Johnnie Notions' cures; an attempt to locate his grave.
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1970.240
Original Tape ID
Summary
Johnnie Notions' cures; an attempt to locate his grave.
Johnnie Notions had a cure for colds involving butter and soot mixed in a bottle and hung above the lum [chimney] for three years. It was then injected. He also made tablets from slaters [woodlice], spiders' webs and white-bellied snails [i.e. slugs]. He hented [gathered up] a lot of these things and fried them till an oil came out. He soaked the cobwebs in the oil and then rolled them into a tablet.
He went to Esha Ness church, and people would reward him there for his cures. He had a cure for the gulsa [jaundice] that involved melting down gulsa whelks [snails] and getting the victims to drink the oil. Tom Anderson knew of a woman who burned Notions' sooty Bible, which was supposed to have many of his notations in the margins. An account follows of three strangers' attempt to locate Notions' grave in Breckon on North Yell.
Item Subject/Person
Johnnie Notions [Williamson, John]
Recording Location
County - Shetland
Island - Yell
Parish - Yell
Village/Place - Arisdale
Item Location
County - Shetland
Island - Shetland Mainland
Parish - Northmaven
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good