I was just a little girl and I can remember I went to my
aunt's house, and they were all sitting up around the stove for the witch to come. The witch did not come, but my cousin got well after that."
16263. "I was very sick for a long time [1907]. They didn't seem to find out what was wrong. One night I woke up in the middle of the night
hearing music. It was coming from my pillow. [For ticking sound in pillow, see 16293.] I was sure of it. I was so sick. But I shook my pillow to
see and the music still played on. After awhile I fell off to sleep again, still hearing the music. In the morning I told my mother. And she examine
the pillow and found a big knot in it. Then she open the pillow and found a big knot in it. Then she open the pillow and found a perfect wreath
all done. She took pillow, wreath and all, over to the next-door neighbor to show her. And she said I would of died right away, because the wreath
was finish, if they had not found it. The neighbor and my mother put the wreath in the cookstove to burn, and the next day I started to getting
better. Someone had me under a spell and I got well."
16264. "About fourteen years ago [1921] my daughter was sick all the time, in bed most of the time. We did everything anyone would tell us for
her, but nothing would help. We even had the doctor and he could do no good. He didn't know what was wrong with her. When she was in bed,
she said something in the pillow was moving all the time. We didn't pay much attention to what she said about something moving, because we
thought maybe the fever was making her out of her head. But one day my husband and I was standing by the bed, and both of us saw something
in the pillow moving. It just went up and down. Then we thought something was wrong, maybe she was bewitched. Several people thought it, but
we didn't [previously]. Then we open the pillow and found a big wreath in it. We took it out here on X. and Y. Street to the priest and he told us it
was the devil-serpent, to take it home and burn it right away. We took the wreath home and put it in the stove to burn; and while the serpent was
burning, my daughter fell over on the floor in a faint. We thought she was dead at first, but we got her out of it. You see, the devil- serpent had so
much power over her. When we had the wreath all burnt up, she started to getting better and got well."
16265. "About sixty year ago [1887] on Jersey Street between Eighth and Ninth there was an old witch living. There was a little girl on this
same block about eight or nine year old that was very pretty and healthy. One day this old woman gave this girl a holy picture. People didn't think
anything about it. But as time went on this girl started to failing, she just kept falling off, so at last they got the doctor. He treated her for a while
but didn't do her any good. Then some of the neighbors said, 'Maybe she is bewitched.' For when a doctor can't do any good they are bewitched.
They started to looking in her bedclothes and found a wreath almost done. One woman took two sticks, pick up this wreath and put it in the stove
to burn, then locked the door. For she said, 'While that is burning, whoever put it there will come.' It was not long until the woman that gave her
the holy picture came and beat on the door, said she was burned; she wanted something, but I forgot what. They didn't let her have it and the little
girl got all right again."
16266. "My niece's baby was a year and a few days old, and her mother kept thinking that something was going to happen to the baby. It was
perfectly well, but she just thought something was going to happen. Someone told her that if she felt that-a-way about it, she should have the
doctor. So she called her cousin, Dr. X. [a well-known doctor in Quincy], and the doctor examined it and said, 'I don't see nothing the matter with
the child. It might be its teeth.' The next morning it died at ten o'clock. And they called the doctor again. The doctor said, 'The child is dead. I
can't do nothing.' The doctor didn't know what the child died of. The mother wasn't satisfied with that, so she sent for Mr. K. [a witch doctor], and
he opened the child's pillow and found a wreath almost done. He burnt the wreath, and they saw Mrs. Z's [a neighbor's] face in the wreath while it
was burning [see 16310]. And they thought she had hoodooed the child."
16267. "My aunt lived on Madison Street and one of the neighbors put a spell on her. Some people don't believe they can put a spell on you, but
they can. My aunt could not sleep at all. She would change the pillow all the time, but that didn't help; because if someone has a spell on you,
nothing will help until the spell is broken; and you have to find whatever they have you bewitched with and burn it, to break the spell. My aunt
just could not sleep. This went on for some time. Then one night she ripped open the pillow she was trying to sleep on, and found a great big
wreath the size of her head; then she knew she was bewitched and someone had her in a spell. She put some water on to boil and, when it got
boiling hot, drop the wreath, pillow and all, in. It was not long until the steam and smoke started to going toward a neighbor's house; and the first
thing in the morning she found a neighbor by her fence. She wanted to know what she was boiling; said she didn't sleep all night, and said, 'Why
don't you take it off?' My aunt said, 'I am going to let it boil good and hard all day to break the spell on me so I can sleep.' This neighbor went
home and never did come to my aunt's house again. And my aunt slept after that."
16268. "A woman was living at Ninth and Jersey Street, and had a little girl. An Irishwoman was living in the other part of the house and she
just hated this little girl. This girl got sick. They had one doctor after another, they could not even find out what was wrong. One day I said to this
woman, 'Why don't you look in her pillow? I believe this old Irishwoman has a spell on her.' We opened the pillow and found a large wreath. We
took it and put it in a hot stove and burned it. The lid just kept hopping up and hopping up while the wreath was burning [See 16277]. All at once
this Irishwoman came to the door. We had it locked so she could not get in. She said, 'My hands are burning up. Won't you give me some butter
to rub on them?' I told this woman not to let that old devil in, 'for she is the one that has your little girl bewitched.' We did not give her any butter.
We just let her hands burn. And after that, the little girl got well."
16269. "I could not sleep or do anything, was sick all the time. One day I found a knot in my pillow and I open it up and found a wreath of
feathers. I took it and put it in the cookstove and burnt it. The next day the old colored woman that was living on our block had to sit on a pillow
because her backside was burning [see 16306 and 16320]. She was the one that had bewitched all that bad luck on me, and her wishing-power
was not strong enough to do the work. My power was just as strong."
16270. "My cousin was bewitched when she was still in her cradle. She was sick for two years. They could not find out what was wrong, when
one day a woman was at their house and said, 'Maybe the child is bewitched. As long as you can't find anything to help her, I am going to look
and see if I can find anything around the cradle.' At last she found a wreath in the pillow, almost done. 'This is the trouble. Your child would of
suffered until this wreath was done, then died. I am glad I found it. I will put this wreath in boiling water and see what happens.' She got an old
iron kettle and put it on the stove with boiling water in, and put the wreath in it. After it boiled several hours, a woman on the block, that did not
like my aunt, came and wanted to know what she was cooking. My aunt said, 'Oh, something good.' The neighbor said, 'Take it off. I am in such
misery I can't stand it. I have been suffering for the last two hours.' 'I am going to let it cook all day and night, and make you suffer for putting a
spell on my baby,' and did. The next day the baby started to getting better, and is living today."
16271. "A woman was sick all the time. She could not find anyone to help her and she could not do a thing that would help her, so she open her
feather bed and she found a wreath right where her back went in the bed. She put it in the stove to burn and called a woman's name three times,
that she thought had put the spell on her, while it was burning. And the woman lost her mind, that had put the spell on the other woman."
16272. "My grandma was bewitched over a hundred years ago [1836] he was sick all the time. The doctors could do her no good. An old Indian
woman traveling through happen to stop, and she said to my grandmother, 'What is wrong with you?' seeing her in bed. My grandma said, 'I am
sick. They can't find out what is wrong.' The old woman said, 'You ain't sick, you are bewitched. You are going to get right out of that bed.' The
old Indian woman took and pulled the bed away from the wall, and started to walking around the bed. My grandma thought the old woman was
crazy. She walked around the bed three times, making the sign of the cross, and not speaking. Then the Indian said, 'You get out of bed and sit in
that chair.' My grandmother said, 'I can't.' So the Indian woman help her. Then she took the scissors and cut the tick open, and found a big wreath
 446

right in the middle of the tick. She took a feather out of the middle, and one out of each side of the wreath, making three feathers, then put them in
her pocket. Then she put the wreath in the fire and burnt it up. And my grandmother got sick and was sick for three months, one month for each
feather the old Indian kept. Then she got well."
16273. "A little girl was sick all the time. She was getting so thin they thought she was going to die. One day they found a wreath in her
pillow. They took that wreath and put it in boiling milk, and kept sticking it with a knife, when all at once one of the neighbors came in with her
face full of holes and wanted to borrow some salt. The man said to this woman, 'Get to hell out of here or I will kill you.' The little girl got well
after that. If they would of let her have the salt, she still would of had the spell over the little girl."
16274. "One day my mother sent me over to the neighbor's house to get something, and the man had a big butcher knife just sticking it in and out
of the feather bed. I said, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'Someone has us bewitched and I am killing the witch!"
16275. "About twenty-five years ago [1910] a woman out on north Fifth Street was making a bed and found a hard lump in the pillow. She open
the pillow and found a wreath almost done. This woman had not been well for a long time and thought the old man across the street had her in a
spell. She said, 'I will find out who the devil is.' She took the wreath and just filled it with needles, then put it on the stove to boil. Her husband
got a chair and a stick of wood, and sit down by the door and said, 'I will kill the first devil that come.' It happen that this man's chum came first,
and if he said, 'What are you doing with that stick of wood?' He said, 'I am going to kill the devil that put that wreath in the pillow. Are you him?'
Then he told his chum about the wreath boiling on the stove, and he sit down to wait to see who would come. It was not long until the old man
came who they thought was the witch. His face was all red like blood, and his face looked like it was full of needle holes. He sat down first on
one side of the chair, then the other side. He could not keep still. He said, 'What are you cooking on the stove?' The woman said, 'I am cooking
the devil.' 'Well,' he said, 'you have him now. What more do you want?' Then he left. In the middle of the night this old man sent for this woman
to come over, saying he was very sick. This woman didn't know if to go and help the old man or let him die, but she went over and it broke the
spell. And the old man got well and he never did try to bother them again."
16276. "I can remember when I was a girl and went to Sunday school. Sunday-school teacher had three children. They were sick all the time.
She tried everything, and even the doctor could not find out what was wrong. One Sunday I said to her, 'Maybe your children are bewitched?' and
told her some things my grandma had said to do. She laughed and said, 'I don't believe in witches. There is nothing in it.' But at last, one little girl
died. Then I beg her to open the little girl's pillow and see if she could find anything. And she found a perfect wreath, all done. She put it in a box
and brought it to Sunday school so the class could all see it. Then I told her my grandma told me to tell her, to take the quilt that the other two
were sleeping under and to fill it just full of pins, and put it on the stove to boil. She did. And the other two children got well, for she had broke
the spell."
16277. "We lived out here near Third and Locust when this happen. It was not so many years back, for I am only fifty-five years old [in 1940]
and I remember it well. My father had the sick-headache all the time. There was nothing he did, or mother for him, would give him any relief. My
mother was Irish and very superstitious. She believe in all the old signs. At last, when nothing would help father, she got it in her head he was
bewitched, because there was an old woman in the neighborhood that didn't like father, and everyone said she could put a spell on you if she
wanted to. So one day, after father had a real bad sick-headache, mother decided to open his pillow to see what she could find. I remember it well.
There was a pretty witch wreath in his pillow, all done but about an inch. It was beautiful. The feathers all lying the same way [See also 16255].
Just perfect. It's an old saying, if you put a witch's wreath in the stove and let it burn with salt all over it, it will make the one that bewitch you so
mad that they will come to your house. They just can't stay away. Well, mother put the wreath in the stove, sprinkle salt all over it good, put the
lids down; and the wreath just jump around so, mother thought the stovelids would fly off [See 16268]. I was standing there and seen it too. The
old woman came to the house, and as she started in the house, mother drop a handful of salt right on the floor [See 16396 and following]. The old
woman turn around and went home. The salt just danced around on the floor. Mother said it was because the old witch was so mad she could not
stand still. She never came back. My father didn't have any more sick-headache. The spell was broke."
16278. "About thirty-one years ago [1905] I was bewitched. I went to a fortune teller to have her read the cards for me. My husband had lost his
job and I wanted to see what she could tell me. At the time I didn't know she was an old witch and didn't like my mother-in-law. When my
husband was a little boy six years old his mother and him stayed at the Franklin House on Fifth Street. [This hotel was between Hampshire and
Vermont streets, south of the alley on the west side of Fifth street.] This old fortune teller stayed there too. They didn't get along at all, fussed all
the time. While she was running the cards for me she found out I married this boy that stayed at the Franklin Hotel. I don't think it was fair for her
to take her spite out on me like she did, for I could not help what happen years ago. Several weeks after I went to see this Mrs. X., I was
downtown watching a circus parade go by when all of a sudden I took such a headache I just couldn't stand it. I went to the drug store and got
some medicine for my head, but I received no relief. This went on for several months, suffering, when I had never had the headache before. I
think it was about two months after this headache started, one morning I was making up the bed when I felt a big lump in the pillow.
That afternoon my mother came over. I told her about the lump in the pillow. She was born in Germany and believe in being bewitched. So we
open the pillow, found three pretty wreaths; two were finished, the third almost done. It's an old saying, if all the wreaths were finished, you will
die. The wreaths were beauties. They looked just like someone had crocheted them, they were so even. I took the three wreaths in a box out to see
one of the Fathers at Y and Z street. Father Q. said, 'You go home and don't worry, there is nothing to this being bewitched.' The Fathers don't
want you to believe in it. I took the wreaths home, told my mother what the Father said. Mother said, 'We will fix that old hag.' Mother got a pan
of water, put it on the stove to boil, put the wreaths in the pan with salt, pepper, nails, tacks, and a few pins. Mother said while it was boiling it
would make her suffer so that she would not be able to stand it; she would come to the house. If you let her in, the spell would go on; if you
didn't, the spell would be broken. About an hour after we put the pan on the stove, mother and I started downtown. We told father not to let
anyone in the house while we were gone. We lived at Sixteenth and oak and this old Mrs. X. lived at Tenth and Vermont Street. On our way
home we met this old woman. She had been all the way out to our house, walked out and back. She was on the other side of the street and we let
on like we didn't see her. When we got home we asked father if anyone had been here to see us. He said, 'Only Mrs. X.' We said, 'Did you let her
in?' He said, 'Why yes, she just walked in, she didn't stay after she found out you were all gone.' Mother said, 'Well, she was suffering; all she
wanted was to get in, she didn't care if we were home. I will make that old devil suffer so again that she will never come back. I will give her a
double dose this time.' So mother got some more salt, pepper, nails, tacks and pins, and put them on top of the wreaths, let them boil all day. The
old witch never came back and I got over my headache; never have them any more. I still don't see how they bewitch you, but mother said they
do, that in Germany all the time, if they didn't like you."
16279. "I had a friend that was bewitched. She was sick all the time. They had the doctor but he didn't help her. Then they thought they
would look in the feather bed, for they were starting to think a certain woman in the neighborhood had a spell on her. They open the bed and
found three wreaths. They put salt and pepper all over these wreaths and put them on a fire to burn, and whipped them all the time they were
burning, to see who would come to borrow. In a little while here came the neighbor, to borrow a needle, who they thought did it; said she broke
her needle while sewing. They would not let her have the needle. She just sit there and sit. And at last they told her if she would not go home,
 447

they would call the law. She left. And the girl got well, but the woman was sick a long time. That was why she didn't want to go home. She knew
the spell was back on her when they didn't let her have the needle."
16280. "There was a little girl out here on Madison Street that was bewitched. A neighbor on the block could put spells on people, so they said.
This little girl was all right until four o'clock in the afternoon, then she would start in to crying and keep it up. They could not find anything that
would stop her. And this woman always came over to the house in the afternoon, so they got to thinking it was her, and started to looking in the
pillows she slept on. They did find a wreath. They took and sprinkle holy water all over this wreath, and sprinkle holy water all the way to this
woman's house in the path she always walked in. They took the little girl out to X. and Z. Street to a priest to pray over her. And this woman
never came to the house again, because she was the one that had the spell on the little girl; for a witch can't walk over holy water." For the path or
road taken by a witch, see also 16238.
16281. "My father was sick all the time and they could not find anything to help him, so my mother thought maybe someone had a spell over
him. So she took his pillow and sprinkle it with holy water three times to break the spell, then open his pillow and found a wreath in it. The
wreath was all finished, so he died in three days. If she had of found it before it was done, he would of lived."
16282. "One time I was bewitched, sick all the time, nothing would help, had bad luck in everything, so one day I open my pillows and in one I
found a wreath. I took the wreath and put it on the pillowslip, and took my hands and just kept moving them back and forth over the wreath,
saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, take this spell away. After awhile the feathers in the wreath started to separate until they
all fell apart. Then I stop saying the Three Highest Names, for I knew it was broken. I still have the feathers and the slip. This happen ten years
ago [1925] and is true, for it happen to me."
16283. "There was a man working where my husband was, and one day he said to my husband, 'I wish you would have your wife go and see my
wife, I believe she is bewitched; she is sick all the time, she sits in a chair all the time, just can't do anything. I have had several doctors but they
don't seem to help her.' So I went over. Just as soon as I looked at her I said, 'Do you sleep on feathers?' And she said she was sleeping on a
feather bed. I asked her to let me see it, and she told me it was in the next room. I went in and looked and found three wreaths; one real large one,
and two small ones. I didn't tell the woman what I found, but took them home and put them in a glass jar and put the lid on. In a few days those
feathers all started to falling off the wreaths in the jar. Several days after that, the man said to my husband, 'Tell your wife to come over and see
my wife again, she is feeling so much better.' And it was no time until his wife was well again. Then I showed them the feathers in the jar and
told them about the wreaths that someone had bewitched on her. I told them I would not sleep on feathers for anything myself, because people
can bewitch you with feathers."
16284. "Nine years ago [1930] a man that worked in the Excelsior Foundry was bewitched. He got sick all at once on the job. He couldn't sleep
at night; he walked the floor every night. Could not rest at anything; everything just went wrong. This man went to a lot of different doctors. They
could not find anything wrong. If they did, they didn't help him. He got so poor and thin, his boss at the foundry wanted to know what was wrong
with him. His wife got scared and was afraid her husband would lose his job, so went to a clairvoyant, told her about her husband, to see if she
could help. This clairvoyant told her to go home, nail a cross up over the door, and whoever had him bewitched would come and want to give
them something, and not to take it. She also said, 'When you get home, open your husband's pillow to see if anything is in the pillow; and if there
is, whatever is in the pillow, put it in a glass jar and tighten up the lid,' would choke whoever had her husband in a spell. This woman went home,
put the cross over the front door that night after she got home from this fortune teller house. The first thing the next morning a neighbor lady that
lived back of them came and wanted to give them some milk [see 16220], said she had more than she could use. Of course, she didn't take it, for
that would keep the spell on. My mother was living on the same block and she sent for her, told her she was going to open the pillow to see if she
could find anything; and if she did, would sure choke them to death if she could, making her husband suffer so much. They took the man's pillow
down to the woodshed and open it up, found a wreath almost finished. My mother said it was the prettiest thing she ever looked at. Then they
found a glass jar with a good top, put this wreath in it, then tighten the lid up, and every little while they would try to tighten it more, trying to
make whoever did it suffer. That night at midnight the neighbor back of them let out a loud scream and fell on the floor. She was choking
to death, couldn't get her breath. After they let her suffer awhile, they started to untighten the lid and she started to getting better. They
really didn't want to choke her so she would die, for if they had of let the lid stay on tight, this woman would of choke to death. The woman got
well and she never tried to bewitch that woman's husband again. The man got all right again and worked every day at the foundry and slept fine at
night."

Feathers in Various Forms (16285-16310)

WITCH WREATH FEATHERS IN VARIOUS FORMS
16285. "Several years ago [before 1935] I was bewitched. I was sick all the time. I tried everything and nothing would help me. When I got in
bed it was worse. My legs and arms would hurt so, I thought I could not stand it. My left arm, I could not raise it up at all, just as soon as I got in
bed. So one day we open my feather bed and I found two small wreaths and a perfect bat [the animal]. I took all three and put salt and pepper all
over them, and put them out in the yard on a barnfire [bonfire] to burn, and whipped them all the time to make the witch come. And here came
my best neighbor running to borrow a needle. I didn't want to think she put the spell on me, because I liked her; but I didn't let her have the needle
and she never came back, and I got better."
16286. "Two weeks ago [1942] I could not sleep. Every night when I would drop off to sleep I would dream of all the dead-folks that were gone.
This kept up for a week, when one morning I found a hard lump in my pillow. I open it and found a little bird --- it had two eyes, a tail and head. I
have no stove, so I waited until Friday, as that is the best day to do it, took the little bird out in the back yard, made a little fire, put the bird on
the fire, and while it was burning, said the Three Highest Names. I have slept fine every night since --- I have never dreamt about all the dead
people I knew."
16287. "My daughter was sick all the time. She could not eat or sleep. Some neighbor told her, when she could not sleep, to get up and throw
her pillow on the floor and curse it good; then go back to bed, and if she went to sleep, someone has a spell on her. One night she could not sleep
at all, so she got up and threw the pillow on the floor and cursed it good, then went back to bed. She went right to sleep. The next day she told this
neighbor. She said, 'You are bewitched, open up your pillows and see if you can find anything.' She did and found a bird, butterfly, and a wreath
almost finished. She put the wreath in the stove to burn, but the bird and butterfly was so pretty she didn't want to burn them, so she put them on
the mantlepiece to keep. That night she could not sleep again. She told the neighbor, and she said, 'What did you do with the things you found in
your pillows?' Then she told her. And she said, 'You burn everything up.' And she did, and the spell was broken, and she got all right after that."
16288. "I knew a little girl, just six years old at the time she took sick, and they had several doctors. They could not find out what was wrong and
they could not help her. One evening when the husband came home from work, an old woman was talking to him about his child and asked him if
they had ever looked in her pillow or her bed, to see if they could find anything, that maybe someone had a spell on her. He said they had never
thought of anything like that, 'Why, who would want to put a spell on my little girl?' Anyway, the husband and wife went to talking about it and
 448

did look. They found a perfect chicken in the feather tick, all done but the head. Had the head been on, the child would of died. They took this
chicken and burnt it in the cookstove, and the little girl started to getting better right away. But they never found out who put the spell on her."
16289. "I knew a boy out here in the south part of Quincy years ago that was sick all the time. They done everything for him and try everything
anyone would tell them, but it would not do him any good. Some of the neighbors thought he was bewitched, but the folks didn't. But at last they
went to looking in the bedtick and pillows to see if they could not find anything, and in one of the pillows they found a rooster all done but a little
of its tail. If that tail had of been done, that boy would of died; but they took the rooster and put it in the stove to burn, and after that the boy got
well."
16290. "Twenty-nine years ago [1910] my sister was living at Fifth and Jefferson. Her married daughter and baby was staying with her. There
was a band of gypsies in town one week going around telling fortunes and selling different articles. One day one of the gypsy ladies stopped at
my sister's house. My niece went to the door not knowing it was one of the gypsies, for she was as afraid of death of them; never would of went
to the door. The old gypsy wanted to tell her fortune, but she would not let her. Then she said, 'Buy three yards of this pretty lace for fifty cents,
will be nice for the baby's clothes that is sleeping in the next room.' This scared my niece almost to death, for the door was shut and this old gypsy
didn't even know there was a baby in the house. My niece bought the lace, for afraid not to. At this same time my sister was in the kitchen making
light-bread. Of course the smell went through the house and the old gypsy said, 'That light-bread sure smells good. I am hungry. Sure would like
a piece.' My niece gave her a hot roll to eat. Said she was shaking all the time, so scared. While the old gypsy was eating the light-bread, she said
to my niece, 'My hair is always falling down, I just can't keep it up. Can you give me a hairpin to hold it up.' My niece gave her the hairpin ---
making three things the old witch got out of that house. You see, when they get three things from you they can always bewitch you. [Since
everything in magic works both ways, sometimes a witch gives three things to the intended victim.] And three things always makes the power so
strong it is hard to break it up. The old gypsy left; and before the week was over had the whole family bewitched. The baby got so cross; cried all
the time, night and day. They walked the floor, someone, with that baby night and day. Did everything, but nothing did any good. My sister
was holding the baby one night when all at once she saw Jesus fly across the room and disappear behind a picture --- you know, they had that
baby christen, the I certificate of the baptising was in that frame. Just as soon as Jesus disappear, a big ball of fire went through the room and it
went right to this same picture and disappear behind it. My sister then knew the baby was going to die. My sister got so scared she went to a
fortune teller the next morning and told her all about the gypsy and the omens. She told her the baby was bewitched, to go right home and open
all the pillows and see if she could find anything. She also gave her some powder to put in the trunk where they kept the baby's clothes, to break
the spell. Told her to put three crosses on the gate so she would not come in the yard again. My sister went home, open the baby's pillow. I was
there. If she found one chicken toe in that pillow, she found a thousand. It was just terrible, all those toes. How could they get in that baby's
pillow? We took toes, feathers, pillowslip and all, put them in the cookstove to burn up. Then my sister took all the baby's clothes out of the
trunk, put this powder in the trunk, and started to put the lid down. The lid wouldn't stay down. The old witch had so much power she was
keeping the lid up [see 16268 and 16277]. I am telling you the truth. My sister and husband both stood on the trunk lid to hold it down and had a
hard time in doing it. The fortune teller had told her if they kept the lid down, this old gypsy would come back. They put me to watching the gate
while they were holding down this trunk lid, or trying to hold it down I should say. Well, sure enough, the old gypsy came. And when she got
to the gate, she didn't come in. But we forgot to put crosses on the back gate, and she came in the back gate. She didn't come to the house, but
went in the privy. Then we were all scared to death. She put a spell on the privy. The powder was all gone, so my sister made me go to the
fortune teller again and get some more powder to put in the privy and all around it, to keep it from being bewitched so we could use it. We sure
had to pay good for this powder, too. The next day I went to the Chief of the Police and told him. He said, 'They have bewitched seven other
families in town, and I am going to run them out of town,' and did. Their baby got all right after we burnt everything and put the powder around.
Do you know, my sister had seven other pillows in the house and burnt them all up, would not look in them, said she would not take any
chance."
16291. "A woman got some hair of a neighbor she did not like and put salt and pepper with it, and put it under this neighbor's front doorstep, and
this woman went to failing. She was sick all the time. They could not find out what was wrong. A neighbor told them maybe she was bewitched,
they should look in the bed and the pillow and see if they could find anything. They did and found a coffin in the pillow that was almost done.
They took this coffin and put it in the stove and, while it was burning, curse all the time, wishing the bad luck would fall on the person that had
put the coffin in the pillow. And the woman got well and the neighbor, that had put the hair, salt and pepper under the door, got sick."
16292. "About twenty-nine years ago [1906] a boy was bewitched down here below Marblehead. He was sick all the time. They could not do a
thing for him. He was about fourteen years old. He would start to scream every night and keep it up. They done everything for him. An old
woman lived in the neighborhood that didn't like this boy at all. She was always coming to see this boy and to see how he was getting along. So
one day they got it in their head that this woman had the boy bewitched, so they open the pillow he was sleeping on. And what do you think they
found a perfect casket [coffin] all done but one little corner. The mother put this casket on the stove in boiling water to boil. It was no time until
this woman came and said, 'What are you boiling?' The mother said, 'Nothing.' This old woman could not sit still. She would get up, then sit
down. Then she went home. It was no time until the woman was back and asked again what she was boiling, said she could not rest. But the
mother kept the feathers on the stove boiling all the time. And the old woman came back the third time and wanted to know what she was boiling,
said she must know. The mother then said, 'You get off of our place and never put your foot on our grounds again, for if you do, I will get the law'
--- for she knew this woman had her son bewitched by her coming back three times while she was boiling. And the old witch didn't come back
again and the boy got well. This is so, for it happen to some of our folks."
16293. "This happen in the year of 1928 or 1929; I am not just sure. I had a very dear friend that lived on the same block with me in the
neighborhood of Tenth and Jersey. Someone tried to bewitch her. One night she was trying to sleep on a pillow. She said to her husband,
'Something is wrong with this pillow, I can't sleep; it is ticking, just sounds like someone is weaving something in my pillow.' [For music in
pillow, see 16263.] Her husband told her she was just nervous, to try and sleep, that nothing was wrong with her pillow. She had been sick for
some time and was getting weaker all the time. The next night she heard the same thing ticking and weaving in her pillow, and didn't sleep. The
third night it was just the same. His wife said, 'I will not sleep on this pillow another minute.' With that she threw the pillow across the room, it
falling on the floor, saying, 'I can sure hear them weaving something in my pillow.' Her husband got another pillow for her and she went to sleep.
The next morning they open the pillow and did find a perfect coffin. I saw it myself. The feathers were all laying over one other. It was a very
pretty piece of work. It was almost finished --- only a little at a corner to be done. That coffin was for her; and when finished, she would of died.
She was so angry to think someone was trying to kill her that she threw the coffin in the cookstove and burnt it up. Of course that broke the
spell, for when you burn anything they made, you break the spell. But she didn't find out who did the work. That day she went to an old
fortune-teller woman out in the north end of Quincy and told her about it. The old woman told her if she had of kept the coffin and buried it in the
cellar [see 16294], the person that made the coffin in her pillow would of taken sick, and got so low she would of sent for her, to ask her
forgiveness and to take the coffin up so she would get well."
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16294. "A lady told me someone bewitched her brother. He was sick a long time and no doctor could help him. He would always hear something
dripping, dripping, all the time in the room. [For the dripping sound, the work of a spirit, see Dripping in Index.] So one day they opened his
pillow and found a perfect coffin made out of feathers with only one end not finished. If the other end had been finished, he would have died. It
got in the paper some way about the feather coffin, and an old man read about it. So he came out and asked her brother if he believed in God; if
he did, he could cure him in three days. So the man took a skillet, put it on the stove, with a pound of butter, some ivy leaves; and when that got
hot, he took three nails and dropped them in one by one, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Then he buried it in the cellar
[See 16293] where the sun or moon could not shine on it. And in three days he was well and lived for years after that."
16295. "My sister was bewitched. She was sick all the time after she was married; she was never sick before she got married. She had always
lived in Quincy and when she married she went to Iowa to live. We thought she was homesick and we had her to come home for several months;
but that didn't help, she was in bed all the time. Then she went home again. She just kept getting weaker and weaker all the time. Then we had her
to come home again; thought if we would change doctors again, maybe would help her. We had two different doctors but they didn't help. Then
one day an old German woman came in and we were telling her what all we had done. 'Did you ever look through her bed clothing; maybe she is
bewitched?' We had never thought of that, for we didn't think my sister had an enemy. Well, we looked and found a pretty cross with white
feathers all woven together. It was just a beauty. Only it was not finished. A little at one corner was left to be finished; if done she would of died.
It never dawn on us until right then, that maybe it was her mother-in-law that had her in a spell, even if she did come to see her every day. Her
mother-in-law was a very good Catholic and did everything she could to get my sister to join the Church when she got married. After we found
the cross we talked my sister into joining the Church for we knew this old woman would not let her live if she didn't. We didn't tell the
mother-in- law about finding the cross, but we burnt it; and my sister went and joined the Catholic Church. She started to getting better right
away and has not been sick since. You remember seeing my sister here last week at my house? Well, she is the one we let suffer for almost two
years before we found out she was bewitched and found the white cross in the pillow. I sure believe people can put a spell on you."
16296. "We had a pillow and no one could sleep on that pillow. Mother tried, then I tried, then my mother gave the pillow to father to sleep
on, without telling him [See 16319] that no one could sleep on it. That night my father threw the pillow on the floor, said he could not rest on it.
The next day mother took the pillow out in the yard and set it on fire; and when it was all burnt up, the ashes on the pillow formed a perfect cross
on the ground. Then we knew the pillow was bewitched."
16297. "About fifty years ago [1888] an old witch lived in the neighborhood of Thirty-sixth and Broadway. This witch was always putting spells
on her neighbors or their stock. One day a neighbor, that she [the witch] was very friendly with, two children in her family took down, was sick a
long time. No one knew what was wrong. They did everything they could, but at last one died without anyone knowing just what was wrong.
After she was buried the other child kept on being sick. This old witch was coming to the house all the time. This woman never thought her friend
would put a spell on her family. I don't remember just how it happen, but someone got her to open the bedtick this sick child was lying on and
they found a perfect wreath all finish --- that was for the child that had died. It was too late then to do anything, for you cannot bring the dead
back. But they did save the other child, for they also found a cross in that tick that was almost done. They were lucky they found it. They put it on
the stove to boil, and in no time this old witch came to borrow something; said she needed it bad. They didn't let her in or let her have what she
came for. She went home angry and never came back. The woman kept boiling the cross all that day to make her suffer. Her child got well. But
she always worried because she didn't look in the tick sooner and find the wreath before it was finished, so she could of saved her other child."
16298. "Thirteen years ago [1922] my husband was sick with the headache all the time. We did everything for him. He could not sleep at night.
One day my mother came. She said, 'I believe Charlie is bewitched. Let us look through the bed and pillows.' And we did. When we opened one
pillow, we found a wreath in it and a perfect cross in the middle. The wreath was not done, but the cross was. Mother said, 'Burn that right away
and the party that has Charlie in a spell will come to borrow, and don't let them have anything and they will get the spell.' A woman, we were not
even speaking to, came the next day and asked us for something to eat. We didn't give it to her. And right after that she took sick and died, and
my husband got better."
16299. "I was sick all the time. For one year I had nothing but bad luck. Everything I did went wrong. I almost got killed six times in the year:
one day I went fishing and fell in the river, almost drowned; another time a tree fell on my leg and broke my leg; and another time the team run
away with me in the wagon; another time I step on a nail — just everything went wrong. One day I got a letter. I read it and put it on this table
right here and went out in the yard to get some wood, and when I came back, that letter was gone off the table, and there was no one in the house,
for I am an old bachelor and have been living in this house for twenty-one years, and nothing ever got lost like that before. The next day after the
letter disappear, a woman that lives up on X. and Van Buren came down, and I was telling her about it. She said, 'Someone has a spell on you,
you are bewitched.' Then she went to opening my pillows and she found a cross in each pillow. 'There're your troubles.' She took the two crosses
and put them in the cookstove to burn, and said, 'I am burning up your troubles.' And after that I didn't have any more bad luck. That was just a
few years ago [before 1935] and I am getting along fine now."
16300. "When I was a girl, we lived on Fifth and Kentucky, I was bewitched. I was sick for over two years. No one could find out what was
wrong. I was getting so thin I could not walk at all, when one day they open my pillow and found several wreaths, and even flowers. Someone
told my mother to take a piece of bread, about one-fourth of a slice, and put butter on it, then sprinkle salt over that bread, then put whatever you
find with that bread and burn it. My mother took the wreath and flowers and the bread, and put them in the stove to burn, and locked all the doors
so the witch could not get in; and while they were burning, several cats came and just holler and holler --- they were the witch, and they were
suffering. While the wreaths and flowers and bread was burning, the witch had turned herself into two cats [see 16124-16140 and especially
16125], for they can turn into anything they want to."
16301. A woman had a daughter who was about to be confined. "So we got a woman to take care of her. One day this woman said to my
daughter, 'I can bewitch you if I wanted to. I have that power.' And she did. My daughter got so nervous, she was sick for over a year. She could
not work or do anything. Someone said, 'Why don't you open your feather bed, maybe you will find something?' We did, and found several of the
prettiest wreaths of roses all made out of feathers. They were just beautiful. We made a barnfire [bonfire] and put the wreaths on. They just
cracked and cracked. They did not want to burn [see 16303 and 16307]. All at once this woman, that said to daughter that she could bewitch her,
came and wanted to know what we were doing. After that my daughter got well; only, she would not sleep on feathers any more."
16302. "We had a neighbor. She was always wanting me to eat some vinegar pie, but I would not, because they said she could get a spell on you.
At last she did get a spell on my husband. He was sick all the time. We just could not find out what was wrong. One day I opened his pillow and
found two white roses on a string, and five little roses, they were not on the string. I found them just in time, for if those little roses had of been
on the string too, my husband would of died. But I burned them up, and after that my husband got well." The roses were growing. As each rose
reached maturity, it joined the string.
16303. "A woman was sick all the time. The doctor could not find anything wrong with her. A friend told her to open her pillow and maybe she
would find something. She did and found little roses in the pillow. She opened all her pillows then and got a water bucket full of pretty roses
made out of feathers. Then she made a fire and put them on the fire, but they would not burn [see 16301 and 16307]. She had to try this for three
 450

days, and the last day they burned up. So the woman got well. That woman is living today but very old. She will not sleep on feathers. Had her
pillows made with something else. Don't want to get bewitched again."
16304. "My mother's two three fingers [the three middle fingers of each hand] were bewitched one time. They hurt all the time. She even went to
a doctor and he could not help her. Then someone told her she was bewitched. She started to looking around to see if she could find anything, and
she found a wreath in her pillow with something on it just like the shape of her fingers [See 16322]. She took this wreath and put it on a shovel,
then she sprinkle sulphur and quicksilver over the wreath, then put the shovel in the stove to burn. And an old woman on the block almost burn
up while the shovel was burning. And my mother's fingers got well right away."
16305. "About five or six years ago [1930] a woman living on Cedar Street was too free with another woman's husband. This wife was going
crazy worrying about it, for this other woman was always inviting her husband over to her house to drink beer. One morning she told this woman,
'I will kill you, if you don't let him alone and stop having him to your house. I will get even with you. If I die and you marry him, you will never
live in peace with him. You will fight like cats and dogs.' In about a year's time the woman die and the other woman marry him right away. I was
living next door to them, and they did fight all the time. They never had any peace. Then the woman got sick. She could not even rest in bed; and
she had such misery in her back and hips, they hurt all the time. She didn't have a well day. And they were fighting like cats and dogs all the time.
Then she call in a fortune teller and she told her to look in the feather bed, and they did. They found feathers all matted together just the shape of
the woman's hips and back. They burnt up this shape made of feathers and the woman got well. But the husband left her."
16306. "My mother went over to see my grandma, and when she looked at her she knew she was bewitched. She took her right up and put her in
another bed, then started to cutting the other feather bed open. And she found a large wreath just the size of where her hips would lay in it. My
mother took the wreath and put it on the fire to burn; and a neighbor came in holding a pillow on her bottom, because she could not sit down [see
16269 and 16320]."
16307. "I was bewitched myself one time. I used to sit in an old rocking- chair all the time that had a feather pillow in. Every time I would sit
in the chair, my legs would hurt and swell so I could not stand it. I got it into my head that my chair was bewitched, so I open the pillow that was
in the chair and found something that looked like a piece of the thigh and leg. It was a little over a foot long, but it was just the shape of the thigh
and leg. I took it out in the yard and put it on a fire, and it would not burn at first [see 16301 and 16303]. I tried several times, but at last I got
it all burnt up. And after that, when I sit in that rocking-chair, I never had any more trouble with my leg."
16308. "About thirteen years ago [1920] we lived on a farm. My father was so mean to us, we would just fuss all the time. He would knock my
mother down. We just could not get along. All of our stock died on the farm, one thing after another. Someone said to my father, 'Do you have
the headache at night?' He said, 'All the time.' Then they told him to look in his pillow and maybe he would find something. He did and found a
circular [wreath] almost done, and a horseshoe of feathers in the middle of it. He took the circular and horseshoe and put them in the stove to
burn; and while they were burning, cursed all the time, wishing that whoever put the spell on him and his farm would get it back themself. And
after the things were all burnt up, everything went better on the farm and with my father."
16309. "Years ago I was sick all summer. I just tried everything. We had an old woman on our block that everyone thought was a witch. She
would always come and borrow from me. I was just a little afraid of her. And one day I open my feather bed and found a square pillow in it. It
was all done but one corner. I took that pillow and just filled it with pins, hoping the old woman's face would be full of pinholes. Then I put the
pillow, with all the pins sticking in it, in an iron kettle and set it on the fire to burn all night. In the morning all of the feathers were burned up but
one feather. And the next morning the old woman came and wanted to borrow coffee, but she did not have any holes in her face. You see, all the
feathers did not burn. I did not let her have the coffee. Then I got two little steel files that day and laid them down under the door in the shape of
the cross. And that old woman never did come back to my house again."
16310. "My sister-in-law was sick for a long time. Nothing we did would do her any good. We had a neighbor man that came to the house all the
time. He was always praying for her to get better. One day while he was praying, I saw him put his Bible or some book under his left knee [see
15625]. I thought right then he was doing no good, so I went and told a Mrs. S., that had taken a spell off of me one time, and she said right away,
'He is bewitching her. I would take her out of that house.' We went and took her over to my mother's house, but she didn't get any better. After
she was there several weeks, one day we found her standing up in the bed, and said, 'I am going home.' We could not do a thing with her. I said,
'Well, if you are going home, Mrs. S. and I will go over and clean the house up before we take you home.' We got the house all ready, and was
cleaning the bed, when we found a large lump in the feather bed. I said, 'Look here! bet this is the trouble.' We open the tick and found a perfect
hoot owl, all done but a little of the tail. We took this owl and put it in the cookstove to burn, and stood there to watch it; and while it was
burning, you could see that owl batting his eyes all the time [see 16266] while it was burning. Do you know that my sister-in-law started to
getting better as soon as the owl was gone, and got well right away. And the man never did come and pray any more at her home."

Feathers with Other Articles (16311-16323)

WITCH WREATH FEATHERS WITH OTHER ARTICLES
16311. "I was working with some girls and they had a young sister. This child would cry all the time. She would go into spasms. They had
several doctors but they could not find out what was wrong with her. One day they had this child's bedclothes out to air and, when they started to
take them in, someone said, 'What is wrong with this pillow?' They could feel a hard lump in the pillow; and found a wreath almost done, with
the little girl's hair all through the wreath. Her sisters and I took that wreath and beat it, then we put it on a fire to burn; and while it was burning,
a neighbor came to borrow, and the folks at the house all got in a big fuss. But the girl got well after that."
16312. "A minister's daughter had red hair and she always had the headache. They took her to a doctor but he couldn't find out what was the
matter with her. One day when her mother was airing the pillows she felt something hard inside, so she opened the pillows, and inside of the
pillow was her daughter's red hair braided into a rope and into a wreath. It was almost completed. And they burnt the pillow and feathers, and the
girl never had the headache again. She also grew much stronger."
16313. "We were bewitched just about three years ago [1932]. We were living on Bay Island. Everything went wrong. We had no money, no
work. We tried to find work and everywhere we went they would turn us down. One night we thought we would move on down the river, it was a
pretty moonlight night, and we took what few things we had and started in a boat. It was getting late at night, so we stop on the bank about eight
miles below Quincy to camp for the night. After my husband went to bed he said, 'Something is wrong with my pillow.' I said, 'You are tired out,
for the pillows are all right. I just fixed the pillows a month ago.' You see, I look over the pillows every month to keep anyone from putting a
spell on us. He said, 'Well, there is something hard in my pillow and I want you to open it.' So I did. We found a small key all woven in the
feathers. My husband said, 'This is our trouble. Someone has put this key in here to put a spell on us.' He tied a string on the key, then tied it to a
white rock [magic object, see Index], and threw it out in the river as far as he could. The next morning we went down the river a few miles and
the first place we asked for work we got it. We both went to working in an apple orchard and our troubles were over. We are back on Bay Island
again, but we are getting along as well as the rest."
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16314. "My sister's baby was sick all the time. They had to carry the baby around on a pillow for a year. They had the doctor and he could
not find out what was wrong. Then he [a witch doctor] said, 'Maybe the baby is bewitched.' Then they thought they would look through the
pillows. And in the pillow the baby was sleeping on, they found a circular [wreath] and a needle in the middle of it, with the needle just sticking
full of feathers." And he told them to burn it, and the person that done it would come a long distance to borrow something. And just after the
circular and needle was burned up, a neighbor, that used to live next to them and had moved away, came a long way to ask to borrow something.
And they didn't let her have it, and the baby got well."
16315. "My husband was sick for a long time. He could not find out what was wrong. Just as soon as he went to bed he would get the headache.
He could not find a thing to help his head. One day someone said, 'I believe you are bewitched. I would look around the bed and see if you can
find anything.' We open his pillow and found a big piece of his good pants, the size of a plate, with feathers all woven through it. He said, 'Why
look, the rats have tore my good pants!' I said, 'What is wrong with you? Why there was no hole in the pillow until we just made it.' He went and
got his good pants and they were perfect, no goods had been taken out of them. It was the work of a witch. So we burnt the piece of pants and the
feathers, and he got all right and didn't have any more headache."
16316. "A man was going with a girl, and one day they were talking and she said, 'If anyone does me wrong, I can do them harm back.' A few
months after that, this man stopped going with this girl; and right after that, the man got sick. He was sick all the time. He thought this girl
bewitched him. He had the headache all the time. They say if you have the headache all the time, someone has your pillow bewitched. So they
open his pillow and found a bird and several other things in the pillow. He took them and put them in the stove to burn; and while they were
burning, this girl called on the telephone and wanted to talk to him. He would not go and talk to her, and he got well."
16317. "When Mrs. V. was staying at our house we decided we would change all the ticking on the pillows. They were old, some were from
grandpa N. And when she opened one, she found a piece of black-velvet ribbon in one, and the feathers had clung on to it and made a perfect
form of a bird. Its bill, wings, and all were completed. So she burnt them up. I don't know who this was meant for, because the pillows were very
old, but the feathers looked so real that you would have thought it was a real bird stuffed."
16318. "I was sick a long time. Nothing I got would do me any good. I just tried everything. I was trying to work some. One night on my way
home from work a big black dog run up and knock me down, then the dog disappear right away. I could not see the dog anywhere. That night I
was sick all night, could not sleep. The next morning I went to work and told some of the girls about a big black dog knocking me down, and
there was no dog. They said, 'I believe someone has you bewitched. Why, look at that long hair on your shoulder! You are sure bewitched! I
would look in all your pillows when you get home tonight.' And I did. I found a long rope with feathers all over it and two birds. One bird was
finished and the other one-half done. A man told me I would of died when that other bird was done. I had this man to pray over me for three
mornings and three nights, and I got well after that; and he burnt all the things we found in my pillow."
16319. "My son Harold about twenty years ago [1917] was bewitched. He slept in a little bed in the same room with us. Every night he would cry
and say, 'They will get me!' He would keep this up until we would have to put him in our bed. We would say, 'Harold, nothing will get you; we
are here in bed and will let nothing hurt you.' We thought the child was doing this just to get in our bed. For weeks he would not sleep in his bed.
Every night he would cry and say, 'They will get me!' After weeks, one night when I picked him up I also picked up his pillow. I don't like to say
it, but I thought maybe some- one had a spell on him. I put him in my bed and also put the pillow under my head that Harold had been sleeping
on. It was no time until I felt like someone was choking me. I couldn't sleep. I am very nervous and thought maybe it was my nerves. So I thought
I would slip the pillow under my husband's head [see 16296], for he was sleeping like a log and snoring so hard I thought nothing would wake
him --- for he was very hard to wake. I wanted to see what the pillow did to him, as long as the boy or I couldn't sleep on it. After the pillow was
under his head for a little while, he started to turning and rolling, something he never did. Then in a few minutes he said, 'Someone is choking
me! Oh, someone is choking me!' and woke up. I told him that I could not sleep, so I put Harold's pillow under his head, that the boy could
not sleep on. He took the pillow, using an oath and throwing it across the room, almost knocking the lamp off the table, saying, 'Why put it under
my head? for someone was choking me all the time.' I put the pillow away. Several days afterward I thought I would burn the pillow, for after the
pillow was out of my son's bed he slept fine. I changed my mind, thought I would open the pillow and see if I could find anything, for it was such
a nice pillow I did hate to burn it. I found in this pillow a wreath with some green ribbon, all woven in the feathers, that I had wore on my hair
when I was a little girl. I don't see how this green ribbon got in the pillow, but it was there. I took this green ribbon and the feathers that it was
woven in, and put them on the back of the cookstove in boiling water; thought I would burn up the old witch that put them in the pillow. After
awhile I started to the grocery store to get something for dinner. As I went out of the gate I met one of our neighbors running. I said, 'What's
wrong?' 'Oh! Mother just sent me word to hurry, she was burning up and needed help.' I knew then that her mother was the one that had put the
spell on my boy. I had often heard she did those things, but you do hate to think your neighbor would do you so dirty. After I got back from the
store I took the feathers and green ribbon off the stove. I didn't want the old woman to suffer too long. We never had any more trouble; the
boy slept in his bed fine."
16320. "My grandma had a friend that was sick all the time, had to sit in a chair all the time, she could not get up without help. One day a
gypsy woman came along and stopped and wanted to know what was wrong. The old woman said, 'I have rheumatism.' The gypsy woman said,
'You are not so bad as you think. Get up.' The old woman said, 'I can't without help.' The gypsy said, 'I will see how sick you are.' She put the old
woman in a hard- bottom chair and went to looking, to see if she could find anything. You see, this old woman was sitting on two cushions, one
filled with straw and the other filled with feathers. The one on top was the one with feathers. The old gypsy woman took the straw pillow first and
ripped it open, and she found a wreath all woven with the straw [a wreath of straw is unusual]; then she ripped open the feather pillow and there
was a wreath in there all woven with feathers. The gypsy took the loose feathers out of that pillow and wove them all around the straw wreath,
then took that wreath and buried it; then she came in the house and put the feather wreath in the stove and burnt it up. They found out it was one
of their closest neighbors, for she had to carry a pillow around to sit on, for she was so blistered on her backside [see 16269 and 16306]. And the
old woman that had the rheumatism started right away to getting better. And the neighbor didn't come to see them any more."
16321. "My sister was bewitched when she was a baby. Every time my mother would get in the bed, she would start to crying; and just as soon
as mother would get out of the bed, she would stop crying. My father was a hard-working man and could not stand being kept awake. Someone
told the folks maybe she was bewitched, because they were sleeping on feathers. So one day they open the pillow and found a wreath almost
done. It was all woven together with black thread. The spool of black thread was in the pillow too. The witch forgot to take the spool out. You
see, a witch can turn into anything she wants to. We didn't find out who put the spell on my sister, but we burnt the wreath and spool of thread all
up. And after that she didn't cry any more, and mother could sleep in the bed with her."
16322. "My mother had a swollen finger on her hand. She tried everything, and the doctor could not find anything to do it any good. It hurt all
the time. A woman that didn't like my mother, and could put a spell on you, lived near us. Mother got it in her head that this woman was doing
the work, so she open her pillow and found something in the pillow that looked like fingers [see 16304] all woven together with thread. She took
this and put it on a shovel, then sprinkle quicksilver and sulphur all over it, and called the party's name three times that she thought put the spell
 452

on her, and set fire to the fingers on the shovel, wishing the spell on them. And my mother got well and the other woman was never able to walk
after that, because she was the one that had a spell on my mother."
16323. "My baby years ago [near Loraine] was very bright. She never cried. She had a smile for everyone, until one day a peddler came along
and stop. He made over her all the time he was there; and after he left, she started to crying. She just cried all the time. I put her in first one
bed then another, thinking she would rest better, but she kept on crying. She didn't sleep for several nights, so her grandma thought she was
bewitched. So my mother went out to the barn and got a ladder, and put the baby through the ladder three times backward, saying In the Name of
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost each time, and told me to open the baby's feather bed. I did, and found a small wreath about the size of a
breakfast plate. The feathers were all woven with binding [binder] twine; and in those days we didn't know what wrapping twine was, for there
was no twine those days. I took the wreath and burnt it up. And we had no more trouble with her crying."

PROTECTION AGAINST WITCHES (16324-16536)

Note: Many of the devices for combatting witches, the subject of this sub- division, were given in the preceding sections. A complete
list of them will be found in the Index.

To Avoid Bewitched
TO AVOID BEWITCHMENT

Flee From Witch - Don’t Let Witch In (16324-16325)

(1) FLEE FROM WITCH
16324. "We happen to move into a house next door to a Negro woman and everyone said she could hoodoo you. I was always well, but just as
soon as we got into this house I was sick all the time. I did not feel like working, eating or doing anything. If I would go away and spend the day,
just as soon as I would come in that house I would get sick. Everyone said this woman next door was hoodooing me, so we had to move. And I
got well right away as soon as we were out of that house." Irish.
(2) DON'T LET WITCH IN
16325. "Sixty-five years ago [1868] I knew a little girl. She would cry all the time. They could not do a thing with her. My uncle, a undertaker,
that was living at Ninth and State, would take the little girl in his wagon. That was the only thing that would keep her still. The mother went to a
healer to see what was wrong. He said, 'Is anyone in the house?' She said, 'We have a man boarder that just loves the child and is giving her candy
all the time.' The healer said, 'Don't let this man in the house again.' When that man came home that night they would not let him in. The last they
seen of him he was out in the prairie near Fourteenth and Broadway with his tongue hanging out black as coal. The people did not want to keep
his trunk in the house so they sent it down to the Court House. When they burned the trunk up the earth just trembled and trembled." German.
Never Touch Bewitched Article (16326)
(3) NEVER TOUCH BEWITCHED ARTICLE
16326. "This happen years later when I was married and had several children. We were living out near Twenty-second and Vine Street. They call
it College Avenue now. An old witch lived several doors away and she was always putting a spell on someone. This is the truth. Every night
about twelve o'clock you could hear a pistol shot in the attic. This old woman was trying to get us in her power. Well, she did have us half-away
in her power, because my old man and I fussed all the time in that house. I remember twice that she tried to bewitch us. One morning I went
out to the woodshed to get a bucket of coal and kindling. The ground was all frozen and there was not a thing near the walk. When I got halfway
up the walk, there by the side of the walk was a peck of the nicest potatoes you would want to see, and they were not there a few minutes before. I
didn't touch them because I knew the witch had put them there. I went in the house, got my husband and the children. They all saw them too. We
didn't touch them. And they disappear just like they came. If we had of touch them, she would have us in a spell. Another time she tried to
bewitch us. Several weeks after that I was going out in the yard, and right where the potatoes were lying several weeks before, we saw two
citrons about the same size lying there. We didn't touch them. So she didn't get us under her spell, only to make the old man fuss all the time.
Then we moved away from her and my old man was better."

Beware Gift of Three - Third Answer (16327-16330)

(4) BEWARE GIFT OF THREE
16327. "One day I offered a [Negro] woman three oranges, and at first she would not take them, thinking I wanted to hoodoo her --- I asked her
why she didn't want to take them and she said people could be hoodooed by taking three things." Informant not Negro. For gift of seven see
16424.
16328. "My grandfather that lives up here near Loraine is very superstitious. He thinks if anyone gives you three things of one kind they are
trying to put a spell on him. My mother often laughs over his daughter- in-law giving him three pair of nice socks for Christmas — and he
needed them. He put the three pair of socks in the stove to burn, saying, "Hell, she is not going to put anything over on me and get me in her
power'." German.
Note: Since everything in magic works both ways, a witch instead of giving wants to be given three things --- see 16290.
16329. "I was always giving her [a witch] something. They [the witch and her husband] were on relief [about 1932]. I also gave her my bacon
grease. She always said, 'I want to give you something in return and I can't give you no money.' When I went over there one time she said, 'I got
something for you.' And she gave me three eggs. I told her, 'You keep them yourself. You need them more than I do.' She said, 'No, I want you to
have them.' So I took them. I brought the eggs home and nobody would eat them. Those eggs set there until that night until Miss X. came. Miss
X. said, 'Why, I ain't afraid of those hoodoo eggs. I like fresh eggs. She couldn't hoodoo me, I wear too many medals and crosses. I am going to
go over to her house because she is on relief [the speaker was a relief worker] and I'll see if she gives me some eggs.' So Miss X. went, and she
made the sign of the cross as she went in the door. She said nobody could harm her. And when she got ready to leave, she gave her three eggs.
So she [Miss X.] came out here that night and she laughed about it." British descent.
(5) THIRD ANSWER
16330. "If someone ask you three questions where you have to say Yes to all three, they are trying to bewitch you. Don't say Yes to all three; if
you do, they will get a spell on you. For the last question say I don't know. I can remember one day a woman on our block came along and she
said, 'Have you any grapes?' I said, 'Yes.' Then she said, 'Are your flowers pretty this year?' I said, 'Yes.' Then she asked me something else and I
said, 'I don't know,' for I didn't want her to put a spell over me." German.

Throw Away Bewitched Article (16331)

 453

(6) THROW AWAY BEWITCHED ARTICLE

16331. "I have often heard my mother tell --- One day she was out pushing the baby buggy and had my sister and I in the buggy, when, not
thinking, she passed an old woman's house that everyone called a witch. As she got in front of the house the old woman spoke to mother in
German and gave each of us an apple off of her apple tree that was standing in the yard. Just as soon as mother got out of sight she threw all the
apples away, saying she was a witch, and if we had eaten the apples, we would be in her power." German.

Give Away Bewitched Article (16332-16334)

(7) GIVE AWAY BEWITCHED ARTICLE
16332. "My mother-in-law is a witch. Every week she would send my John a piece of pie and say, 'Don't let anyone eat this but John.' I sure
didn't let him have it, for she was trying to get him bewitched. I always gave the pie to the children." German. 16333. An old German woman,
who had the reputation of being a witch, wanted to give a small red chair to the little boy in the family which had this experience several years
ago (before 1935). The boy's grandmother afraid of the old woman accepted the gift. Soon after this they noticed the child was becoming weakly
and no matter what they did for him he grew worse. Thoroughly frightened the grandmother painted the red chair white (merely to disguise it and
not for any magical reason) and gave it to a little boy in another family. From that time the sickly child began to improve, but the family which
had taken the little red chair repainted white has had bad luck ever since. British descent. 16334. "My niece was bewitched by a neighbor. She
gave her a pretty rosary one day and put it around her neck. Just as soon as the child had it on she started to jumping up and down. She would just
have fits. She would even wet in her clothes. She kept this up for several weeks, then we took her to the priest and told him we thought the rosary
was bewitched. He took the child in church and took the rosary off and said, 'Take her home. You will not have any more trouble, but I will keep
the rosary.' We went home and we didn't have any more trouble." German.

Return to Witch Bewitched Article (16335)

(8) RETURN TO WITCH BEWITCHED ARTICLE
16335. "A little girl out here [in the South End of Quincy] has a grandma that they say can bewitch you. One night last winter [1933] this little
girl got real sick in the night and they called in the doctor. He could not find out what was wrong, but they did find out that her grandma gave her
twenty-five cents that day. The next day they made the child give the money back and she got well, for her grandma was trying to bewitch her
with that money." German.

Recover from Witch Bewitched Article (16336)

(9) RECOVER FROM WITCH BEWITCHED ARTICLE
16336. "They say if anyone wishes you bad luck and can get something you have and keep it, will keep you in an uproar all the time until you get
it back. I knew a family well that someone took their baby's diaper home just to make the baby mean and cross, because they were bragging all
the time about how good their baby was. Well, one day this baby started to cry and cried all the time. They could not find out what was wrong.
The doctor didn't help. The child just cried on. During this time this woman stop coming to the house, and they started to thinking something was
wrong, that maybe she had taken something of the baby. I think they went to a fortune teller to find out. I don't remember now just how
they found out she had taken the diaper but did. They made her bring it back. After the diaper was back in the house this child stop crying and
was a good baby again. The woman that took it and brought it back never came to see them again. They say whatever they take they pray over it
at twelve o'clock at night and pray to the devil to help them."

Change Position of Bewitched Article (16337)

(10) CHANGE POSITION OF BEWITCHED ARTICLE
16337. "Forty years ago [1893] on Madison Street a witch was living. One day she went into one of the neighbor houses and wanted to use her
sewing machine. The woman let her sew all afternoon and when she got through she bewitched the machine. After she went home the other
woman tried to sew. The machine would not move. So she sent for a man to fix the machine. And when he came he said nothing was wrong. The
machine worked fine for him. So the woman tried it again and it would not move. So she took the machine and pushed it into another room and
said, 'Now stay there!' In another week she went into the room and thought she would try the machine again. And it just worked fine. The woman
moving it took the spell off the machine, for it was only bewitched to that one spot." German.

Never Lend to Witch (16338)

(11) NEVER LEND TO WITCH
16338. "A young girl was engaged to a young man and an old man wanted her. He knew he could not get her so he behexed her to die. She got
sick. Everyone tried to help her but she was just dying by inches. Even the doctor could not help her. One day a witch doctor came along
and said, 'I know what is wrong with your daughter,' to her father. 'I will cure her in three days if you won't let anyone borrow salt from the
house.' That night the old man came for salt and they didn't let him have it. Said he wanted it so bad, that when he didn't get it at the house, he
went out to where the cattle had salt and lick it up off the ground. The old man did this for three days, lying on the ground licking the salt up. On
the third day his tongue was so swollen up that he died before the third day was over, suffering so, for this witch doctor had put the spell back on
him that he put on the girl. The girl got well and married the young man." German.

Evil Spell Broken by Animal and Plant (16339-16347)

EVIL SPELL BROKEN BY ANIMAL AND PLANT
16339. "My uncle was sick a long time. He could not find out what was wrong with him. One day a traveling witch doctor came along. He said, 'I
can cure you. Catch the oldest rooster you have on the place, put him in the hominy mortar alive and take the beater and beat him to pieces,
feathers and all; then take him out and put him on the stove and beat him until he gets warm. Every night before going to bed drink a saucerful of
this rooster soup.' This was to cure him of his sickness. And it did."
16340. "Someone bewitched a woman. She thought it was her mother-in-law, for she didn't want her to marry her son. Anyway, she could not
stay in the house and she could not stay out. She was almost crazy. I can take a spell off of anyone. This woman went to a fortune teller and she
told her she was bewitched, and told her to come and see me, that I could take it off. And she did. I got a fresh egg that was laid that day and
wrote her mother-in- law on one side. You must always write the name of who you think is bewitching you on one side, and yours on the other.
So I put her name on the other side. Then at nine o'clock that night I threw the egg so it would hit the top of the house. And in three days she
could walk out and not feel funny." Negro fortune teller and German witch doctor.
 454

16341. "My grandfather's son was sick and he was in a very bad shape. It was in the wintertime and a windowpane was out. The window was
right by the door. They had a piece of cloth over the broken-out pane, a piece of that old gunny sack. His son was on a bed in the same room. One
night they were all sitting in the room watching the boy, for he was feeling so bad, when they saw a paw reach in through this window and try to
open the latch on the door. Then grandpa saw the paw go out the cloth on the window. He got up, went to the window, and the paw didn't leave a
hole in the cloth. Then right away they heard scratching in the stovepipe. Then grandpa looked under the stove and there he saw a big black cat.
He got the stove poker to hit the cat. The cat run up the side of the room, across the ceiling and down on the other side. He hit at it again and the
cat did the same thing, going up and crossing the ceiling. Coming down, the cat went under the bed where his son was. Grandpa started after his
shotgun, saying, 'I will kill that damn cat or witch.' Grandma said, 'Don't shoot it,' and open the door for the cat to walk out. And the cat did. In
about a half hour they were still sitting there when they heard the woman upstairs quarreling with her husband. She was talking real loud. And
grandma and grandfather heard her telling him he would have to take the spell off the boy, he could not let him die. You see, the man was very
angry at my grandfather. It was not long after they heard the quarreling that the woman upstairs came down and wanted to know how the boy
was. The folks said, 'Not so well.' 'I will go back upstairs and see what my husband will do for the boy.' She came back in a few minutes and said,
'Take two egg shells, boil them good into tea, and let the boy drink all of it, making about a cup of strong tea.' They did this and the boy was up
eating his breakfast next morning. This is true. My grandfather is an old man living at Palmyra [Missouri] and he can tell the same thing."
16342. "A man could not pass water. He thought a certain man had him bewitched. Another man told him to go to a saloon and wear a red flower,
and if this man did have him bewitched, he would come and try to take this flower off, and not to let him do it. He did just what the man told him
to do, and the man tried to take the flower off. And the man said, 'You are the one that had me bewitched so I could not pass water.' And he let go
and wet all over this man. And he was never bothered with this man bewitching him again so he could not pass water." German.
16343. "In the South Side of Quincy years ago they had a man that would put a spell on most anyone. He is dead now. A man on the South Side
was sick all the time. He just could not get anything to help him. He went to the same saloon that this man did that was always putting spells on
other people. So one day a man said, 'I believe you are bewitched. You do as I say and you will break the spell. You get a bottle, fill it half full
of flowers, then fill the bottle up with your own urine, and set the bottle on the bar of the saloon at Eighth and Washington where he goes; and if
he has you bewitched, he will know the bottle.' The man did just what he told him to do, and when he came in the saloon that night the first
thing he saw was the bottle on the bar. Without saying a word he walked behind the bar, took the bottle to the door and threw it on the sidewalk,
and broke it all to pieces, and the spell was broken for the other man. But he was so mad he didn't go back to Washington again."
16344."A moulder lived in the southwest of Quincy near the river. While he was home, he would feel just fine; but when he got down to the
foundry to work, he would get sick and tremble all over so that he could not work. The man that worked next to him said, 'Someone has got you
bewitched. I would go to a priest and see what he would say.' The man went to the priest at Y. Church. At first the priest laughed. Then he said,
'You go to [the saloon?] where you spend the evening every night. You will see a man there with a red flower on his coat. Go up to him and
curse him and curse him, and say everything bad you can to him.' That evening he went and found the man with the flower and did just what the
priest told him to do. Went back to work the next day feeling fine, and didn't have any more trouble." German.
16345. "Years ago a man out here in the south part of town was sick all the time, nothing would help him, so he went to a witch doctor; and he
said he was bewitch, because he had seven white spots in the top of his mouth. If you ever see seven white spots in your mouth, you are
bewitched. So he told him, if he wanted to find out who bewitched him, to wear a red rose on his coat; and he would work on the person so that
when they met him, they would try and take the red rose away from him. So the next day he put a red rose on and went down to a saloon, and a
man there just tried and tried to get the rose, but he would not let him have it. He took the rose home and put it in the stove and burned it good,
and the man got sick and the spell was broken." German.
16346. "About twenty years ago [1915] my sister was hoodoo. She was going with a boy that lived up on the hill from our house. My father was
very much against this boy and done everything he could to keep my sister from going with him. At last my father broke them up, because he
didn't like the boy's father. Right after that my sister got sick. She used to go for the cows and she had to climb over a fence that ran by the house
of that boy's father, and every time she would go over the fence her leg would get sore and hurt. And at last her leg got so sore she could not even
go for the cows. It got to swelling so, she had to go to bed. We had the doctor and he could not help. We thought the leg would break open. At
last we sent for a witch doctor. And the old man on the hill heard about it, and sent and told the witch doctor to stop at his house first before he
came to see my sister. He wanted to keep the witch doctor from helping my sister. The witch doctor didn't listen to him but came to our house.
And right away he said this man had put poison under that fence and had my sister hoodoo. He told me to go to the barn and get some red corn.
He took the corn and boiled it down good. Then he wanted three bottles. I got him three bottles. And he put the juice off of the corn in the bottles.
Then he made a poultice of the corn and put it all over my sister's leg, left it on overnight, then took it off, and the corn was cold [coal] black. It
had draw out all the poison in the leg. Then the witch doctor buried the poultice and took and put all three bottles up high in the barn where no
one could find them. Said as long as no one empty those bottles the old man would be sick. And my sister started to getting better and the old
man got sick. He was up and down all the time. We lived there two years after that and when we moved away the man was still sick, for we left
the bottles up in the top of the barn just where the witch doctor put them. And my sister got well." Negro. See Plant cures in 16254a and 16294.
16347. "My first wife was bewitched [about 1898]. This is my second wife you see here in bed sick. My wife's uncle didn't like my wife. He
didn't like her from a little girl up. He was always fussing with her. This uncle and his wife lived on a farm out here in the country and they
killed hogs one day. Several days after that his wife brought us some fine-looking pork sausage to eat. My wife was crazy about pork sausage
and eat more than the rest. We thought it fine. My wife said it tasted queer to her, and said she believe something was in the sausage to bewitch
her. We just thought she eat too much. But she was bewitched. The very next morning when she got up she was cripple in one leg. She could not
walk. And she never had any trouble like that before. We tried everything we could think of. We had the doctor and he didn't help her. You know,
when you are bewitched, a doctor can't do you any good. It went on for two weeks, my wife could not walk, when a neighbor woman from farther
out in the country stop to see us. And she said right away, 'Your wife is bewitched.' She said, 'I can take that spell off and throw it back on the
person that done it.' She told me to go down by the creek and get some willow sticks off of a willow tree, which I did right away. She made some
strong tea of those willow sticks and started to giving my wife that tea, told her to take it three times a day and to rub her leg three times a day,
and see what would happen the third day. My wife did just what she told her. And on the third day her uncle took sick out in the country that gave
her the pork sausage and in three more days he was dead. My wife got a lot better then and could walk, but she was always a little cripple in that
leg, for her uncle died before he took the spell all off."

Witch Counteractants: Boiling - Cutting - Sticking (16348-16357)

BOILING - CUTTING - STICKING COUNTERACTANTS IN WITCHCRAFT
16348. "About thirty years [1901] ago a woman was living at Twelfth and Monroe Street. She would get sick all the time. They could not find out
what was wrong. The doctors could not help her. Every time she would get sick all the dishes in the cupboard would rattle just like they were all
going to fall out. A neighbor told her daughter, 'Maybe your mother is bewitched. The next time she has a sick spell, go and put a pail of cold
 455

water on the stove and let it boil good; and if your mother is bewitched, the witch will come when it is boiling.' So one day the mother was sick,
and she put a pail of cold water on the stove. When it was boiling good, a neighbor woman came running in the house and said, 'Please take that
water off the stove. I am just burning up inside. I just cannot stand the pain. If you do, I will never harm your mother again.' They took the pail
off the stove. The neighbor went home. And the woman never had any more sick spell. And the dishes didn't rattle any more." German.
16349. "A gypsy woman came through our town and she was telling everyone's fortune. She stopped at grandma's house and wanted to tell hers.
Grandma said she didn't believe in it and would not let the old gypsy woman tell her anything. It made her mad. I have heard grandma tell it over
and over again how mad the gypsy got. The old gypsy said, 'Is that your baby lying there?' Grandma said, 'Yes.' It was my mother. 'Well, I am
going to wish bad luck on that baby, for you not believing I can tell fortunes. It will die,' and left. The next day the baby started to crying, just
kept it up, would not nurse. After two days when grandma could not do a thing, she called the doctor, and he could not do anything to help the
baby. She kept getting thinner, when one day a tramp came along and asked grandma for something to eat. She gave him something. And while
eating, he heard the baby crying and wanted to know if the baby was sick. Then grandma told him what the old gypsy said, and told him the
baby had cried almost all the time since the old gypsy woman had left. He went in to see the baby, looked it over and said, 'That baby is not sick,
only bewitched,' and told her how to break the spell. The tramp said, 'Take a tub of water, then take a butcher knife and cut through the water
with that knife four ways [making a cross] In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, then take a handful of salt and burn that in the Three
Highest Names, and in three days this woman that put the witches on your child will show up.' Grandma did as he told her. And in three days the
old gypsy came back to grandma's house with a cut down her face and across her face, and begged grandma to tell her what she did to break the
spell; said her power was gone and she could not do anything. Grandma would not tell her. And she left and the baby got well. This is so, for the
baby was my own mother." German.
16350. "A woman was bewitched by a woman in the neighborhood and everything went wrong. They had the doctor but he didn't do much good.
You see, when you are bewitched, a doctor can do you no good. Her sister came from the East. She told the husband not to tell anyone and not to
speak a word, but get up the next morning and go out and milk, while milking, say In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, make that
witch take the spell off or make her die. Then bring that milk in, still not saying a word, put it on the stove in a pan to boil, and when the bubbles
come on the top of the milk, take a pin and stick them full of holes, saying again while doing this Father, Son and Holy Ghost, remove that spell
off my wife. Do the milking before sunrise in the morning. A neighbor woman they thought did it came before sunup and stood and then went
home. And she never came to that house again. The woman got well, for the spell was broke."
16351. "My daughter-in-law was bewitched by her aunt. Her aunt had a girl about the same age and she could not get things for her like my
daughter-in-law had, and she put a spell on her. One day she went over to her aunt's house feeling fine, and when she step through the gate, as she
took her second step, she holler and said, 'I can't walk.' Her leg just gave away. They had to come and carry her in the house. And she was lame
for a long time and could not walk. They had to send for her father to come and get her. He thought something was wrong right away, for she had
just left home feeling fine. When he got his daughter home he said, 'Just tell me where the pain took you.' And she said, 'The second step after I
got through the gate.' 'I will find out if you are bewitched.' So he went and told an old German man about the girl being so lame, and asked him
what to do to find out if they had put a spell on her. This man said, 'You go to the spot where she took her pain and dig and see if you can find
anything, and if you do, take it home and put it on the stove to boil and shut and lock all doors and windows. And if she is bewitched, someone
will come to borrow, but don't let them in and you will throw the spell back on them.' So after everyone had gone to bed the father took a pick
and went to the spot and started to digging, and he found two rusty nails crossed. He took them home and put them in a can and put water over
them and set them on the stove to boil, then locked all doors and windows. It was not long until the aunt came to the house and knock, and they
would not let her in. She said, 'Please let me in for mercy's sake. Let me in. I have such pains in my lungs. And I will never do any harm again.'
That boiling on the stove was boiling up her lungs. They would not let the aunt in. She went home and was sick a long time, because they
would not take the can of nails off the stove. And the aunt died. The doctor said her lungs were all boiled up. And the girl is still some lame,
because the aunt died before she took the spell off."
16352. "Not so many years ago a woman was living on Madison Street. I knew her well. She had a little baby. A woman on the block came to see
her every day, and when she would leave, her breast would start to getting so sore, she just could not stand it. She thought a lot of this woman
and thought she liked her, for she was always doing little favors for her. One morning she was feeling fine and this neighbor run in for a few
minutes, and just as soon as she left, her breast got so sore. She was suffering bad with it when another neighbor came in, and she told her about
every time the woman would leave, how sore her breast would get. 'You listen to me. That woman is no friend of yours, even if you do think she
is. She is doing something to make you have pain. I will help you prove what I say is true, that she is not a friend of yours. You put the wash
boiler on the stove half-full of water, and I am going to the store to get a new paper of pins and needles.' And she did. They put the new pins and
needles in the hot water, and when they started to boiling, this woman started to walking up and down the block. And after awhile she came in
and told this woman she was suffering so. 'I just can't stand this misery any longer. Will you please take off the stove what you are boiling, and I
will never try to make you sick any more.' And the woman took the boiler off and her breast never got sore any more."
16353. "About forty year ago [1894] I was living by a woman that had a little baby and a midwife was taking care of her. Another neighbor
woman would come in like me and help, because the woman was poor and could not pay for help. The sick woman kept getting sicker and sicker.
The midwife could not think it out, thought something was wrong. She said, 'I will find out what is wrong in this house.' She put a kettle on the
stove with some water, then put in a handful of pins and some needles. When it went to boiling, this neighbor came screaming in the house and
said, 'For God sake! Take that off the stove! The needles and pins are sticking me to death!' This is so, for I was there when the woman came in
screaming. And the midwife took the kettle off and the woman started to getting better and got well. People were always bewitching you years
ago. I think people do it now, but not so bad as they did years ago."
16354. "This also happen around Fourteenth and Elm Street about forty years ago [1898]. This woman that brought me cherries bewitched a
good friend of hers that lived on the same block with me. This old witch stop there every time she came to town, and this woman took sick, she
just could not get out of bed. They had the doctor for that woman every day for three months, and he could not tell what was wrong. The old
cherry woman came every day to see how she was. They never thought she was bewitching her, because they were such good friends; and the
neighbors didn't want to tell them they thought so, afraid it would make them angry. At last, one did say, 'She may be bewitched, because the
doctor can't find anything wrong. Let some of the family tonight before twelve o'clock take the pillow she is sleeping on, tie a rope with a rock on
it around the center of the pillow, put in a boiler of hot water with a lid over the boiler, put a comfort up to all the windows and doors in the
kitchen to keep the scent in the kitchen, then set the kitchen table for several to eat; if she is bewitched, whoever bewitched her will come right
after one o'clock to eat, you can't keep them away if the pillow is boiling.' Just about one o'clock this old cherry woman came to the front door,
rap at the door and wanted in. They never let on that they heard her. Then she went to the kitchen door and said, 'Let me in please, you
are hurting me. Let me in, I must come in.' She had asked three time, so they let her in. She walked right to the bed, took this sick woman, that
had been in bed three months, by the arm, and said, 'You are not sick. Get up and we will have some fresh coffee I smell cooking in the kitchen.'
 456

She led this woman to the table that had not been out of bed for three months; they had their coffee. And this old cherry woman went home and
never did come back again, and the sick woman never went back to bed again."
16355. "A little girl was sick all the time. A neighbor woman was always bringing something in to eat. One day she brought in a nice big
homemade sausage. They did not want to eat it because they thought she was a witch. After she left, another neighbor came in and said, 'I would
cook it and while it is cooking, take a fork and stick the sausage all the time it is cooking.' They did. And that neighbor came running with her
hands just full of holes. And the little girl got well after that." German.
16356. "About five years ago [1926] my brother was sick all the time, he could not sleep or do anything. We thought he was going to lose his
mind. One day he found a new screw driver in his car. We knew someone put it there to bewitch him. So I took the screw driver and put it in
boiling water and boiled it for three days, then buried it in the barn without anyone knowing it, and my brother got well."
16357. " About sixty years ago [1871] three men stopped in a saloon to get a drink. All of them worked in the same place. As they were standing
at the bar, another man came in and he started to quarreling with one of the three men. Of course the other two stood by their friend because they
worked together. The man that started the quarreling, said, as the three men started out of the door, 'I will fix you before you get home.' The three
pals started to walking down the street, and the man that had been quarreling was in the middle. When they got about three blocks from the
saloon, the man in the middle stopped. He could not move. One of the men said, 'What is wrong? I know you are not that drunk that you can't
move.' But he could not. The men tried and tried to move him off that spot but he could not move. They worked with the man until the sweat run
down their faces. Then one of the men said, 'Do you remember that man in the saloon said he would fix you before you got home? And he has put
a spell on you. We will get even with him, if I can just get your foot up enough to get my pocketknife under your shoe.' So they worked and
worked until they did get one foot up enough for the man to get his knife under his shoe. And he took the knife and cut this man's sole all off his
shoe, just cut it all to pieces. Then this man was loose. Then they all went back to the saloon to see what happen to the man. And there he
was sitting in a chair with his face all cut up. One of the men went up to him and said, 'You may think you are smart, but there is always someone
just as smart as you. Next time you will leave us alone'." German.

Burning Kills Witch’s Work (16358-16375)

BURNING KILLS WITCH'S WORK
16358. "My husband was very jealous of me, he was just insane jealous. He was always telling me he was going to put a spell on me. I was afraid
of him. I went to a house where he didn't want me to go, because a man was at that house he was jealous of. He was going away to get work
[1930] and told me not to go there. He went and took a piece of my bloomers and made a rag doll out of them, stuff it, worked black eyes
like mine with silk thread; then put in the head — a needle, some of my hair, pins, rain water and a shingle nail, then sewed up the head. After
that he took a small picture of me and put it on the left side of the rag doll, about where my heart is; then he filled the doll just full of pins and
needles all over. He then put it in a pint jar and buried it under that house, where he didn't want me to go --- without anyone knowing it --- and
left town. I started to getting sick just as soon as he left, was sick all the time, could not find out what was wrong. I would start over to the house,
but I could not make it. Something kept me from going. I went on this way for about a month, I was getting weaker and weaker, when one day
some children playing around this house, digging, dug up this rag doll. They [the people at the house] knew right away it was to cast a spell over
me, because they knew my picture was on the doll, and he was always saying he was going to make me suffer. We took the rag doll, jar and all,
put it on the fire and burnt it all up; and I started to getting better right away and got well. And my husband got stab in about a month time; we
threw the spell back on him by burning up everything, and he died and I am well." Negro.
16359. "I left my husband [1927] and went to Kansas City [Missouri]. My mother-in-law is an old witch. She took my picture and my husband's,
putting them back of the looking-glass and brought me back. Take two pictures, one of each person, and face them together, then take the back
cardboard out of the back of the looking-glass, then put the two pictures in the looking-glass, still facing each other, then put the cardboard back,
wishing you will either part them or bring them together, then put the looking-glass under the head of your bed under the mattress, and it will
work. When I found out what she done, I cursed her, I was so mad. Then she put another spell on me; made me sick all the time. I was sick for a
long time, nothing would help me, when one day I met a gentleman friend and told him my mother-in-law had me in a spell. He told me what to
do to break the spell: told me to get a piece of paper about six inches square and a piece of white cloth the same size, and to write my
mother-in-law's name in each corner, making eight times I wrote her name, then to put the piece of paper over the piece of cloth, then to put a
handful of feathers out of my pillow I slept on right in the center of this paper, then a pinch of salt and pepper on the feathers, then pin all
four corners together and set it on fire, repeating her name all the time it was burning. She sent for me. She knew what I was doing, putting the
spell back on her. I would not go. And I started to getting better, and she started to getting sick and has been sick for eight years now. And I am
not living with her boy now."
16360. "I was having trouble with my children and neighbors. I went to a fortune teller, dead now. She said, 'Someone is trying to run your
children away from home and turn your neighbors against you. If you will dig under the sidewalk, you will find a broom there --- that's to sweep
your neighbors away. If you dig on up to the house, you will find a bottle of clear stuff liquid under the doorstep. If you don't find that, your
children will run away like water. And if you dig on up under the house, you will find a revolver --- that's for you to kill yourself.' She told me not
to touch any of them things. I went home and got my son to help me to dig. I said, 'We are going to move these bricks if we have to take up every
one.' We took up brick after brick. We found the broom. We took it up on a shovel. The woman told me to burn it when I found it. I did. Then we
went to digging up the walk to the doorstep, and under the step we found the bottle. We took that up on the shovel and carried it on the shovel out
to Mr. K.'s [a witch doctor's] house. Him and I worked together [she used to help him when he was called in to remove spells from Negroes]. He
said, 'I knew something was there, but I just could not locate it. You go home. I am going to burn this stuff and the devil is going to fly right out
of it, because it is awful powerful. When I burn it, someone in the neighborhood is going to be awful sick. They had better get a doctor around
quick.' One of the neighbors did get awful sick. We found the revolver under the house; took that up on the shove and buried it in the back yard.
And after that I didn't have any more trouble with my neighbors or children." Negro.
16361. "About eighty-five years ago [1848] my father came to Quincy. They moved into a house around Eighth and State Street. One day a
neighbor woman gave him a nice big red apple to eat. He got sick right away. He didn't eat the apple. He put it on the shelf by the stove. My
grandmother could not do a thing with him. He would try and crawl up the wall, had fits, just done everything crazy. Another woman told my
grandmother that he was bewitched and she would come over and stay with her, and they would lock all the doors and windows, and put the
apple in the stove and see what would happen. They put the apple in the stove. And right away this woman that gave him the apple came and beat
and beat on the door and begged to get in. Just as soon as she was in the house she ran to the stove and took that apple out of the fire. It burnt her
hands all up. It was the devil making her do that, because she was suffering so. And my father got well." German.
16362. "I was hoodooed once. A woman gave me a beautiful apple. I did not eat it, because my mother told me not to eat anything that anyone
gave me, so I carried it home. I had a pretty ring on, my brother gave me, and that apple was so poisonous that it ruined my ring. It all turned
 457

black, and my finger was swollen by the time I got home. My mother took the apple and put it on the fire to burn, and blue lights all went up from
it. A woman told my mother, if I had of eaten that apple I would of died." Negro.
16363. "About fifteen years ago [1916] a woman was living in Quincy and she was running with a neighbor. This woman had a little girl that this
other woman just worship. This child was sick all the time. It would cry night and day, and they could not find out what was wrong. So one day
this mother took the child out here on X. Street to a priest. The priest wanted to know if she had any enemies, and she said, 'No, only a very dear
friend that just worship the baby.' The priest said, 'Did this woman ever give the child anything to wear?' And this woman said, 'A very pretty
red-flannel coat.' The priest said, 'Go home and burn that coat, and put a broom down in the door; and if this woman has a spell on your child, she
will not be able to walk over that broom.' The woman did not want to burn the coat, because it was all the child had; but at last she did put it in
the stove to burn --- because she could not do anything with the child --- and put the broom down in the door. While the coat was burning, this
woman came to borrow something; and when she got to the door she could not step over that broom, and the woman knew the priest was right.
She had the spell over the child. And they were never friends after that and the child got well." German.
16364. "When I was about twelve or thirteen years old [1875] my sister-in- law gave me a dress. Every time I put that dress on, my nose bled;
and when I took the dress off, it would stop [see 16365]. The X's that lived next door came over and said to my mother, 'I would take that dress
and burn it up.' So she went in and got the dress and stuck it in the stove. While it was burning, my mother said, 'Something smells rotten around
here.' It smelled like a corpse burning. The next day my sister-in-law wanted to know, 'What did you do with that dress? Did you burn it?' I said,
'No, I didn't burn it up.' I didn't. My mother did. My nose never bled after that dress was burned."
16365. "I had a daughter. She wanted a hem put in her skirt, so we got one of the neighbor ladies to put the hem in. She was a well girl, but every
time she would put that skirt on, she would get sick. Just as soon as she would take the skirt off, she was well [see 16364]. She almost lost
her mind. So we burned the skirt up, was all right after that." German.
16366. "About fifty years ago [1862] some people I knew moved into a house. They thought the woman that lived next door was a witch, but they
didn't believe in being bewitched. They didn't live there long until this woman got stuck on their little girl and would bring her something to eat
every day. This girl started to crying every night at nine o'clock. They could not do a thing for her. She even got sick and no doctor could help
her. The neighbor told this woman she should burn something this woman brought over for the little girl and see if she would get better. So the
next day, when this woman brought something for the little girl to eat, the mother put it in the stove to burn; and while it was burning, this woman
came and said, 'What is the matter? I am burning.' And the little girl got well and the neighbor didn't bring anything more for her to eat."
German.
16367. "I have always lived in the neighborhood of Thirteenth and Jefferson, I am about sixty years old, and this happen about thirty years
ago [1910] in the same neighborhood. One old man was planting onions in the spring. His next-door neighbor started down his walk to watch the
other man plant. This old German man was very superstitious, he believed in everything. As he got half-way down his walk, there was a big
white handkerchief lying on the walk open. He said to the old man planting, in German, 'Someone has started something. I will throw the spell
back on them.' He didn't pick the handkerchief up with his hands, for if he had of touch it with his own flesh he would be in their power. He took
a long stick, pick up the handkerchief and throw it on a fire of brush that he had raked up the day before, and set the brush on fire. As the
handkerchief was burning, he said Whoever put that there to start something on me and get me in their power, I hope they will drop dead in three
days. I am telling you the truth --- his son dropped dead on the third day." ["And then I almost dropped dead, for I knew this son well years ago;
he did die by dropping dead, heart trouble according to the doctor." Minnie Hyatt Small]
16368. "I knew a woman out here in the North End [of Quincy] that bewitched her sister-in-law. They knew she could do it and watch everything
she did. One day this woman got sick. She tried everything, went to the doctor and he didn't help. She looked in her bed, in her pillow, but didn't
find anything. Her husband thought maybe she overlooked something in her pillow, because she could not sleep when on it, and went and burn
the pillow up. But that didn't help. Things went on for about two months and this woman was so sick she just couldn't do anything, until one
morning they were moving an old cupboard and an old black man's felt hat [man's black felt hat] fell from behind this cupboard. It didn't belong
to anyone in that house and no one knew how or when it got there. They put the hat on the stove to burn, and the smoke went right in the
direction of this sister-in-law's house. Then they knew this woman had put it there. She sent her sister-in-law word, if she ever came there again
she would call the law. And the woman got well right after the hat was gone."
16369. "I had such a pain in my shoulder all the time. I just tried everything. One day I happened to think that this woman, who we thought
was bewitching everyone in the neighborhood, gave me some hollyhock seeds to plant. And I went and took them and put them in the stove and
burnt them. After that the pain left my shoulder and I got all right." German.
16370. "A woman had rheumatism in her leg and she had a enemy and thought maybe her enemy was wishing it on her. She said to her husband,
'I am going to a fortune teller to see.' And she told her to go home and look on the third step going upstairs, under the carpet, and she would find a
needle, that it was doing the work. She said, 'Don't touch the needle. Pick it up with something and put it in the stove to burn.' The woman went
home, found the needle under the third step, and put it in the baseburner. And after that her leg got well. This is only about six years ago [1928]."
German.
16371. "The woman that lived next to me was always finding things in her yard. One day she found three little white onions hanging on her door.
I told her not to eat them but to burn them, someone was trying to put a spell over her. I have never found anything in my yard yet, and it was no
time until one morning I found three things in the back yard that looked like toadstools. I said, 'I will fix whoever put them there.' I got the coal
oil can and put coal oil all around the toadstools, then set fire to it. I burnt whoever did it, for they never put anything more in my back yard."
16372. "A little girl out in the south part of Quincy years ago was just terrible. She would spit at everyone that would go by, take off her
clothes. The doctors or no one could do a thing for her, so they thought they would get a hoodoo doctor. And he said the little girl was bewitched.
He told them to put a poker in the stove and keep poking the fire, and if anyone did have the little girl bewitched, they would come. So they
started to poking the fire. And it was no time until a neighbor came and knocked on the door, that never did come to the house, and said, 'Open
the door. I am suffering.' But the people would not let her in. And the woman went home sick and the little girl got well." German.
16373. "My husband always put his socks on a Saturday night away for work on Monday morning. One Monday morning he got up and one of
his socks were half gone. It looked like someone had cut it off. It worried me because we did not have any mice. The next Monday morning when
he got up his sock was half gone again. I said to my husband, 'I will get you a brand-new pair for next Monday morning. ' And do you know,
when he got up that new pair he had not had on, one of the socks were half gone. This was the fourth pair of socks. Then I told one of the
neighbors and she said, 'Someone has your husband bewitched. I would burn all those half socks.' I did. And after that we did not have any more
trouble." German.
16374. "I knew a girl that her mother was a witch. She was always putting spells on someone. One day her daughter married someone her mother
didn't like and they moved to Mendon. The man and wife were sick all the time. He could not work or do anything. They had the doctor. He could
not find out what was wrong. The wife kept getting weaker and weaker. At last they thought they were bewitched and sent to Chicago for a witch
doctor. She came, went all over the house and around the yard, then found two sticks crossed, sticking out from under the corner of the barn. Just
 458

as soon as she saw those sticks she said, 'You are both bewitched.' She took the sticks and burnt them up. And as soon as those two sticks were
gone, they got well right away, after both being sick for four years ever since they were married. And the mother took sick and lay for a long
time."
16375. "I know a woman well out here in the North part of Quincy that another woman was trying to get her husband. She put a spell over him.
She could put a spell over anyone. I was afraid of her myself, would not go near her. This woman tried everything to make this woman give up
her husband. The husband said he could not help it. One day this woman open her feather bed to see if she could find anything, because it slept so
hard. The feather bed was made of geese feathers. And this woman found chicken feet in her bed. Someone told her to burn them to break the
spell and she did and did the wrong thing, for she burnt up her husband's love and he left right away. Now, if that woman would of buried the
chicken feet, she would of buried this woman and saved her husband. But it's hard to know just what to do when someone has bewitched you."
Negro. This story has no connection whatsoever with witch wreath in pillows, since Negroes have no interest in bewitched feathers.

Problems Puzzle Witches (16376-16393)

PROBLEMS PUZZLE WITCHES

Broom - Backwards - Circumambulation (16376-16385)

(1) BROOM
16376. "Years ago when I was a little girl, I should say about ten, am around seventy-four now [1936] we had a wash-woman. We heard she was
a witch, my mother was dead, so one morning I thought I would see if she was a witch. Just before she came to do the washing I put the broom
down across the kitchen door, to see if she would step over it when she came to do the washing. I had always heard grandma say a witch would
never step over a broom. When she came that morning she asked me to take the broom up. I would not. And she told me she would not come in
unless I took the broom up. And she would not step over the broom and we had to get a new wash-woman."
16377. "A witch use to live down near Fall Creek. I used to live on a farm near Marblehead. I knew this old witch well. Whenever people would
see her coming to their house in Marblehead, they would throw the broom down in front of the door to keep her out. Another thing they did to
this old witch was, when they were making soap and it would not get thick, they would put a hot horseshoe in the soap to make it burn her,
because they thought she bewitched the soap. I have heard them tell of more than once this old witch would come where they were making soap
with the side of her face all burnt, because they had the horseshoe in the soap. This is so, for it happen right down here at Marblehead. I am
eighty-six [in 1936] and could tell a lot of things they used to do, but just can't think of everything now."
16378. "I lived on Seventh and Madison about forty years ago [1898]. There were two sisters living near; the youngest got married and the
oldest couldn't even get a beau. After the youngest was married awhile, her sister said, 'I will put a curse on you so you will never be happy or
able to do any more work; as long as I live I sure will bewitch you.' The sister said she did. Of course I don't know if she did. All I have is her
word for it. She told me, a little after her sister said she would bewitch her or have it done, she got so she didn't care if she cooked, made up the
bed or anything around the house, just let everything go. She got so weak she couldn't even walk around. This went on for over a year. Her
husband was talking of leaving her because she could not do a thing, and the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her. All this time her sister
was not speaking to her. At last someone told her to go to a fortune teller and see if she could help her, maybe she could break the spell. At last
she did. This fortune teller told her to get a new broom that no one had used and, after she got it, let no one touch it but herself; then, when it was
time to do the dishes, lay this broom down on the floor in front of her; if she cooked, lay this broom down in front of the stove; if she wanted to
make the bed, put the broom down in front of the bed; just everything she did, carry this broom and put it down on the floor in front of her, and
she would soon have her spell broken and the sister would get sick. This fortune teller also told her she must never step over the broom or let
anyone else, for it would break the spell and she would have to get a new broom again. She got the new broom she said, and did just what
the fortune teller told her; and in several weeks she was doing fine, doing her work well, when one day a neighbor came in and happen to step
over the broom she had on the floor while she was scrubbing the floor. The next day everything started to going wrong again; the spell was
broken by this neighbor stepping over the broom. So that night this woman went right to the store, got a new broom, started to using it again; said
she was very careful after that no one step over her broom. She kept this up for three years until her sister took sick and died; then the spell was
broken and she didn't have to carry the broom around any more so she could do her work."
16379. "I met a woman the other day [1942] on the street carrying a broom. I said, 'You have a new broom.' She said, 'Yes, and I am going right
home and stick it in a bucket of hot water to keep an old witch away from my house. Always stick a new broom in hot water before you use it and
you will never be bothered with a witch'."
16380. "To keep from being bewitched a newly married couple should step over a broom on entering the house for the first time." German.
(2) BACKWARDS
16381. "If someone gets one of your stockings you have been wearing and buries it under the front doorstep, you will get hoodoo. I got real sick
one time. Every time I would go out the front door I would fall down. My legs went to swelling just up to the knees. Then I knew someone
had one of my stockings buried under the front doorstep. I went to digging and found it had almost rotted away. Then I sent to Hannibal
[Missouri] for a hoodoo doctor and he came. He would not even let me talk. Said it would break the spell, because I had so much poison in me.
He walked in the house backward and done everything he could backward. It was some time before I got well, but he pulled me out of it." Negro.
See also 16323.
16382. "If you think someone is trying to hoodoo you or do you some harm, and you meet them, walk backward six steps, spitting right and left,
and saying John over John and John the Conqueror, and they can't hurt you." Negro.
16383. "I am eighty-five years old [in 1935] and this is over a hundred years old. My mother told me she had a neighbor that was a witch and
another neighbor had a little girl that just cried all the time. They could not find a thing to do her any good. Everyone in the neighborhood thought
this old witch had a spell on her. One day another old woman told this woman to borrow a book from her next-door neighbor and to start at the
back and read to the front, and if this old woman did have a spell on her child, she would come while reading it; and not to let her in, would break
the spell. So the woman got the book and started to reading it backward. The old witch came and wanted in, said she was suffering. The woman
would not let her in and she kept on knocking. And the woman kept on reading. And the old witch died right out in her yard and the child got
well." German.
16384. "If you can keep chickens with the feathers turned back the wrong way, you will never be hoodooed." Negro.
(3) CIRCUMAMBULATION
16385. "I knew an old witch that lived on the hill out here on State Street on Mill Creek. My father owned land on the west side of Mill Creek
and she was on the east side. She was an old maid and bewitched everyone's stock or something they had. One thing I remember when a girl, she
would shoot a gun off every night just at twelve o'clock trying to bewitch someone. This story I am going to tell, every word of it is so. This
witch had a nice watermelon patch right in front of her house so she could watch it. One evening four young men, not boys, thought they
 459

would steal from her. They all lived in the neighborhood and knew she shot a gun every night at twelve o'clock, so they went early in the evening.
It was moonlight and the men could see well. They all climbed the fence, because she had a rail fence all around her farm, and started to picking.
They were watching but didn't see the witch, but she saw them. One fellow got a great big melon under his arm and was climbing over the fence.
When he got on top of the fence he couldn't move. Two others, each had a melon under their arms in the patch, started for the fence and could not
move. The fourth was leaning over to pull one and he could not straighten up. I don't remember how long those men stayed that way until a
farmer came by on the road and saw this young man on the fence with the melon and said, 'What's wrong?' He said he couldn't move. Then the
farmer saw the others not moving, knew they were all bewitched, for they were all nice young men.' I will go up the road to Mr. D's house and get
him.' He was a wizard, always taking off spells for someone that this old witch put on. Well, the wizard came and walked around each man three
times saying something. He broke the spell and the men all went home. I don't know if they took their melons or not."

Measuring - Upside Down - Inside Out (16386-16389)

(4) MEASURING
16386. "Out in the south part of Quincy years ago when I lived out there, I have been living in the north part for twenty-two years, there was a
little girl in my neighborhood that was sick all the time. The mother tried everything anyone would tell her, but was no good. The family doctor
could not find out what was wrong, when one day she took her little girl to a pow-wow doctor and he told her that the little girl was
bewitched. [The word pow-wow, rare in the county, probably came in with some Pennsylvania Dutch.] He took a red yarn string and measure this
girl from head to toe, then from finger to finger tip across the body [thus making sign of the cross]. Then the pow-wow doctor gave this string to
the mother and told her to tie it on the door knob of the door that went into this child's room, and let no one touch this string, and as the string
started to rot, she would get better, and by the time the string had rotten away, the child would be well. This mother did just what he told her and
her little girl got well."
(5) UPSIDE DOWN
16387. "Years ago my grandma had a little girl baby. She was sitting out in the yard nursing that baby when a woman from the neighborhood
came along and said, 'How nice the baby is taking the breast,' and made over the baby. After the woman was gone that baby started to crying and
cried all the time, would not take the breast any more, only cry. At last the baby died. Then she had a son, and it started to crying all the time. My
grandma said she was not going to let this child die, so she went to a hoodoo doctor. And he told her to put all the baby's things in the cradle and
throw that cradle over, so everything in it will go out, do this for three times, then take the baby and stand in front of a looking-glass with your
back to the glass, letting the baby look over your shoulder in the glass and let your husband look in the glass at the same time, he would see the
witch. And he didn't see the baby in the glass, but he saw the woman in the glass that said the baby was nursing so fine, and it broke the spell
and the baby got well." German. See also 16243.
(6) INSIDE OUT
16388. "If you put your stocking on wrong side out, the witch will get you." German. 16389. "Wear your pockets inside out to keep the witches
off." German. See also 16207.

Knots - Black Coat - Shoes (16390-16393)

(7) KNOTS
16390. "If you think someone is going to bewitch you, take a white rag and make five knots in the rag. Take it outside and put it where they
will walk over it, and make four crosses out of soot on the ground, and no one can harm you." German.
(8) BLACK COAT
16391. "When I was a girl and worked for a woman, she would have me hang black coats over all the outside doors at night to keep witches out
of the house at night." German.
(9) SHOES
16392. "A woman came to see a man every night and stayed until twelve o'clock, and when she would leave he would be sick all night and
could not sleep. He went and told another man. He said, 'That old woman has you bewitched. I would fix her. The next time she comes, you put a
pair of your shoes down in the door, and if she has you bewitched, she cannot get over those shoes to go home.' So that night when she came, he
put his shoes in the door. She tried to go home but could not go through the door. He let the shoes stay in the door until four o'clock in the
morning, then picked the shoes up. She went home but never did come again. The man got well and could sleep fine after that." German.
16393. "If you will burn your shoes as soon as you get through with them, you will never be bewitched." German. Similarly any person's old
shoes can be burned to keep witches away. German.

Witch Detergents: Flour- Salt - Pepper - Vinegar (16394-16425)

WITCH STOPPED BY FLOUR - SALT - PEPPER - VINEGAR - SULPHUR AND WOOD ASHES
16394. "I was working for a woman. I could not work. I was feeling bad all the time for months. I just could go and that was all. One day an old
negro woman said, 'I believe someone has a spell on you. If you want to find out who it is, I will tell you what to do. I will burn some flour for
you and you lay the flour down in your front door, and whoever steps over that flour that has a spell on you will get it themself. It will make their
feet hurt so they can't walk, and if you hear of one's feet hurting, don't you go near them, for if you do, the spell will not work. After I put the
flour in the door, several weeks after that my best neighbor got sick with her feet and could not walk, even had the doctor. I went and told this
negro woman and she said, 'That is the woman that has a spell on you. It is that burned flour that is making her feet and legs hurt.' I worried so
over that woman being sick I said to the negro woman, 'Don't you think we had better take the spell off her legs?' So the negro burned some more
flour for me and told me to take it after dark and go and throw it around the house and not let anyone see me, and she would get well again. She
did, and that neighbor woman and I are good friends today." German.
16395. "If you go somewhere and think you will be hoodooed, always carry a piece of bread in your pocket." Negro. For bread see also 16300.
16396. "If you don't want anyone to come to your house, when you see them coming, go and throw salt around in the yard and they will not come
in." Negro.
16397. "If you think someone is trying to do you harm, take and put salt and pepper together, and take it to your front gate and throw it around,
and if they come to your house, they will not be able to step over that salt and pepper." German.
16398. "If you see someone coming to your house and you think they want to hoodoo you, run and put some salt around the door. They will come
in and they cannot hurt you." Negro.
16399. "If you don't want anyone to come to your house, put red pepper, black pepper and salt under your door, and they will not come back."
Negro.
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16400. "If you don't want someone to come to your house, put wood ashes and salt together and put on the front doorsteps and they can't walk
over it." Negro.
Note: The use of wood ashes as a protective device in witchcraft and hoodoo dates back to the time of homemade soap [see 16377 and
16442]. The special ingredient of the alkaline liquor leached from wood ashes was potassium carbonate. Today this has been replaced by
commercial lye, which during my hoodoo fieldwork days among Negroes in the South was appropriately packaged in a container picturing a red
devil and labelled Red Devil Lye.
16401. "Take a sack of salt [years ago salt for household use came not in a cardboard container but in a sack holding more salt than the former
and costing five cents] and make a cross on it and put it under the front doorstep and you will keep away all evil." Negro.
16402. "If someone is bothering you and you don't want them to, you take a handful of salt and call their name and throw it over your right
shoulder and they will not bother you." Negro.
16403. "I always keep red pepper in the house so I will have good luck and not be hoodooed." Negro.
16404. "To keep a person from hoodooing you, keep red pepper in your shoe all the time." Negro. For some reason the magic quality of brown
paper, see Index, adds to effectiveness: "If you think someone has put something down for you to walk over, you take a piece of brown paper, put
some red pepper in the brown paper, put it in your shoes, and when you walk over it, it will do you no harm." Negro.
16405. "If you will wear black pepper and salt in your shoes, you can walk anywhere and not be hoodoo." Negro.
16406. "If someone has a spell on you, take red pepper, salt, vinegar and lard, and cook this and apply to your limbs, and that will take the
spell off." Negro.
16407. "To keep your enemies out of your house, put a tablespoonful of vinegar and a tablespoon of sulphur in a little can and keep that in
the house, and they will never bother you." German.
16408. "If you think someone has a spell on you, put red pepper and salt in all four corners of the room. It will take the spell off. " Negro.
16409. "If you sprinkle black pepper and salt around your house, then sweep it up and burn it, it will keep your enemies away." Negro.
16410. "If you think someone is hoodooing you, burn sulphur and salt every day, and open the door and your trouble will blow out." Negro.
16411. "If you have a crowd in the house and you want to see if you have an enemy in the house, sprinkle black pepper on the stove; and just as
soon that pepper goes to burning, if you do have an enemy, they will get up and leave the house." Negro.
16412. "If someone comes to your house and you think they are putting an evil spirit on you, just as soon as they leave, sprinkle salt all around
the chair they were sitting on and put a little on the seat of the chair and they can't do you any harm." German.
16413. "If someone come to your house and you don't want them to come back, take salt and sulphur and mix good, and throw that on their back
as they are leaving and they will not bother you again." Negro.
16414. "If someone come to your house and you don't want them to come back, take salt and red pepper and mix good, and throw it at them as
they are leaving." Negro.
16415. "If someone comes and you don't want them to come back, put salt and black pepper on the carpet. When they leave, take a broom and
sweep it out the door, and they will not come back." Negro.
16416. "If someone come to your house and you don't want them to come back, throw a handful of salt at them and say, In the Name of the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, move on, and they say they will never come back again." German. This belief with a similar incantation was given
by a Negro, In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, don't come back.
16417. "If someone comes to your house that has been mad at you, if you think they have come for no good, just as soon as they leave, take a
handful of salt and throw on the floor by the door and sweep it out, saying, In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That will take the
evil off." Negro.
16418. If you think someone is trying to give you bad luck, take red pepper and salt, put in a pan, then go and start from the southeast part of
the house. You must leave your right hand free so you can throw the pepper and salt from your house. You must go all the way around your
house, throwing the pepper and salt away from the house, saying In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." Negro.
16419. "This happen about eighty-five year ago [1852]. It's an old German saying, if a witch come to your house, if you put salt on the hem of
her dress, she will not be able to move away from where she is. One day a witch came to my grandfather's house. Everyone call her a witch in
those days. She sit down, and she kept sitting and sitting, and grandfather and grandmother were wondering why she didn't go. She kept saying, 'I
must go,' but just kept sitting. My grandmother was getting tired of her, because she stayed so long. After awhile grandmother got up to go the
kitchen, and as she passed her chair, she saw salt all over the back of her dress and down on the hem. She knew then one of her sons put it there,
to see if she was really a witch and could not get up. Grandmother brush the salt off and the old woman got right up and started for home. As she
went out the door she hook her finger at the boy that did it and said, 'Young man, I will get even with you before I get home.' She didn't get to the
front gate until this boy took such a pain in his stomach that he had to lie down. And after suffering several hours grandmother went over to see
her and asked her to take the spell off the boy, that he would not do it again. This happen right out here in the south part of town."
16420. "I knew a woman that lived in the south part of Quincy that believed an old witch lived on her block. She put a cross of salt out in her
front yard right by the gate, so this old woman would not come in the yard. My mother didn't believe in witches, but her friend did --- she was
scared to death of the old woman on her block."
16421. "About eighteen years ago [1918] my music teacher behexed me. She wanted me to take lessons and I wanted to work. I would feel fine. I
would go to work and just as soon as I would get in the building I would get sick, even my eyes went bad. I could not see how to work. I went
and got me glasses. That didn't do any good. Went to see a doctor. And just as soon as I got in the building I was sick, and when I got out I was
all right. Some people thought I was playing off, but I did want to work. So I went to a fortune teller and she told me to put some salt on the floor,
then sweep it up on a shovel, wishing whoever put the spell over me would get it back, and to throw this salt at whoever I thought put the spell
over me. I thought it was the music teacher, so I threw it at her. And in no time she took sick and they took her to the hospital, and she was sick a
long time. I was really sorry I did it, for she came near dying; but I got well and could work every day, could see fine."
16422. "Eighteen years ago [1920] a woman had a little baby out in the northeast part of town. She had a girl working for her from the south
part of town — that's where they do so much of this behexing. This girl was stuck on the husband. She tried to get this man to go out with her,
and he would not, so she had the baby behexed. After they let her go --- the baby slept in a cradle by the window, and every night just at seven
o'clock a white object would come and stand at the window in the shape of a woman. This baby would scream all the time the object was there.
The mother told a neighbor about it. She said, 'Let's go to a fortune teller and see what she will tell you.' That afternoon they went. The fortune
teller told her that she had a girl working for her, that she had got someone to behex her baby, for her to go home and that night at seven o'clock,
when the white object came, to have a pan of salt or hot water by the window, and when the object came, throw it over it. The woman fixed a pan
of salt, for she was afraid she might drop the hot water on the baby. As the white object appear, she threw the salt at it. The next night at seven
o'clock the white object didn't come; and didn't come any more. Several weeks after the throwing of the salt, this mother was going to the
 461

cemetery and this girl was coming from the cemetery, and they passed each other. The girl said, 'The next time I will put the curse on you.' But I
don't know if she did or not."
16423. "I had a neighbor that was always coming to my house, and after she would leave, everything went wrong. We would all get into a fuss.
We got so, when we would see her coming, we would say, 'Here comes hell.' One day just when she was coming in the yard, I said to a woman
that was visiting me, 'Here comes hell.' She said, 'Leave her to me, I will fix her.' When this woman got ready to go home, my friend said, 'I will
walk to the corner with you, I want to tell you something.' I did not know what my friend was up to, but as she went through the kitchen she took
a handful of salt. And as they walked down the street, this woman kept dropping salt behind her until they got to the corner, then told her
good-by, and came on back. She said to me, 'Well, I fixed her. Hell will never bother you again and make you have any more fusses in this
house.' And she never did come back to my house again." Negro.
16424. "A woman gave me seven onions. [For gift of three see 16327] I never had anything but bad luck in that house over on Fifth Street, so
I moved over here. And the first thing that old colored man next door offer me some onions. I told him it was bad luck to give anyone onions, but
if he wanted me to have them and not have bad luck, if he would put them on that old bench you see there by this house, I would pick them up,
for I would like the onions. He didn't put them on the bench, so you see he was trying to put a spell on me too. About two weeks after that one
morning I found onion peelings and ashes in front of my house. I didn't do a thing but take some salt and sprinkle all over the onion peelings and
ashes, then took the broom and swept them back to in front of their house, to give them the bad luck they were trying to give me."
16425. "About eighty years ago [1855] there was an old witch in my grandmother's neighborhood. She didn't have any children and she wanted
a child from another woman, that was living near, that had a large family. She thought because she had so many she could give her one, but she
would not. One morning the old witch came over and wanted this woman to go up on the hill to get apples. So she went along and took the oldest
girl. When they got under the tree and was picking up apples, this old witch said, 'I have a good notion to turn into a cat right here and scratch
your eyes out, because you will not let me have one of your children.' They got home with the apples, but were scared to death of the witch. After
they were home awhile, they saw the old witch coming to the house. All of the children ran out of the house but one boy. He didn't make it. The
children out in the yard all got under a big box and stay there until the witch went home. The boy in the house took sick right away before the
witch left. They could not do a thing for him. It went on for several days. He was so sick. Then the neighbors thought this witch had bewitched
the boy, because she had not been back after the boy took sick, and all the other neighbors were trying to help her with her boy. One neighbor
said, 'We will see if she did it.' Then told the mother of the child to take some strong vinegar and fill it with pins. 'When the pins start to work, if
someone has bewitched your child, they will come to borrow. But don't let them have anything, not even the ashes out of the stove. If you do this,
it will throw the spell back on the one that put it on the boy.' The mother fixed the vinegar and pins. And it was no time until the old witch came
to borrow. She would not let her have it. And the old woman took sick. The poison vinegar was poisoning her. And after awhile she died from
that poison. And the boy got well."

Water a Remedy in Witchcraft (16426-16429)

WATER A REMEDY AGAINST WITCHCRAFT
16426. "When my boy was little we lived up here near Ursa. We had an old aunt that was terrible --- well, the truth is, she was a witch. She often
said when she milked her cow, she milked every cow in the neighborhood, which is true everyone knew it --- for if she was milking her cow, no
one around could get a drop of milk. Everyone was afraid of her too, afraid she would put a spell on them. I didn't think she would hurt us, but
she did. My little boy was strong. He took sick in the legs, he got so weak he could not walk at all. We would put him down and he would fall
right over, could not stand on his legs. We took him to the doctor in Ursa, he could not find anything wrong with my boy. We waited
several days, then we brought him to Quincy to Dr. X. He could not find a thing wrong. Then I started to thinking maybe our aunt had a spell on
our boy and had him in her power. My husband said, 'We will take him to one more doctor and if he does not find anything wrong, we will know
he is bewitched and will have to take the spell off some way.' Well, we took him to the third doctor. It was just the same answer --- nothing
wrong. It's an old saying, a witch can't follow you over a body of water, if you go one way and come back another way. As soon as you start over
the water, she loses her power; but if you come back the same way, she gets her power back. We came to Quincy with the boy, down to the river,
took the ferry boat across the river, carrying my boy --- he could not walk, was so weak. Then we walked up to the old bridge and started to walk
back to Quincy on the wagon side of the bridge. When we got half over the bridge the boy wanted down. We put him down. I am telling you the
truth --- he started right out to walking and walked across the bridge when he had not walked for several months. The spell was broken and he
was strong in the legs again. Right after that the old aunt --- I should say witch — got down sick and could not walk for several years, so we knew
she was the one that had our boy in a spell. She is dead now."
16427. "My husband's sister was a very pretty and sweet little child. There were two old maids that lived on the corner from my husband's
mother's house. Everyone thought one of the old maids were a witch. They thought a lot of this child, said all the time they wish the child were
theirs. One day after these two old maids left, the child went to fretting and crying all the time. It got so the child never was good only when they
were talking to her. My mother-in-law was telling a neighbor about how restless the child was after they were gone, that she could not do a thing
with it. 'Well, maybe the old maids have a spell on her. I will tell you what to do. You set a dish of water under her bed and when they come, if
they have her bewitched, you will hear a funny noise in this water, and they will just hang around, will not go home, until you throw the dish out
and break it.' My mother-in- law did just what this woman told her. And while the old maids were talking to the child, my mother-in-law thought
she heard a funny noise in the dish of water. And the old maids just kept staying on one went home but she came right back — they just stayed all
afternoon. So my mother-in-law picked up the dish and threw it out in the yard and broke it all to pieces. The old maids got up and went home
and stop coming, and the child got all right."
16428. "My granddaughter was staying with me. She was evil. She did everything she could to make me trouble. She wanted me to take her home
to St. Louis and I would not. One day she took my picture, cut it all up. She was sure evil. Then she put some of the pieces under each corner of
my rug in my bedroom to bring me bad luck and take her home. I went to a fortune teller and told her how evil my granddaughter was. She told
me to go home and take a glass of water, and put two pine sticks over it and to sit it under the bed without her knowing it, and it would break the
spell. I did just what the fortune teller told me to do with the glass. My granddaughter was a sly fox. She knew the glass was there, and after I
went to bed, got up and poured the water out and threw the two pine sticks away, and raised so much devil I had to take her home. So she won
anyway."
16429. "A woman down in a cabin [shanty] boat on the Bay was sick all the time. One day as she was going out of the cabin door she saw a fork
sticking in the door. She pull it out and took it in the boat and put it on the table. That afternoon I was in the boat and she said, 'Look what I found
in the door.' I said, 'Someone has a curse on you.' And I pick the fork up and went outside and threw the fork in the water with the prongs down.
And the woman that had put that fork there started to getting sick and almost died. She found out the fork was in the water and they got someone
to take the spell off of her, and she got well, but she didn't try to put any more curses on the woman in the boathouse [house-boat]." Mixed
descent.
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Steel Conquers Witch Spells (16430-16453)

STEEL CONQUERS WITCH SPELLS

Awl - File - Fork - Knife - Spoon (16430-16439)

(1) AWL
16430. "Years ago there was an old man that was a witch and he was always coming around to your house asking for things, and everyone was
afraid of him and didn't want him around. He went to one house. They had several boys and they made up their mind that the next time he came
they would put an awl in the bottom of the chair — if he sit in a wooden chair, for it must be a wooden chair — so he could not get up until they
took the awl out. So one day he came over to borrow something and sit down in a wooden chair close to the fireplace. One of the boys got the awl
up in the chair without him seeing it. He tried to get up several times but could not. Then the boys made a big fire in the fireplace and the old man
just twisted and twisted. He could not get up. Then the boy pulled the awl out of the chair and the man jump up and ran home. He was
just burning up. And he never bother those neighbors again." For awl see also 16229.
(2) FILE
16431. "I was a practical nurse before I married. One time I was taking care of a little child. I knew she was bewitched, because the doctor didn't
do any good. The child just got worse all the time, just drew her head way back all the time and rolled its eyes way back in the head --- was just
awful to look at. I didn't want to tell the people I thought the child was bewitched, for I didn't know how they would take it and may lose my
place. So I sent a note home telling them to go to the store and get me a new file that no one had used for anything, and bring it to me, 'but don't
let any of the family see you give it to me.' They brought me the new file. I slip it under the child's head. Was a pity how it was throwing its head
back and forth. After the file was under the pillow about half an hour, the child fell off to sleep, and after that started to getting better. After the
child was almost well, I took the file and buried it so the folks would not know what I did. But I saved the child from some old witch."
16432. "My girl was bewitched [about 1898]. A woman came around with berries to sell. One day I was cleaning and she stopped and wanted to
sell me some cherries. I told her I would take two boxes of cherries Saturday for pies. She went away and came back in a half hour with the two
boxes of cherries, after I had told her not until Saturday. I took them. My girl was sitting there on a chair. As she was leaving she said, 'What a
fine girl you have --- I had a daughter, she was sick, the angels came from every direction and took my girl away --- will come again.' She started
to go out the door again, and said, 'I have lots of nice fruit, will come again.' After she left, I took the two boxes to the cellar, put a piece of paper
on them, and went on cleaning. That night about eight o'clock my girl took so sick and looked so funny that I called the neighbor in. She said,
'Did your girl eat any of those cherries you bought from that old witch?' 'I don't think so, only three, and that could not make her as sick as she is.'
'Why did you let her in? Never do it again, for she can bewitch people.' Then she went out and got two files for me and put them under the pillow
she was sleeping on, crosswise --- just like you would open a pair of scissors. She fell off to sleep and was over her bewitched spell by morning.
The files did the work."
16433. "This is another thing the old witch did [about 1898] in the neighborhood. A woman had a young baby a little over a year, could just
stand alone. This woman was so afraid of the old witch she would not let the child out in the yard, afraid she would do it harm. She had three
boards up across the door so the baby could get fresh air but not look out over. They didn't have screens like now. Anyway, this old witch came
along and admire the baby. When the mother was not looking, the child had got to the top of the board somehow, and the mother heard her say,
'You sweet baby!' That night the mother was up all night. The baby would not stop crying; its eyes all burl out. They had the doctor; he could not
find a thing wrong. The next night the baby did the same thing, and they had the doctor with no help. The third morning some old German
woman told her, 'If your baby does that the third time, will never get over it' --- for her to get two files and lay them crosswise under the child's
pillow on the third night, for a witch can't, cross over files. The child slept fine that night and the trouble was over, the spell broken." German.
16434. "If someone is doing you harm, place two files to make a cross; put them under a doormat, saying, In the Name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, Amen, three times. They will never bother you or enter." German.
(3) FORK
16435. "If you think someone has got a spell on you, take a forky fork [a fork that opens and shuts] and put it up under your right arm and
walk through the house, and if you walk over any hoodoo powder that someone has put down for you, that fork under your arm will move. Then
you can take the powder up and it will not harm you." Negro.
16436. "If you think someone is doing you harm, get a two-prong fork and go to a crossroad where they walk and bury it so they will walk over
it, using their name while you are burying it, and say it, In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and they will swell up and just pop open
and die." Negro.
16437. "If you think someone has a spell on you, take a fork and a rusty nail and cross them and stick them in the ground. This will break
the spell." German. The preceding forks were of steel. Most families years ago, especially German, used steel knives and forks with wooden
handles. For a silver fork see 16454.
(4) KNIFE
16438. "About twenty-eight years ago [1906] I was bewitch. We had an old witch living next door to us and I was afraid of her. She was always
borrowing from me and not paying it back. So one day, when she came, I would not let her have anything. Right after that I got sick. I just could
not eat or do a thing. They called a doctor and he could not find anything wrong. So the woman upstairs said, 'That old witch has you bewitch. I
will fix her.' So she got nine new hairpins, that had never been in anyone's hair, and wove them in the pillow slip, then she took a fork and crossed
a knife through the prongs of the fork and put it under the bed I was in. And in two days I was up, and the old witch was sick in bed. And she
never bother me again." German.
(5) SPOON
16439. "I knew an old French woman about fifty years ago [1886] that lived east of Liberty, that always put her knife and fork and
spoon crossing each other when she set the table to keep the witches out of the house."

Hatchet - Horseshoe - Nail - Scissors (16440-16453)

(6) HATCHET
16440. "Fifteen years ago [1924] a boy was bewitched in the South End [of Quincy]. Ten years ago I was coming home from picking
onions down in the South Bottom of Quincy from the onion patch with several women when one of the ladies said, 'See that little boy over there,
an old witch almost killed him when a baby, she had him so bewitched.' He was about five years old when this woman was telling us about the
story. She said the man and wife had a room in a boarding-house near Sixth and Jersey, and when they knew the baby was coming, talked of
moving, wanted to get more room. The land-lady didn't want them to move, said she would fix up another room, that she wanted them to stay.
They kept looking around for a little house and at last found one in the south part of town. The old woman was so mad, when she found out they
 463

were going, she said, 'You will sure be sorry for moving.' After the baby came, this old woman was the first one to come to see it. She took it on
her lap and made over it. They didn't think anything about it. They thought she liked the baby, because they were crazy about it. The very next
night the baby had a spasm. They worked with it all night. Went into one spasm after another. They had the doctor and he didn't do any good.
All the next day the baby was so sick the husband had to stay home, for they thought the baby would die. The second day the man had to go to
work at the factory, for they were poor, and got an old lady to stay with his wife. At the factory he was telling some of the men how sick his baby
was and may loose it, that the doctor didn't seem to help. A young boy working there spoke up and said, 'My father's a hoodoo doctor. Why don't
you get him to look at your baby? Would do no harm.' The man said, 'What in the hell's a hoodoo doctor. I never heard of one.' The boy said,
'Well, my father can help when a doctor can't. Maybe someone has your baby bewitched.' The man said, 'Who would want to harm my little baby
and put a spell on it and make it suffer?' After awhile this man was talking to another man about his baby and told him what the boy said. The
man said, 'That boy's father is very good. If the child is bewitched, I believe he could help your child, if someone has it in a spell. I would try,
would do no harm.' Then this man went and told the boy to have his father come to his house that night at six-thirty when he would be home. He
did. And as soon as he looked at the baby, said it was bewitched. He told him, that night just at twelve o'clock, to go in the cellar and take a
hatchet and hit in the wood real hard, cutting it, and saying the Three Highest Names at the same time, 'And I will go in my cellar and do
the same thing. Whoever has your child bewitched will come at four o'clock and want to borrow either a hatchet or salt, and don't let them in and
your baby will get better.' The man did just what the hoodoo doctor said. And just at four o'clock this boarding-house woman came to borrow a
hatchet, said she was worried about the baby and wanted to see how it was. They didn't let her in. And she came back in half an hour to borrow
salt. The power was so great she just couldn't stay away. Again they would not let her in. And she almost tore the screen door off, she beat on it
so, for she was suffering. They let her suffer. And that day the baby started in getting better and got well. The man was very thankful for the
hoodoo doctor's help in saving his baby."
(7) HORSESHOE
16441. "My father was bewitched about fifty-five years ago [1881]. We had two old witches living in our neighborhood, and one night they took
an old flour barrel and they both got in the barrel, and made a horse out of my father and made him pull them around all night. The next morning
when my father got up he was all in and almost dead. It was all he could do to walk at all, after pulling those two witches all night. He said to my
mother, 'I will fix one of them today.' And when he went to churning that morning he got a new horseshoe that had never been on a horse, got it
red-hot, then drop it into the cream and said, 'That will bring one of them to borrow,' and told my mother, if anyone came to borrow while he was
churning, 'Don't let them have anything.' It was no time until one of the witches came to borrow coffee, and my mother didn't let her have it. She
was angry, and as she started to leave, she picked up a basket of turnips we had sitting by the door and started to run. And my father said as she
left the yard the horseshoe was sticking on her back-side. I have heard my father tell this again and again, that the witches almost kill him that
night. And he believe the witches did make him pull him."
16442. "Forty year ago [1889] my wife and I were living on a small farm right down from Kellerville. My wife could make good soap and she
was always saying she never failed. A woman that lived in that part of the woods with us said she never saw anyone that could make good soap.
One day my wife had a nice big kettle of good hard soap out in the yard and sent the old woman word to come and look at her soap before she cut
it up in pieces. The old woman came, looked at the soap, said, 'It is sure pretty nice soap, if it only stays hard like that.' At the same time, while
saying this, she was picking up the stick my wife use to stir the soap with; putting it in the kettle, she started to stirring it around. And my wife
said she stir it three times, saying, 'This is pretty nice soap.' My wife was just sick, for she thought she was doing something to her soap. And she
did. After the old woman went home, the soap started to getting thin and got just like water. My wife started another fire and could not do a thing
with her soap — boiled it for hours. But it stayed like water until she went and found a piece of old iron, put it in the fire under the kettle and got
it red-hot, then she drop this piece of red iron in the soap kettle. And it was no time until her soap got good and hard. Again, several days after
that, we met this old woman with her face all tied up where she got burn when my wife drop this red piece of iron in the soap. She never made
my wife's soap like water any more. She left her alone."
16443. "I was bewitched. I would not stay in the house. When I got out in the yard I wanted to go back in the house. To tell the truth, I was in
an awful shape, nothing would please me, when one day someone told me to take a horseshoe, throw it in the stove, when red-hot take it out and
throw out the door into the yard, that you would burn the person up that was bewitching you and get them out of the house. I did this and got all
right, so I must of burn the witch."
16444. "My little girl cried all the time. Every night just when we went to bed she would start in. We tried everything. We had a neighbor that
did not like my little girl and we thought she was bewitching her. So I went to a priest and I just told him it was one of his kind [a Roman
Catholic] that was bewitching my girl. The priest prayed with me and gave me a small silver horseshoe with three small nails in it. He told me,
that night after everyone went to bed and the little girl was crying, for me to take that horseshoe and for me not to let anyone know it or see me,
that I should nail that horseshoe in the floor of the kitchen door, and my little girl would stop crying. So, after everyone went to bed, I went and
nailed that horseshoe in the door, and the little girl stopped crying right away. But do you know, when I got up the next morning, the horseshoe
was gone. That old witch came and took it." German.
16445. "If you put a horseshoe over your door with the points down, a witch will never come under your door." Irish.
16446. "If a person try to hoodoo you in leap year, put a horshoe over your door and they can't hoodoo you." Negro.
(8) NAIL
16447. "A woman lived in our neighborhood. She was sick all the time. She would holler all night that the devil was after her. No one
could sleep. A healer went there and said he would take the spell off her, if they would give him a hammer and a nail. And they did. He took the
hammer and nail down in the cellar and stayed awhile. When he came up he would not tell them what he did with the hammer and nail, but said,
'This woman will get well now.' And she got well right away." German.
16448. "I was not feeling good for a long time. Everything went wrong. I thought someone was bewitching me. She was always following me
everywhere I went, so I took a nail and named it this woman, and hammer the nail in a board, and put it down so this woman would stump her
toe, and it was no time until I got better, then well."
16449. "If you want to kill a witch, take and draw her picture on a large cardboard and drive a nail through her heart, and every morning take a
hammer and hit this nail once on the head for nine days, and on the ninth day she will fall dead." Negro.
(9) SCISSORS
16450. "My niece works downtown in one of the factories and her next-door neighbor has been wanting her to get her a job and she cannot. [This
was during the Great Depression just after 1935.] This neighbor said, 'I will do you all the harm I can to make you lose your job.' The
neighborhood says this woman has witch power, and my niece is afraid of her. My niece has been carrying a pair of scissors in her pocketbook
open for the last year every day, so this woman will not make her lose her job, for scissors is the best thing to carry to keep harm away." German.
 464

16451. "I was bewitched years ago and someone told me about putting the scissors under my pillow, open with the points to the head, and I have
been doing this every night for years. I never go to sleep without the scissors under my pillow, and I have never been bewitched since that time."
German.
16452. "A girl was trying to bewitch my brother, and I put a pair of scissors under his bed. Put it under their bed for nine days without
them knowing it, will break the spell. And he found them. And we almost had a fight, for he knew I was trying to break them up." German.
16453. "There was a woman that lived in the north part of town and another woman wanted her husband, and she went and bewitched this
woman's little boy. This boy got so he could not walk, eat or do anything. They had some of the best doctors, but they could not help the boy.
Some woman told her to put a pair of scissors under her pillow, after dark, open, and to throw a bucket of boiling water out the window after
dark. And this woman got burned on the face, and the boy got better; but she had such a spell on the boy he could not get well."

Silver Keeps Witches Away (16454-16464)

SILVER KEEPS WITCHES AWAY
16454. "Years ago I was sick all the time. I could not find out what was wrong, so someone told me they thought I was bewitched. So I went to a
witch doctor down at Hannibal [Missouri] and he told me to carry a silver fork in my pocket for eighteen months, and I would never have
any more trouble. So I came back home and put a silver fork in my pocket and carried it for eighteen months, and I have not had any more trouble
since that." For steel fork see 16435.
16455. "A witch on Madison Street bewitched a woman. She could not sleep for nights. So she went and moved out in the country to get away
from her, but she even bewitched her out in the country. She could not sleep. She knew who the old woman was, so she went to a healer and he
told her all that old woman wanted was money, and for her when she went to bed that night, to put a piece of money in her hand, so the witch
would get it. That night when she went to bed, this woman put a piece of silver in her hand, and the witch came that night and took the money,
and she was not bothered any more and slept well." German.
16456. "If you put a piece of silver under your head [at night], the witches will not bother you." German.
16457. "To keep the witches out of the house, place a dime under the fireplace." Irish.
16458. The wearing of a silver coin as a protection against hoodoo is (or was during my folklore-collecting days) almost exclusively a Negro
practice, not only in Adams County but also all over the South where I collected hoodoo material. The silver coin, normally a dime, was pierced,
strung on a necklace, or attached to a bracelet or worn about either ankle or both; unpierced, it was kept in either shoe or both, or in a hoodoo bag.
Other substances-were sometimes combined with the dime.
16459. "Take a dime and put red pepper [magic substance] over the dime, then wrap it up in brown paper [magic substance] and wear it in your
shoe, and you will not be hoodoo." Negro.
16460. "My leg was all swollen. I thought maybe I was hoodoo. So I made a garter out of red flannel [magic substance] and put a dime in it, and
the swellin' all went out my toe [disease and symptoms of it always leaves the body through the feet; see Downwards in Index] and I got better."
Negro.
16461. In addition to being a remedy for evil, a dime also diagnoses evil: "If you are sick, a hoodoo doctor can tell if you are sick or hoodoo by
putting a dime in your mouth — if the dime turns black, you are hoodoo; if it don't, you are just sick." Negro.
16462. The normal procedure in diagnosis by a hoodoo doctor, silver being used, is to place the dime in the mouth (16461), but other methods
are available, such as the following do-it-yourself one: "If you think you are hoodoo, put a dime in your right shoe, and if you are, the dime will
turn black; then with it [putting the dime in your right shoe], the spell will go back to the person that hoodoo you and they will get the poison."
Negro.
Since the dime comes in contact with the poison, which in some mysterious sense is still part of the evil doer, the spell automatically
returns to its perpetrator; a disease or spell never being destroyed but always returned or transferred --- see Cures in Index. The patient, however,
to make doubly certain, may cooperate with the dime, as in the following story.
16463. "One day my leg was hurting so bad, that I thought that maybe I was hoodoo. To be sure, I went to a hoodoo doctor and he put a dime in
my mouth to see if I were. And sure enough the dime turned black. So he said I was hoodoo. He told me to put a rubber band on my leg and a
dime on it, wishing whoever put the hoodoo on me would get it back. It was no time before I got well, and the woman I thought hoodoo me went
blind, and after that died." Negro.
16464. "My brother went to a dance and he was tricked. There was a man there that had a grudge against him. He gave him a drink of whiskey,
and as soon as he drank that whiskey he almost cramped himself to death. If it had not been for an old man there he would of died. 'Put this dollar
in your mouth, I am going to show you what you got.' You know, that dollar turn as black as the coat you got. All the poison that was in that
whiskey went into the dollar. And he got over the cramps. " Negro.
This happened many years ago [1885-1890] at Clarksville, Missouri, down-river about sixty miles from Quincy. The old word trick,
as well as conjuration and others, has been driven almost from current usage by the modern term hoodoo. The preceding poison, of course, is a
substance a toxicologist could not discover, unless it happened to be, as it rarely was, actual poison. The use of a silver dollar, also silver
half-dollar and quarter, is very unusual.

Whipped Witches Never Bother You (16465-16469)

WHIPPING WITCH DEFEATS HER EVIL
16465. "A woman [the informant's niece] at Y. bewitched me and my husband. She was stuck on my husband. And I lived nine blocks from her.
I took a board five feet long and draw her picture on this board and called her by name. Then took a stick and beat her belly first, then her face,
and beat her all over from head to foot. Then turn the board over and beat it on the back. Then you stand the board up, and if you hit her on the
back of the head, she will fall over on her face. I hit her on the back of the head and she said '0 mamma, aunt Alice knocked me down.' And I was
nine blocks away. And she never did bother me any more."
16466. "Years ago a man out here in the south part of town was sick all the time. He just tried everything. The doctor could not help him, so
at last he thought he would go to a witch doctor, and he did. He prayed over him and gave him something to wear, and told him he would work
on the witch and she could not rest; if he wanted to find out who the witch was, to go to South Park Spring at six o'clock in the morning without
speaking to anyone, and the witch would come and wash her hands in that spring water. So the next morning at six o'clock he went to the spring
in South Park, and just when St. Mary's Church bell was ringing six o'clock, here came an old Dutch [German] woman to the spring with her
hands all full of dough — she was making bread and this witch doctor was working on her and made her come to the spring to wash her hands ---
and this sick man jumped on her and almost kill her beating her. But the man got well. The spell was broken." German.
16467. "My father had a man friend years ago and his wife the friend's wife was very jealous of him [her husband]. She was always getting mad.
So one day she thought she would make him suffer, so she gave him some lizard powder. It was no time at all until he was just full of little
 465

lizards. You could just see them crawling up his arm. The man could not stand it, so one day he went to see a hoodoo doctor and he told him,
'Your wife has hoodoo you because she is jealous,' and told him that when his wife went to sleep, he should hit her real hard in the back and the
shock would scare the little lizards out of him and into her, and she would suffer and die. The man did not want his wife to die, but he kept
suffering so, that one night he did hit his wife real hard in the back, and the shock did scare the lizards out of him into his wife. She just got full of
them. You could see them crawling everywhere under her flesh. And at last she died." Negro.
16468. "A woman about ten years ago [1926] was sick all the time. She could not get anything to do her good, so she went to a fortune teller.
And this woman told her she was bewitched and not to worry, that some day soon she would be walking along the street and someone would slap
her on the shoulder, and she would be all right after that. So not long after that she was walking along and someone passed her on the street and
gave her a hard hit on the shoulder and went on. She did not know this person, but the woman got well. That hit on the shoulder took the spell
off."
16469. "If someone's bothering you, take a grapevine when the sap is in the vine and whip them, then bury it, and they will not bother you any
more." Negro.

Shoot a Witch in Self Defense (16470-16480)

SHOOTING A WITCH TO DEFEND YOURSELF
16470. "I am an old woman eighty-five years old [1936] and I can remember when I was a girl about our neighbor losing all of his chickens.
They would die just one after another. And the milk at the house would not churn. Everything they did went wrong. My mother and all of the
neighbors thought a woman in the neighborhood had put a spell on them, because she didn't like this family. So one day an old man came
along and they told him about everything going wrong. And this man told this man to take his shotgun and put five needles in it, then to put some
of his own urine on the needles in the gun, then to put the powder in the gun, and go out in the yard and shoot the gun towards this woman's
house he thought had the spell on his house. And he did. After he shot the gun off, he sent some neighbor over to her house and they found her
almost dead in bed. After that the man didn't have any more trouble with chickens or churning. She had them bewitched. After awhile the woman
got well, but she didn't try to put a spell on any more."
16471. "A family was having lots of trouble on their farm. They couldn't milk and could not churn butter, the chickens were all dying, just
everything was going wrong on the place, when someone told them they were bewitch, and to take and put a bullet in a gun, and some of their
urine in with the bullet, and to shoot the gun off, calling whoever's name you thought was bewitching you. They had been quarreling with the
next-door neighbor that farm join theirs, so they shot the gun, calling her name all the time. And this neighbor got shot and had to go to bed for
some time. But the spell was broken, and after that everything went all right on the farm."
16472. "I knew a woman that lived several miles out from Marblehead. She was sick all the time. The medicine she took didn't do any good. She
got it in her head she was bewitched. No one could talk it out of her. So one day my father told her to put a silver dollar up in the back yard and
shoot at it. I don't know if my father believe in it or not. But he told her if she didn't hit the dollar and was bewitched, she would keep on
being bewitched; if she hit it, to put the dollar in her pocket and wear it all the time — and if bewitched, would break the spell. She put the dollar
up in the back yard. I have often heard my father say she tried for several days before she hit the dollar. Then she put it in her apron pocket and
kept it all the time. She got well." German.
16473. "Down at Marblehead years ago [1880] there was an old woman that live next to us that was a witch. The old woman was trying to scare
people all the time. If you would go to her house at night, the doors and windows would all rattle, even on a moonlight night, and every night you
would see the yard hanging full of sheets flying in the air, and when you got in the yard you didn't see them. My son said if I would let him put a
silver bullet in his gun and shoot one of the sheets, he would kill the old woman. I didn't let him do it, for I said, 'I don't want you to kill that old
woman. She don't harm us.' So we let her live."
16474. "Years ago down here in the Bottom around Quincy a man had a sawmill. He had an order for seven-thousand feet of lumber. He just
could not get it out. He had been working on this order for about three months. Something went wrong all the time at the mill. An old witch lived
down near his place and was always hanging around. He thought she was bewitching his sawmill. He said to one of his men, 'I will give you a
dollar, if you will take a piece of silver and make me a silver bullet to kill that old witch.' The man said, 'I will not do it. I don't want the law after
me.' The sawmill man said, 'The law cannot get you, if you shoot her picture and kill her.' So he made a silver bullet himself and put it in the gun.
Then he went and draw her picture on a piece of cardboard, and put it on a tree right where this old woman would come into the yard. That night
when the old woman started in the yard he shot a hole right through her heart on this picture. When the old witch got even with this picture on the
tree she fell dead." Irish.
16475. "Some people were living by a witch and she was always borrowing from them or giving something. They always had trouble. She came
to the house one day and wanted to borrow lard. The man of the house said, 'No, and I don't want you to come here any more.' The witch said,
'You must let me have the lard, for I am sick and must have it.' The man let her have the lard and said after she was gone, 'I'll fix her so she will
not come back any more.' He drawed the old woman's picture on a piece of cardboard and took it out in the orchard and tacked it on a tree; then
went to the house and got a piece of silver and beat it all up into a silver bullet. You can always kill a witch with a silver bullet. That night just at
twelve o'clock this witch started in the yard. This man shot through her picture on the tree and the old woman drop dead." Irish.
16476. "A family was living next to a witch. She was always coming over to borrow something. This family was having so much trouble, so they
thought they would not let her have anything more. So one day she came and wanted to borrow grease. They would not let her have it. And the
witch said, 'I must have the grease, I am sick; if I don't get this grease, I will die.' The people didn't let her have it, and the witch almost died
getting home. After the witch went home, the man of this family went and drawed a picture of this woman, putting her name under the picture,
then nailed the picture on an apple tree out in the yard. After that he beat up a dime until he had a silver bullet. He put this silver bullet in his gun,
and just at noon he shot at the picture on the apple tree. The witch had just started to come in the yard, and drop dead when he shot at her
picture." German.
16477. "My father knew an old witch that lived in his neighborhood. No one could get along with her. She was always doing something mean
and they would call her 'Old Witch.' My father said she would even make people's cattle die. One neighbor after another would lose his stock, so
they all got together to see what they could do. They didn't want to kill the old woman. They thought they would just cripple her. So they made
up their minds to make a silver bullet and shoot her picture. This old woman was always knitting, so they sent one man over to see her, and he
was sitting out in the yard talking to her. The rest of the neighbors were down in the orchard. They had made a picture of this old woman and had
it on a board on a tree. One of the men shot at her. They didn't want to hit her head, for if they did she would drop over dead at once. So he shot at
her hand. This old woman grab her hand and said, 'Oh, what a pain I have in my hand!' And she was never able to open that hand again. They had
shot through her hand, and the rest of her life she was a cripple in that hand. The fingers were all drawn up. The people never had any more
trouble with their stock for the spell was broke."
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16478. "About thirteen years ago [1921] in Quincy a man was sick all the time. He had one doctor after another. He just kept going down. So
he thought he was bewitched and the family did too. And they thought it was a woman they knew. This man got the old woman's picture and said
he did not want to kill her --- if you shoot her through the heart she will die --- so he put her picture up and shot her through the legs. And she was
cripple in one leg for a long time after he shot her picture. But the man got well." Irish.
16479. "Years ago there was a little girl out in the South End [of Quincy] that had a real big head, and it kept growing. Her people called a
witch doctor and he said someone had her bewitched. The people suspected a woman in the neighborhood, so the witch doctor drew a picture of
the woman they thought it was, as good as he could, then they hung the picture up on the wall and shot at it. The next day this woman came to the
house limping and wanted to see the child. They would not let her in, so the spell was broken. And the child's head went back to its own size."
German.
16480. "An old witch lived in the neighborhood where my aunt and uncle lived. He was always saying, 'I am going to kill that old witch so she
can't do us any more harm.' He went and turned out one of his horses after supper and then went into the house. He said to my aunt, 'I am going to
make a silver bullet so I will be ready for that old witch.' He took a dime and just kept pounding and pounding until he got a bullet made. Then he
put it into the gun and put it by the bed to be ready. In the middle of the night he heard such a noise down in the barn lot, he got his gun and
looked out the door and he saw something at the gate. He said, 'There is the old witch,' and fired at what he saw. He turned around to my aunt,
laughing, and said, 'I have killed that old witch. She will never bother us any more.' In the morning he found his best horse dead in the barn lot.
He forgot he had left it out. And the old witch was still alive." Irish.

Scatologic Methods to Repulse Witches (16481-16499)

SCATOLOGIC METHODS TO REPULSE WITCHES
Spitting - Obscenity - Animal Manure (16481-16487)
(1) SPITTING
16481. "Not so many years back a woman had a beautiful child. A man on the block was just crazy about her. He would always stop and play
with the child when passing and let the child play with his watch, and say, 'What a pretty child you are.' He did this for some time. And the little
girl got real sick one day, and the next day this man stop and asked for a drink. They gave it to him. And the next day he stop again for a drink.
And both times the little girl got worse after he left. The second day the mother told an old woman about it and wanted to know what she thought.
She said right away, 'He has a spell on your girl,' and told her, if he came back again and wanted a drink, not to let him have it, for she was going
to throw the spell back on him. She made a big barnfire [bonfire] the next morning and spit in this fire three times, wishing the spell back on this
man, if he had a spell on the child. It was no time until this man went to the little child's house and wanted a drink, said he was so thirsty that he
was just burning up. They didn't give him a drink this time, and he went away sick and got down for a long time. And the little girl started to
getting better right away and got well. They didn't have any more trouble with that man. This happen right out here in the south part of Quincy."
(2) OBSCENITY
16482. "We had an old witch on our block, when I was a girl [1870 decade] and went to school, right here on Jackson Street where I live now.
Every one of the children on the block were afraid of her but myself. All the children in the neighborhood would walk around the block to keep
from passing her house. If they would happen to meet her on the street, they would all say different things. Most of the children would say Kiss
my ass three times under their breath. At that time that was a very common saying from the Old Country [German] to keep a witch from behexing
you. Some would say the Three Highest Names, if they met her, and some would run so fast back down the street, scared to death of her, that they
would forget to say anything. I am an old German woman now, have lived in this house on Jackson Street all my life, was born here, and have
buried all my people from this house. I was never afraid of the old witch. I have got many a whipping when a child for going to her house and
asking for things. My folks were all afraid of her, because she was always behexing something in the neighborhood. I remember well, she had
some fine elderberries and a nice strawberry bed on her place. I used to ask her for the berries, and get a whipping for taking them. I didn't care
about the whipping, for the berries were sure fine, but when she was handing me the berries, I always said under my breath Kiss my ass three
times, to keep her from behexing me, and she never did behex me. I was the only child in the neighborhood that would take a thing from her.
The old witch has been dead for years, but she did a plenty to the other neighbors, even if she didn't behex me." German.
16483. "I had a neighbor man. Someone would come and choke him every night at twelve o'clock, and in the morning he would say, 'Why don't
they leave me alone and bother someone else?' So another neighbor told him, if he would put a broom down on the floor when he went to bed and
say Kiss my ass three times, they would not be able to get in and choke him. He put the broom down on the floor, and he slept after that and did
not have any more trouble."
16484. "Years ago my mother was in a club at X. Church with a woman that could bewitch you. The ladies were all afraid of her, so they went to
the priest and asked him what to do about it. The priest told the ladies to put a paper cross in their pocketbooks, and whenever this woman would
come near them to say Go to hell three times and she would not bewitch them."
16485. "About fifty years ago [1888] in the south part of town my neighbor was bewitched by her neighbor. Night after night, after she went to
bed, something real heavy would start at her feet, crawling up on her until it got to her neck; it was so heavy, said it felt like a ton. When it would
get to her neck, it would almost choke her. One night it seem so heavy, and when it got to her neck and was almost choking her, she said You old
son-of-a-bitch, if you will leave me at once, I will give you something tomorrow. Then the heavy weight left her. The first thing the next
morning, the big fat neighbor came over and sit down as if waiting for something. After awhile the woman said, 'Oh, I forgot! I promised you
something last night if you would leave. I had forgot it. I made some nice soap this week, so will give you some.' She gave this fat woman, who
she thought was bewitching her, a nice pan of the soft soap. The woman left with the soap, and the heavy weight never did crawl over her again
and try to choke her. She even didn't come back herself."
16486. "My mother would never let us pick up a handkerchief on the street; said we were picking up witch's trouble. And, if you were walking
along the street and see a handkerchief, step on it and say You dirty sow, for the handkerchief is an old witch. And, if any of the children would
pick up one and bring home from school, she would always burn it right up to keep trouble away from the house." German.
(3) ANIMAL MANURE
16487. "In the year of 1873 our clock was bewitched. We were living out here in the country and we had a neighbor that everyone was afraid of.
She was always borrowing but never paying back. One day she came over to my mother's house and gave her a steel knife and fork. Mother
didn't want to take it but she was afraid not to. In about a week time she came over and said she wanted the knife and fork back. Mother gave
them to her. And as she started out of the house the clock on the mantel started to making a noise. We had never had any trouble with it before. It
just kept going z-z-z all the time. It kept it up all day. Then we knew it was bewitched. The next day we put some hay in the wagon and put the
clock on the hay in the wagon. No one wanted to hold the clock. All the way to Quincy the clock made that z-z-z noise. Everyone we passed
would look at us on the road. When my father got to Quincy he took it to the jeweler, with the clock z-z-z all the time. The jeweler looked it over
and said to my father, 'That clock is bewitched,' that he could not do anything with it. So we put the clock back on the hay and started home with
 467

the clock z-z-z-ing all the way. When we got home father throwed the clock on the manure pile back of the barn and put manure over it to keep
from hearing that clock z-z-z-ing. Then the old woman got sick. And just as soon as she was well, the neighbors all run her out of
the neighborhood. So we didn't have any more trouble." German. [See also 16210- 16211, 16356].
Human Excrement - Urine (16488-16499)
(4) HUMAN EXCREMENT
16488. "A woman sold some apples to another woman and her little girl got real sick right away after she eat some of the apple. That night
between twelve and one o'clock this woman that sold the apples came, and you could see her face in the ceiling looking down at this little sick
girl. It was all red around the face in the ceiling. I was there myself and saw the face in the ceiling. She came every night between twelve and one
o'clock for a week, looking at this child. The woman who had the sick girl went to the priest at X. Church and had him to pray for this girl.
The next day this woman with the apples came again and wanted to know if she wanted some more apples. She said, 'No, I threw the other apples
in the privy to rot that I bought from you.' After that the little girl got well." German. For throwing bewitched article into privy, see also 16260.
16489. "A witch lived near my uncle. She would go through my uncle's wheat field every day and he told her not to. She just kept on going. So
one night my uncle took sh-t from the outside toilet and smeared it all over the fence where this old witch would come over. And she got it all
over herself. And she got so mad that she bewitched my uncle. He got so sick right away he could not move a hand or foot. He was just paralyzed
for a long time. But she did not bother my uncle again." German.
(5) URINE
16490. "Out here at Richfield a man got angry at another man and , he put a spell on his wife. I think this was about sixty years ago [1880]. This
man got a bottle, filled it with her water, put this bottle on a string that would not burn, and hung the bottle up in the chimney where no one
could see it or the string would get on fire. This woman got sick. She could not pass water, at first a little, then not at all. She was sick for
several days bad, until they found out this bottle was up in the chimney. They laid it right on this man, and made him take the bottle out of the
chimney and pour the water on the ground. Right after that, this woman started to make water again, and the spell was broken. "
16491. "My grandfather lived out around Fowler years ago. He was the best rifle shot around anywhere in the country. They had in those days
shooting-matches and all the farmers would go. My grandfather would always carry off the honor of being the best shot. They also in those days
had witches and witch doctors. I believe all the witches have died off now, but they were a lot in grandfather’s day around Fowler. I have heard
him tell many a time that one day [1850 decade] he went to a shooting-match, and when he put his rifle up it would not shoot. He tried and tried.
Then he knew his neighbor that was a witch had bewitched his rifle. After the match he went to see a witch doctor and told him what had happen.
He said, 'Your rifle is bewitch. You go home, urinate in your rifle, then hang it up in the chimney, and the witch will not be able to urinate until
he comes to your house and takes the gun out of the chimney.' My grandfather did just what he told him to do. Before the day was over this man
came to grandfather and asked if he could get the gun out of the chimney, he could not wet, and was sorry for what he did. My grandfather let
him go and get the gun out of the chimney. And grandfather never had any more trouble at the shooting-matches."
16492. "A man thought an old witch that lived in his neighborhood had bewitched his kidneys [the informant said this happened in the South End
of Quincy and that she knew their names], for he was having so much trouble with them. He suffered all the time. So he thought he would get
even with her. Someone had told him, that if you wet in a bottle and hang it up where they cannot find it, they will suffer just like you do. So he
put a cork in the bottle , so it would stay strong, and hung it way up in the chimney, then started a fire. If you do this, the soot will go right to the
person that has bewitched you and will stick all over you [the witch] until you take that bottle out of the chimney. As soon as the fire was burning
good, the soot flew right over and covered this old witch. Her kidneys got to hurting her so she could not stand it. She went to this man and
wanted to know what he had done, and begged and begged him to take the spell off, said she was suffering so she could not stand it, and the soot
would not wash off. He said to her, 'You old devil, I am going to torment you until you die.' And he did. This woman got so she could not even
pass her water. Even got black in the face, suffering so over this bottle being up in the chimney. At last her bladder busted and she died. And this
man said she could not bewitch anyone else now." German.
16493. "My father [about 1885 near Clarksville, Missouri] got poison at a dance. He danced with a girl another fellow was jealous of and he
got very jealous of my father. So the next day father met this man. Not thinking of anything, he asked for a chew of tobacco. The tobacco
looked funny and white, but he took a chew any way. 'I must go.' He did and only got but a few steps when his jaws were locked, couldn't open
them. Right away he thought something was wrong. There was an old man living down the street that took off spells. He went right there. And as
he started through the door the old man said, 'Come on. I know what is the matter with you. That son-of-a-bitch tricked you.' Then he got a black
bottle [formerly used by root doctors and other healers] and put some of his [the father's] urine in, and took the bottle and hang it in the chimney.
'That son-of-a-bitch will soon be running here.' In a few minutes he came running and said, 'Oh, mister! please do something.' 'No, you tricked
this man. I am going to let you suffer so you won't do that again.' The man [the hoodoo doctor] went over to the chimney, took the bottle out and
turn it upside down, and let the urine out. This man [who had tricked the informant's father] let a gallon of water on the floor right there. Then
my father could move his jaws again." Negro.
16494. "A man was working for a woman. Everything went wrong with this man. He was sick all the time. He could not work. Someone told
him maybe this woman he was working for had bewitched him, and if he would get a shovel and get it red-hot and wet on it, if she had him
bewitched, she would burn up. So this man got a shovel and got it good and hot and started to wetting on the shovel. All at once this woman
who was upstairs started to screaming and said, 'What are you doing to me, Ben? You are just burning me up.' Ben said, 'I want you to burn up. I
am only getting back on you for bewitching me.' After that he had good luck, and she did not try to bewitch him again." Irish.
16495. "In the year of 1870 my mother was bewitched. She and some other children had a playhouse in the corner of an old rail fence, had all
their playthings there and played there all the time. One day when the children were playing, a man came along and asked the children to give
him something out of their playhouse. Children in those days are not like the children of today and my mother was the only one that would talk.
And she gave him something out of the playhouse. I forget just what it was now, but I should not, for I have heard grandmother tell it so many
times. When my mother gave the man the toy or whatever it was, he patted her on the head and thank her. The next morning mother could not get
out of bed, she could not stand on her feet, she could not even talk. They could not get her to talk. Grandmother pick her up. They tried to stand
her on her feet but she could not stand. Then they call the doctor. He tried everything and could not help her. They could not find out what was
wrong. Then someone said, 'Let's get the witch doctor.' And just as soon as he looked at her he said she was bewitched. The witch doctor, he took
a lock of hair out of her crown and a little lock out of each temple, and then he trimmed her toe-nails and finger-nails, put them all together in a
little white cloth and tie it up, then let my mother wet on this cloth, then he put it under the coals in the fireplace to burn. And as soon as this burn
up, she came right out of the spell and was all right again, could talk and walk, was fine."
16496. "Twenty-eight years ago [1911] two boys run together, and as time went on they both got married. One of the boys married my sister. He
done so good. The other boy didn't do good at all. The mother of this boy fussed with him all the time, she was so jealous of my brother-in-law
because he was getting along so fine and her boy doing so poor. After they were married about a year, my brother-in-law got sick, got nervous,
was so mean you couldn't live in the house with him. He even tried to kill his wife. My, but he was mean. My sister went to a fortune teller out in
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the southeast part of Quincy to see if she could help her. She had heard this fortune teller could put a spell on you or take it off. She asked this
woman to help her. The fortune teller told her to go home, get seven big needles and seven pins, put them in a pan with her husband's urine over
them on the cookstove to boil, and in half an hour you could tell if a man or woman had him in a spell — for, if a woman, one of the needles
would stand straight up in the pan; and if a man, all the needles would lie flat in the pan.' [Informant is probably mistaken. Correct symbolism
would reverse positions.] And, if you would listen after the urine got to boiling good, you could hear whoever had you under a spell moaning,
they would be in such pain. My sister went home, did just what the fortune teller told her. Sure enough, we watched, and one of the needles stood
straight up in the pan. Then we knew it was a woman. In a little while we could hear the woman moaning, we could even hear her [when
they were] in the next room from the pan, she was suffering so much pain. My mother was at the house and hear it too. She said if anyone had
told her she would not believe it. But she heard it too. In about an hour the woman that was jealous of my brother-in-law sent word over to take
whatever we had on the stove off, said she could not stand it, was afraid she would die. We kept boiling the needles and pins on the stove, we
were going to make her suffer good. The old woman sent for the fortune teller to have her take the spell off, said she would never do it again. The
fortune teller came to my sister's house and told her the old woman had had enough, to take the things off the stove, afraid the woman would die.
We took them off. My sister and husband got along fine after that. They are living together now and happy."
16497. "I have a friend that was bewitched just a few years back [from 1935]. She was sick all the time in bed. Nothing they would do for
her would move her. She thought her landlady bewitch her. Someone told her to put a pot of her urine on the stove to boil and to just fill the pot
with sharp things, like needles, pins and nails. She did. She was not able to do it herself, she was in bed, but her husband fixed it for her. And told
her if anyone came to borrow, while it was boiling, not to let them have it. Her husband had just step out of the room for a minute after he put the
pot on the stove, and a big black object came from under the bed. It looked like a dog. She called her husband and asked why he let the dog in for.
He said, 'I didn't. The dog is out in the back yard.' About three o'clock in the morning this old woman, that she thought bewitch her, came to
borrow something. The urine was still boiling. She wanted it bad. But my friend would not let her have it. I forgot what she wanted. The old
woman went home and my friend started to getting better and got well. And the old woman never did come around again."
16498. "We had a neighbor who we thought was bewitching my son. So I took a bottle and got a paper of pins and put them in the bottle, then put
my urine in and cork the bottle up and put it down in the cellar in a dark place. And sure enough, that neighbor came to our house with her face
all full of little pinholes. And my son got well after that." German.
16499. "A colored man and his wife fell out about a year ago [1932] and she left town. He said he was not going to let her have another man, that
he was going to make her die. This man took a big bottle and filled it with his urine, and put the bottle down in the cellar in a dark corner, and
fixed the bottle so it would drip out by the drop. His wife that weighed two-hundred pounds started to wasting away, kept getting thinner and
thinner, and was almost dead. She went to a fortune teller and she told her, her husband was killing her by the inch, that he was doing something
to her, for her to go and see if she could stop him; if he did not stop, she would die. This woman got right on the train and came back to Quincy
and went to her husband. She looked so bad and thin that he told her to go to the cellar and get the bottle. She went and found the bottle with only
about a spoonful of urine left in the bottle. She poured it out and she started to getting better right away and got well. If she had not of found that
bottle, she would of died." Negro.

Professional Witch Hunters (16500-16505)

PROFESSIONAL WITCH HUNTERS
16500. "I don't know if you know it or not, but years ago we had witches out here on Mill Creek. We also had a witch doctor right up here on
Maine Street. He could take off any kind of a spell. You would be surprised if you knew all of the people that went to him for some kind of a skin
or something to wear to keep from being bewitched. What I did want to tell you was about a man out here on Mill Creek was plowing his
field one day and got bewitched. He was plowing alone when something bit him on the ankle. He said it felt like a bee sting. It started to swelling
up so they had to open it, for he was in so much pain, and they found needles, fish bones and silk thread all in this ankle. He had been bewitched.
They got this witch doctor and he put on a poultice of beeswax, pitch, yellow clay and vinegar, and his ankle got well in no time." Irish.
16501. "My brother fell on frozen ground one day and hurt his knee very bad. We lived near Mill Creek and we called the Mill Creek doctor that
lived on the creek. You see in those days we had witches around Mill Creek too. [The informant in the preceding story about Mill Creek witches
was of Irish descent; the informant here, of German descent --- and they did not know each other.] And we did not know if a witch made him fall
down or not, but to be sure, we called a witch doctor. All he did was to pick up a white stone [magic object, see Index], put it on the knee, then
put the stone back on the ground and put his foot on it, and say the Three Highest Names. Then he picked up the stone and hid it, and told us not
to look, for it would break the spell. And my brother never had any trouble with his knee after that." German.
16502. "This happen about ninety year ago [1847] right here in Quincy. My grandmother told me about a woman being bewitched. She was sick
all the time and no one could help her. She would just bite her tongue all the time, she was in so much pain and suffering so. One day she was
suffering so, she bit a piece off her tongue. They sent for the doctor but he could not help her. Then they heard of an old-fat Negro that lived
down in the South Bottom below Quincy that could take off spells. They called him a two-headed Negro [see 15856]. So they went for him;
thought if someone had her in a spell, he could take it off. He didn't want to come after they got there; said she was too far gone if she had bitten
off her tongue. Grandmother said they begged and begged, and at last he came with them in the horse and buggy. When they got to the house he
told everyone to leave the room but the woman's mother. Then this colored man lay down on the floor flat on his belly and kept saying something
over and over. Of course she didn't know what he was saying. He kept this up for an hour , working so hard --- and still on the floor all the time
— the water was just pouring off of him. At last he said to the mother, 'An old woman that comes here has the spell on her and she will be here
at anytime now, for I have put the spell on her. So the first old woman that comes after I leave, don't let her in; she will try, but don't let her
in. She has the spell on your daughter.' I don't remember who took the old colored man back in the Bottom, but the mother stayed with her
daughter. Not long after the old man left, the girl's own grandmother came; said she was suffering so, she was so sick. They listen to the old
Negro of the South Bottom and they didn't let her in. That very week the old grandmother died. And the woman that had been so sick for years,
almost biting her tongue off, started to getting better and got well. Just think, this old grandmother had put the spell on her granddaughter and
made her suffer for years. My grandmother knew all the party well." German.
16503. "I believe in witches, my grandmother did too. Why, my husband was bewitched right here in this house. This was my grandmother's
house, then mother's, now mine. The family have lived in this order here on Payson Avenue ever since my grandmother and grandfather came
from the Old Country. Well, my husband was sick a long time. The doctor could not find out what was wrong. He would walk out to the
woodshed and barn all the time, back and forth, saying something all the time. When he was not walking out to the shed, he would sit in an old
rocker chair and suffer all the time. You see, we were trying to sell a piece of property to make some money, and another man in the
neighborhood was trying to sell it too. We didn't know it at the time, he was trying to sell the same house. This man would come once a week to
see us. He was putting the spell on my husband so we could not sell it. After the man would leave, my husband always got worse. We thought
this man a good friend. At last my husband got so bad that I went to see an old Negro fortune teller that lived in the north part of town about
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selling the property, and to see if my husband would get well. At that time I thought he was worrying about selling the property, because we
needed the money so bad and we would clear three-hundred dollars on it. I paid the old fortune teller two dollars --- when I could not afford it ---
for telling me we would sell this place before the snow would fly, which was a lie. The other man, I found out after, went to the old fortune teller
too, and offer her money to help him sell the property. I also found out this old fortune teller could put spells on anyone too. And between the
man and the fortune teller my husband got down in bed. Every night just at twelve o'clock and in the morning at four o'clock, he would wake up
and say, 'There's a man in my rocking-chair!' This chair was in the same room with him. He would say, 'Take that man out of my chair, take him
away!' A neighbor said, 'I believe your husband is bewitched, someone has him in a spell.' So I went to see the priest out in the north part of town.
He said, 'Don't believe anything like that. He is only sick from worrying over the other man selling the piece of property and making the money.
Pray for your husband and I will pray for him too.' I went home. But my husband kept on seeing the man in the rocking-chair every night at
twelve o'clock and at four in the morning. Then another woman told me about a man that lived in the country that could take off spells.
If someone did have it on anyone, he just could speak his mind over anyone and cure them; that the moment he put his foot in the door he could
tell if anyone had a spell on them. I didn't know how I was going to get out in the country, for I had no horse. So I got my brother-in-law that
worked in a grocery store to drive me out after supper, telling him I heard this man wanted to buy some property. I didn't tell him who he was,
because he didn't believe in witches. When I got to the place, I told my brother-in-law to wait at the gate. I told this man who sent me, and that the
woman told me not to take no for answers, and that he should come and see my husband. He didn't want to come because I didn't have any money
to give him for taking the spells off. I begged and begged. And at last he did say he would come the next night at dusk, for me to have all the
doors and windows closed, and to have no one in the house but my husband and self, that he would come to the back door and leave his horse
down the street so no one would see the horse in front of my house. The next night just before dusk, I shut all the windows and locked all the
doors but the back door, and sit down in the kitchen to wait for him. He didn't come! Maybe you think I wasn't disappointed. I was just sick. After
awhile I went to the corner grocery store and called him, for I had found out he had a phone. Then he promised me again to come the next
evening sure at dusk. If I had of had money he would of come the first night. But, he would come, and when I got the money I could give it to
him. I could hardly wait until the next night. And just at dusk he came to the back door. I let him in. When he went in the room where my
husband was, I said to my husband, 'This man is thinking about buying that small piece of property we have.' He sit down by my husband, talked
awhile. Then he lent back in his chair, rubbing his eyes three times; then he straighten up and lent back again, rubbing his eyes three times. He
did this another time. Then he bent way over and folded his hands over his knee, with his eyes shut, moving them up and down three times; never
speaking, of course. I didn't say a word, for I knew he was trying to break the spell and I had sense enough to keep still. He did this three times.
Then he straighten up and said to my husband, 'Do you pray? Well, pray all the time, for God can help all of us.' Then he left. When he got to the
door I said, 'What do you think?' He said, 'I knew the moment I step in the door someone had a spell on him. But he will soon be all right again.'
My husband started to getting better right away, and it was no time until he was well again. Do you see that room next to this kitchen? Well, that's
the room my husband was in, and this is this kitchen door you came in that the man came in that took the spell off. I sure believe people can put
a spell on you. Everyone don't believe it, and some make fun of me. I don't care, for it's so." German.
16504. "I knew a lady that was sick all the time. Two of our best doctors here gave her up. They sent for me. I can take off spells. When I got
to the house, whoever had the spell on her had it strong. Why, the first time I went by I could not get in the house. I had to walk by three times
before I could go in that house. The third time I went in. I found this lady biting her nails and pulling her hair. She sure was bewitched bad. It
didn't take me long until I got the spell off of her." German.
16505. "This happen about twenty year ago [1917]. A German man living on Ohio Street I knew well told me this. He had a daughter. She was
having a time with her sickness. She was sick all the time. He said she was just withering away, she was just fading away, when someone told
him to take his daughter out to that old colored fortune teller on Ninth Street, in the north part of town. And he did. She told this man his daughter
was bewitched and if she didn't get married she would die, that getting married was the only thing that would make her sickness all right. This girl
didn't like the men and said she would not marry. And she didn't and she died. She was bewitched so bad that when she died the blood came out
of her mouth. I worked with this man and he told me about his daughter." German.

Religion a Guard Against Witchcraft (16506-16536)

RELIGION A GUARD AGAINST WITCHCRAFT
Bible - Cross - Holy Water - Prayer (16506-16521)
(1) BIBLE
16506. "Years ago a man was living on Sixth Street and he had a boy that his nose would start to bleeding every night. They tried everything, but
every night it would start at nine o' clock. Sameone told this man that there was an old German woman on that block that could throw a spell over
you, and as they [the father and the old woman] were not speaking, maybe she was putting the spell on the boy; and if he would get up before
sunup and read the Bible, wishing it back on whoever put the spell on the boy, and read again just before sundown --- do this every day until the
boy got well. This man started reading the Bible every morning before sunup and every evening before sundown, wishing whoever put the spell
on the boy would get it. The boy got well and this old German woman got sick for a long time."
16507. "A boy about two years ago [1934] was bewitched by a woman right over on Ninth Street. Everyone in the neighborhood was afraid of
her. The boy got down in bed and the doctor could not get him out. His mother knew I was good in breaking a spell and sent for me. I went. I
gave him a Bible to read and told him a certain chapter to read, I can't tell you what chapter it was, and the next morning he was better. I went the
three evenings and had him to read the same chapter. Then on the third night I told his mother that just before sunrise the next morning make him
get out of bed and walk a little. She did. And he soon got well." German.
(2) CROSS
16508. "My father was bewitched when he was a boy about ten. I have often heard him tell it. His father sent him on horseback to a
neighbor house to take something and he passed an old woman's house that lived down by the crossroad. Everyone called her a witch. When my
father got home he could not pass water. His father said, 'Did you pass the old witch?' 'Yes, she was out in the yard.' 'We will go right back and if
she does not take this spell off of you, I will fix her.' He put my father back on the horse, made a cross in front of the horse, then got on one, and
started back to witch's house. He told the old witch he would kill her if she didn't take the spell off the boy right away. The old witch step up to
the horse and made a cross in front of the horse, and my father wet all over the horse."
16509. "About forty years ago [1895] we were living on a farm and we had two other neighbors that didn't get along. They would be friendly
awhile, then fall out. They fell out over something and right after that one of the lady's little boys got sick. He was sick for about a month. They
done everything they could. The doctor could not tell what was wrong, so they got it into their heads this woman had the boy bewitched. So
someone told the mother to go out in the road between her house and the other lady's house, and make a cross in the road and say three times, If
guilty, you won't cross. The mother did that one morning. And the neighbor woman started to her house and got to the cross and had to go back.
She could not walk over. She tried three times to walk over the cross but she could not make it that day. So she didn't get to the sick boy's house.
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And the boy started to getting well. And the neighbor never came to their house again, for she knew they had it in for her because she bewitched
their son and made him sick."
16510. "This woman told me she bought some butterbeans and a neighbor came in and helped her shell them. After she left, this woman cooked
them. They all got sick. They thought this neighbor had bewitched the beans. So she put a cross over the front door and one over the back door,
and that neighbor never did come back to her house again." German.
16511. "A neighbor was very sick and the next-door neighbor told this neighbor not to let his wife in, that she was always practising evil power
on the sick. They said, 'How can we keep her from coming in the house?' He told them to put a cross over all the windows and doors, and she will
not be able to come in. They went and put a cross over every opening, and the next day when this woman went to see her neighbor she could not
get in the door, she had to holler through the window. And this woman got well after that." German.
16512. "I knew a woman out in the north-east end of Quincy that was sick all the time. She had a neighbor that was always borrowing from her,
like salt, sugar, flour — always borrowed something white. They say one with evil power can keep you in their power if they borrow white from
you. This woman that was sick worried so about this woman that she told her [the witch's] husband. He said, 'She is nothing but an old witch. I
can't do a thing with her. If you will put a little white cross over every one of your doors and windows, she will never bother you again, for they
will not pass under a white cross.' This woman did this. One day the old woman came. She saw the white cross over the door and said, 'I will not
come in.' And she never came back. This old woman got well."
16513. "Not so long ago, about two years ago [1936], we had a neighbor that was running in the house all the time, and everything we did went
wrong. Some- one told us about the three black crosses, saying they thought she was causing all the trouble. If you think someone is trying to do
you harm, put three little black crosses down in the doorway; and if they come to see you and are trying to do you dirty, they just can't step over
those three black crosses. So one night just before going to bed we put the three black crosses in the kitchen door, after something went wrong,
and sure enough in the morning she came over to the door and stood there. I asked her several times to come in, but you know, she just keep
saying, 'I can't.' And she didn't come in that house. It was the first time she ever refused to come in, and to tell the truth, she never came to our
house again. I guess she knew the three black crosses were there, and if she had of step over them it would of put all the trouble back on her she
cause us. We didn't have any more trouble after we put the three black crosses there and we left them there."
(3) HOLY WATER
16514. "My sister was bewitched when she was a baby [1885] by a woman that lived next door to us when we lived down by the depot [the
former railroad station at the foot of Oak Street]. She would always come in and say, 'Oh, how pretty! So pretty!' And the child would start to
crying and just keep it up. One day someone told mother to take her across water. She did. And she stop just as soon as mother got her on the
water, but when she got on land she would start again. Mother could not keep her on the river all the time. One morning she started to crying and
would not let up, cried all day. That night mother went out to see a woman in the South End of town that could heal and told her about the crying.
She said she was bewitched, said she would take the spell off if mother would bring her out at nine o'clock the next morning. Mother did. And
this woman washed her [the baby] in holy water. She did this for three mornings at nine o'clock, then skip three mornings, then washed her three
mornings at nine o'clock, making nine mornings she washed her. She saved this holy water that she washed my sister in and gave it to my mother,
and told her to go to the river that night at twelve o'clock and to throw this holy water in the river, and that as she would turn around to go home
this woman would be standing back of her, and not to speak to her and the spell would be broken. My mother was not afraid of anything, so that
night she went to the river just as the woman told her to do, and at twelve o'clock throw the holy water in the river. Sure enough, when mother
turn, there stood the next-door neighbor right back of her. She started in begging for forgiveness. Mother didn't speak, went home, and she never
had any more trouble with her neighbor or my sister crying. People can sure put a spell on you, if they want to."
16515. "I had choking spells. I went to see a woman and she said a witch was choking me, and told me if I would do what she said, I would get
all right. She told me to get some holy water and swallow it for nine nights. I did and didn't have any more choking spells." For drinking holy
water, see also 16228.
16516. "My brother has been sleeping with a can of blessed water under his bed for three years to keep the witches away." German.
16517. "If you think you are bewitched and can't sleep, take a little holy water and sprinkle it around the room three times and say, In the Name
of the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost, and you will be able to sleep better." German. Note: For another interesting use of holy water in
witchcraft, see 16280-16281.
(4) PRAYER
16518. "A woman lived in the southwest part of town. She was always sick and they could not find out what was wrong with her. They went to a
healer and he said, 'Nothing is wrong with your wife. She is just bewitched. You go home, pull down the window shades, lock your door, let
no one in, and pray hard; and the one that bewitched her will come to the door, but whatever you do, don't let her in.' While they were all praying,
in walked this old witch and said, 'My God, I hope you don't think that I bewitched your mother?' They forgot to lock the door. So the mother
died." German.
16519. "My grandmother came over from the Old Country when nine year old and she believe in witches, so did my mother, and I do too; for my
mother was bewitched with her first child, and after that whenever she would see someone she thought was a witch, she would say to herself the
Lord's Prayer, so they could not put a spell on her. My grandmother only lived about seven blocks from my mother, but an old witch lived on the
same street and she was always putting a spell on someone. After my mother was up, the first place she went to was her mother. And she and the
baby were feeling fine when they started out, but just before they got to grandmother's she met this old witch. And she stop and wanted to see the
baby. She looked at it and said, 'What a nice little baby you have. So happy you are over it.' And while talking, she rub her hand over mother's
breast and said, 'Have you enough milk for that fine baby?' Mother felt her breast swelling up, and by the time she got to grandmother, she was in
such a daze that she could not talk. She said, 'Oh, I am so sick.' Grandmother said, 'What is wrong with you?' 'Oh, I met that old witch down the
street and she just went crazy over the baby, and all the time she was talking she was rubbing her hand over my breast.' 'You are bewitched. I will
send for the doctor.' He came and he could not do anything. The baby would not take the breast and kept crying. The breast was swelling more
and more. When they told him about the old witch, the doctor said, 'Send for the old woman or witch,' and left [!]. The old woman came and said,
'What is wrong? You were all right when I met you.' She came over and rub mother on the breast and said, 'Give that baby the breast, it only has
the colic.' They did and the baby took the breast. Nothing was wrong with the breast after she touch it, for the old woman took off the spell she
had put on down the street. This is so, for I have heard my grandmother and mother tell how they worked with the breast for several hours before
they would send for the old witch — didn't want her in the house." German.
16520. "About eighteen years ago [1917] a colored woman had very sore eyes. Someone bewitched her. She was going blind. They took her out
here to X. Hospital for a while. One morning something told her to get out of bed. She was very weak, but she crawled around to one corner of
the bed and prayed and prayed. And the Lord spoke to her and told her to go home, and to take a cup of water and to go down in a certain corner
of her cellar, and to wet some of that dirt in the corner and put on her eyes In the Name of the Lord. The old woman went home, did this, and in a
few mornings after that her eyes were all right." Negro.
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16521. "If someone wants to give you something and you think they are a witch, say under your breath, God bless me, and you will not get in
their power." German.

Sacred Names - Blessed Medals - Priest (16522-16536)

(5) SACRED NAMES
16522. "When we were children [about 1880] we lived on Madison Street and we had to go by a witch's house. If you go by a house where you
think a witch is living, as long as you can see the house, say Jesus, Mary, Joseph over and over again. And mother made us say this over and
over again. And mother made us say this over and over again when we went to school every day, to keep the witch from doing us harm."
16523. "An old German woman eighty years old [in 1934] said she was never bewitched or her people, because her grandfather, then her father,
always on the sixth of January, the Three King's Day, would put the letters C M B [initials surely mean the names of the Three Kings or Magi ---
Casper, Mechoir, Balthazar — rather than Carissima Maria Benedictissima, Most Dear and Blessed Mary] over all outside doors before sunup, so
the witches could not get in; and would put the same letters over the stable door, so no one could bewitch the cattle." German.
(6) BLESSED MEDALS
16524. "My son used to play the guitar and he would always go up to the corner house to see a boy. There was a lot of talk about his mother
being a witch. All at once my son got it in his feet. They would hurt all the time. He got so [1894] he could not get out of bed. We had the doctor
but he could not find out what was wrong with his feet. My sister came and she said, 'I know you are bewitched. What do you do down at that
old witch's house? I know she has done something to you.' My son said, 'All she does is make me sit in her chair when I come. She will not let me
sit in any other.' Then he started to crying and kept that up for two weeks, and his feet hurting. We had a neighbor to come in and she said, 'I am
going to get your boy a cord and medal and pray for him nine days; if he is bewitched, he will get well.' So she got the medal. I am sure telling
you the truth. Do you know, twenty minutes after he had that medal on, he was down to the corner store; and in a few days he was well." German.
See also 16537.
(7) PRIEST 16525. "Thirty-five years ago [1904] near Tenth and Chestnut a boy was bewitched by a big black cat. He was just five years old.
And every night a big black cat would come and scratch on the window trying to get in. After the first night, the boy started to getting sick and
went right down. The boy would cry all the time, and when the black cat was there, so much worse. They couldn't do a thing with the child, and
no one could help the child. He was getting so poor. Then they went to get Father S. of St. X., he's dead now, and told him a black cat had the
boy bewitched. Father S. told them there was nothing to this bewitching and not to believe it. He didn't want to go home with them. They told
him they came for him first because they went to his church, but if he wouldn't go they would go to St. Z. and get a priest, for they would not go
home until they got one. At last Father S. went home with them and went in the room to pray over the boy, and, while praying, this big black cat
came to the window and tried harder than ever to get in; just scratched on the window all the time, just like the cat was crazy. Even Father S.
saw the cat, if he didn't believe the child was bewitched. After Father s. went home the boy fell off to sleep. And the black cat disappear and
never came to the window again, and the boy got well and didn't cry any more." German.
16526. "My brother was bewitched years ago. I was only a boy then about twelve years old and he twenty-one years old. We both slept in the
same room. And every night just at twelve o'clock he would wake up crying and jump out of bed, saying his pillow was full of bees, and run
through the whole house saying the bees were after him. He did this for several months. And one night when he jump out of bed he said, 'Oh,
look! there is a big bee after me,' and grab his hat at the same time and hit this big bee. Just as he hit the bee saw a big white feather come from
under a chair and go over to the door. I said, 'Did you hit the bee?' He said, 'I did.' And just then we heard a noise. It sounded like someone fell
down the stairs. We knew then my brother was bewitched. The next day my mother took him over to X. Church to see the priest. He prayed over
him several times and he never did hear any more bees in his pillow." German.
16527. "I knew a woman that had a little baby and it would cry every night. One morning when they got up, this baby was full of rusty pins.
They were sticking in the child. They took them out and the next morning the rusty pins were sticking in the child again. She went and got
another woman, and she came and said the child was bewitched. So the third morning they found the pins again. Then they took the child to the
priest and he broke the spell."
16528. "My sister, a beautiful girl about eleven years old, was playing out in the front yard when an old negro ragman came along. He wanted to
know if we had any rags. She said, 'No.' And he bewitched her. That night at nine o'clock she started to screaming, saying they should not saw her
leg so hard. And every night for four weeks at nine o’clock she would say the same thing. So we took her to a priest and he prayed over her
several times, and she got better from day to day until she got well." German.
16529. "Years ago out here in the north end of town, a child was sitting in a highchair, and an old woman came by selling medicine; and she
picked up the baby and made over it, then put it back in the chair, then she left. And as soon as she was out of the yard, that baby started to crying
and kept it up for ten hours. She had bewitched that baby. They had to take the baby to the priest, and the baby got all right." German.
16530. "A woman had a little girl twelve years old. They had a neighbor that was always giving this girl something to eat. They would tell the
child not to take anything, but she would take it just the same. This woman had her bewitched. She would get a fit every night at twelve o'clock
and every day at twelve o'clock. She got so bad. They could not find anything wrong. Then they got the priest and he prayed over her. The priest
told them not to let the woman give the girl anything again after he had prayed. The very next day the woman brought some nice oranges for the
girl. They would not let her take them and she got well." German.
16531. "A couple had their first baby and they thought the world of it. A neighbor woman was always making over the child. They thought she
liked the child, but she was bewitching it. The baby got so he would cry all the time. They could not do anything. They had the doctor. He came
several times but he could not find what was wrong. So they got the priest and he prayed over the child, and said to watch and see who would
come to the house first. And this woman who [informant changes to first person] we thought was the witch came to the window and tapped on the
glass and said, 'How is the baby.' So we knew she was the witch." German.
16532. "Early one morning [1910] when I went outside to get a bucket of water, the neighbor lady called to me and wanted to know how my baby
was. I told her she was all right, that she hadn't woke up from the night. I asked her why. She said that she dreamt my baby was awful sick. That
day I went visiting to my mother and stayed until about time to get supper. When I got home I put my baby down to play. She was two years old.
She could not stand on her feet. She would fall right down. And started to crying all the time. I sent for the doctor. He could not find anything
wrong with her. After the doctor left, we called in a priest that was visiting a sick lady in the neighborhood. The priest prayed over the baby to
drive the devil out, and then she got all right. The priest told us to watch the first person that came the next morning to inquire about her. That
would be the one that had the spell over her. And sure enough, that neighbor that had the bad dream about her was the first one to come. We
found out this woman bewitched every baby she could. I was so afraid she would bewitch my baby again, that I went and moved on Sunday to
get away from the witch." German.
16533. "A baby was sick all the time [1884]. The baby would start to crying every night at twelve o'clock and keep it up until one o'clock,
almost go into hysterics. They could not do anything for this child, so at last they went over to X. Church to see the priest, and told him about the
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child crying every night from twelve until one. He told them to go home and pray real hard, and he would pray with them, and at twelve o'clock
to put some salt on the stove to burn; and if anyone came to the house, not to let anyone in, he did not care who it was. So that night just at twelve
o'clock, when the baby started to crying, they put salt on the stove. And while it was burning, a woman came that had always thought so much of
the baby, she was always taking care of it, and wanted to borrow sugar. [Informant changes to first person.] We did not let her in. She came back
the second time to borrow. And the third time her face was all burnt up. She just begged to get in the third time, but we would not let her in. And
the baby stop crying that night. And we didn't have any more trouble with our baby, for the woman never came back." German.
16534. "A woman living out on Twentieth and Hampshire had a party one day. She had one piece of cake left, so took it over and gave it to a
neighbor. This woman had twins, so she took the piece of cake and broke it in two and gave each twin a piece. That night the twins started to
crying and just kept it up for several weeks. The neighbors could not sleep. Even the doctor could not find out why they cried all the time. So at
last they thought maybe they were bewitched. This woman went to the priest out on X. Street and told him about it. The priest said, 'I will come
tonight at seven o'clock and I will pray. You go home and stop up every hole and lock all your windows so they can't get out.' At seven o'clock
the priest came. He prayed for over an hour until the sweat run off of his brow. Then he took his stole and made a cross and hit the cradle real
hard, and something jump out of the cradle and went out through the chimney hole. The priest was real angry, because if that hole had of been
stopped up he would of got that woman." German.
16535. "Thirty-nine years ago [1900] my mother-in-law's little daughter was bewitched. She cried day and night. No one could stop her or do a
thing with her. Every time they went downtown they met an old man, and every time he would stop them and make over the child and give it
something --- nothing much, maybe a penny, but always something. It got so they could not stand this child crying. So my mother-in-law went
over to St. X. to get a priest to pray over the child. The priest told her not to believe anyone could bewitch her daughter. She said, 'Well, she is
bewitched. I can't do anything with this kid. I came for help and I want it.' At last the priest pray with her, told her to go home and pray a certain
prayer, I have forgotten the one, told her to pray hard, 'And the next time you go downtown you will meet an old man again on the street that will
want to make over your little girl, but don't let him do it, and your child will get better.' You see, this priest did believe her child was bewitched,
only he didn't want her to believe it, for why would he know a certain old man would meet them on the street and want to make over her baby.
My mother-in-law said she prayed hard every day for over a week. And one day after that she had her little girl downtown and they did meet an
old man that was selling horse radish on the street. He said to her, 'What a pretty child you have.' My mother-in-law grab her girl and almost run,
saying, 'Don't you dare touch this child,' and took it home. Then my mother-in-law went back to the priest and told him what had happen, said,
'I have prayed hard to break that spell.' And the child got better, and soon got so she could do something with it again."
16536. "Thirty-six years ago [1897] a red-headed woman went by my house and stopped in and wanted to go to the toilet [outside in those days].
I was making bread. It was just fine. I had just taken it out of the oven. This woman said, 'What fine bread you have.' I said, 'I never fail with
bread.' Then this red-headed woman said, 'What a beautiful child you have.' She left me, and as soon as she was gone, my little girl started to
crying and kept it up for three weeks; and my bread was no good, and for three weeks I failed every time with my bread — it would break all to
pieces, we could not eat it. I went to the priest of Z. Church and told him this woman had my bread and baby bewitched. He prayed and told me
on my way home I would meet this red-headed woman again, and not to speak to her. On my way home I did meet her, but I didn't speak to her.
And after that my baby stopped crying and my bread was just fine." German.

THE DEATH OF A WITCH (16537)

Note: This story I have explained in the Introduction. Since I asked Informant to speak slowly, I wrote down every word said, word
for word.
16537. "Miss Healer [a professional healer] called me [the Informant] up [1932] and said Witch was sick and she wanted to see me. So that
Sunday afternoon [my] Daughter took me over to Witch's, and Witch told me she was sick. And then she said, 'Informant, do you know that
Christ came to me this morning and had His thorns on His head like when He was crucified.' And then she said He had His arms stretched out
like this [here Informant stretched out her arms imitating Witch's action] and called her. He wanted her to come. Then we just talked from then
on. Well, then I don't know what happened. See. But every day it just seemed like I would have to go to her house. And we generally just set and
talked. That was about six weeks all told. And then one Saturday morning I went real early, about eight o'clock, and when I went in, this Miss
Healer was there. And then she left. Then Witch's Husband, he wanted to go to the barber shop to get shaved, and he said, 'Well, I'll go because
Informant is here.' After he left, Witch got those hysterical spells. She would scream and pull her hair and kind of go wild. I couldn't do anything
with her. Then, every time I would leave her house, she would pray on me and made a cross about here [Informant crossed her heart]. Every time
she made a prayer, she was praying over these medals. [Informant, though a Protestant, was wearing several blessed Roman Catholic medals over
her heart.] She didn't know I had them on, of course. Well, that was the last Saturday I was there. See. So when I got home I called Miss Healer
and I said, 'Do you think Witch is worse?' And she said, 'No.' She said, 'Mrs. Informant, I think she's just working on your nerves' --- cause she
said, whenever she's there, Witch's all right; but whenever Witch seen me coming, she would throw herself into those spells. So I told
Miss Healer about Witch praying on me, and she said, 'I believe she's putting you in a spell.' And she said, 'Why can't you go out to Father Z.'
And, let's see, we waited until next week. Miss Friend [a Roman Catholic] took us [Informant, Daughter and small Grandson] out. We pressed the
bell and went into the hallway and some young priest came. We told him we wanted to speak to Father Z. Then Miss Friend introduced me to
him. And he told her to go into the parlor on the other side. And I guess I went into his study. Well, then we talked and he said, 'What made you
come to me?' He said, 'Don't you go to any church?' I told him I belonged to B. Church [which Informant had not attended for years] and he said,
why didn't I go to him [the clergyman there]. I told him that I heard out to Y. Church the priests could help you if you thought you were
hoodooed. He didn't say much of anything. He was a very firm old man. Let's see, so then I told him about Witch and told him that it seemed like
I had to go every day. So then he said, 'Who is this old hex?' I said, 'Her name is Witch,' I didn't even say her last name, 'she lives in the south part
of town.' And he said to me, 'Oh my!' He said, 'You are about the fiftieth person from the South End of town that's been to me because they
thought this woman had hoodooed them.' And then he said something about the South End of town. I don't remember what he said. I told him,
too, about her saying that we had it too good here [in Informant's home], that she was going to get even with us and make me suffer, having this
swell home and getting all of [Husband's] salary, and this and that. And then I told him about [Husband]. At that time Husband hadn't left home
yet. [Informant and Husband separated permanently two years later]. And he said to me, 'Don't you divorce him' --- that's been three years ago
[1932] --- 'he'll give this girl up.' Everybody thought so. He said, 'A wife's the best chance of holding a husband.' So then he prayed on me. He
stood up with his cross and prayed over me --- whatever you call it. And he said, 'I am going to give you this medal. I think it is the best one in
my whole collection.' Then after I thought a minute, I said to Father Z., 'Do you think it would hurt me to put this medal in Husband's clothes?'
And he said, 'No, it might help.' He wanted Husband to come out to see him, and I told him he would never come. See, he kind-a thought we were
both put in a spell. But see, Husband would never go. So he said to me, 'Don't you ever go in Witch's house again.' I told him I wouldn't. And he
said he would offer special prayers for me in church next day. I said, 'What do I owe you?' He said, 'Nothing.' I said, 'I want to give you
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something for your trouble and time.' So I gave him a dollar. And he told me to drop it in a little slit in the desk. I don't know what he said,
whether they use it for the poor or for the church. I think he said that. Miss Friend said if I had given him a quarter he would have been satisfied.
And then we [Informant and Miss Friend] went out to the car. And then Miss Friend took Grandson and Daughter in. Daughter thought Witch had
Grandson hoodooed too. It seemed that every time she [Witch] would come here [to Informant's home], Grandson would get one of those spells.
He would be playing, and if Witch would be here, see, why it just seemed like he would fall any place he would be at. One day he was at the top
of the steps and fell clean down. Another day he stood in the cellar way here [just off the kitchen where I sat while recording this story]. And
several times he was sitting in the high-chair and would just get like a dish rag, limber, and fall right out of the chair and turn blue. And
sometimes it would take us a half hour to get him to come out of it. And Witch [who was frequently hired for housework] would always run and
pick him up and rub him. Daughter and I would cry, thought he was going to die. And she said, 'Oh, he will be all right.' So one day Daughter
found one of his stockings on a bush around the house, and so she got it and took it to the cellar and burned it up. After we burned that up Witch
never came back. Then Witch took sick. That's where my story started, see. Well, then, all the doctors thought Grandson had heart trouble and
they couldn't do anything for him. And they said they didn't understand why the medicine didn't work on him to get him out of these spells. Dr.
Q. said, whenever he got another spell, to call him up that minute. He never got any more after we burned the stocking. But in the meantime we
took him to Father Z. I didn't go in, but Daughter told him that she thought he had heart trouble. And he said he never heard a child so small [two
years old] having heart trouble. He prayed on Grandson and he never had another spell. Daughter wasn't so generous. She didn't give him
a nickel. It was worth a dollar, if you thought you were in a spell, to get rid of it. From that time on he began to gain and gain, and Dr. Q.
couldn't understand it. When I came back from Father Z. I called up Miss Healer and told her I went to Father Z. and he told me not to go to
Witch's house any more. So I didn't. But the end of the week, Witch kept calling for me, said she must see me. And Miss Healer knew that I
would not go there any more because Father Z. told me not to, so she told Witch my phone was out of order. And Witch told her, 'You try again
every day until you get her.' That was like Friday. Saturday afternoon Miss Healer went to Witch's to give her a treatment. Miss Healer is
supposed to be a healer. She don't tell you what she does. People say she is good. She don't take no pay. What you give her she takes. Then, while
she was there, Witch grabbed her by the wrist, like this [Informant demonstrated the hold], and Miss Healer said to me, 'You don't know what a
feeling it was.' I said to Miss Healer, 'Maybe she is putting a spell on you.' And Miss Healer said, 'I am not afraid of her because I can take spells
off.' She says she can't, but the South End says she can. So Monday morning Miss Healer called me up and told me she went to St. Mary's
Hospital Sunday afternoon to give one of her patient's treatment. She walked up the steps and as she got in the big hall she fell flat, full length on
her face. She said the sister run to see if she was hurt. She said, 'No.' But she said, 'I felt like a fool.' She said it hurt her so bad she could hardly
get home. So she didn't go to Witch's Sunday night. So Monday morning Witch's Husband went after her. She told Witch's Husband she couldn't
come, she fell and hurt herself. So she didn't go Monday to Witch's. Then he said, 'Call Informant on the phone.' And she told him our phone was
still out of order. Then Tuesday morning early, Witch's Husband went about six o'clock and begged her to come again. She said, 'I can't come, I
can't walk on my foot.' She told me she wouldn't go back. So he went back home and told Witch. And she made him go to the grocery store on
the corner, F's Grocery, and call her up again, or me. She said, 'I told you I couldn't come at six o'clock and I can't come now.' 'I don't know what
I will do,' he says, 'no neighbor will come in [they were afraid of Witch].' Then Witch's Husband went home from the grocery store and Witch
was dead. Died all alone. I went to the funeral after she was dead. I wasn't afraid then." British.