7. Belief in witchcraft is still strong in many of the rural districts. Many believe that others have the power to bewitch cows, sheep, horses, and even persons to whom the witch has an antipathy. One respectable farmer assured me that his horse was bewitched into a stable through a loophole twelve inches by three! The fact, he said, was beyond doubt, for he had locked the stable-door himself when the horse was in the field, and had kept the key in his pocket. Soon afterwards a party of farmers went through the process known as "burning the witch out," or "killing the witch" as some express it; the person suspected soon died, and the neighbourhood became free from his evil doings. 8. A horse-shoe is still nailed behind many doors to counteract the effects of witchcraft. A _hagstone_ with a hole through, tied to the key of the stable-door, protects the horses, and, if hung up at the bed's head, the farmer also. 9. A hot iron put into the cream during the process of churning, expels the witch from the churn. Dough in preparation for the baker is protected by being marked with the figure of a cross. 10. Warts are cured by being rubbed over with a black snail; but the snail must afterwards be impaled upon a hawthorn. If a bag, containing as many pebbles as a person has warts, be tossed over the _left_ shoulder, it will transfer the warts to whomsoever is unfortunate enough to pick up the bag. 11. If black snails are seized by the horns and tossed over the _left_ shoulder, the process will ensure good luck to the person who performs it. 12. Profuse bleeding is said to be instantly stopped by certain persons, who pretend to possess the secret of a certain form of words or charm. 13. The power of bewitching, producing evil to persons by _wishing_ it, &c., is supposed to be transmitted from one possessor to another when one of the parties is about to die. 14. Cramp is effectually prevented by placing the shoes with the toes just peeping from beneath the coverlet; or by tying the garter round the _left_ leg, below the knee. 15. Charmed rings are worn by many for the cure of dyspepsia; and so also are charmed belts for the cure of rheumatism. 16. A red-haired person is supposed to bring ill-luck, if he be the first to enter a house on New Year's Day. Black-haired persons [are on the contrary deemed so lucky that they] are rewarded with liquor or small gratuities for "taking in the New Year" to the principal houses in their respective neighbourhoods. 17. If any householder's fire does not burn _through_ the night of New Year's Eve, it betokens bad luck through the ensuing year. If any one allow another to take a live coal, or to light a candle, on that eve, the bad luck extends to the grantor.[101] Amongst other Lancashire popular superstitions are the following:--