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Page 39
EARLY SUPERSTITIONS
CHAPTER VII
A GREAT many pioneers believed in "visions, dreams and
queer feelings" and to these beliefs were added certain signs. These
traditions they brought with them into the wilderness of Brady
Township.
The early settler did not worry about the fertility of
the soil. The soil had the humus of centuries, in addition to the
potash produced by the burning of the timber, and the fertility from
the stumps left standing in the cleared land, but the signs for
planting were a worry.
There were two signs, the "up-going" and the "down
going." If the crop to be planted were to root deep, it must be
planted in the "down going" sign, so that the roots would penetrate
the soil. If the crop were one that required the opposite, then it
should be planted in the "up going" sign.
Marriages were always consummated in the increase of
the moon. The moon largely controlled the signs of planting as well.
If the new moon stood on its end, the weather would be wet; if the
new moon lay on its back it would be dry; and if the new moon
appeared far in the west or to the northwest, it would be cold.
One man stated that if there were three signs in the
Fish, followed by three in the Waterman and three in the Crab, if
the wind then blew from the south, it would rain. Others believed
that if the wind was from the south on the first day of September
there would be a mild open winter.
A wide belief in witch-craft existed. The community had
a "hex doctor." The hex doctor was a man about five feet five inches
tall, probably weighing a hundred and fifty pounds, and past middle
life. He wore his shirt open to the waist, exhibiting a breast
covered with a heavy growth of hair. When called upon, he exorcised
the evil spirits, and prepared an amulet, which was tied in a little
bag worn over the heart. Curiosity led some one to examine one of
these amulets one day, and found a grasshopper and a couple of
peculiarly shaped stones in the bag.
Of course there were witches. There would have been no
use for a hex doctor unless where were witches.
One old settler relates that at his home in Dauphin
County, before he migrated to the wilds of Brady Township, he knew a
man who was considered a witch. One day this witch became very angry
at one of his neighbors who lived some three miles distant. He
declared to his friends that he would kill him. The witch entered
his house, secured his rifle and brought it out in the presence of
the company and began to wipe the interior of the barrel with the
wiping rod. In a
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