Old Folk Medicine Remedies & Cures

1. Have a cat sit on your knees whenever you have arthritic pain.

2. Mix turpentine with either vegetable oil, an egg or animal fat and rub on skin.

3. Put two horse chestnuts in your pants pockets.

4. One large thimble of gunpowder, mix in a spoonful of milk.  After taking that. Drink a good half-pint of milk separately. Then go to bed with a lot of warm blankets and sweat a lot.

 

1. Wear a piece of brown paper, pierced with holes, around your neck at night in bed.

2. Wear the sock you wore all day around your neck at night to bed, with the foot part near the throat.

1. Take a clean piece of paper from a brown paper bag, dip it in white vinegar and apply to burn.

2. Put mushroom slices on the burn.

1. Take the kernels off an ear of corn.  Then cut the bare cob into pieces and burn them one at a time.  Apply the cob ashes to the canker sore 3 to 5 times a day.

2.  Keep a glob of blackstrap molasses in your mouth on the canker sore several times throughout the day.

This drink is said to cool the body down and prevent heat cramps when you've been working outside in the heat:

3 tablespoons ginger
1 cup vinegar
1 gallon water
2 cups sugar (white or brown) or molasses, maple syrup or honey
(Some included oatmeal.  Some didn't put in the vinegar.)

1. Put slices of raw onions on your forehead. Then over them, wrap a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol around your head securely.

2. Pick up a knife and make a cross in front of you with it. Then throw the knife on the floor!

3. Apply very hot water to the back of the neck with a folded towel at the same time putting your feet in hot water.

4. Grind really fine the charcoal from your fire and mix it with a teaspoon of water.  Drink it.

1. Hold a penny between any two toes of one foot and transfer the penny to any two toes of the other foot, being careful not to touch the floor.

2. Wear nutmeg around your neck.

3. Take something cold that's also made of metal such as a spoon. Tie this on a string and lower it down the hiccupping person's back.

1. Roll up a square piece of brown paper (white paper won't work) and place it between your teeth and upper lip.

2. Pack a spiderweb into your nose.

Note: To test a plant to see if it is poison ivy, grab the plant with a piece of white paper and crush the leaves.  If it is poison ivy, the juice on the paper will turn black in 5 minutes.

1.  Take a slice of watermelon (rind and meat) and glide it over the rash-ridden body part(s). Let dry naturally.  Within a day, the rash should improve.

1. One teaspoon of cream of tartar per half-pint of hot water.

2. Eat fried mice.  (Ewww!)

1. Wrap a dirty sock around your neck.

2. Take a piece of bacon fat (raw) and tie a length of strong cotton around it.  Hold the cotton while you swallow the bacon fat.  Then pull up the bacon fat using the cotton thread. Then swallow again. Do this half a dozen times.  Then take a black cashmere stocking that has been worn for a week, sprinkle the sole with eucalyptus and place that part against the throat.  Wrap the rest of the stocking around the neck and pin securely.  Go to bed.  You will wake up with no sore throat. (Ewww!)

1. Put slices of raw potato over the burn. (The starch in the potatoes comes out on your skin and leaves a whitish color.)
Feels cool and gives a drawing sensation.

2. Wash with sage tea.