Folktales have always been a part of all cultures. Where ever  
    there's been human life, there's always been a tale to tell.
    As a child growing up in the back woods of Virginia I recall
    hearing my relatives speak of spell casting, root doctors, palm
    reading, black cats and such,but I was too busy playing doctor
    under the front porch to take it all in. Speaking of cats! Have you
    heard the old tale that if a black cat crosses your path you will
    have bad luck? Or if you walk in another persons foot-prints you
    will develop a head ache? How about the most well known one; If
    you break a mirror you will have seven years bad luck? Some
    may view this form of thinking as none sense. But is it? What
    some people considers to be none-sense is very real to others. The
    belief in things such as witchcraft,black magic,vampires,voodoo
    and the like,has been around for centuries. And will be-as long as
    mankind walks  the earth. Some older people believes that if a
    pregnant woman is frighten by an animal before her child is born,
    the child will be born resembling the animal that frightened her;
    they call it "marking". My father,being of African and Indian
    heritage, has told me some very strange tales of people he met
    while growing up on the old plantations of Virginia. My favorite
    being of a man called Buck Jackson;a tall slim narrow faced black
    man. As my father tells it, Buck was a great harmonica player
    and had other talents as well. The story goes like this. Every
    Sunday people would  gather at the old church and looked
    forward to hearing Buck play the harmonica. Buck would start
    playing the harmonica,remove it from his mouth,lay it on the
    hood of his old car, and the harmonica would continue to play,
    while Buck clapped his hands and said,"play it boy!" It was also
    said that whenever Buck was locked up by the local police he had
    to be closely watched,for Buck appeared to be a black Houdini,
    (an escape artist). Buck also had a strange appetite for things like
    burning cigarettes,coins,and glass lamp chimneys. The glass
    chimneys must have been a delicacy for Buck. Because It was said
    he would bite the chimney off piece by piece until it was all
    consumed. After which,Buck would give his chest a hard pound
    and the glass would come flying from his mouth.

    When it comes to old tales such as this-did it happen?Maybe it
    did; maybe it didn't. But one thing's for Certain! There are many
    different people in this world, that are capable of many different
    things;God planned it that way. Lets not forget that the bible's
    full of people that performed many great deeds called miracles;but
    were they miracles,or just perceived to be so?
    There was a time in history when people were hanged or burned
    at the stake for performing certain deeds; as in the Salem witch
    trials. And what about the deeds of Christ? Many thought him to
    be a demon or sorcerer,for which, contributed to his crucifixion.
    The fear of such people still exists in our so called modern day
    world. Many people are still strong believers in spell casting and
    have their ways to prevent it. One way is to rube a string in
    sulfur,tie a certain number of knots in the string and wear it
    around the waist for a certain number of days and no one can cast
    a spell upon you. A spell can be broken by the same means. I
    heard this from an old Afro American man, and I promised not to
    print all the details concerning this. Folk tales such as this has
    been told through many generations and cultures. How much
    truth there is in them is hard to say,but my belief is that there is
    some truth in all old tales.
Old Man Tale
oldcure.com