Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/273

 Superstitions from Ceiitral Georgia. 261

SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS FROM CENTRAL

GEORGIA.

SPIRITS AND WITCHES.

1. Children born with a caul see spirits.

2. Negroes say that all animals can see spirits at night.

3. Negroes contend that hogs can see the wind ; some maintain that all animals can do so.

4. If one is riding at night and feels a warm current of air on his face, negroes say that a spirit is passing by.

5. If you are walking or riding along, and see a mist rising from the ground, it is a sign of the presence of spirits.

6. Dogs frequently " run " spirits at night, but spirits will whip a dog, unless the dog has dewclaws. When the dog sees a spirit, he will come back whining and get behind you. The dog does not wish to fight a spirit if he can help it. I have hunted coons and opossums at night with negroes, and, when the dogs kept running and did not see anything, the negroes " quit " and went home, saying the dogs were running spirits.

7. The left hind-foot of a graveyard rabbit is a talisman against spirits, also productive of good luck generally. I asked a negro if spirits ever bothered him. He replied, " No, sir ; I totes the left hind-foot of a graveyard rabbit."

8. Negroes deem an ignis fatuus, or "Jack o' the Lantern," a spirit doomed to wander in swamps, seeking something it will never find.

9. To pass a haunted place, turn your pockets inside out ; the haunt will not trouble you.

10. Some negroes wear the coat turned inside out, to keep off evil spirits, or to keep witches from riding them.

11. To prevent a witch from riding a person, put a case-knife, pair of scissors, or some mustard-seed under the bed or pillow.

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