North Carolina folklore - tales and songs and beliefs and wisdom
May 19, 2016 7:55 AM   Subscribe

Frank Clyde Brown always planned to publish a collection of North Carolina folklore, but it seems he was never able to stop collecting long enough to actually assemble his material. After his death, some of Brown's colleagues intervened, and a collection was eventually published under their editorship. The seven-volume Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore was released between 1952 and 1964 by the Duke University Press.
And you can find the complete collection online thanks to Archive.org and Hathi Trust.

Descriptions of each volume, with links to Archive.org and Hathi Trust copies:
It is universally regarded as one of the premiere published collections of folklore in the U.S. Brown's original manuscripts, which were used to compile the collection, along with many of his recordings, can be found in Duke's Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.
Duke University has a guide to their collection, which is still being digitized from archaic audio formats.
posted by filthy light thief (9 comments total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is amazing...I love these collections of local history/myths/legends.
posted by Captain_Science at 8:04 AM on May 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


Holy cow. This is a treasure trove. "White moss from the skull of a murdered man, picked in a graveyard at the full of the moon, and tied in a piece of blue cotton cloth around the neck, will win any man." (from p. 574 of Volume 7) Cackalacky represent!
posted by Bob Regular at 8:06 AM on May 19, 2016 [4 favorites]


I know right? There is tons of advice that is still good today like:

"One should sleep with his head to the north, so that if the world stops turning normally, the sleeper will be thrown out of bed on his feet and thus be able to defend him self (p. 401 ref 3077 Volume 6).
posted by Captain_Science at 8:08 AM on May 19, 2016 [8 favorites]


I try not to have many regrets in my life, but given my childhood love of folklore and superstitions of the American South that has continued with me to this day, I really wished I'd fucked off in the school less as a kid and gone to university to be a folklorist. Thanks so much for this post.

(As a horror fan, I do love how things always seem to end up terrible for the folklorist.)
posted by Kitteh at 8:09 AM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


A package of fine cut tobacco, a package of raisins, and a cup of lard, cooked together, to which, when cool, is added a large spoon of boric acid, will cure a cold. (v.6, p. 152, #1122)

RAISINS. I was missing the RAISINS. Damn it.
posted by bologna on wry at 8:55 AM on May 19, 2016 [3 favorites]


Seriously, this is pure gold. Thank you so much, flt.

If you have the hiccoughs, think of a fox with no tail. (v.6, p. 212, #1633)

Huh?

To cure hiccoughs repeat in one breath the words:
There was an old woman who lived all alone,
And she was made of skin and bone.
One day to church she went to pray,
And on the ground a man there lay,
And from his head unto his feet
The worms crawled in, the worms crawled out.
(v.6, p. 218, #1686)
That was a very unsatisfying verse. I was wholly expecting AABBCC and got AABBCQ.
posted by bologna on wry at 9:10 AM on May 19, 2016 [3 favorites]


A package of fine cut tobacco, a package of raisins, and a cup of lard, cooked together, to which, when cool, is added a large spoon of boric acid, will cure a cold

Right, I got that, but then what do you do with it? My instructions are missing that part.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 9:25 AM on May 19, 2016


Eeeeeeeeeeee this is so good.
posted by corb at 9:41 AM on May 19, 2016


I believe you lather it onto the fox with no tail.
posted by bologna on wry at 9:51 AM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


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