I have collected folklore, old-wives tales, and superstitions for years. I dug deep into my collection for several days, sorting through to find those that are not as well heard of today. Some may be unusual. Some are just plain weird and creepy.
Many of these tidbits you may have never heard. Let me know if you have any to add to my list.
If a mother eats fish before the baby is a month old, death will follow. A cat should not be left in the room with a sleeping baby, for it might suck the baby’s breath and kill it.
If children shed their teeth before they are seven, they will die before they are eleven. If you have a kind of ringing in your right or left ear, it is called a death bell, and you will hear of a death in the direction of east or west.
If anyone calls your name, and you answer or go to see and find no one has called you, you are going to die. The spirit of your dead father or mother or some other deceased relative has called you. So, if you are called, do not answer.
To change the name of a person will cause his death. To dream of hair is a sign of death. If your hair grows fast, you will not live very long. If you dream about a tooth, it is a sign that you will hear about a death.
If you dream about a tooth falling out, it’s a sign of death in the family. If you lose a front tooth, a relative will die. When you dream of white clothes, it means death. Don’t try on a black bonnet, or you will be wearing it for mourning. Walking with only one shoe on means someone will die soon.
If you wake in the morning with the death mold (yellow spots) on your hand, it is a sign that a dead man has shaken hands with you. If an ill person gets better on Friday, he will die on Sunday.
If a dog- howls near a sick person, that person will surely die If dogs run around the house in which someone is sick, the patient will die If a person in the home is sick and a rooster hops up on the steps and crows looking way off, the person will die.
If an owl hollos at a house while anyone is sick, it will make them worse and probably cause them to die. It is believed that a person will die easier if his head is toward the East.
If it rains while a person is dying, the devil has come to take the body. If you dream of a dead person moving in a hurry, he has gone to hell.
If a dying person hits you, you will die. Never start anything on Monday because you’ll never live to finish it. If you drive nails on Sunday, there will be nails driven in your coffin before the week is out.
If you walk through the woods with your sister, and she walks on the left side of a tree, and you walk on the right, your mother will die before the year is out. In building, never mix old and new lumber, for someone will die soon if you do.
If you make a window out of a door, one of your family members will die. If three people look in a mirror at the same time, one will die within a year. It is believed that the pictures of dead people turn yellow. Some think photographs are omens of death.
To rebuild an old table is a sign of death in the family. If you sing at your table and dance by your bed, You’ll have no rest when you are dead. To see a shadow of a coffin in a glass of milk is a sign of death. If a ball is thrown through a window, there will be a death in that house soon. If a garment is made on Ascension Day, the wearer will be killed by lightning. Never sweep anything through a door after sundown, or some member of your family will die.
If anyone starts to piece a bed quilt in the form of a star, someone in their family will die before it is finished.
While sewing, if a drop of blood gets on the garment, the one for whom the garment is intended will die before it is worn out. To dream of an angel is a sign of death. If you stand on your head, your liver will turn over, and you will die from it. A shooting star is a sign of someone going to heaven. A comet is a sign of death.
A green winter means a fat graveyard, while a white Christmas indicates a lean graveyard. If three people light a cigarette from the same match, one will die in a year.
If you dream of hearing a gun firing, it is a sign of death. To dream of muddy water is a sign of death.
If you sleep on your belly, you will drown. If a cow bellows after dark, someone is dying. If a dog stretches his front legs forward and inches along on his stomach, he is said to be measuring somebody’s grave. If a groundhog barks at you, you will die.
To dream of fresh pork out of season is considered a sure sign of death. If the first snake you see in the year is a dead one, some member of your family, or a friend, will die during the year. If a snake bites a person that has eaten onions a day or two before, the person will die.
When a weasel crosses an Indian’s path, he fears greatly, for it means speedy death. If a hen lays a small egg, some member of your family will die. If a bird pecks on the house, count the number of times, for they signify the number of days before a death will occur in that house.
One dove is a sign of death. If you hear a mourning dove around the house, someone will die unless you tie a knot in the corner of your apron. If you kill a hummingbird, you will not live to be twenty-one years of age.
Turn your pockets wrong side out after hearing the hooting of an owl so as to prevent death. If an owl whoops on a tree near the house or on a chimney, it is a sign of death in the house or the neighborhood.
If the people in the house would put salt in the fire to burn the tail of the bird in the chimney or would turn a pair of shoes upside down under the bed, or would turn clothes inside out, the owl would stop hooting and fly away.
An earwig in the ear will work its way into the brain and kill you To dream of lice is a sign of sickness and death.
Never give anybody any red pepper. It will give them bad luck, and they will more than likely die soon.
Blackberry blossoms bring death; they make people restless and cause all sorts of trouble during blooming time.
It is a sign of death to dream of fruit out of season. It is bad luck to set pine trees out in the yard in a line, for as many members of the family will die as there are trees in the line.
If you stand with your back too near the fire, it will melt the marrow in your backbone and kill you. Never leave pictures uncovered in a room where a corpse is laid out.
If you are afraid of a dead person, touch one, and you will never be afraid of another; the spirits will cease to haunt you. If a dead man doesn’t get stiff at once, some other member of the family is going to die. The door knobs should be changed after death so the ghost won’t come in.
