Mythology

96 truth compels us to say that the vampire superstition lives in those isolated districts where the tradition of its ravages is strongest. Mr Bram Stoker s Dracula aroused a good deal of interest in this country as to the reality of phenomena recorded in history; and when it was followed by Modern Vampirism: its dangers and how to avoid them, by A. O. Eaves, a book on which I shall have something to say later, it is clear that there yet lingers among us a kind of half notion that Vampirism may contain a germ of truth. That Vampirism is not an exploded superstition is evident from an even earlier book, which bears the name of Herbert Mayo, M.D., formerly Senior Surgeon of Middlesex Hospital, and Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at King s College. The book is intitled, On the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions, and is dated 1851. After describing the alleged methods of vampires and the means of avoiding their attacks (according to the best authorities), Dr. Mayo goes on to say, This is no romancer s dream. It is a succinct account of a superstition which to this day survives in the East of Europe, where little more than a century ago it was frightfully prevalent. At that period Vampirism spread like a pestilence through Servia and Wallachia, causing numerous deaths, and disturbing all the land with fear of the mysterious visitation against which none felt himself secure. Here is something like a good, solid, practical, popular delusion. Do I believe it? To be sure I do. The facts are matters of history; the people died like rotted sheep; and the cause and method of their dying was, in their belief, what has just been stated. Dr. Mayo then begins to establish the reasons why he believed the phenomena of Vampirism were real in the places mentioned, quoting at length the evidence of a document signed by three regimental surgeons, and formally countersigned by a lieutenant-colonel and sub-lieutenant. The date is June 7, 1732, and the place is Mednegna, near Belgrade. A specimen case will give the reader an idea of its contents. A woman of the name of Miliza had died at the end of a three months illness. The body had been buried ninety odd days. In the chest was liquid blood. The body was declared by a heyduk, who recognised it, to be in better condition and fatter than it had been in the woman s life-time. This is in keeping with the theory that a vampire is a dead body which continues to live in the grave; which it leaves, however, by night, for the purpose of sucking the blood of the living, whereby it is nourished and preserved in good condition. Dealing with the physiology of the matter first of all, Dr Mayo contends that an epidemic of Vampirism may be started by a few premature burials; and that they are the bodies of persons who have been buried alive. This statement is quite sufficiently startling to compel a pause. A lot of people are buried before they are dead, if we are to believe in the testimony of careful inquirers, and yet we do not seem to have outbreaks of Vampirism as they had in the eighteenth century. Besides, what has become of the possibility of smothering a man to death by screwing him down in a coffin, and interring him in seven feet of earth? What is there after that to keep the average stockbroker from resuming life and activity? These are questions which cannot be set aside. Dr Mayo can find no satisfactory explanation of the activity of the vampire when on the ram

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95 (4) THE DEATH-BELL. Once called the passing-bell, or the soul-bell, the death-bell is still a modern fact in some parts of the country, being rung, according, to rules, on the death of a parishioner; there are knells for men, for women, and for children. Of course, bells are as old as creation in China they date back to times beyond the Bible record. The point we have to settle is: why did the clergy ring the bell when a member of the congregation died? The first answer is: he rung it, or caused it to be rung, before the member died; that is, whilst praying for the dead and ringing for the dead were practically, identical, there was a preliminary ringing before death took place. The following clause, in the Advertisements for due Order, etc., in the 7th year of Queen Elizabeth, is much to our purpose: Item, that when anye Christian bodie is in passing, that the bell be tolled, and that the curate be speciallie called for to comforte the sicke person; and after the time of his passinge, to ringe no more but one short peale; and one before the buriall, and another short peale after the buriall. But the ringing is not explained in this ancient order; it does no more than give the ecclesiastical rule. Grose goes deeper into the subject. The passing-bell, he says, was anciently rung for two purposes: one, to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soul just departing; the other, to drive away the evil spirits who stood at the bed s foot and about the house, ready to seize their prey, or at least to molest and terrify the soul in its passage: but by the ringing of that bell (for Durandus informs us evil spirits are much afraid of bells) they were kept aloof; and the soul, like a hunted hare, gained the start, or had what is by sportsmen called law. Hence, perhaps, exclusive of the additional labour, was occasioned the high price demanded for tolling the greatest bell of the church; for, that being louder, the evil spirits must go farther off to be clear of its sound, by which the poor soul got so much more the start of them: besides, being heard farther off, it would likewise procure the dying man a greater number of prayers. This dislike of spirits to bells is mentioned in the Golden Legend by Wynkyn de Worde. I fear we shall have to admit the accuracy of this statement about driving away the devils. Naturally we have long since discarded the superstition; and to-day the tolling is soft and subdued; but, as the question of origins is the one uppermost in this book, we have no option but to confess that the underlying idea was two-fold: to call the living Christian to prayer, and to scare the fiends who were waiting to pounce on a departing soul. (5) VAMPIRES. To find the first references to vampires, we have to go back to the records of Chaldea and Assyria, but these records do no more than inform us of a current belief in the existence and raids of these monsters; there is nothing to explain their origin and nothing to justify them. They are accepted as facts. In some quarters of the globe, especially on the European Continent, Servia, Austria, and parts of the Balkans, the dread of the vampire is still a living force; not with people of intelligence and education, but with the uninstructed peasantry. And yet it would not be fair to the countries named to generalise so freely, and a strict regard for

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94 make it credible), that most commonly all the bees die in their hives, if the master or mistresse of the house chance to die, except the hives be presently removed into some other place? And yet I know this hath hapned to folke no way stained with superstition. Here the bees are not to be told of a death in the house: they die themselves if the hives are not removed. In a later century they do not die, but the hives must be turned round. I found the following in the Argus, a London newspaper, Sept. 13, 1790; A superstitious custom prevails at every funeral in Devonshire, of turning round the bee-hives that belonged to the deceased, if he had any, and that at the moment the corpse is carrying out of the house. At a funeral some time since, at Collumpton, of a rich old farmer, a laughable circumstance of this sort occurred: for, just as the corpse was placed in the hearse, and the horsemen, to a large number, were drawn up in order for the procession of the funeral, a person called out, Turn the bees, when a servant who had no knowledge of such a custom, instead of turning the hives about, lifted them up, and then laid them down on their sides. The bees, thus hastily invaded, instantly attacked and fastened on the horses and their riders. It was in vain they galloped off, the bees as precipitately followed, and left their stings as marks of their indignation. A general confusion took place, attended with loss of hats, wigs, etc., and the corpse during the conflict was left unattended; nor was it till after a considerable time that the funeral attendants could be rallied, in order to proceed to the interment of their deceased friend. If one must find a suitable source for all these varying ideas about bees and bee hives, it can only be in the mysteries surrounding the activities and habits of bees, now much better understood than they used to be; and in the manner in which signs of a religious nature were sought and found in daily phenomena. To the intelligence of the peasant a bee could not but provide marvels sufficient to win his respect, if not something more; for the bee worked industriously and cleverly on behalf of the peasant, and asked no wages. In other words, the peasant was a debtor to the bee, and his attitude was one of gratitude. Out of this feeling, no doubt, arose a sense of identity in interests a fellow-feeling which prompted him to tell the bees of a death, and to turn the hive at a burial. The religious element is seen in a letter, dated 1811, contributed to The Gentleman s Magazine. The writer says: There is in this part of Yorkshire a custom which has been by the country-people more or less revived, ever since the alteration in the style and calendar: namely, the watching in the midnight of the new and old Xmas Eve by bee-hives, to determine upon the right Xmas from the humming noise which they suppose the bees will make when the birth of our Saviour took place. Disliking innovations, the utility of which they understand not, the oracle, they affirm, always prefers the most antient custom. This is a good instance of using bees as a means of divination, and when once a people start divining, a crowd of omens is sure to follow in their train. The theory that when the bees in a farmer s hives die, he will soon be compelled to move from the farm, is easily accounted for by Mr Gibson. A hive of bees rarely dies unless the season is so bad that it is disastrous to farming; consequently, where a farmer holds his farm on a yearly tenancy, it may follow that he will find it necessary to go elsewhere to build up his fortune.

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Whirlwind: Whirlwinds are caused by demons.
The demon of whirlwind may be seen by looking through the sleeve of one’s coat
(Serbia.)
A Whirlwind can be stopped by throwing a knife into the midst of it. (Tyrol, Overpfalz.SCHONEWERTH,
Vol. II, p. 113.)
Whistle: Whistling at night is extremely unlucky. (STRACKERJAN, Vol. II, p. 20.)
Whistling is considered bad in Turkestan. If a husband whistles, something will befall
his wife; if the children whistle, their father or mother will die. (SCHUYLER, Vol. II, p.
30.)
The Kirghis frequently whistle to bring about rain (ib.), or it increases wind. (BRAND,
Observations, Vol. III p. 240.)
“A whistling woman and a crowing hen
Are neither good for God nor men.”
-Popular Rhyme (Great Britain).
Whistling at sea brings about a storm. (Germany.-BASSETT, p. 145.) White: White is the colour of innocence; hence spirits with hopes of redemption are
dressed in white. (STRACKERJAN Vol. II, p. 68.)
White Lady: According to a tradition, a spirit dressed in white appears to some one of
the household or guard of the Hohenzollern family, to announce the death of a prince
of Hohenzollern, or any important event in the history of Germany. This spirit is said to
be that of n ancestress and is known by the name of Bertha. She was duly seen on the
eve of Prince Waldemar’s death in 1876. cf. M lusine.
Whooping Cough: This disease can be cured by following the advice of a man riding a
piebald horse. Vide Horse, Ass.
Wichtelm nnchen: Same as Hinzelm nnchen.
Widerolf: Widerolf, Bishop of Strassburg, was devoured by mice in the seventeenth
year of his episcopate, because he suppressed the convent of Selten on the Rhine. cf.
Hatto, Freiherr von G ttingen, Graaf, Adolf.
Wick: A glowing ball on the burning wick of a candle promises a letter for the person
towards whom it is pointing. (STRACKERJAN, Vol. I, p. 33.)
Widow(er): If you are the third-or fourth, etc.-husband. (or wife) of a widow(er), you will
die soon after the marriage. (Jews of Vilna.-Jew. Enc., Vol. IX, p. 601.)
If a woman’s hair parts where it should not, it is a sign that she will he a widow.
The point formed by the hair growing on the forehead is called a widow’s peak. In a
woman it indicates that she will be a widow. Vide Hen, Thorn, Hairy Body, Wedding
Ring, Vermilion Mark, Work.

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93 (3) TELLING THE BEES. A Bedfordshire woman was telling me the other day, says a writer in a Northern daily paper, how her son had been stung all over by bees. And no wonder, she said, he never told them he was going to put them in a new ome, and everybody knows that before you goes to put bees in a new ome, you must knock three times on the top of the ive and tell em, same as you must tell em when anyone dies in the ouse. Ef you don t, they ll be spiteful, for bees is understanding creatures, an knows what you say to them. Yes, in secluded villages, among old people, the bee superstition still exists, but the modern apiarist will have none of it. To him it is a bit of poetry from out of the past. And it has some poetry in it; in fact it is one of the most picturesque of all rural superstitions, and some of them are neither picturesque nor decent. Whittier s Telling the Bees is so good a description of the idea that it is worth quoting in part: Just the same as a month before, The house and the trees, The barn s brown gable, the vine by the door, Nothing changed but the hives of bees. Before them, under the garden wall, Forward and back, Went drearily singing the chore-girl small, Draping each hive with a shred of black. Trembling, I listened: The summer sun Had the chill of snow; For I knew she was telling the bees of one Gone on the journey we all must go! Then I said to myself, My Mary weeps For the dead to-day; Haply her blind old grandsire sleeps The fret and the pain of his age away. But her dog whined low; on the doorway sill, With his cane to his chin, The old man sat; and the chore-girl still Sung to the bees stealing out and in. And the song she was singing ever since In my ear sounds on: Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence! Mistress Mary is dead and gone! Brand does not mention telling the bees, nor does Sir Henry Ellis, but the latter has some notes which apparently go further back than the origin of the telling. In Molle s Living Libraries (1621) we read: Who would beleeve without superstition (if experience did not

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92 (2) THE HORN DANCE ABBOTS BROMLEY. Mr MacDonagh, in his notes to Sir Benjamin Stone s Pictures of National Life and History, says that when Henry III. granted the Charta de Foresta there was great rejoicing in some parts of England, and that the modern horn dance is the repetition of an old custom instituted to celebrate that event. Previous monarchs had afforested such vast areas that the greater part of the country had become forest, and this circumstance, coupled with the very severe penalties imposed for offences connected with the chase, had bred much discontent among the people. The charter restored to them large tracts of land as well as mitigated the barbarous punishments, mutilation and death being forbidden; consequently it was hailed with joy and celebrated with a dramatic form of dance which was performed in the characters of stags and huntsmen. The characters of the dance are curiousIy dressed in spotted breeches, and carry reindeer horns mounted on a pole. A musician plays an accordion (which seems an infinite pity) but all the other implements are kept by the vicar in the church tower. The early history of the horns is unknown. There is a fool, and Robin Hood and a sportsman make up the list. The dance itself is of the nature of a hunt down the main street. The deer rush away and the hunters shoot them. The idea is apparently to assert the rights of the chase. The use of horns in this case is quite logical and natural, but there is some obscurity in their use at the Charlton Horn Fair described by Grose. It consists of a riotous mob, who, after a printed summons dispersed through the adjacent towns, meet at Cuckold s Point, near Deptford, and march from thence in procession through that town and Greenwich to Charlton, with horns of different kinds on their heads; and at the fair there are sold ram s horns, and every sort of toy made of horn; even the gingerbread figures have horns. It appears from Fuller s Whole Life (1703) that it was the fashion in his time to go to Horn Fair dressed in women s clothes. I remember being there upon Horn Fair Day, I was dressed in my landlady s best gown and other women s attire, and to Horn Fair we went, and as we were coming back by water, all the cloaths were spoiled by dirty water, &c., that was flung on us in an inundation, for which I was obliged to present her with two guineas to make atonement for the damage sustained, &c. The horns on a stick figure in another custom mentioned by Grose in his Classical Dictionary of the Mother Tongue: HIGHGATE. Sworn at Highgate. A ridiculous custom formerly prevailed at the public houses in Highgate, to administer a ludicrous oath to all travellers of the middling rank who stopped there. The party was sworn on a pair of horns, fastened on a stick; the substance of the oath was, never to kiss the maid when he could kiss the mistress, never to drink small beer when he could get strong; with many other injunctions of the like kind, to all which was added the saving clause, Unless you like it best. The person administering the oath was always to be called Father by the juror, and he in return was to style him Son, under the penalty of a bottle. The ancient use of horns has not yet been solved to the satisfaction of antiquarians, but at any rate the Abbot s Bromley ceremony is able to account for itself in a manner that older and extinct customs cannot equal.

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time of need. He is represented as riding a werewolf. (Chin. Volksm rchen, p. 202.)
Vide Pu Hiang, Guan fin.
Were-tiger: In the East there is a belief prevalent that a man, by magic or otherwise,
can transform himself into a tiger. Vide Lycanthropy.
Werewolf: In Slavic and Teutonic countries wizards were said to have the power of
transforming themselves into wolves and other animals. The metamorphosis is brought
about by means of magic incantations, or by rubbing the body with certain ointments,
or by wearing certain belts. Not only do these people howl like wolves, but the metamorphosis
is so complete that even their appearance is changed into that of a wolf.
(Vide O’DONNELL, Werewolves; BARING-GOULD, Book of Werewolves; LEUBUSCHER,
Wahrwolfe; ELWORTHY, E.E., p. 29 et seq.; DALYELL, Dark. Sup., p. 559;
ENNEMO5ER, Hist. Mag., Vol. II, p. 145; ABBOTT, p. 215.) cf. Loup-garou, Varulpe,
Vroykolakas, Vovkulak, Vlkodlak, Viukolak, Vukodlak. Vide Lycanthropy, Loup-garou.
Western Royal Mother: Chin. Folklore. A fabulous being of the female sex, “dwelling
upon Mount Kw’ n-Lun at the head of the troops of genii and holding from time to time
intercourse with favoured imperial votaries.” (MAYERS, Chin. Read. Man., p. 191.)
Whale: According to the Japanese, and the Hovas of Madagascar (BASSETT, p. 237),
whales creep under the earth and cause earthquakes.
To ensure a good catch of whales, the wife must lie fasting till the husband returns from
the whale-fishing. (FRAZER, G.B2., Vol. I, p. 28.)
In the Georgian islands, whales were scared and not killed. (TYLOR, P.C., Vol. II, p.
270.)
The appearance of whales forebodes trouble. A whale coming up the Thames during
Cromwell’s protectorate greatly alarmed that iron man. (BASSETT, p. 236, quoting
AUBREY, Miscellanies.)
“What is the matter with you?”: Such direct questions must not be put to a spirit. Say
instead: “What is the matter with me? ” and the ghost will answer: “Nothing with you,
but there is something the matter with me,” and forthwith relate everything. (Tyrol,
WUTTKE, p. 224.)
Wheat: To prevent wheat from burning, pick up some seeds silently above your head,
and repeat the formula:
“Weizen, ich setze dich auf den Band! Gott beh te dich vor Trespe und Brand.”–Harz.-PROHLE in Zeitschrift f r deutsche Mythologie, I, 200. Whirlpool: Over every vodyanny’s (water-spirit) house there is a whirlpool. (RALSTON,
Songs of the Russian People; BASSETT, p. 22.)

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s of medical literature, indeed medical men are themselves becoming more and more disinclined to administer drugs, using mental, natural, and dietetic measures instead. But the feelings of the faithful in believing that the Deity has a partiality for wells and fountains is the survival of an ancient superstition, perhaps one might say the most ancient superstition in the world. Everything had its spirit, in the belief of primeval man; the tree, the brook, the mountain, the cave each was presided over by a spirit who needed to be propitiated by sacrifice, prayer, or charm, ere the poor human could receive the benefits he sought for. It is a far cry from Animism to Lourdes, but there is a definite connection between the two. Both believed in the spirit of the well.

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Wedding Cake: If a piece of a wedding cake be put under the pillow before retiring at
night, a maiden will dream of her future husband. (Great Britain.)
Wedding Day: The bride and bridegroom should not see each other on this day till they
meet at the altar. (Great Britain.)
If the bride looks round on the way to the church on her wedding day, she will be
unfaithful to her husband.
Wedding Ring: If the wedding ring be taken off the finger of a married woman, she will
become a widow.
If an unmarried woman puts on a wedding ring, she will remain a spinster.
To lose or break the wedding ring during the marriage ceremony is an omen of extreme
ill luck; it presages the death of one or both of the parties. (Hesse, Tyrol.-WUTTKE, p.
40.) Vide Wreath, Vermilion Mark, Sty.
Wednesday: This is generally considered to be an unlucky day; even stables are not
cleaned out on Wednesdays and Saturdays. (Germany.-WUTTKE, p. 10.)
The Jews thought it dangerous to drink water on Wednesday or Friday nights. (HASTINGS,
Dic. Bib., Vol. IV, p. 603.)
Wednesday derives its name from Wodan to whom it it is dedicated.
“Monday for health,
Tuesday for wealth,
Wednesday the best of all,
Thursday for losses,
Friday for crosses,
And Saturday no luck at all.”
-New England (KNORTZ, p. 23.)
Weeping: To dream that you are weeping is indicative of mirth. Weeping Chamber: A chamber in the house of a certain merchant in Beyrout.
“Invariably before one of its (the house) members sickened unto death, a shower ofheavy drops, as from a thunder cloud, pattered upon the pavement of the WeepingChamber, and was heard distinctly at night through the whole house.” (ST. JOHN, Leg.
Christian East, p. 29.) cf. Edgewell Oak, Death Warnings. Weight: A person weighs more fasting than after a good meal. (LEAN, Vol. II, p. 625.)
Vide Egg. Weird Sisters: The Norns of Scandinavian mythology were designated by this name. Wen: The hair from the tail of a horse is commonly regarded as a cure for wens.
(BLACK, Folk Medicine, p. 152.) Wen Ju: Chin. Myth. In Buddhist superstition he is the third divine being who helps in

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