Frightening Folklore

Folklore is always with us hiding in the shadows of our everyday lives even if we don't realize it. It emerges in small ways such as when you sneeze and someone says " God bless you" without really knowing why other than that we are taught to say it out of politeness just like we are taught to say please and thank you. People began saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes because some of our ancestors believed that a person's soul could leave their body through their mouth when they sneezed. They believed that saying "God bless you" would stop the devil from taking a person's soul when they sneeze or release the soul if the devil had captured it. Some people believed that evil spirits were leaving the body when a person sneezed and that saying "God bless you" after the sneeze would keep the evil spirits from reentering the sneezing person's body. "God bless you" was also said after a sneeze because in some cases a...