Dr. James T. Callow publications
Browse by
Questions or comments on this site? Please email davidsor@udmercy.edu.
The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for P477 returned 904 results.
Never whistle in the house because it is bad luck.
Submitter comment:
My mother always yelled at all of us kids when ever we would
whistle in a house no matter whose house we were in.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Home BELIEF -- Bad luck |
Date learned: 00-00-1970
Unshelled Peanuts
One day my father and my oldest brother were in the car coming
from the store. My father had previously bought my brother some
peanuts at the store and told him not to eat them until they were
home. My brother began to shell the peanuts and eat them in the
car simultaneously the steering column of the car came disconnected
and my father lost control of the car and almost had an accident.
Ever since that day my father had said that it's bad luck to eat
unshelled peanuts in the car.
Submitter comment:
This was a very funny story but my father seemed convinced that
its true.
Where learned: MISSISSIPPI ; Louise
Keyword(s): FOOD
James Callow Keyword(s): Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal |
Date learned: 00-00-1970
It has been said that if you urinate in the middle of the
highway, you'll get a star (pimple) under you eye.
Submitter comment:
Everytime I saw someone with a pimple under his/her eye I would
think about this old saying.
Where learned: MISSISSIPPI ; Louise
Keyword(s): Pimple
James Callow Keyword(s): Stye
Date learned: 00-00-1970
If your foot is swept over by a broom, you should spit on the
broom, and throw salt over your left shoulder, in order not to go
to jail.
Where learned: LOUISIANA ; New Orleans
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mineral BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Conversions SPEECH -- Gesture |
Date learned: 00-00-1970
When a child walks around the house, with one shoe on and one
shoe off, it's sending their mother to an early grave.
Where learned: LOUISIANA ; New Orleans
Date learned: 00-00-1970
Putting your purse or your wallet on the floor makes your
money stay low.
Where learned: LOUISIANA ; New Orleans
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Measure of quality Monetary systemMoneyWealth |
When you walk around a house barefoot, you can pick up other
people's thoughts.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | ART CRAFT ARCHITECTURE -- Dress HandsFeet BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal |
Date learned: 00-00-1988
You should never cut your hair; that's where your strength
is.
Where learned: LOUISIANA ; New Orleans
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses Hair, on head, mustache, widow's peak BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1970
You should always keep your door ledges clean, because that's
where thoughts are held.
Where learned: LOUISIANA ; New Orleans
Date learned: 00-00-1971
If you sweep trash in the middle of the floor and leave it,
you may receive company.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Date learned: 00-00-1980
If you yawn and don't cover your mouth, the devil will steal
your breath away.
Submitter comment: This is a saying popular among young children.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE POINTE
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Devil Demon BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness SPEECH -- Gesture |
Date learned: 00-00-1990
If you are in a falling elevator, you will not be injured if
you jump up in the air at the same time that the elevator hits the
bottom of the shaft.
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1960
An old family graveyard had to be dug up and moved to make
room for a major highway that was being made in the Detroit,
Michigan area. It was found that one woman had been buried while
she was still living. This was known to be true because the
deceased had rolled over on to her abdomen in her casket and had
pulled all of her hair out of her scalp.
Submitter comment:
This was told to the informant by a Grosse Pointe teacher who
knew it to be true because the deceased was her grandmother.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE POINTE
James Callow Keyword(s): PREMATURE BURIAL
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Body part Senses Hair, on head, mustache, widow's peak BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00-00-1983
During the Vietnam War, it was felt to be unlucky for an
American soldier to carry a camera. The soldiers felt that there
was a high incidence of being killed shortly after buying a
camera, or receiving one from home.
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- P535 BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Bad luck |
Date learned: 00-00-1969
The Judson Mart family owns a farm on route 43, approximately
two miles outside of Amsterdam, Ohio. There is a small bridge on
a straight stretch over route 43 in close proximity to the Mart
farmhouse. Occasionally a frantic late night driver would come
pounding on the farm house door, asking to use the telephone to
call someone to pick them up. Most drivers were reluctant to
discuss what they had seen but the few details began to form a
pattern. The drivers had seen a misty form of what appeared to be
a young blonde-haired girl, in a white nightgown, standing in the
center of the bridge. Many drivers had crashed into the bridge in
an attempt to avoid hitting the young girl who quickly
disappeared. At times the crashes were fatal to the driver or
passengers in the cars. Judson Mart relayed that his grandfather
had told him that in the 1800s a young girl had drowned under the
original wooden bridge at the site. It was never determined if she
had been murdered or had drowned while playing there. These
sightings of the blonde young girl have occurred occasionally
from the 1800s until the present time.
Submitter comment:
In 1992, the Judson Mart family still occupies the farmhouse
and occasional late night crash victims still tell of the
sightings.
Where learned: OHIO ; Amsterdam
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal |
Date learned: 00-00-1958
This is the legend of the Northville Tunnels: It is believed
that one can enter the Northville tunnels off of Sheldon Rd. and
Five Mile Rd. in Northville. These tunnels once led to the
Northville Psychiatric Hospital. Legend has it that many of the
patients used these tunnels to escape from the hospital. These
tunnels are believed to stretch out over many miles and contain
different rooms used to examine and hold patients. Today many
teenagers break into these sealed-off tunnels to find excitement
and to see if there is any proof that the rooms are still being
used today.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; LIVONIA
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Physically handicapped Deformed BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal |
Date learned: 00-00-1989
The Legend of the Shoe Tree
This is the Legend of the Shoe Tree: If you drive down a
certain back road (road name not known) in Northville, Michigan
you will come across a tree with hundreds of shoes thrown up into
it. Legend has it that a murderer used to kill his victims and
leave his mark by throwing each victim's shoes into the tree. It
is also believed that anyone who touches the tree or anything in
it will be cursed and then die.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; LIVONIA
James Callow Keyword(s): Touching tabu
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Outlaw Criminal Bandit Pirate BELIEF -- Plant BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Curse BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1990
When I visited South Carolina in 1989 to golf all of the
locals would say,"It never rains on the golf course." They would
say this when it looked like rain as a superstition in hopes that
everyone could still play golf.
Where learned: SOUTH CAROLINA ; Myrtle Beach
Never sweep a visitors' foot with a broom. If this happens
have the person whose feet has been swept spit on the bottom of
the broom. If the person does not spit on the broom it will be
bad luck for that person.
Submitter comment:
It so happens that I was sweeping and accidently hit her
foot, she asked that I turn the broom upside down so that she
could spit on the bottom of it.
Where learned: WINSTON SALEM ; NORTH CAROLINA
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Bad luck BELIEF -- Conversions SPEECH -- Gesture |
Date learned: 00-00-1979
At the beginning of the teething process place an egg with
the child's name written on it in a sock or stocking. Place the
egg above the door of the child's room and this will cause the
child not to be fretful during teething.
James Callow comment:
Puckett, Ohio, no. 1400: "To prevent pain and diarrhea with
teething, take a fresh laid egg, write the child's name on it.
Then hide the egg till the teething is over (Mrs. S, F, 60,
h.wife, Negro, Cleveland, 1961); ... put the egg up over a door
(H.D., F, 26, R.N., Negro, Cleveland, 1958)."
For various uses of eggs in teething rituals, see Puckett,
Ohio, nos. 1398-1402.
Cf. Cannon, Utah, no. 716: "The teething egg: When children
are teething, put an egg in a jar. Seal it up and put it in a
closet somewhere. There are gases in the egg that leak out into
the air of the house. They
Where learned: DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Person / Nickname Favorites BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1989