The other day, a friend came to visit. She knocked on the back door, and my dog Miss Emmie rushed to the door barking, excited to have some company around here, I’m guessing. Miss Emmie and I are suffering from cabin fever.
I opened the back door and welcomed my friend to come in. We had a good visit and when she went to leave she started towards the front door. I’m thinking to myself, “surely she knows she cannot go out the front door cause she came in through the back door!” Just as she grabbed for the doorknob I yelled, “No, you can’t do that”. I smiled and explained “It’s just a superstition. Bad luck to go out a different door than you come in.” Needless to say, we went out through the back door.
These and other beliefs are deeply rooted in Appalachian folklore. If you are from these mountains, hills, and hollers you were more than likely raised up on some superstitions and probably were taught to apply them in your life.
Do you own an Apple tree? Remember to leave a single apple hanging from the tree at the end of the harvest, lest you attract the Devil. Pass a cemetery and you might wanna hold your breath, to avoid inhaling the soul of someone whose body was recently interred. If a rooster crows at a burial, the one who’s buried is a sinner. Don’t forget that when a person dies in a home, open a door for their spirit to pass.
As you carry the body out of the house (feet forward, of course), don’t be surprised if a gust of wind hits as you step out. Appalachian death superstitions have it that a mighty wind will appear to escort the soul and help it on its way. If you touch a dead person, you won’t dream of them. If a picture falls off the wall for no reason, someone will die (or the house is haunted). Death comes in threes. If the person is dead because of a murder, you can use the body as a witness. It works like this – have the accused person touch the fatal wound on the body. If it suddenly bleeds, then you have found your murderer.
When it comes to taking a family photo with two of your cousins, try to be the one on either side. When you have a picture of exactly three people, the one in the middle is going to die first. It doesn’t say how much longer the two on either side will live beyond that, so you might want to avoid any road trips with them for a while. If I were a rabbit hunter, I’d wait until the sun rose a little high in the sky cause unhappiness will hang over the day of those who encounter a hare or rabbit before sunrise.
An owl seen during the day or looking into a window is known as an omen foretelling early death; the ringing of an unattended church bell forewarns that someone in the parish will die, and the presence of a bat in a home means its occupants will have no choice but to leave soon, let alone one of them die.
In the early days in these parts, midwives from Scotland were said to give a newborn a pinch of ash while breastfeeding for the first time to give infants lifelong protection against witchcraft, and Irish immigrants were known to spit on their babies to bring good luck.
Another notion was that leaving washed diapers on a clothesline overnight could attract evil forces. Dream of a baby, someone you know will die. If a baby is born with a “veil,” he or she will have the gift of prophecy. If a pregnant woman is scared by something, the baby will have a birthmark shaped by what scared her. Here in Appalachia, many superstitions suggested that hair should be cut on a particular day and never after sundown. Disposal of hair was also important; many believed it was to be burned. Hair was/is sacred and could be used against you.
If a bird used your hair to create or add to its nest, lore implied that you would be stricken with headaches. The tighter the nest was weaved the worse off you could be. One granny tale suggests that if a child is ailing with asthma, you must drill a hole in a black oak or sourwood tree just above the head of the victim, and put a lock of his/her hair in the hole sealing it with wax afterward.
Once the child is taller than this spot, they will be cured. This tale also warned caretakers to be sure not to cut down the tree — I’ll leave the result of that to the imagination. Oh and don’t ever place your shoes on a bed cause if you put shoes on the bed, it heralds death for someone close to you.
Never take an old broom to a new house – old energy and dirt will follow. Salt placed in four corners and all window sills of the house will keep out evil. It’s bad luck to sweep dirt out your door. If your second toe is longer than your big toe, you will rule your partner. A woman has more ribs than a man (think Adam and Eve.) When an eyelash falls out, pinch it lightly between your thumb and forefinger, then make a wish and blow. If it sticks, the wish will come true.
The seventh daughter of the seventh daughter or the seventh son of the seventh son will be a healer, fortune teller, preacher, or prophet. Rubbing the head of a person with red hair is good luck (come see me all my red-headed friends!).
If you recite this verse, it stops bleeding: “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. ”Ezekiel 16:6 – King James Version (KJV)
To cure a headache, apply brown paper soaked in vinegar to the head. To cure thrush, take a child to a person who’s never seen his/her father. That person will blow breath in the child’s face three times for three days, and the thrush will disappear. Brown eggs are better and more nutritious than white eggs*
Put a spoon in your mouth while chopping onions to prevent crying.
And one last superstition, Lavender only grows for strong women. When our ancestors arrived in these spooky and sometimes dark mountains, they found many new things. These people believed that everything mysterious was the work of a spirit or of the devil.
They didn’t have the science and technology we do today to explain things. These mysterious things, coupled with their fears gave way to practices and chants as a way of self-protection from the unknown. I am a spiritual person, but honestly, being raised with some of these so deeply rooted in me that, well, let’s just say, “Better off safe than sorry”. I’m still going to cross an “X” on my car’s windshield if’n a Black Cat crosses in front of me!
*Editor’s note, contemporary science has shown this to be not true.
