Iron

• Romany mothers would place a piece of iron under the cradle pillow to ward off evil spirits
• Irish mothers used to put iron in their babies cribs to prevent fairies or elves from switching the body for a changeling
• In European folklore witches can't pass over cold iron
• Greeks and Romans kept iron out of their temples and cemeteries because they wanted spirits around
• Iron fences around cemeteries are there to keep spirits in
• Cold iron - iron that isn't smelted out of ore, but hammered pure without heating - is best but any iron will do in a pinch
• Iron repels spirits
• Pliny, in his "Natural History," states that iron coffin-nails affixed to the lintel of the door render the inmates of the dwelling secure from the visitations of nocturnal prowling spirits.
• Among French Canadians, fireflies are viewed with superstitious eyes as luminous imps of evil, and iron and steel are the most potent safeguards against them; a knife or needle stuck into the nearest fence is thought to amply protect the belated wayfarer against these insects, for they will either do themselves injury upon the former, or will become so exhausted in endeavoring to pass through the needle's eye as to render them temporarily harmless
• Discovery or invention of iron was attributed to various gods: Osiris was thus honored by the Egyptians, Vulcan by the Romans, and Wodan or Odin by the Teutons.
• Those mythical demons of Oriental lands known as the Jinn are believed to be exorcised by the mere name of iron; and Arabs when overtaken by a simoom in the desert endeavor to charm away these spirits of evil by erving, "Iron, iron!"
• In Scandinavia and in northern countries generally, iron is a historic charm against the wiles of sorcerers.
• The Chinese sometimes wear outside of their clothing a piece of an old iron plough-point as a charm; and they have also a custom of driving long iron nails in certain kinds of trees to exorcise some particularly dangerous female demons which haunt them
• In Ireland, at the present time, iron is held to be a sacred and luck-bringing metal which thieves hesitate to steal.
• In Sicily, iron amulets are popularly used against the evil eye
• In Morocco it is customary to place a dagger under the patients pillow, and in Greece a black-handled knife is similarly used to keep away the nightmare.
• In Germany iron implements laid crosswise are considered to be powerful anti-witch safeguards for infants; and in Switzerland two knives, or a knife and fork, are placed in the cradle under the pillow. In Bohemia a knife on which a cross is marked, and in Bavaria a pair of opened scissors, are similarly used.
• In France, also, a favorite panacea for children's diseases consists in laying on the child an accidentally found horse-shoe, with the nails remaining in it; and in Mecklenburg gastric affections are thought to be successfully treated by drinking beer which has been poured upon a red-hot horse-shoe.
• In Bombay, when a child is born, the natives place an iron bar along the threshold of the room of confinement as a guard against the entrance of demons. This practice is derived from the Hindu superstition that evil spirits keep aloof from iron
• In Finland there is an evil fairy known as the Alp Nightmare. Its name in the vernacular is Painajainen, which means in English "Presser." This unpleasant being makes people scream, and causes young children to squint; and the popular safeguard is steel, or a broom placed beneath the pillow.
• The Highlanders of Scotland have a time-honored custom of taking an oath upon cold iron or steel. The dirk, which was formerly an indispensable adjunct to the Highland costume, is a favorite and handy object for the purpose. The faith in the magical power of steel and iron against evil-disposed fairies and ghosts was universal, and this form of oath was more solemn and binding than any other.