Folk Beliefs:Bone
- Thought to contain something of the essence of the soul and thus should be treated with respect.
- Numerous medicinal remedies, spells and charms in history have included bone.
- "Throwing the Bones," or tossing them like dice and learning the answers to various queries by observing how they fall; and the delivering of curses
- Drinking powdered bone mixed with wine is said to cure dysentery.
-Gout may be treated by applying a paste of a mixture of soil and grease scraped from shin-bones that are found in a graveyard.
- Carrying a knuckle bone on ones person will fend off cramp.

Folklore of Rhode Island: Mercy Brown

It is truly amazing, the insanity that can spring from mass panic, as we have all seen in our current world.

In Rhode Island, during the late 1800s, there was a tuberculosis out break throughout the state.

As a result of the destructive herd mentality, many came to the conclusion that vampires were to blame.

People began believing that the only solution to end this cycle, and put a stop to the tuberculosis, would be to exhume the corpses of those who had died from the disease, and burn their hearts.

The most famous case of alleged vampirism was that of Mercy Brown.

Mercy died of tuberculosis at the young age of 19.

After burying Mercy, her immediate family were all infected by the same illness. Her brother claimed to have woken up one night to find Mercy sucking blood from his arm.

When he called for his parents, Mercy fled into the night through the boy's bedroom window.

Mercy's father consulted with a local physician, and they decided to dig up Mercy's corpse, to burn her heart.

When they pulled Mercy's corpse from the earth, and cut out her heart, they were horrified to find that while the rest of her corpse was ice cold, her heart was still warm to the touch, and full of blood.

The physician advised Mercy's father that more would have to be done, to stop his daughter from leaving her grave night after night, to terrorize her poor brother

On doctors orders, Mr. Brown took his daughter's heart home. He called his son to the hearth, where they placed Mercy's heart on the burning logs.

When nothing was left save for a pile of ashes, Mr. Brown instructed his son to eat his sister's remains.

The boy complied in desperation.
He choked on his sister's ashes, and fell dead to the floor.

Two children dead, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown, were still infected with tuberculosis.

The couple succumbed to the illness, and died a month later.

Many corpses were exhumed during this period, and tuberculosis still spread well into the 1900s

Folklore of Idaho: Water Babies

There once was a famine in Pocatello, Idaho many years ago.
Mothers would drown their children rather than watch them slowly starve to death.

It is believed by some, that these children did not die, but in fact, adapted to their environment by growing fish tails, fins, and gills.

Some say they are actually quite "ghoulish" in appearance.

In some stories they are no more than trickster spirits that enjoy playing pranks; Other stories say that the water babies will giggle or cry to lure their victims towards the water, only to pull them under and consume their flesh.

Folk Beliefs: Rats
- Believed to have a "sixth sense" when it comes to predicting death, and various traditions credit them with knowing when a catastrophe of some kind is approaching.
- Will desert a sinking ship- even if it seems as though the ship is sound and not in any immediate danger.
- Lucky if rats are seen boarding a new ship, however, it is unlucky to even utter the word "rat" on board.
Rat infestation removal methods in folk magic:
- write a curse on a piece of paper, and then leave it where the rats will find it
- sit beside a rat's hole and politely ask them to leave.
- an increase in the number of rats is said to mean war is about to break out.
- a concoction of a dried rat's tail may be used to treat a fever or cold.
- to ensure a child grow up with strong teeth it is suggested to leave one of the child's last milk teeth by a rat hole and request that the rat accept it in exchange for a new one.

?️ Ferdinand van Kessel

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Spring Fairytale, 1872, by Gabriel von Max