Black Cats and Evil Eyes

by Chloe Rhodes

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thanks to Heather Rhodes, John Rhodes, Annette Hibberd and Matt Hibberd, Aubrey Smith for his atmospheric drawings, and to Toby Buchan and the editorial and design team – in particular, Ana Bježančević, Dominique Enright, Glen Saville and Andrew John – at Michael O’Mara Books.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Barrette, Elizabeth, Blake, Deborah and Duga, Ellen, Llewellyn’s 2011 Magical Almanac: Practical Magic for Everyday Living, Llewellyn Publications, 2011

  Bingham, Joseph, The works of the learned Joseph Bingham, M. A. (printed for Robert Knaplock, 1726), e-book digitized by Google

  Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham, A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the derivation source, or origin of common phrases, allusions, and words that have a tale to tell, Cassell, 1905

  Connor, Catherine, Petronius the Poet: Verse and Literary Tradition in The Satyricon, Cambridge University Press, 1998

  Defoe, Daniel, A Journal of the Plague Year (first published 1722), Penguin Library edition, 1966

  Delys, Claudia, A Treasury of Superstitions, Gramercy, 1997

  Flexner, Stuart and Doris, Wise Words and Wives’ Tales: The origins, meanings and time-honoured wisdom of proverbs and folk sayings olde and new, Avon Books, 1993

  Frazer, Sir James G., The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (twelve volumes, 1890–1915), Touchstone, 1995

  Guiley, Rosemary Ellen, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, second edition, Facts On File, 1999

  Jeay, Madeleine and Garay, Kathleen, eds, The Distaff Gospels: A First Modern English Edition of Les Évangiles des Quenouilles, Broadview Press, 2006

  Krämer, Heinrich and Sprenger, Jakob, The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger (original publication c. 1486), unabridged online republication of the 1928 edition by the Windhaven Network, Inc., 1998–2001

  Oliver, Harry, Black Cats and April Fools: Origins of Old Wives’ Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives, John Blake, 2006

  Opie, Iona and Tatem, Moira, Oxford Dictionary of Superstitions, Oxford University Press, 2005

  Origin of Superstition, 1935 US radio presentation in thirty-nine episodes; no details given, but available from the Old Time Radio website: http://www.otrcat.com/origin-of-superstition-p-1692.html; mp3 format

  Pickering, David, Cassell’s Dictionary of Superstitions, Cassell, 2003

  Planer, Felix E., Superstition, Prometheus Books, 1988

  Potter, Carole, Knock On Wood: An Encyclopedia of Superstition, Longmeadow Press, 1991

  Puckett, Newbell Niles, Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro (first edition, 1926), Kessinger Publishing, 2003; e-book or download available on the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/folkbeliefsofsou00puck

  Quigley, Christine, The Corpse: A History, McFarland & Co., 2005

  Radford, E. and Radford, M. A., The Encyclopedia of Superstitions, ed. and rev. by Christina Hole, MetroBooks, 2002

  Rappoport, Angelo S., Superstitions of Sailors, Gryphon Books, 1928

  Roud, Steve, A Pocket Guide to Superstitions of the British Isles, Penguin Books, 2004

  Sax, Boria, The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Literature, ABC-CLIO, 2001

  Sikes, Wirt, British Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions, J. R. Osgood & Co., 1881

  Smith, Stephen Anthony and Knight, Alan (eds), The Religion of Fools?: Superstition Past and Present (conference: Colchester, 2005), Oxford University Press, 2008

  Thompson, C. J. S., The Hand of Destiny: Everyday Folklore and Superstitions, 1862–1943, reprint edition, Senate, 1995

  Watson, Rev. Samuel, The Clock Struck One, and Christian Spiritualist: being a synopsis of the investigations of spirit intercourse by an Episcopal bishop, three ministers, five doctors, and others at Memphis, Tenn., in 1855 (first edition John P. Morton and Co., 1873), digitized paperback edition, BiblioBazaar 2009

  Watts, Donald, Elsevier’s Dictionary of Plant Lore, Academic Press, 2007

  INDEX

  accidents, in threes ref 1

  acupuncture ref 1

  Adam (Genesis) ref 1, ref 2

  albatross ref 1

  All Hallows’ Eve, see Halloween

  Allingham, William ref 1

  angels ref 1, ref 2

  Annwn, Hounds of ref 1

  anti-Semitism ref 1

  Aristophanes ref 1

  Aristotle ref 1

  Athena ref 1

  Auguries of Innocence (Blake) ref 1

  Augustus, Emperor ref 1

  babies:

  amniotic membrane (caul) of ref 1

  and baptism ref 1

  christening of ref 1

  keeping cats from ref 1

  medieval, deaths of ref 1, ref 2

  nails of ref 1

  and yawning ref 1

  Bacon, Francis ref 1

  Balder ref 1

  Baldwin, William ref 1, ref 2

  Banister, John ref 1

  Bannatyne, Richard ref 1

  baptism ref 1, ref 2

  bats ref 1

  beds, and Fridays ref 1

  beef bones, burning ref 1

  bells ref 1, ref 2

  Beltane ref 1

  Beware the Cat (Baldwin) ref 1, ref 2

  birds:

  albatross ref 1

  in Christian folklore ref 1

  cock ref 1

  gull ref 1

  magpie ref 1

  owl ref 1

  raven ref 1

  robin ref 1

  swallow ref 1

  swan ref 1

  thunderbirds ref 1

  black cats ref 1

  and Charles I ref 1

  as familiars ref 1

  Black Death ref 1, ref 2

  see also bubonic plague; plague

  Blake, William ref 1

  ‘Bless you!’ ref 1

  Boer War ref 1

  Böhmerwald Mountains ref 1

  bones:

  bats’ ref 1

  beef ref 1

  burning ref 1

  Brand, John ref 1

  bread ref 1

  executioner’s ref 1

  breath:

  holding, while passing a cemetery ref 1

  as life force ref 1

  soul linked with ref 1

  stolen by cats ref 1

  bridesmaids ref 1

  bridges, parting on ref 1

  brooms ref 1

  and witches ref 1

  Browne, Thomas ref 1

  bubonic plague ref 1, ref 2

  see also Black Death; plague

  Bunch, Mother ref 1

  Caesar, Julius, assassination of ref 1

  Caesar, Tiberius ref 1

  candles ref 1

  in ceremony and ritual ref 1

  Canterbury Tales (Chaucer) ref 1

  cats:

  and babies ref 1

  black ref 1

  and Charles I ref 1

  as familiars ref 1, ref 2

  Caxton, William ref 1

  cemeteries ref 1

  see also graves

  chairs:

  empty ref 1

  rocking ref 1

  Characters, The (Theophrastus) ref 1, ref 2

  Charles I ref 1, ref 2

  Charles II ref 1

  Charon ref 1

  Chaucer, Geoffrey ref 1, ref 2

  cheeks, burning ref 1

  chill, sudden ref 1

  Christmas:

  and pagan solstice traditions ref 1

  and Yule logs ref 1

  Christmas cake, stirring ref 1

  Cicero ref 1

  cigarettes, lighting three with one match ref 1

  circles ref 1

  Clock Struck One . . ., The (Watson) ref 1

  clocks:

  broken, sudden chiming of ref 1

  speaking during chiming of ref 1

  clothes, new, and funerals ref 1

  cock, crowing of ref 1

  Cockaye, Osw
ald ref 1

  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor ref 1, ref 2

  Collingwood, Capt. ref 1

  Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, A (Wagstaff) ref 1

  Congreve, William ref 1

  corpse, touching, for luck ref 1

  Crimean War ref 1

  crossed fingers ref 1

  crossroads ref 1

  cutlery, superstitions about ref 1

  see also knives; scissors

  dark-haired men ref 1

  David Copperfield (Dickens) ref 1, ref 2

  David, King ref 1

  De Divinatione (Cicero) ref 1

  De mortuis nihil nisi bonum ref 1

  De Praestigiis Daemonum (Weyer) ref 1

  De Rerum Inventoribus (Polydore) ref 1

  dead, speaking ill of ref 1

  ‘Death Tree’ ref 1

  Defoe, Daniel ref 1

  demons ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  and candles ref 1

  and knots ref 1

  Set/Seth ref 1

  ‘Despot’s Song, The’ ref 1

  Devil:

  and bats ref 1

  and crying babies ref 1

  and empty purse ref 1

  everyday presence of ref 1

  and Fridays ref 1

  in Garden of Eden ref 1

  and horseshoes ref 1

  and Lilith ref 1

  and lying ref 1

  and magpies ref 1

  and mirrors ref 1

  and St John’s wort ref 1

  and salt ref 1, ref 2

  spells to counteract ref 1

  widdershins movement to summon ref 1

  Devil’s Bridge ref 1

  Dialogue of the Effectual Proverbs in the English Tongue Concerning Marriage (Heywood) ref 1

  Dickens, Charles ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Diffie, Joe ref 1

  Diogenes Laërtius ref 1

  Discoverie of Witchcraft (Scot) ref 1

  Distaff Gospels ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  dogs ref 1

  Donne, John ref 1

  doors ref 1

  talismans mounted on ref 1

  Dracula ref 1

  dreams:

  and bed-changing ref 1

  and candles ref 1

  of future spouse ref 1

  of lizards ref 1

  and secret enemies ref 1

  of shoelaces ref 1

  Druids ref 1, ref 2

  dryads ref 1

  Dundes, Alan ref 1

  earrings ref 1

  ears, burning ref 1

  Easter ref 1

  Eclogues (Virgil) ref 1

  eggshells ref 1

  elder tree ref 1

  as ‘Death Tree’ ref 1

  Elizabeth I ref 1

  epilepsy ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  drinking from skull to cure ref 1

  Évangiles des Quenouilles, Les ref 1

  Eve (Genesis) ref 1, ref 2

  Evil Eye ref 1, ref 2

  and children ref 1

  and spitting ref 1

  eyes:

  as amulets ref 1

  Evil ref 1, ref 2

  feathers, and fidelity ref 1

  feng shui ref 1

  fingers, crossed ref 1

  fire ref 1

  from match ref 1

  symbol of faith ref 1

  fishermen ref 1, ref 2

  Flight, Edward G. ref 1

  flowers:

  in Christian folklore ref 1

  on graves ref 1

  lilies, bringing indoors ref 1

  Folk Lore of Wales (Trevelyan) ref 1

  Frazer, Sir James George ref 1, ref 2

  Freya ref 1

  Friday:

  bed changed on ref 1

  and Devil ref 1

  superstitions concerning ref 1

  13th ref 1; see also thirteen

  frogs ref 1

  and bad luck ref 1

  funerals ref 1

  and new clothes ref 1

  Gabriel, Archangel ref 1

  gallows ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Garden of Eden ref 1, ref 2

  Gaule, Rev. John ref 1

  geometric forms ref 1

  ghosts ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  of children ref 1

  and dogs ref 1

  and mirrors ref 1

  see also soul: earthbound

  gifts:

  knives and scissors ref 1

  purses and wallets ref 1

  goblins ref 1, ref 2

  Golden Bough, The (Frazer) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Golden Dawn ref 1

  Golden Fortune Teller (Mother Bunch) ref 1

  Golden Legend, The ref 1

  Gospelles of Dystaues, or Distaff Gospels, The ref 1

  graves ref 1

  holding breath while passing ref 1

  removing flowers from ref 1

  stepping on or over ref 1, ref 2

  and sudden chill ref 1

  Great Plague of London ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  see also plague

  Grose, Francis ref 1, ref 2

  Hades ref 1

  hair ref 1

  cutting, at sea ref 1

  Halloween ref 1

  handkerchief, knotting ref 1

  Handlyng Synne (Manning) ref 1

  Hawkins, Francis ref 1

  hawthorn:

  cutting, and death ref 1

  Jesus’s crown of thorns made from ref 1

  Hazlitt, William Carew ref 1

  Hecate ref 1

  Henry VI (Shakespeare) ref 1

  Hera ref 1

  Herod the Great ref 1

  Hestia ref 1

  Heylin, Peter ref 1

  Heywood, John ref 1

  Hod ref 1

  Homer ref 1, ref 2

  Hopkins, Matthew ref 1

  horseshoes ref 1

  in other cultures and traditions ref 1

  Hounds of Annwn, see Annwn, Hounds of

  Howitt, William ref 1

  Idylls (Theocritus) ref 1

  Igglesden, Sir Charles ref 1

  Iliad (Homer) ref 1, ref 2

  Iscariot, Judas ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  and elder tree ref 1

  Jesus of Nazareth ref 1, ref 2

  and birds ref 1, ref 2

  and bread ref 1

  death of ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  and spiders ref 1

  sweat of ref 1

  thorn crown of ref 1

  John, Gospel of ref 1

  Journal of the Plague Year, A (Defoe) ref 1

  Jove ref 1, ref 2

  Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) ref 1

  knives:

  crossed ref 1

  as gift ref 1

  knots ref 1

  Kramer, Heinrich ref 1, ref 2

  Kreugar, Ivar ref 1

  ladders:

  and Holy Trinity ref 1

  walking under ref 1

  ‘Lady of Shalott, The’ (Tennyson) ref 1

  Langland, William ref 1

  Lanrivoare, Church of ref 1

  Last Supper ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Laud, William ref 1

  Leechdoms (Cockaye) ref 1

  legs, crossing of ref 1

  Life of William Laud (Heylin) ref 1

  lightning ref 1

  and Yule logs ref 1

  lilies ref 1

  and Resurrection ref 1

  Lilith ref 1

  ‘limbo of infants’ ref 1

  Lincoln, Abraham ref 1

  Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (Diogenes Laërtius) ref 1

  Lives of the Saints ref 1

  lizards ref 1

  loaf, upside down ref 1

  see also bread

  Locke, William ref 1

  Lohengrin ref 1

  Loki ref 1

  Love for Love (Congreve) ref 1

  lying, and tongue-biting ref 1

  Macbeth (Shakespeare) ref 1

  magic, sympathetic ref
1

  magpies ref 1

  Malleus Maleficarum (Kramer) ref 1, ref 2

  Manning, Robert ref 1

  marital fidelity ref 1

  Martin Chuzzlewit (Dickens) ref 1

  Mary, Virgin ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  matches ref 1, ref 2

  Matthew, Gospel of ref 1

  May, buying brooms in ref 1

  mediums ref 1

  Memorials of Transactions . . . (Bannatyne) ref 1

  Michelangelo ref 1

  milk ref 1

  African beliefs concerning ref 1

  Minerva ref 1

  mirrors:

  breaking ref 1

  covering, after death ref 1

  and Lady of Shalott ref 1

  money ref 1

  and itching palms ref 1

  and purses and wallets ref 1

  moon:

  cycles of ref 1, ref 2

  gravitational effects of ref 1, ref 2

  influence of, over bodily fluids ref 1

  light of ref 1

  Moresin, Thomas ref 1

  nails (of finger and toe) ref 1

  cutting, at sea ref 1

  Natural History (Pliny) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9

  Nelson, Horatio ref 1

  New Year’s Day ref 1

  and scissors ref 1

  Notes and Queries ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Observations on the popular antiquities of Great Britain (Brand) ref 1

  Odin ref 1

  Old Statistical Account of Scotland, The ref 1

  Old Wives’ Tale, The (Peele) ref 1

  ‘One for sorrow . . .’ ref 1

  Othello (Shakespeare) ref 1

  Ovid ref 1

  owls ref 1

  palms, itching ref 1

  Papatus (Moresin) ref 1

  Parsifal ref 1

  Peele, George ref 1

  pennies, picking up ref 1, ref 2

  Pepys, Samuel ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Perkins, William ref 1

  Persephone ref 1

  Petronius ref 1, ref 2

  picture, falling from wall ref 1

  Piers Plowman (Langland) ref 1

  ‘Pillow Magic’ ref 1

  pins:

  in hexes ref 1

  picking up ref 1

  plague ref 1, ref 2

  Black Death ref 1, ref 2

  bubonic ref 1, ref 2

  Great, of London ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  toad to ward off ref 1

  Pliny the Elder ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12

  Plutarch ref 1

  Poetical Description of Songbirds, A ref 1