Save thee, [name], God the Holy Ghost!

For whooping cough, there are numerous remedies (much like for colic) that straddle the line between medicine and magic. An old-time remedy was to have the child drink water from a vessel that a solid white horse had just used. Another was to pass the child through a blackberry bush where one branch had reached the ground and rooted, creating an arch. The child was to crawl through it three times.

Fabric was also used, with many variations on what kind: a silk ribbon, a leather strap with five knots tied in it, or a strip of black velvet hung around the neck. Alternatively, a bag of asafoetida was worn around the neck.

A “tea” of white ants (termites) was used to cure whooping cough, with the reasoning that if there's something rattling in the chest, the termites would break it down like a log of wood.

Other remedies for whooping cough included drinking stolen milk, having a stallion breathe into the child's mouth, or eating butter kneaded by a woman whose maiden name is the same as her married name.

BLOOD-STOPPING

One of the gifts of the faith healer was the ability to stop the flow of blood, no matter how bad the wound. There are hundreds of stories of how these folks used this gift for their community. Like fire-talking, this was one of the more common gifts used in these hills. Every person had their own way of stopping the blood. Some would hold their hand over the place and go into a trace that ended with speaking in tongues, holy laughter, or treeing the Devil,⁴ while others would simply say a verbal charm, usually based on Scripture, while passing their hand over the place. My maternal grandfather was able to do this in person or from a distance via the telephone. He would pass his hand over the place three times—or, if over the phone, he'd hold his hand over the same part that was bleeding on the other person and begin whispering the charm.

Back in the day, a lot of charms could only be taught to the opposite sex and sometimes to only three other people. Papaw taught my mom and Nana some of these charms, which were then passed on to me. However, the famous blood verse (Ezekiel 16:6) has been taught and used so widely, it leads me to believe the following charm isn't held by those folk laws. It is always said three times and finished in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood,

I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live;

yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

When using this next verse, the word thee is replaced by the person's name and he/she.

For example,

And when I passed by John, and saw him polluted in his own blood,

I said unto John when he wast in his blood, Live;

yea, I said unto John when he wast in his blood, Live.

Another for stopping the flow of blood, done in the same manner with the passing of the hand or holding the place if the person is a long distance away:

Jesus was born in Bethlehem,

Baptized in the Jordan River.

When the water was wild in the woods,

God spoke and the water stood,

And so shall thy blood.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

This next one is called Adam's Blood Charm. Pass your hand over the place three times from east to west, reciting the charm with each pass:

Through the blood of Adam's sin

Was taken the blood of Christ.

By the same blood I do thee charge

That the blood of [name] run no more at large!

+ + +

Another:

Upon Christ's grave three lilies grow.

The first is named youth;

The other, Virtue's truth;

The other, SUDUB.

Blood stop.

+ + +

Physical charms were used as well. For a nosebleed, a cold/frozen stone is held to the back of the neck. If you get nosebleeds a lot, a charm stemming from Ireland calls for you to wear a necklace of string with a fishing sinker clamped to it. The string represents the veins and the sinker clamps it to stop the profuse flow of blood. A similar practice among melungeons was to wear a red corn necklace, like that noted by Will Dromgoole in her work The Malungeons (1891) when she says an old woman said she had some “blood beads” that were sure to heal many blood ailments. One such necklace has been passed down in my family. For the same, folks would carry a bullet used to kill a hog, or the left hind foot of a rabbit with a black spot on the heel. They'd hold a gold ring on the tongue or a coin to the back of the neck, or they'd wear a bag that contained the Lord's Prayer around their neck.

FIRE-TALKING

Much like blood-stopping, fire-talking, also called blowing out the fire, is one of the most common healing practices in Appalachia. Can you image the danger of an infected burn back in the day? It would've taken no time for gangrene to set in; and if not, no matter where the burn is, it may leave an awful scar. Fire-talking is one of the “miracle magics” our people are known for. There are hundreds of stories of folks getting bad burns that, after the charming is done, heal up fine with no pain and no traces of it left.

Like many gifts, the ones who can do it best are born with the Gift or they gain it through circumstances in life. Papaw Trivett never met his father and was able to talk the fire out of a burn. Any child who has never met their father can do this as well as cure colic and thrash by blowing in the mouth. Unfortunately, Papaw never shared how he did it, so my mother and I can only guess as to the type of charming he used for it. Nana told us about it in passing but never gave any details. A few years after he passed, Mama told me where to look in the Bible, and that's the charm I use now. However, I cannot share it here because it is little known and governed by those same laws. If I shared it, the threat of me losing the Gift could be real, and I wouldn't want that. Instead, I will share others I have learned over the years passed on to me from friends or folks in passing.

The most common physical gesture employed with the following charms is to recite them three times and after each recital you blow on the burn, directing your breath away from the person. Papaw always advised not handling fire on the first day a person's charmed until after sunset, because the fire might jump back in. Folks were of the belief that the fire in a burn would eat away to the bone and set up infection, so when it's talked out you have to wait for the place to close to the flame. It was also sometimes recommended that the burned, after being charmed, should make certain to find themselves indoors come the next sunset or sunrise. Aftercare varied from one healer to the next. Some folks applied unsalted or unwatered butter to the burn on the first day, leaving it uncovered to the breath, and then bandaged it the next day. Others said not to apply anything to it whatsoever, relying on pure faith. In both cases, the burns usually healed quickly with little to no scarring.

Here's one common charm:

Old clod Clay, Old clod Clay;

Burn way, burn way.

Another:

Bread hunger not. Water thirst not.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

And still another, which is more of an exorcism: