Appalachian Omens

Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Okay, we're good.

Yeah. Welcome back. Hello. We have a very special episode for you today.

I'm excited. You shouldn't be. Oh, you might be. I don't know.

So remember how we've talked about the past Appalachian superstitions. Well, today we're going to talk about some signs, omens, and beliefs that Appalachian folk have carried with them for generation. So kind of on that similar vein of superstitions. But you know, so when I think of omens, I think of like bad things like it's an omen.

That's a bad omen. Yeah. The tends to be the connotation, right? But I actually just looked it up just to see and actually an omen is a prophetic significance, which can represent actually good and bad things to come.

It's not just bad. Yeah, you have a good omen. Yeah. But it also like it's often related to being bad.

Right. So we're going to talk about a couple of things that are good old Appalachian folks have felt that are omens. So, you know, let me know what you all think. Okay.

All right. I'm sorry I'm taking out things left and right. Please, my body is falling apart. Do not knock down the mic.

Okay, I got it. I'm in center control. Is that about omen? I think if you knock down the mic, you're going to have a year of bad luck.

Great. I'm throwing that on you right now. Okay. Well, good luck.

All right. So the first one is a chicken lane and uneven number of eggs is an omen of danger. Okay, glad I don't check. Like shit, there are three, there should have been four, I'm going to die.

Oh, you know, like who knows? Wow. The next one is a rabbit crossing your path before sunrise will bring unhappiness. I mean, why are you out there before?

I have to be in the public school by 730. So, come enter. It's way before dark. I get it before, you know, I'm going to work by 715.

Yeah, it's too much. Yeah, it's too much. Yeah. It's a lot.

Yeah. Always go out the same door. You came in. I heard that before.

I heard that before. I sometimes do that. Sometimes we always do that. Well, we go out the door.

Right. So I came in your front door tonight and I'm going to go out your garage door. Do, do, do, do, do, do. That's not good.

It's not good. Okay. That fortune is soon to follow when a broom falls for no reason. I want you to know what if I broom fall?

It's a broom to go to this couch right now that I'm eyeing. Well, that's my son's broom. It's still a broom. That's true.

It's a child's broom, but nonetheless he was sweeping for you. I love it. You're welcome. Let's see.

Carry a four leaf clover to work off that lock. Okay. So that's my fun fact when I, when you are in those awkward places and they decided to do an icebreaker that's total, stop doing icebreakers. They're annoying.

But then I say, give us a phone back that back yourself. What's one in the middle? Yeah. Like icebreakers.

All right. Do you want to settle? Are you okay? Well, there's me.

Do you need like a sip of a latte or something? Maybe. No, but that my fun fact when I have to do those asinine things is that I have a weird talent for finding four of the clovers. Interesting.

And I think my mom always says this because I have right here. A little bit of Irish in me, but I think it is the way that my brain sees patterns. And when something is like a four leaf clover stands out of all the threes, I think for some read just the way my brain interprets patterns like that stands out to me. You're not up at a wee hour a sudden morning to go and snoke to fire.

No. You just happen to find a clover. All right. No, but no, about any time I'd make like a point to like look for one, I find one.

Wow. Let me know. I need some good luck. Okay.

You know what my thing is when people ask me that? I mean, be dexterous. Oh, yeah, you are. Really kind of a cool thing that I'm left in right hand.

So kind of cool. Okay. A chin dimple is a sign of bad character and dimples are made by the devil's shoe. I have devils.

I don't have my son has nipples. Yeah, you do. I don't. Oh, no.

I've been smashed by the devil's shoe next for the devil. Cows laying down. I mean, it's going to rain. My mother has always said that always.

We have a lot of cattle on our land and they lay down when it's going to rain or they go into the woods and lay down. Does it work the same with snow coming? Do they also lay down any kind of precipitation? I don't think so.

I just always notice them because we can see them from our house up on the house. We live on a ridge so there's dips and goes back up so I can see them on the hill. And when it's going to rain, they usually all take off into the woods and lay down in the woods. That's not smart.

Right. I mean, they never said they were the brightest animals in the world. We told them. But that's what they do.

Interesting. Well, did you also know that deaths come in three? Oh, yes. Usually.

Absolutely. And also bad luck tends to come in three. As any first responder, it comes in three. Oh, I'm sure.

They're like, they're just waiting. Well, we used to, it's not really a joke, but we used to make the running statement, I guess, on holidays. We would sit at home because both of my parents, something would often be working at Christmas or Thanksgiving or whatever. So we would be sitting around the table and listening to the scanner that we have.

And what year them go out for, you know, heart attack or something like that, where there was like active CPR and like you realize their problem, I'm going to make it. It was always three. There would be like three of them on holidays. And holidays were the big ones.

Big time, big time. Harder than that. Especially. Oh my gosh.

I'm glad I'm not a first responder. Like, oh God, well, there's one thing. There's another. Yeah.

Another one is don't let anyone sweep under your feet. I think we talked about that because you were talking about vacuuming. Yes. Don't wash clothes on Sunday.

That's a problem because I often wash clothes on Sunday. I just found on Saturday this past weekend and but usually I do on Sunday. Well, you know, by the time we get to the weekend, we have a lot of clothes to wash. That's when we like change sheets on beds and you know, so we've got a lot of laundry to do on the weekend.

So I have to do some on Sunday. Usually my clothes. Dreaming of bees is a sign of good fortune. I can't say that I've dreamt about bees.

So I can't either. This is making me feel screwed. Right. Like I have more of the bad ones than the bad ones.

Me too. So I'm like, I feel like this leans towards the bad omens. Dropping a knife means a man is coming to visit. I dropped a knife today.

A man is coming to visit you. I don't want that. Probably your dad. Probably.

It's probably a man. It's fine. A man is coming to visit. It also sounds creepy.

I just want to say I don't want that. No, dropping your fork, however, means that a woman is coming to visit you. Yeah. Also did that today.

Can you not hold your tensiles? I'm just curious. No, it's a problem. No.

It's a pandi coordination. Well, your mom and your dad are coming to visit my home. So if they come by tomorrow, hopefully you won't be doing laundry. Okay.

Yeah. Good. Yeah. Great.

Ciena Whitehorse means good luck. Okay. Your foot itching is a sign that you are about to embark on a long journey. So if you get that it's not like athletes, but or anything like that, it is just that you're going on a long journey.

I don't want that either. That's not fun. No. Ah, gifts of knives to newlyweds will cut their love.

So two of my really good friends just got married. Did you give them knives? I considered it because on their registry, they had many things they picked out and there was a nice like knife set and I was like, I can't get that. I did not end up getting that.

I gotta make a card because I'm like, that's better. But yeah, I did almost by the knives. So that also seems apropos for someone who has her own murder podcast that she's giving out knives. You know, that really crossed my mind.

But now I'm like extra glad I didn't get the knives. Yeah, it doesn't sound good. Yeah. Clutch it in either.

Yeah. A girl should hold their feet up when crossing a railroad track or they will lose their boyfriend. So when you say crossing a railroad track, do you mean like if I'm, do I have to jump over it if I'm walking or is this like if I'm in a car, I should pick my feet up off the floor. I don't know exactly.

I don't know. It does mean crossing. So I don't know if that's in a motor vehicle and you just lift your feet off the floor. Why is that?

I didn't go ahead and lift her feet just in case. But what if I want so if I'm in a bad relationship and I want to lose this boy, then I can keep him down. Just walk over it and hope for the best or keep him on the floor in a motor vehicle. I need some more specifics.

I don't know. And what's interesting is it could be like you drop the knife so this man shows up and automatically becomes your boyfriend, but you want to lose him. So you have to go cross railroad tracks with your feet down, which you should be doing. Hmm.

Interesting. That's a lot to keep up with. You know, I'm glad you have some really weird stuff. You know, we're a weird folk.

We are. It's just what we are. We're not just a simple minded folks. No.

We like a charm. We're pretty complex. We are. Now if you hang a horseshoe upside down to keep good luck from running out, that's why you should do it to keep good luck from running out.

And you only that you've got your clover. Yeah. It's fine. It's fine.

Hang a mirror by your door to protect against evil. But see, I thought that mirrors could like attract evil. Maybe it's only if they're by the door. Maybe it's like good thing.

I have a large mirror in my living room. Yeah. I have a stand up mirror in my bedroom. Don't you have a mirror in my front door?

No. No. No. I think I like mirror in my house.

It's in the bathroom. No, I have a bedroom. I have a bedroom. I have a bathroom here and a bedroom here.

Hmm. Hmm. I'll think some more on that. Interesting.

A hard to light candle is a sign of coming rain. So you can't light your candle and the cows are just laying down in the woods. So I mean, there's a lot of, you know, instead of that, you know, old person who goes, oh, feels like rain. I feel like money sometimes.

But you are 112. Hearing a screech of an owl at dusk means that someone will die. Oh God. This is, I've heard many of screeching owls at night.

It could have been outside Dave. Your tail is cat. It could have been. I know it could have been.

I did have, I had a baby screech owl roost in my, so the house I live in has a covered porch. And in the corner above one of the support poles, which is really not like a ledge. Like it's just kind of where the molding is around the top. Yeah.

There was a little fluffy bird sitting up there one night and I'd gone out and take trash out or something. And I'm like, oh my God, these are gonna fly my face. So I was looking up at it and I'm like, that's a fuzzy bird. Like, you know, baby birds are real fuzzy looking.

I was like, but it was huge. I mean, not huge, but it was like, you know, definitely not a baby bird. Like, it was full like Robin size. And I'm like, dang, that's a little orange baby bird.

So I took a picture of it and I said to my mom, I'm like, what the heck is this? And she's like, Oh, I'm not, it's an owl. The baby owl. I'm like, oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh. So he just chilled there all night. And then the next morning he was gone. So he was on.

So he was on my foot. Does anybody die? No, but I know it. Okay, but it didn't screech.

Oh, but it was a three-jowel. Okay. So I don't know. Just be cautious of that.

It was near my home. Just be aware. Okay. All right.

So while you're baking and, you know, you're needing your dough, if it cracks, that apparently a funeral will follow. It means you don't have enough water in it. Because they know what that means. Yeah.

No one will buy that one. Okay. So that's that's how it's not only though. If you hold your breath as you are driving past or walking past, whatever you would do in a cemetery, you could inhale the soul of the dead.

If you don't hold your breath, if you hold your breath passing a cemetery, then you will inhale spirit. See, hold your breath. Or you could. So you're not holding your breath.

Oh, I'm supposed to hold your breath. Hopefully that's a really short cemetery. I was like, what if you are like me and you walk through cemeteries regularly? Oh, you've already inhaled it.

I feel that coming from you. And that's why you were in fact that we start this podcast. Why? Because you have dead souls just emanating for your body.

That's good luck. Good luck to a young Haley. I take my dog to walk the cemetery in our town regularly. Oh, young Haley.

It's like a figure eight. Of course it is. My grandfather's buried there. So, you know, we've sent you all up there sometimes.

Oh, dear. I walk through the cemetery. It's all right. Haley plan again.

She's filled with the dead souls. Thanks. Yes, sir. You're okay.

I just docked the fire. All right. If a man were to wipe his hands on a girl's apron, do you wear the apron? It's so oddly sexual.

It's super sexual. I just be honest. At any way you wear an apron, it kind of is inappropriate because either your cover is just stereo or your lower half. So ultimately you're right.

It is. Why wouldn't you fall in love? Because you just sexually accosted them. Oh, my.

That's what she said. No, I can't say that I'm a big apron wearer. I don't know if this were the 50s. Yeah.

But also don't touch other people's aprons. Just give your hands to yourself is the long and short of it. Right. Don't just don't touch other's bodies.

And also aprons. And don't listen to this of like, well, I thought we would fall in love. Because you can't get in trouble. Don't do this.

That's not. You can't get mad. At least. Don't do it.

Any of that. All right. If your nose starts itching, that means that soon company will arrive. Do you know before you came tonight?

I did have an itchy nose. I actually have a little like pimple inside my nose. It's a little bit. Yes.

It drives me nuts. Give us a lot. I don't know if it's like dry air or well. Anyway, put a little rose.

What is it? Rose something that helps. Anyway, talk about it. Anyway, yes, that's my home.

And if you don't put the rose, what is it? The rose up your nose. The rose up your nose. Yeah.

Then you can't. I haven't done that. Yeah. So so company was coming and lo and behold, you showed up.

I get the call, you know, that I have a guest down at the gate and I say, no, she is not allowed in, but somehow you paid her off and you came in anyway. No. So I guess it was right. No.

All right. So you get seven years of bad luck to close a knife. You didn't open. So, you know, like a pocket knife.

If somebody else opens it and you close it, you get some bad luck. I'm really bad at opening and closing pocket knives. You just keep yours open. Yeah.

No, I'm just like, it doesn't. I'm afraid I'm going to slice my fingers off. I did have a pocket knife and I was a kid that was a long one. Oh, dear, because I found it in our field, blade out sticking into the ground.

And of course you discovered this. Of course it was you. And I took it off. I had a rust colored stain on it.

That could have been blood. I had 100% probably was. Did they find bodies on your property? It's true.

Just one. But were they stabbed? No. All right.

I don't need it anymore. I'm already I'm kind of regretting why when they let you in tonight, but it's fine. It was a woman who is expecting to a woman who's pregnant sees a dead person. Her baby will have a birthmark.

Oh, shit. Now I had a birthmark when I was born. It was called a strawberry. I was kind of like above my eye.

Anyway, I don't know if my mom saw any dead people, but I'll ask her. My mom saw many dead people. She was pregnant with me. I have many birthmarks.

Well, she's an empty. It makes sense. I have one on the back of my head and my like in my hair. I have one on my wrist.

I have two on my stomach. One of them looks like a moth. And the other looks like a J. This one on my arm is a just kind of a splotch.

And then on the back of my head, it's like a little splotch. Oh my gosh. So many. Yeah, my four.

So probably, I mean, yeah, she probably is not least worded about it. Oh, if not more. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Wow. So, yeah. Well, so this goes back to your whole cemetery.

If you step on a grave, it's bad luck. Heard that. Yeah. But I mean, how can you not?

They're so close together. They're close together. And that's actually where you walk on people's graves. You just can't help it.

Right. So yeah. Keeping a lucky rabbit's foot in your pocket really helps to ease your aches and pains and also give you good luck. So let's say the arthritis is just your pain.

Yeah, as opposed to putting the mental atum on, you just get yourself a rabbit foot and shove in your pocket. Hey, I'll try anything at this point. Listen, I mean, all right. So where's the rabbit?

Let's get to know if we can do this. Let's go. Don't drop the knife because a man will show up. If your ear starts itching, it's a sign that someone's talking about you.

I've heard that. Like when people come over and say, are you show up after someone's been talking about you? And they say, oh, your ears were must have been burning. Mm hmm.

Which means, you know, a little sneaky mixed sneaker, some. Yeah. First of all, why were you listening, you know, to me and Joe's conversation? So like, back up sister.

Yeah, I know. I guess. Who's to say? All right.

So bad luck to spill salt, unless you throw a pinch over your left shoulder and it has to be the left. Yes, it does. I do this regularly. Yep.

So then you ask yourself, is it for good luck or is it just OCD? I mean, probably OCD. I mean, else. It's a therapist.

I mean, it comes out. It's like an immediate reaction. Like, okay. Think of it.

I know. I'm like, oh, I can't have too much salt. Knock on wood to continue good fortune. We do that all the time, right?

We always say that. Keep a penny in your washer. And your washer? And your washer because it brings you good luck.

What about ruin it? I very well, but listen, these old tales are telling us we need to do it. So start clogging up your washer now, Haley. I accidentally washed my house.

Key the other day. I was well, right? I tore my wash and machine up. Good Lord.

That's good. I'm glad you didn't. Yeah. Leaving diapers on clothesline.

So you can tell this is old because the cloth diapers, I always was lazy and used the disposable. But if you do it during a full moon, it will attract evil forces. So therefore your child's butt will be filled with nothing but evil. And honestly, it always is because when you open up that diaper, come on.

I mean, that's pretty evil. Yes. I saw this potty train, but the other day, we did not get it in the toilet. Just started spraying everywhere.

And I was like, point it down. Point it down. He was like, I'm trying. He was just like, up the egg.

So yes, you never find the things in a diaper anyway. Yeah. All right. Well, if you leave one apple on the tree, it keeps the evil away.

So if you're out there picking your apples, leave at least one one on the right. Probably a good one. Okay. Never cut your baby's hair until after their first birthday.

Why? They say it's bad luck. Yeah. And the evil will be for all them.

My son was about 20 months when he had his percure cut. Yeah. Of course, I have his little lock and a piece of paper. My baby.

Let's see. Never repay salt that you have borrowed. I have never borrowed salt. I can't say I have.

But sure. I want you to know I am not giving the stem salt back to you. Once I take it, it's mine. Right.

But like how would you give salt back? So like you give me your salt shaker. I'm like, highly, we live an hour away from you. Right.

So you can find my house. I need salt. I'm going to drive an hour to the house as opposed to go to the grocery store. And I'm going to ask her for the salt, but she ain't getting it back in large part because of the drive.

Yeah. But also I'm going to use it. Okay. So yeah, that's a weird one.

That's an odd one. Plant your crops under a full moon. I heard that. What is that supposed to do?

Is it supposed to be like plentiful crops or something? Things will grow better. I don't know if that's true. I've heard that.

I don't know if it's true. Well, you need to learn. Okay. Let me know for sure.

I'll do a controlled experiment. When I do my garden next summer, I'll plant some under a full moon and the others not. Did you know that another one is that your baby has to fall off the bed before their first birthday? Or they'll have that look?

I noticed I have off my changing table when I was, I think, two. It was one because remember your mom said it was like your first birthday and you had a huge gash. I have not. Yeah.

On my head. I am she stood me. She's my mother's fault. She stood me up on my changing table so she could take a picture of me because it's my first birthday and I had really cute shoes on and I loved sesame Street and I had Big Bird on my shoes.

So as she put me on the changing table and stepped back, you know, so she could get the picture. I looked down and go Big Bird and just tumbled face planted out of the tile. Yeah. Yeah.

I screamed. She screamed. That was the last we recall of Haley as she was. I cried, mom cried.

We never been crying. I cried and I didn't even know her. Yeah. So I spent my first birthday with a big old putt not on my head.

Yeah. I was. So I'm so messed up. No.

I was a teenager. I was probably seen Titanic for the 18th time at that point. But inside in that moment, April 1998, I feel myself go Big Bird and feel the sense, you know, because we're so connected. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Really.

No. Not really. No. I'm sure.

I'm sure. My mother who is the oldest of four children when her brother was born, she was the youngest. She was so jealous of him that she threw him off the couch as like a little baby. And he started screaming and wailing and my mom's my grandma comes in and she's like, I don't know what happened.

He just fell off the couch. Yeah. She was like six or seven years old. Yeah.

She knocked him over and you know, now we say that it's probably why he is. We're not going into detail. But anyway, so if you put a two edged axe in a stop facing a storm, you have to go around it in a storm. But why are you out there with an axe in a storm?

Preface in the summer. That's when it's the coolest time outside. I know it's a cast. There are so many rules.

I know. So stop the clocks when there is a death to prevent another one. That's a lot. That's a lot of work.

How can you do that now? Because everything is, you know, digital. How do you stop? That's a lot.

That's a lot. Yeah. We're a Buckeye in your broad ward off rheumatism. I feel like people just think I had a mompest on them.

All I see is like, you know, maybe like those Madonna bras that are more like, you know, everybody's like the triangle bras struck a pose, a boat and you're like, no, I'm just trying to, you know, ward off the arthritis. They're like, Madonna? You're like, no, no. I'm sitting in there and it's like, well, she's there.

She has very cold. Or she's a pain. No, she's having a sis. I beat out.

We don't know. Oh, no. Did you know that women should not do any gardening or canning during her period? I mean, there's a lot of things we shouldn't do during our period.

Good work. Like work. I should not have to work. Like have to interact with any member of public.

No, it's not appropriate. No, because I'm upset. I feel emotional and I feel like I just need to lie down for that week. I do.

I just need to lie down and people need to serve me. I need to get door dash for all meals. My body's in turmoil. Exactly.

Don't you know what's going on? I mean, literally we are shedding things. The lining of our uterus. There's a lot of blood.

There's a lot of stuff going on in there. It's just so much happening. Don't look at me. Don't touch me.

Yeah. It just brings me food and a four leaf clover. Nope. I've already found it.

Never really got that. I don't need your help for that. Thank you. She's been straightening out.

Thanks. On a side note. You're not all? Did you know that when folks walk together, they both walk on the same side of the post or they will, it'll break your friendship?

Okay. Good to know. So you and I be aware of that or otherwise, this podcast is done. It is over.

All right. Good to know. All right. Let me give you one more.

Okay. I'm ready. Poor drop of strong drink on the ground for ghosts who have passed. Well, poor one out four.

Yeah. Yeah. So poor one for good old Haley. We remember her so well.

Remember her fondly. She raised me up. So I could stand on mountains. Because it was good luck.

She raised me up, but she fell after she fell. It's her big bird shoes. It's a sequel to Heart of Box. Oh, yeah.

That was a bash. Bob. Bob. What are the kids are saying?

I don't know. I don't know either. I've been away from the children for two months. It was a classic.

It was. And I got to learn all the lingo now when I go back and I'm real nervous about it. Come on in. But here's what you do.

You go to them and you're like, yo, what's that mean? Have you heard that new song? It's going around the tick tock. It's called Heart of Box.

It's called Heart of Box. I don't know if you've heard it. It is a classic. What episode was that from?

I have no idea. There was so much. The Sodder children. Maybe.

Oh, yeah. No, maybe. I did the damn episode. Oh, yeah.

You were asking me like you didn't remember. No, I remembered. I was quizzing you. Oh, you know I don't remember.

So do you have any omens or something besides like your four leaf clover that you like hold onto? The salt thing I do. And I feel like there's other little things that I do like that. I mean, just like I have a necklace I wear all the time.

And I'm trying to think of her like good luck is there anything I do. I have a weird thing. Not really. You know what I mean.

So I have these pair of earrings. I love the really great earrings. And they look really good if I have my hair up or whatever. But every time I wear them something really bad happens that day.

Oh, yeah. You have to wear those. Well, I have learned that now and I don't wear those but I still have them which I probably should give them away. But every time or I've had like an outfit before where you know I've worn that outfit and it's been totally bad day.

Oh, yeah. It's been tied to it. And it's been tied to it and I just can't wear that anymore. Yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, I always wear a necklace that's you know for my son and they actually had me take it off recently for a test I did that I couldn't have it on. Could have metal. And so I took it off but I was like, where is it?

Please be careful with it. You know, like. Well, I had gone to the hospital and I had to take all my stuff off. I had a weird like.

Was it prison or the hospital? It was hospital. Okay. Just a second.

And the same thing that made me I guess I don't remember taking it off because I was very disoriented when I went in. Drop take. Okay. No, I apparently have a rare form of my grain.

Variants. They're going to try like hemopligic migraines, which present like strokes. Fun fact. So I thought I was having a stroke.