Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-03-18
DROWNING SUPERSTlTI0NS
VARIOUS METHODS USED TO RE-
COVER THE BODIES.

In Many Countries IL is Considered Folly
to Save the Victim Peculiar Beliefs
Entertained by Different NationaIities
Some Strange Theories.
In many parts of this country the ST.
perstition still survives that it is folly
or madness to save the life of drown
ing man, as he will sooner or later do an
injury to the rescuer, says writer in
the lmerjcan Notes and Queries. The
superstition comes down to us from
our European ancestors, yet traces of it
exist among the Sioux and other In
dams, who seem to have inherited it from
aboriginal sources. In Great Britain
the belief is most prevalent in Corn
wall and various parts of Scotland. 1t
is found, too, among French sailors and
the boatmen of the Danube, and is
widely credited in Russia.
The Bohemian fisherman shrinks
from snatching drowning man from
the waters, fearing the water demon
would take away his luck in fishing,
and drown him at the first opportunity
This, as DIR. Taylor points out in his
primitive Culture is lingering sur
yival of the ancient significance of this
superstition, the explanation being that
the water spirit is naturally angry at
being despoiled of his victim, and
henceforth bears special grudge
against the unlucky person who has
dared to Illustrate him. Thus, when
some one is drowned in Germany, the
remark is made, The river spirit claims
his yearly sacrifice > or The nix has
taken him. Out of Europe, also, the
accidental drowning of person is at
tributed to II similar seizure, and the
Siamese breads the Pnuk, or water
spirit, that SEXES bathers and drags
them under to his dwelling. The
Sioux Indians have similar fancy, and
tell how men have been drowned by
Unlltahe, the water monster. For the
same reason, it appears, the Kamtcha-
kais, far from helping a man out of the
water, would drown him by force. If
rescued by any chance, no one would
receive such man into his house, or
give him food. but he was reckoned for
dead.
The Chinese reluctance to save q
drowning man arises from quite a
different belief, it being supposed that
the spirit of a person who has met his
death in this way continues to fit along
the surface of the water until it has
caused, by drowning, the death of a
fellow creature. "a person, therefore"
writes Mr.. Jones in his "Credulities
Past and Present" "who attempts to
rescue another from drowning is con-
sidered to incur the hatred of the
uneasy spirit, which is DESTROYS, even
at the expense of mans life, to escape
from its wandering
Superstition everywhere has many
curious modes of recovering the body
of a drowned person. Again, the
universally of this form of superstition
is shown by the fact that, in one form
or other, it is shared in this country by
white man and Indian alike. Sir
James Alexander, in his account of
Canada, tells us: THE Indians mag
Inc that in the case of drowned body
its place may be discovered by floating
q chip of cedar wood, which will stop
and turn round over, the exact spot.
An instance occurred within my own
knowledge, in the case of Mr.. Lavery,
of Kingston Mill, whose boat overset
and himself drowned near Cedar Is
land; nor could the body be discovered
until this experiment was resorted to"
A loaf of bread is favorite talisman
in most European countries. Some
times it is found sufficient of itself,
sometimes it needs the aid of some
other substance. Thus in England the
loaf is usually weighted with quick
silver. In Brittany, when the body of
drowned man can not be found,
lighted taper is fixed in loaf of bread,
which is then abandoned to the retreat
ing current. When the loaf stops,
there it is supposed the body will be
recovered.
In Java live sheep is thrown into
the water, and is supposed to indicate
the position of the body by sinking
near it. But the objects used for this
purpose vary largely in different coun-
tries. A correspondent of Notes and
Q"erieS tells how a corpse was discov-
cred by means of wisp of straw around
which was tied strip of parchment
inscribed with certain cabalistic char
acters written on it by the parish priest.
A curious custom is practiced in Nor
way, where those in search of drowned
body row to and fro with cock in the
boat, fully expecting that the bird will
crow when the boat reaches the spot
where the corpse lies.
1t was a popular theory in days gone
by, that the body of a drowned man
would float on the ninth day, notion
which Mr.. Henderson informs us pre-
walls in the county of Durham. Sir
Thomas Browne alludes to it as be-
lieved in his time, and in his Pseudo
doxia Epidemica there is discussion
on this fanciful notion. 1t was also
believed that the spirits of those
drowned at sea were doomed to wander
for one hundred years. owing to the
rites of burial having never been prop
erly bestowed on their bodies.
1t Was a Bargain.