simargl

theoddmentemporium:

“Necropants”
The necropants, as they’re called, are at the center of a very strange legend that’s part of an exhibit at Iceland’s Holmavik Witchcraft and Sorcery Museum (a macabre little pit-stop where you can learn the stories of 17 people burned at the stake in the 17th century — for supposedly “occult” practices like cursing someone with uncontrollable farting). The necropants were made from the skin of the bottom half of a dead guy — but that’s not the weird part, if you can believe it. From Lonely Planet Iceland:

It was believed that the necropants would spontaneously produce money when worn, as long as the donor corpse had been stolen from a graveyard at the dead of night and a magic rune and a coin stolen from a poor widow were placed in the dead man’s scrotum. [Source]

And from the Museum’s website:

If you want to make your own necropants (literally; nábrók) you have to get permission from a living man to use his skin after his dead. After he has been buried you must dig up his body and flay the skin of the corpse in one piece from the waist down. As soon as you step into the pants they will stick to your own skin. A coin must be stolen from a poor widow and placed in the scrotum along with the magical sign, nábrókarstafur, written on a piece of paper. Consequently the coin will draw money into the scrotum so it will never be empty, as long as the original coin is not removed. To ensure salvation the owner has to convince someone else to overtake the pants and step into each leg as soon as he gets out of it. The necropants will thus keep the money-gathering nature for generations.

[The ‘uncontrollable farting’ link is left in there for your reading pleasure too]

Reblogged from theoddmentemporium

theoddmentemporium:

“Necropants”

The necropants, as they’re called, are at the center of a very strange legend that’s part of an exhibit at Iceland’s Holmavik Witchcraft and Sorcery Museum (a macabre little pit-stop where you can learn the stories of 17 people burned at the stake in the 17th century — for supposedly “occult” practices like cursing someone with uncontrollable farting). The necropants were made from the skin of the bottom half of a dead guy — but that’s not the weird part, if you can believe it. From Lonely Planet Iceland:

It was believed that the necropants would spontaneously produce money when worn, as long as the donor corpse had been stolen from a graveyard at the dead of night and a magic rune and a coin stolen from a poor widow were placed in the dead man’s scrotum. [Source]

And from the Museum’s website:

If you want to make your own necropants (literally; nábrók) you have to get permission from a living man to use his skin after his dead. After he has been buried you must dig up his body and flay the skin of the corpse in one piece from the waist down. As soon as you step into the pants they will stick to your own skin. A coin must be stolen from a poor widow and placed in the scrotum along with the magical sign, nábrókarstafur, written on a piece of paper. Consequently the coin will draw money into the scrotum so it will never be empty, as long as the original coin is not removed. To ensure salvation the owner has to convince someone else to overtake the pants and step into each leg as soon as he gets out of it. The necropants will thus keep the money-gathering nature for generations.

[The ‘uncontrollable farting’ link is left in there for your reading pleasure too]

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  1. reachmouse reblogged this from theoddmentemporium and added:
    Oh my strange world.
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    The necropants, as they’re called, are at the center of a very strange legend that’s part of an exhibit at Iceland’s...
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  24. smallyoungmonkey reblogged this from hoganhere and added:
    File under “WTF!” The pants obviously really work… look at all the coins in the bottom of the display case. I wonder if...