Southern Superstition

“If your nose itches, you’ll have company”

Ramsey Walker

Fredonia, KY

May 20, 2020

 

 

Informant Data:

Ramsey Walker is my brother. He was born in Fredonia, Kentucky in 1990. He was raised in a family of small farmers who had been farming the land for generations. He grew up assisting in the work on the farm and was surrounded by rural family members and friends for the majority of his formative years.

 

Contextual Data:

I collected this folklore by asking Ramsey for examples of southern superstitions he could remember from our family. He stated that he heard this piece of folklore first from our great-grandmother, whom I never met. He could not understand the reasoning behind the superstition, only that this is what he had been taught by his elders and thought about every time his nose itched.

 

Item:

If your nose itches, you’ll soon have company.

 

Transcript:

 

I heard from my great-grandmother that if your nose itches, you’re gonna have company. I (pause) don’t know the connection between those two, but it’s been in our family for a hundred years.

 

Jack Walker

314 JD Bugg rd

Fredonia, KY 42411

RUSS 13 20S