Record #:

16339

Author(s):

Hedges, James S.

Abstract:

The folk belief, \"If you have a mole on your neck, you will be hanged,\" was heard around the turn of the century and before, when hanging was a common form of execution. Charles Waddell Chesnutt uses this belief from the folklore of southern African Americans as an important tool to develop the theme of social strangulation in The Marrow of Tradition, first published in 1901.

Source:

North Carolina Folklore Journal (NoCar GR 110 N8 N6), Vol. 31 Issue 1, Spring-Summer 1983, p43-44

Subject(s):

Superstition; Folk beliefs; Folklore--Literature; Folklore--African Americans; Chesnutt, Charles Waddell, 1858-1932