Old Antrim superstitions in the dock!

WELL, are you a believer?

Are you the type of person who would diligently dive for cover from a crack in the pavement, a magpie or a black cat - or would you cheerfully walk under a ladder on Friday the 13th?

Superstition is a funny old thing, but for many Antrim folk in years gone by it was no laughing matter.

The arcane rituals involved may seem irrational, foolish even - but what if there was something in it?

Well, let’s study the ‘evidence’...

Exhibit A: why you will never be thirsty if you had the foresight to befriend a Hamill.

Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently it was a widely held belief that people with that name could detect water, even where diviners had failed. But only in September.

The belief, dated back to the ‘distant past’ when a member of the Hamill clan was travelling home to the Antrim area after a campaign overseas.

En route, the warrior chanced upon a man lying by the roadside. He had been beaten and stripped and left to die.

But not on his watch. Using what little water he had, he gave the man a drink and bathed his wounds.

When the patient regained his senses, the Good Samaritan accompanied him home, and the old man thanked him for his kindness - and offered him a special gift in return.

He had no money so instead he rewarded him with the ability to find water on any type of land on the anniversary of their meeting, September. Better still, he said the gift was ‘for you and yours’.

So does it work? Who knows. Grab yourself a Hamill in eight months time and put them to the test!

Exhibit B: making the best of a bad job.

Apparently one of the most deeply-rooted beliefs in this part of the world concerned children born shortly after the death of their father. The unfortunate youngster was said to inherit curative powers and would enjoy a happy life.

One such person was local man Patrick Ellis. He was born after his father perished in the Crimea, whilst being attended to by Florence Nightingale, no less.

During Patrick’s early years his mother noticed that if he touched any person who was sick or suffering from injury, the result was ‘miraculous relief’.

Word spread and soon his assistance was requested across County Antrim - and he generously gave it without charge.

But ‘certain worthies’ did not look favourably on the lad with the healing touch and they conspired against him.

When he reached his 20s, Patrick decided to set sail for Carolina, but he never got to practice his mysterious art in America for the vessel foundered in a gale and all on board died in the icy waters of the Atlantic. So much for the happy life.

Exhibit C: the power of prose.

Verse makers and poets were often believed to have special powers - people like Antrim’s David Herbison who was said to be able to get rid of rats and mice with a few well chosen words.

Another was known by the pen name ‘Finola’, and in the mid-1880s she had the reputation of offering ‘great assistance’ to people suffering from the vapours and debility.

Another poet, from the Grange near Toome, was said to be able to stop the flow of blood. It was rumoured that the man’s palm line showed a cross and what appeared to be a pyramid - though few saw it because he always wore a pair of Limerick gloves.

Limericks were leather and of such fine workmanship that when folded they could fit into a bantam’s eggshell. The Grange poet’s were said to be originally the property of one William of Orange.

Exhibit D: fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

This one was for parents who wanted to give their children a leg up in later life.

Apparently it was not uncommon for a bone from a greyhound’s leg to placed on an infant’s leg while resting in the cot.

Taking such a step, it was said, would make them fleet of foot in later life. It seems the practice fell out of favour when some of the young men in question began to chase hares - and catch them - on reaching their teens!

Staying with bones, other practitioners put them to work in different ways.

One local lad visited one after a metal spike became imbedded in his leg.

The old lady examined the wound and then put a piece of bone onto an end of a loaf of bread, which she fastened to the boy’s leg.

Some 20 minutes later she removed the ‘poultice’ along with the spike and the wound had dried up completely.

Within a few days the result was ‘amazing’, with no evidence of the injury to be seen.

The old lady said the bone in the bread method had been passed down her family. Bred in the bone, you might say.

Exhibit E: stone the crows.

The story of the ‘latch baby’ is a rather strange one.

Apparently that title was earned if the door of the family home was knocked by a red-haired stranger at the very moment the youngster was born.

If that oh-so specific visit did occur, the child would be assigned with mysterious powers to cure all ailments ‘from the neck up’.

The method used was the putting of a stone on the latch of the patient’s home and leaving it there from sunset to sunrise.

If it fell during that period, there would be no cure. If it remained undisturbed, the result was ‘immediate and lasting relief’.

As you can see, the evidence is far from conclusive - but you can imagine that desperate and impoverished people could be swayed at a time when the services of a doctor cost serious coin.

Belief in old world magic might fly in the face of rational thought or medical science, but needs must when it comes to a loved one’s health.

It might be superstitious nonsense, but then again it might work. Touch wood...