In this Valentine’s week, let us take the pulse of early 20th-century witchcraft and look at the power of the heart in enchantments. The hearts of lambs, moles, and humans–all had mystic powers.
While we know Black Dogs as harbingers of Death, earthly black dogs were also considered to be a source of a remedy for tuberculosis. Here is an account of that macabre and dubious remedy.
A grim and grewsome look at people who drink blood and plunge their children into entrail baths–all in the name of health. Comes with a doctor’s warning: “the appetite for blood becomes even stronger than that for liquor, and cases have been known where it has produced mania of the most violent type.” You have been warned.
While a contemporary vogue for vampire fantasy has inspired some people to identify themselves as vampires and to actually drink blood, there has always been a curious belief in the efficacy of blood-drinking, not as a lifestyle, but for medicinal purposes only.