Category Archives: Charms

Shrapnel Charm

Title: Shrapnel Charm

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Material Lore, Charm

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any charms that they had related to the military or that he had while in the military. He said that one of his charms was the shrapnel that the doctor took out of his leg and he keeps it in a little vial.

Associated file: Shrapnel Charm

Transcript: “They took a piece of shrapnel sort of that was very close to my man parts um and i was like i want to keep that, man. They’re not supposed to.. there supposed to test it for like heavy metal toxins, but um i was like no just give it to me. So, I have it… I have it in a little vial. It’s a little smaller than my pinky finger nail.

Informant’s comments: Informant kept the shrapnel that was in his leg. He claims that it is a charm. He said they put it in a little vial and that the doctors were not supposed to have let him keep the shrapnel.

Collector’s comments: The shrapnel came from the incident that earned him his Purple Heart.

Tags/Keywords: Charm, Material Lore, Purple Heart, Shrapnel

Dog Tags

Title: Dog Tags

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Material Lore, Superstition, Charms

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any charms that he had while in the military or related to the military. Informant said that he carried around his own dog tags along with dog tags from his great grandfather from when he served. He claims that they were good luck charms.

Associated file:

Dog Tags

Transcript: “Uh, kind of. I mean i still have… I usually wear like I mean I have my dog tag my identification tag. I have my great grandfather’s from World War II.”

Informant’s comments: This was his first thought when i mentioned charms and he seemed to think his great grandfather’s and his own dog tags were charms.

Collector’s comments: These could be scene as contactor contagion because he carried around both dog tags in the hopes of having good luck like his great grandfather.

Tags/Keywords: Charms, Dog tags, Military