The following is an interview between me and of friend of mine, Anthony, over at the Caruso Catholic Center. He was getting ready to help host an event, but said he had a few minutes to talk about some folklore that he remembered was passed down through his family.

Anthony: “Um– Growing up… if we got, um, the hiccups… my mom would put a paper bag down my shirt.”

Me: “A paper bag?”

Anthony: “Yes, a paper bag. This was like, some kind of folklore passed down… kind of, like, I mean it’s– it’s like, you know, from her… from my great aunt, you know, they used to do it and they used to… it was something they did– it was, it was a Mexican thing, you know, like, ‘This is gonna fix it’ kind of a thing.'”

Me: “Oh, okay, so it was– it was a Mexican thing?”

Anthony: “Yes! it was, it was like, ‘Oh, hiccups! You gotta put a paper bag down your… down your shirt.’ It’s bizarre, but that’s… that’s what we used to do. It was like a family folk kind of thing.”

I have to agree with Anthony about this one being bizarre. I just found it fascinating how non-intuitive this specific cure was. I would have never thought of paper bags curing hiccups.