There are many strange cures for warts found throughout American folk medicine. These bizarre folk medicine cures for warts are good for a laugh but should never be tried at home.
Wart cures are a popular part of folk medicine probably because warts have been a common problem for humans for centuries. Many times causes for warts were created because people didn’t know where they came from. An example of this is the myth that toads cause warts. This belief probably came about because of the warty appearance of the toad’s skin.
Folk Medicine Cures for Warts – Grave Cats
One of the most bizarre folk medicine cures for warts involves taking a dead cat to a graveyard at midnight, the witching hour. As soon as you hear a noise, you are supposed to throw the cat in the general direction of the sound. It was believed that the sound came from the devil. As the cat is thrown, the person throwing it must say, “Cat follow the devil and warts follow the cat.”
Folk Medicine Cures for Warts – Leaf Rub
Another strange, and most likely ineffective, of the folk medicine cures for warts is the leaf rub. It was believed that a person should gather seven different types of leaves and rub each one on the wart twice and then bury them where no one can find them. The types of leaves gathered don’t seem to matter which means this cure doesn’t have a high chance of working. However, it could be said that this cure for warts is a type of sympathetic magic.
Folk Medicine Cures for Warts – The Blacksmith’s Water Cure
Another of the weird folk medicine cures for warts is the blacksmith’s water cure. It was believed that the water into which a blacksmith has plunged his hot iron was a magical remedy for warts, among many other things. Iron is believed to have magical properties and as such, has been used in folk medicine traditions of many different cultures.
Folk Medicine Cures for Warts – Leather Soles
The next of the strange folk medicine cures for warts involves the leather soles of shoes. It was believed that if you rub the wart with a sole of a leather shoe, the wart will wear away as does the sole of the shoe. Of course, we can see that by the time the sole wears away, the wart would have disappeared on its own, with or without the help of the shoe.
Folk Medicine Cures for Warts – Chalk Lines
Another of the folk medicine cures for warts instructs the person to draw a chalk mark on the back of an iron wood-stove. When the chalk mark disappears, so should the wart. Of course, this one is likely to work the same as the leather soles cure. The wart will disappear on its own by the time the chalk marks wear away.
Folk Medicine Cures for Warts – Stolen Dishrag
The next of the bizarre folk medicine cures for warts involves a stolen dishrag. The person inflicted with the wart is instructed to steal a dishrag from their mother, rub the wart with it and then hide it under the house where it will decay. As the rag decays, so will the wart.
Folk Medicine Cures for Warts – Blood Cures
Another of the more bizarre and gruesome folk medicine cures for warts includes the use of blood. Blood drawn from a wart by pricking it with a pin is put on grain. The grain is then fed to chickens and the chickens get the warts.
In another of the folk medicine cures for warts that uses blood, the wart is rubbed with the head of a recently killed chicken. The chicken is then buried under the home or barn where it can decay.
One more of the bloody folk medicine cures for warts instructs the person to rub the wart with a penny until it begins to bleed. Today, we know this is a bad idea because it can cause infection but it was an often used remedy in American folk medicine.
There is no evidence that any of these folk medicine cures for warts actually work. It is much more likely that the passage of time and the power of suggestion is what are successful in these folk medicine cures for warts. But because they may seem to work, they continue to be passed down through the generations.
