Vergilius Ferm (1896–1974)

This is a fun vintage book I picked up at an estate sale as a kid, full of retro factoids and interesting bits of Americana. Check out that kitschy cover! The author's name is pretty awesome, too. While most of the info in "A Brief Dictionary of American Superstitions" can probably be found online today, it is still nice to have them easily accessible in alphabetical order, from "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" to "Young People." The entries are often quite mixed though, with the entries for New Year and New Years Day sharing some superstitions on New Years while the entry for Sweeping also throws in a few more (bad luck to sweep on New Years, you know). Of course, some of them are oddly sexist in that old fashioned way (while it is good luck for a "dark" man to enter your house first on New Years, it is "disaster" if a woman is first, "no matter her hair color"), but there are definitely some amusing stuff.

Did you know, for instance, that a good ointment for sore eyes can be whipped up from some crushed bedbugs mixed with human milk? Just smear a little on the eyelids! Also, "an abundance of hair on the arms is considered a sign of impeding wealth." Must not have come through yet for me, or maybe I need more. Also, it is common opinion that the sting of a "harvest fly" (or cicada) is fatal, which is, as the author points out, ridiculous. Some are just common sense, though, like how "wiping on the same towel as another person at the same time will cause quarrels." It is funny how many of the superstitions just seem to be completely random, and the author has an amusing voice in his asides describing how studies have shown that various of these beliefs are wrong, or in some cases, based on fact… (mehr)