The Introverted Detective: Legends about redheads

Is your redhead a mythical being? No, probably not, but there are some interesting myths about red hair that might be fun to look at. Let's jump in.

Courtesy of Pinterest

To have red hair can mean many things. You might be a Weasley. You might be a witch. You might be Irish or have Viking heritage. Most likely, your parents both have dark hair or red hair. It is rare to have red hair, but we often carry the genetics for it. I know a lot of people who do.

Today I thought it'd be fun (while I read Argylle and write my review - it might take some time) to explore the silly and ridiculous myths about redheads. I pulled up at least three lists from Google and went through the most interesting ones. I did do some fact-checking, but feel free to double-check my work.

The Myths

Red hair marked you as a witch from the 1400s into the 1700s. To make matters so much worse, they killed thousands of redheads, stripping them to find a mark of the devil (literally could be a freckle so anyone Irish is doomed). Having red hair meant you "stole hell's fire" and you had to be burned at the stake. Eventually, this madness ended. Some thought the mark of Cain was red hair.

Want to be a vampire? You allegedly can if you are a redhead and you die. That means all the Weasleys should be the undead after they die, my husband should be a vampire after he dies, and many of my friends are going to be vampires by this logic. It isn't true. Ancient Greeks thought this was true. While red-haired people do often avoid sunlight (pale skin), this is not confirmed.

Redheads have now joined the ranks of the black cats and walking under ladders with this one. They are thought to be unlucky. The British and Egyptians believed this to be true. Egyptians went as far as to sacrifice them.

Courtesy of Armaghi.com

On the flip side, Romans believed they were lucky and added value to redhead slaves. You paid extra for their luck. You rub a redhead's hair for luck. Poland believed that three redheads in one place meant you'd win the lottery.

Has anyone been accused of having no soul lately? Redheads were. They were also accused of stealing souls by making eye contact. Count your freckles if you have them. That's how many souls you stole. This may connect to the first two myths. It is so ridiculous you're probably laughing. I'm pretty sure my friends have souls and haven't stolen mine. It is believed they even sold their soul to the devil to spread sin and serve the dark lord. I don't think so.

The connection between red hair and a fiery temper can be seen in many character depictions in books and movies. It really does depend on the person with this one. I'm putting it here because it isn't true of everyone. It's a personality thing. Red is linked with passion and fire. This is a likely reason this started.

Along with a temper, redheads are believed to be more sexually charged.

This one is a superstition. It comes from someone's grandmother. She says that redheads get stung by bees more often. Take this as you will. Maybe this connects to being unlucky. Or maybe the grandmother had a bad relationship with bees. We'll never know. I put it here because it got passed down the generations. Another one that got passed down was the belief redheads bruise more easily. More than likely, the pale skin shows bruises more easily.

Back to the weird and wacky, we have an author insisting blood of redheaded men is gold. He wrote a paint recipe for Spanish gold including that as an ingredient. His name was Theophilus Presbyter. I think he got high before writing that.

Redheads are not going extinct. Basic genetics should tell you a recessive gene is carried. Many people carry the gene. As long as many of them reproduce we'll have redheads for years to come. They are not endangered.

If you believe in aliens you are in luck. Apparently, redheads are alien-human hybrids. Lyrans (aliens) allegedly have fair skin, red hair, and light-colored eyes. By that definition, the aliens landed in Ireland.

If Atlantis was the next word you expected to see you'd likely be lying. Yet, the myth that redheads originated in Atlantis is here. The theory states that people who left Atlantis went to Egypt, Turtle Island, and Easter Island. There are redhead mummies found in Egypt and Peru.

Were you conceived during someone's period while they had "unclean" sex? This was the theory about redheads in the Middle Ages, and it is coming back around some think. I expect his nonsense from the Middle Ages, though, given the lack of education that abounded.

Don't spread your redhead aunt's ashes on a field; it could burn a fertile field alive! No, not kidding. This was believed by Egyptians, who may have also used ashes to make corn gold or red later (at least they believed it). They burned a man to the god Osiris and then spread the ashes on a field. This came from a book The Golden Bough.

A Note To Check My Facts

Courtesy of tvovermind.com

I know the internet is not always correct. I want you to comment if you find evidence any of it is wrong. Anything wrong will be corrected. I don't expect history lists to be entirely true. False history gets spread and before we know it, we all believe a lie a century later, or even a few years later. Those history videos on YouTube - the ones that actually dig into a library and scholarly sources - have to dig through legends and stories that turn out to be lies. I may have some on here unwittingly.

That being said, I did try to fact-check my own sources here. Did I go to a library and take hours? No, so please feel free to do your own fact-checking. I'd rather not feed the public lies. We have so many lies fed to us as it is.

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