General information about Item:

• Customary folklore; Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of origin: United States
• Informant: Chris Jacobs
• Date collected: May 24, 2020

Informant data:

Chris Jacobs is a long-time resident of the Hampton Roads area in southeastern Virginia. He teaches American history and loves exploring the historical sites and natural areas of his state and the American South as a whole.

Contextual data:

• Cultural context: Violent thunderstorms are a common weather event in much of the American South.
• Social context: Taking a bath or talking on the phone during storms seems to be frowned upon by family members, especially mothers and grandmothers, as a reckless and/or dangerous activity. In the case of talking on the phone, it was understood by both parties that an immediate ending of the call was necessary if one heard thunder.

Item:

If you talk on the phone or take a bath while it storms, you’ll get electrocuted.

Transcript:

“Somehow, every week you were prone to be electrocuted…Um, and so, you know, you couldn’t take a shower or bath if there was a thunderstorm going on. And, you know, there may be so scientific, you know, explanation to it or some real data behind it too, I don’t know, but you could never take a shower or a bath if a storm was coming or if it was happening at the time. Um, you couldn’t get on the phone. I mean like I could remember my mom and grandma talking and all of a sudden thunder go and they would say good-bye to each other so fast like it would just be like “I’ll call you later”, you know, because they just knew they were gonna get electrocuted talking on the phone to each other.”

Collector’s comments:

The overarching emotion at work here seems to be one of great fear, likely a fear of death or serious injury. Common with many American South superstitions, there is a questioning that science may not know the full picture; in this case, of what happens to electric systems during storms.

Collector’s name: Jack Jacobs

Tags/Keywords:

-Customary folklore

-Science

-Fears

-Storms