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The Ozark Encyclopedia

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I’m currently working on an encyclopedia of Ozark folk magic and medicine, which will eventually be published, but in the mean time I’m going to start publishing entries, from A to Z everyday on my blogs. Because I distinguish between plant based and faith based medicines, I’ll be alternating posts. One day will be an entry dedicated to a plant or ingredient that is either consumed or made into a specific medicinal preparation, then the next day will be everything else that covers the more “magical” side of folk healing, that aren’t necessarily consumed by the patient but used more in a sympathetic way. For example, nails, string, bones, etc. My main goal with this book has been to not only include my own commentary on the items and ingredients commonly used in Ozark folk medicine, but to include quotes from the folklorists themselves, like Vance Randolph, Mary Parler, Otto Ernest Rayburn, etc. As it is there’s no work connecting all these individual pieces of folk knowledge, which is what I’m working to correct. I think it’ll be interesting for anyone who enjoys looking at Ozark/Appalachian folkways. ​

All links below will take you to my main blog site, and an additional archive of posts can be found here.

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Magico-Religious Folk Medicines:
Alum
Animal and Human Parts
Ants
Ashes
Axes
Baking Soda
Bats
Beads
Beans
Bees
Bells
Betsy Bugs
Bible
Birds
Black Cats
Black Chickens
Blacksmith Water
Blood
Blood Stopping
Bullets
Burn Charming
Buttons
Buzzards
Cats
Chickens
Chips (Wood)
Cloth
Copper
Corpse Hand
Crawdad
Dime
Dirt
Dirt Dauber’s Nest
Dishrags
Eggs
Feather Crowns
Feathers
Fingernails
Fish
Frogs and Toads
Greases
Gunpowder
Hair
Hive Charming
Hole Stones
Honey
Hornet’s Nest
Horses
Horseshoes
Insect Misc. 
Knives
Lightning Wood
Madstones
Manure
Meat
Milk
Mirrors
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Natural Folk Medicines:
Alder
Angelica
Apples
Asafetida
Balmony
Basswood
Blackberry
Black Cohosh
Blackhaw
Black Pepper
Bloodroot
Boneset
Buckeye
Burdock
Butterfly Weed
Butternut Tree
Camphor
Catnip
Chestnut
Cocklebur
Corn
Cranesbill
Cucumber Tree
Dandelion
Dittany
Dogwood
Elderberry
Flax
Garlic
Ginseng
Goldenseal
Hickory
Horehound
Horsemint
Jimsonweed
Lady’s Slippers
Mayapple