Witch Superstitions (Lots of Witch Superstitions)

 

 To become a witch, go to a mountain top at dawn, shoot through a handkerchief at the rising sun, curse Jehovah three times, and own the Devil as master. When you shoot through the handkerchief, blood will fall from it..........Mountains

To become a witch: the candidate goes with the Devil to the top of the highest hill at sunrise nine successive days and curses God; the Devil then places one hand on the candidate's head and one on his feet, and receives the promise that all between his hands shall be devoted to his service. Mountains

 To become a witch, you shoot at the moon nine times with a silver bullet, cursing God each time
 You can become a witch by taking a spinning-wheel to the top of a hill, giving yourself up to the Devil, and waiting until the wheel begins to turn. The witches will then come to instruct you.. Mountains

. One who teaches witchcraft to more than three people will herself lose the power.........Mountains

 If a witch goes to church, she will sit with her back toward the minister..........Northern Kentucky

 If an old woman has but one tooth in her mouth, she is a witch.......................Mountains

  A witch frequently takes the form of a black cat.

. When a witch is at her mischief, she is invisible to everybody except the person bewitched. Mountains

 A witch can kill a person or animal with a witch or hair ball, which is made by rolling a small bunch of hair from a squirrel, horse, or cow into a hard, round ball.........................Mountains

By rubbing a hand over a gun, a witch can put a

"spell" on it, so that its shot will not hit anything ..................................Mounta‹ins

 A witch can put a "spell" on a dog, and thus make him back-track on a deer's trail. She rubs her hand over the dog........................Mountains

 If you find a small egg in a hen's nest, you will have trouble, for it is a witch-egg......................................Northern Kentucky

. If a horse's mane is matted in the morning, the witches have ridden him during the night.

 If you ride your horse on the same day that you have found witch stirrups in his mane, he will throw you.

 Tie strands of a horse's mane or tail together, to keep off witches.

 Plait your horse's mane with corn shucks, to prevent witches from riding him. .Western Kentucky

 Witches transfer milk from the victim's cow to their own cows .........................Mountains

 A witch can obtain butter by merely squeezing the handle of an ordinary table fork.

 If you burn the wisp of the bushy part of a cow's tail, the animal will cease to be bewitched........................................Mountains

  A bewitched cow is cured by the witch-doctor's taking some hair from the sick cow's back and boiling some of her milk over the fire into which the hair had been thrown....................Mountains

. If your cow is bewitched, shut the door, do not let her have anything to eat, and then milk her in silence without looking up............Mountains

 To free butter from a witch's control, put a horse-bridle over the chum........Blue Grass Negroes

If the butter will not come, drop a red hot horseshoe into the milk to kill the witches; then the butter will come.......................Mountains

 For bewitched milk, heat the filings from a horseshoe and put them into the milk. The butter will then come, and by next day something disastrous will happen to the witch that will establish her identity...........................Mount ​ains

  To avert a witch charm, put a spindle into the churn.............................Mounta‹ins

 If butter will not come, put a hot poker into the churn. You will thus drive away witches

. If the butter will not gather, put a dime into the bottom of the churn.................Mountains

 Money should be put into the churn to keep away witches ............................Mountains

To keep witches off, let some drops of. the cow's milk fall on a piece of silver..........Mountains

To keep witches off, keep a piece of silver in a glass of water and sprinkle the cow's back with the water every few days.........Western Kentucky

 When a cow is bewitched, the charm may be broken by cutting her tongue with a silver coin sharpened on a grindstone.....................Mountains

. Never go to bed with your shoes higher than your head, for if you do, the witches will be after you for three months....................Mountains

If you are awake at eleven, you will see witches and black cats at twelve.................Mountains

 If a fire that you are attempting to make goes out three times, you are bewitched. .Central Kentucky

  If a spider is consumed through falling into a lamp, witches are near....................Blue Grass

 The twitching of the eye is a sign that one is bewitched.

 If you step on a crack in a sidewalk, a witch will appear and seize you.

 It is unwise to keep egg shells because witches go to sea in them. Burn the shells.

 The witch-hazel leaf should not be plucked and carried about you. Witches conjure with it.

 A person that does not believe in witches cannot be bewitched.

 Witches cannot cross running water.

 Take a chew of tobacco to keep off the witches.........................Mountains

. A piece of rattlesnake skin worn in the clothing keeps witches away..................Mountains

. One penny will prevent the witches from riding you...........................Western Kentucky

. If you put a silver dollar under your head, the witches cannot trouble you...........Mountains

 A piece of silver in the pocket or a silver ring on the finger or on the horse's bridle will keep the witches away
 To keep off witches and evil spirits, you must take off your hat and turn it around.

 A negro with a rabbit foot, mounted on a white horse in the dark of the moon in a cemetery, will break a witch spell..................Mountains

. If a jack-o'-lantern gets on your back, it will ride you until morning. Avert this fate by turning your coat wrong side out.

. When you lie on the ground, draw circles around you with a willow fork, to keep off the witches.

 If when you see a bunch of hair near the door you fail to pick it up, the witches will overtake you before midnight......................Mountains

. A witch cannot step over a broom.

 Witches will not trouble you at night, if you sleep with a Bible under your head.........Mountains

 If you are troubled by witches, it is a good plan to sleep with a meal sifter over the face. When the witches come to worry you, they are compelled to pass back and forth through every mesh. By this time you will have had sufficient sleep and can get up......................Western Kentucky

 If you han ga bread sifter on a door-knob at night, you will find witches in it the next morning...................................Louisville Negroes

. Draw a picture of a witch that is tormenting you and shoot through it with a silver bullet.

 Get rid of a witch by shooting her picture over running water.........................Mountains.

 You may kill a witch by shooting at her picture over running water. If you shoot the picture under other conditions, you may break the charm but may not hurt the witch..............Mountains

If you are about to break a witch's charm by shooting her picture with a silver bullet, she can break the charm, provided she or a member of her family borrows anything from you or your family..................................Mountains

. You can remove a witch's charm and also kill her by driving a nail through her picture near the heart, and then by striking it once each day for nine days ..................................Mountans

. You can break a witch's hold on you by boiling ragweed in a pot, beating it all the time. She can break the charm by borrowing from you or having any of her family do so..............Mountains

You can cure a bewitched person by removing daily one twig from a bundle of nine willow twigs which you have gathered...................Mountains

 If you are afflicted with witches, a hoodoo ball made of gum and purchased with a piece of silver will scare away the witches... North-eastern Kentucky

 To break the charm of a witch, spit on the brush end of a broom, once for the witch and once for each member of her family. Brush it down the rear of the fireplace; then place the broom across the front door. Finally send for her. She can do you no further harm unless you give or lend her salt or something else......................Mountains

 To drive off a witch, place a dime under the hearth................................Mountains

. To remove a witch's hold on a person, cut the witch out of the victim's leg................Mountains

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