Go To The Barn And Get Me A Corn Cob!

Although I cannot for one moment imagine my own dear mother (or my angelic aunts and uncles) ever getting into trouble as a child, apparently she (and they) did. To punish the children, my grandfather dreamed up a simple plan: he would require the child being punished to walk out to the barn in the dark. The barn seems to have been some distance away, across a field. To prove that he or she had visited the barn, it would be necessary to return with a corncob. Apparently these were scattered around the vicinity of the barn because of livestock: perhaps chickens, hogs, or such like.

It seems like I remember mom saying she was quite terrified of going all that way in the dark. She'd grab her corn cob and return full speed to the house. Apparently it never occurred to her to leave a stash of corncobs somewhere near the house, but at least she was honest.

I guess mom was a successful sprinter. As far as I know, she did quite well until the day she encountered a ghost. As she fell up against the side of the house, terrified, it floated above the ground and then floated quickly away, intoning, "woohoohoohoo" until it was out of sight.

A practical joke? An overactive imagination? A "real ghost?" I don't know because I wasn't there.

Now, for a word concerning "ghosts." When I was growing up, there was a popular myth about what one must do when confronted by a "ghost." I remember hearing my father repeating this a few times as well. The advice goes like this: when you encounter a ghost, you must get a Bible and address the spirit, asking, "What in the name of the Lord do you seek?" At this, the spirit is supposed to end its haunting by taking some action, such as showing you where its remains are buried or where buried treasure lies.

Some say this question "does the trick" every time. Their confidence in the formula is inspired by the fact that it "comes from the Bible."

Unfortunately, there are no such words in the Bible. The "formula" ain't there!

Note:
In folklore and superstition, Psalm 91 (91:5 in particular) is the usual scripture associated with relieving the fear of supernatural harm. -ruinedmetropolis.com

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