Appalachian Superstitions

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back to our Halloween Spooktacular. This is Halloween Spectacular number two.

That's insane. Spooktacular. Yes. I can't like it feels like just yesterday we were doing the first like thinking about like doing Halloween episode.

I know. How creepy. This time we're not here to tell you about the ghost stories. Instead I'm going to tell you all about Appalachian superstition.

Are you a believer? Hailey, do you have any superstitions? Yeah, several. Do you want to wait?

Well, I think we'll talk about them. We can. Yeah. I want to see if you have any better similar to these.

Yeah. Okay. So like when you say superstitions you mean like step on a crack or okay. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. We'll just have to tap the plane on the outside before you go in so it's playing in the crash.

No, I don't have that one. I do now. Oh, sorry. All right.

Everyone prepare yourselves for Appalachian superstition. Do you have any superstitions? So Appalachian superstitions have been passed down from generation to generation through oral history and many so believe these to be true. All of it.

Here are just a few for you. I'm ready. It is believed that a black cat carries with them bad luck. If you are to stumble upon a black cat you must make an X with your hands in front of your face three times.

Failure to make this X in general or make the X three times could mean years of bad luck even early death. It is also suggested that when these Xs are made three times they must be in quick succession of each other otherwise it doesn't count. There's a lot of rules. There's a lot of rules.

I don't know about that. Now with our farm that I grew up on for a time we have semi-barn cats because you have a lot of mice when you have a farm and you need pest control and cats are really great pest control and they're fun and so we had tons of barn cats and for a time all of them were black cats. We had like 10 black cats just running around out there. Did you have a lot of bad luck?

No. Not a better number. My parents have two black cats. I love black cats.

They're beautiful. Black animals are the best. Usually there are a lot of times shelters will have they're usually the cheapest to adopt out because they're super hard to adopt out. People just don't want black animals.

I must say like all white cats are all black cats tend to be temperamental. I don't know why. My parents are both themselves. Yeah.

My parents are cute. I guess they're so pretty. They're so pretty. Their parents have a cat named Winnie.

Her name is Winter. She's all black. She can be temperamental. She's kind of a lucky hater kind of thing.

The other cats are like, I love you. So three exes, quick succession. So it quick succession. So it's otherwise you don't do that.

Either death will befall you soon or you're gonna have bad luck. That's pretty far into the spectrum there. Well, what is bad luck to someone? No, I dropped my hot dog.

Darn it. That luck was worth the death or yes, imminent death. I don't know. So you know, that was an interesting one.

I like that. Older folks who have grown up with these hardcore superstitions make sure to go back indoors if they just see a black cat. So like here in the neighborhood and you're going for a walk and you see a black cat, a lot of older folks who believe this run back inside and they say they're the rest of the day trying to ward off any bad luck that may befall them. I've never met anybody that does that.

But I like it. I mean, neither. But I mean, it also sounds like a reason to be a hermit. Yeah.

They're black cats outside. If I believe that I can never go to my parents house. No, I never went on the street. I don't know what looks down the street for me.

Yeah. It's really fluffy. His name is fluffy. I don't know his name is fluffy, but it's fluffy.

Oh, it was really cute. Oh, God. It's fluffy. You're back in your house.

Yeah. May I say, may the exes ever be in your favor. My exes are in my favor. I felt self individuals believe that walking out the same door that you came in is a form of bad luck.

Walking out the door that you get. So if you come in from outside through your front door, you can't walk out that door. That's correct. What if you only have one door?

Well, I guess I can't with fire. I just go to the window. Okay. I actually live in an apartment that only had one door.

I have two doors in my apartment. Yeah. I have like a front door and then like a sliding glass. I'm not that many in my house.

Yeah. You know, for a while, I only had that one door. So I did have to think about a skate plan. This may be the window.

So for individuals who believe this are these only individuals who have two doors. I know, like, how does this work if you only have one door? Like, I need somebody write in. If this is the thing that you do, let us know.

Do you go out the window? Like, are your neighbors watching you crawl out the window? I guess you'd probably want to crawl out because there's somebody calling in a window. There'd probably be like, call the authorities.

Unless they know you and they're like, oh, it's that person. Oh, it's just Stan. Yeah. Just go in his window.

Or Stan. Like, does his door not work? No, he's just Stan. But if you go and visit Stan, does Stan have a superstition for you or does not care?

Oh, do you also have to enter Stan's window? Yes. Good question. Or does he not give a shit about you?

I don't care if you have that list. I hope it's a second. I don't care. Maybe it's just for him.

It could be. Interesting. So in one of her books, Appalachian folklore, omens, science, and superstitions, author, Miss Richmond, defined superstition as a seemingly irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear that is held by a number of people but is without foundation. So don't make me feel bad about my superstitions, Miss Richmond.

I know, Miss Richmond. Now, come on. Superstitions are thought to influence upcoming events despite any, you know, relation, no real correlation to it. So many of these stories came from English, Irish, and Scottish settlers who moved to the US because in Scotland, midwives used to advise mothers to give their newborns a pinch of ash in addition to breast milk.

Like, they had to eat it? Correct. I could see some chilquy. I mean, you know, do what you do.

The ash would ward off any witchcraft that may befall them. Nice. Yeah. The Irish would often spit on their babies.

Just like right from the womb, just spit on them. It's a girl. But spit on their babies in hopes of bringing them good luck. I mean, I feel like spinning is kind of always the FU.

So I don't know how that brings you good luck. Yeah, until you've had like a eight year old look you straighten the face and just spit right in it. Just right in your face because they're pissed off. It's a you had to work, right?

Yeah. Oh, get many times. Many times. One time I had someone tell me, uh, I could suck it.

It was like, it felt the worst we hear in our fields. I know. I was like, wow, that's pretty gentle. I was like, wow, thank you.

It's a good day. Yeah. Must be, uh, I didn't run into a black hat. So there we go.

By the time that the immigrants settled in the United States, they believed that if they left the babies cloth diapers on the clothing line overnight, it would attract people's spirits. So if you forgot, like you're laundry hanging out there, I must be attracting people's spirits all the time in my dryer. Same. Because I'm always leading stuff in dryer.

Yeah. I think I have things in my dryer currently. And fortunately, I have to use cloth diapers. I ain't got no time for that.

No. So I have warded off evil spirits for my son. So you're using disposable diapers. Exactly.

He's well. That wasn't the plan. I'm just lazy. But, uh, so living in Southern Appalachia was often very isolating due to the lack of transportation and obviously mountainous terrain.

Most settlers were also uneducated, which led to sharing stories as far as they may be. People took these stories for truth and did what they could defend off any bad spirits or omens and soon these practices became rituals and familial traditions. I love that though. Yeah.

That's so fun. Do this or die. I love it. Tap three times or die.

So nowadays, we consider throwing salt over your shoulder to be good luck. And it's your right shoulder, I believe, right? Okay. You're right shoulder?

Or is it your left? I do this all the time. This is when I do. It's like, superstition.

I do if I spill salt. I throw it. I think it's your left shoulder. Okay.

So throwing over your left shoulder. I don't know if there's a right shoulder. I'm sure it matters, but it doesn't in my mind. So I don't really know what to say.

No, no, but I do that. Like if I spill salt, I will grab it and chuck it over a shoulder. So nowadays, like I said, we consider that good luck. But back in the 1800s in Southern Appalachia, they did it in order to keep the devil away.

Okay. Yeah. It doesn't hurt. I want to throw this out because my friend Katrina said that I could mention this.

Back when she was growing up, this was not her choice, but she was in a cult. I didn't know this. Yes. And I, she did say that it was okay that I mentioned it.

And sometimes she'll keep an eye on my son. And I always tell her no cult songs. No cult songs because they had cult songs. And it made me think one of the cult songs was one, two, three, the devil is after me four, five, six.

I have to remember the rest of it. She texted it to me one day, but it starts one, two, three, the devil is after me. And then when it goes backwards, you know, 10, nine, eight, I'm thinking about, you know, the devil can't get through the gate and how to loo you. I'm free or something like that.

Anyway, so this was a religious cult? It was. We're going to have a much more into a conversation. She would be open to talking about it if she's open to that.

She does. That's fascinating. We often joke around about one, two, three, and I come up with different things. So anyway, it's very funny.

But anyway, it's the whole premise here is to keep the devil at bay. So I mean, these are rooted, a lot of rooted in religious as well, you know, for fear of which crap or filler of the devil, the satanic, you know, all these things. So another superstition for young girls is that if anybody swept underneath their feet, it meant they would never get married. Oh, I'm screwed.

I know. People have been sweeping underneath feet. Right. Pick up your feet.

Hey, like, yeah, or vacuuming. Yes. Dun, dun, dun. Like when you're a kid, like sitting at the kitchen table, like doing your homework and the parents, sweeping and they're like, pick up your feet up.

Yep. Exactly. Well, back in the day, you know, that was sort of the course for women, like, you know, you will get married. Like that's what you've got to get married that have offspring like that.

And so for them, I would imagine that would be devastating. Yeah. So they keep their feet firmly planted, almost like stuck. That's hilarious.

There's also, and you've probably heard this, step on a crack, break your mama's back. They believe that to be true. And I remember hearing that in elementary school. And so we went for, I don't know, we were going on a field trip and we were walking to wherever we were going.

And every crack, I was like, oh no, no, because I just imagined like, I was like, mom, I'll kick me out, make sure we're terrible. I don't know. So any health conditions that my mom currently has, it's probably because of you. It is because of me.

Yeah. So I'm sorry about that. Also, a superstition is if you break from here, you will have seven years of bad luck. I heard that one.

Yes. Yes. And of course, lastly, I had mentioned this earlier, but a lot of folks have superstition related to airplanes. Yeah.

I mean, I've never heard that one. So a lot of folks before they get on an airplane will tap the outside of the airplane in hopes that they can ward off like once I tap it three times, I can ward off any sort of forces that may crash this plane. I wonder what the deal is with three. You know, that is interesting because it does seem like three, three.

I wonder if it's like the, I mean, if it's a religious thing, is it the holy trinity? Well, there's not a hundred and thirty. Yeah. I just pulled that out of my butt, but it makes sense to me.

Since a lot of these come from sort of a religious base, it would make sense. Yeah. I guess a really good parallel. Maybe, maybe, although I think, you know, sometimes superstition also comes into maybe a little OCD.

Yeah. There's a fine line, I think. I think that superstitions are fun if it's like a, like a, you know, I do this because, you know, I think about it. Yeah.

But if it's something that's like compulsive, like you have to do it, yeah, is when we might need to have a conversation. Maybe, maybe check in. Just check in with somebody. Some anxiety meds.

We're not sure. Meds are great. Yeah. They're really cool.

They're really cool. Help with the GAD, generalizing anxiety disorder, or OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. Anxiety and OCD are cousins. Yeah.

Here is your therapist moment. This has been your PSA. You're there with PSA. Oh gosh.

So, Hayley, let's talk about your superstition. Okay. Yeah. I think the only ones that I do from the list is the salt thing and do that and then knock, like knock on wood.

Like, if you say something, like, it doesn't apply to me, but I've never broken a bone. Knock on wood, then you knock, like three times on wood. I did that actually, we were going to coffee earlier and I did that once I had falling out of stairs in a while. Knock on wood.

I don't think the table was wood, but it's fine. But I try to think ladders don't knock on any ladders. I don't walk on any ladders for safety reasons, but not because I think it's going to cause any mayhem. I think that's all that I have, that I do regularly is the salt thing and the knock on wood, but I don't.

Yeah. Like, I'm not worried about cats. I'll do where, you know, we say something at the same time, the jinx. Yeah.

So I do the jinx thing. What does that come from? You know, I really don't know. I've heard the story before.

I think that it's part superstition that if we say the same thing, it'll somehow negate what was being said. Probably. You know, I don't really know the origins of it. So if you guys do, let us know.

He has that. Let us know. One of the other things is like, oh, there's a penny. Like, I'll get good luck if I found a penny like on the ground.

But only if it's on heads. Correct. Yeah. If it's on tails, you can't pick up.

You have to leave it alone. But if I'm in kind of a gross area, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to leave it there, especially with COVID. Oh gosh. I just don't touch anything.

Yeah. Even look at people around. No, no, no, I don't know. I got contact unless the penny has a little teeny little mask.

So if any is wearing a mask, you can pick it up. It's a horrible, that's hilarious. And actually, I'm putting that shit on Instagram too. Like if it's got a map, it's adorable.

That's hilarious. Um, and of course, the knocking on wood and oftentimes I'll do twice usually. No, maybe I do three. Yeah, I do.

I do. Knock on wood. And it's all those things of like, like we say, I was telling maybe you a couple of years ago, I was like, I'm almost 40 years old. I've never had a cavity.

Yeah, I think it was me. Yeah. And so I'll go in. Not had a cavity.

Cabbies on wood, you know, or I haven't had a car wreck or a speeding ticket on wood, you know. So those kinds of things are, I guess, my superstitions. What fascinated me though, is that a lot of these, a lot of these that you talked about, they came from Appalachia. Like they started to get that so interesting because they spread really far.

I mean, I guess. They have because it's not limited to people in Appalachia or the South that have these traditions. Yeah. It's really spread out.

But you think, you know, a lot of individuals who, lived in the South started migrating during that time period, you know, of the Great Migration in the 1800s out West. So I'm sure a lot of these Southern beliefs have spread out West. And so I'm sure a lot of our West Western listeners are probably, yeah, I have that too. And I'm sure, you know, there are different kinds of superstitions and traditions.

So if they come from the English and the Irish and the Scottish, they didn't just settle in Appalachia. They settled, you know, up north as well. So I'm sure that those exist. Yeah.

That's so cool. And there's something about like Black Irish magic. Have you heard about that? Yeah.

So there's a lot of superstitions around that, Irish culture. So if you're from Ireland and you listen, hit us up. Well, let's know. Yeah.

And I want to know what you guys' superstitions are. Yes. If you have any that are like totally off the wall that you do, I think that's super interesting. I agree.

Like I love people's little like things that they do. I have a friend who is Wiccan. Wicca? Practice is Wicca?

She's Wiccan and practices Wicca? That's good. I think that's right. And I talked to her before.

I said, when I buy a house eventually, I'm going to have like a priest come and bless it. But I also really am going to need you to come with some type of like cleansing like sage, crystal type thing and do that for me. I was playing when I moved into my new house. I was very concerned about what if I had ghosts?

I'm actually more lightning towards like, I don't know if I can find a priest, but I definitely know my friend will come and like bless my house with like, with a vera religion. If you were Catholic, I would be actively attending Mass. I think that the priest will be willing to. I know I'm not Catholic though.

Right. So I mean, I guess I'm Baptist. I could have somebody like I'm praying over it, I guess. Yeah.

But then I just kind of want to hit on my basis. So I'm like, if I do the Baptist, I'm going to need some Catholics and Wicca and maybe I don't know what the Jewish folks do. This is a weird side note, but as you're talking about Wiccan, my grandmother is elderly and she is the sweetest thing ever, but she gets confused and she doesn't hear very well. And for a long time, I've been a vegetarian and when my son was born, she said, please tell me that you are not going to raise him a Wiccan.

And I said, what? And she said, don't you raise him Wiccan? Are you going to give him meat? I said, what?

And I said, give him meat. And she goes, you know that people don't eat all that stuff. And I said, do you mean vegan? And she goes, yeah, Wiccan.

So the Wiccan is a religion. Vegan means that you don't need anything, you know, animal products and animal products. And she's like, whatever. So it's a running joke now that for a while, I'm just giving my son a vegan chicken tenders.

So I used to call it thick and fake chicken. But we call it Wiccan. Wiccan nuggets. Oh my god.

It's so funny. I was like, you want your Wiccan nuggets and my grandma just cracks up and she goes, well, I guess he's going to be a Wiccan. It's really cute. But everyone's to be.

Whatever distract is. I love it. So funny. It was really, really funny.

So yes. Yeah, that whole like, that whole culture and religion really fascinates me. I think it's super cool. Like not the vegan, so wiccan.

And vegans are cool too. But not cool too. But like Wiccan, like that whole like, I think it's so neat because it's very, from what I understand, it's very like of the earth and like using the elements that are around you and having just such a respect for the natural world. I think it's fast to learn about other religions, period, you know, whether it be those within the Christian realm, like there's so many different belief systems within the Christian realm.

Yeah, we got all kinds of stuff. Absolutely. And then like, Buddhist is very interesting to me. Just the idea of the peace aspect.

Judaism is fascinating to me. So what is the one where it's all about like reincarnation? That's, oh my god, somebody's yelling at me. I can feel people yelling at it out loud.

Maybe. I think that one that's like, it's so fascinating. I think it's super cool. I want to do an episode on reincarnation.

Oh, we need to find like a story. We need to because there's kind of an avalanche of story about reincarnation somewhere. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Because that's so cool. Because like, it's not something that I personally believe in, but I don't know. I don't know. I think that there's like the whole past lives thing.

Yeah, absolutely. I know what kind of a thing. I think that's so cool. It's so cool.

So anybody knows anything about past lives or anybody experienced that. Hit us up. Because I think that's so freaking cool. Well, a lot of people say that, you know, things that happen to you in your past life becomes your fear.

Yeah. Like if you died from drowning, you're afraid of water. If you're dying of plane crash, you don't want to get in a plane. Yeah.

Which then speaks to our superstitions of talking about plane. Yeah. Like it could manifest why we do these things. Yeah, I think that's I love.

I love love that that's so cool. Well, kids, that's our episode. But I do want to encourage you to share with us your own superstitions. Hey, Lee, how can they do this?

Oh my God. You all right? Okay. Yes.

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So yeah. Yeah. Hey, Lee, do you have a location shot out for us? I do.

We're going to go with Windsor, California. That's a lot. I wonder where that is. I don't know.

California. I got it. That's not helpful. It's a large thing.

We sound so uneducated. I got to get out the Google. Yeah. Also, if you guys would like, you can leave us reviews on iTunes.

Give us a five star, leave us a review. We love it. Love to see it. If you leave a bad one, you suck.

We only cry for like 10 minutes. Yeah. But it's okay. No, it's totally cool.

Yeah. So, leave us a review, rate review, subscribe. I don't know what else. Like ring that bell, whatever.

I don't know. I don't know. There's a bell, but if there is, you can ring it. Knock on some wood for us.

Yeah. You know. Oh, here's another one. That's part of the superstition, right?

If you leave us a bad rating, we have put a spell on you and bad luck will evolve. Bad luck, but falls. Yeah. I love it.

I love it. So if you do that the next day, you have a flat tire. It was not us, the slash. It wasn't us.

The legal purposes. We didn't add the slash. We didn't do that anyway. But, you know, we love it.

We have a good time. Well, thank you all boys and girls. I can't wait till next Halloween to bring out my Halloween boys. Well, see you next time.

Bye. Bye.