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Necropants

I learned about these so-called "necropants" from a friend. When she described it as being gruesome, I enthusiastically invited her to tell me more. The enthusiasm turned into disgusted fascination once I knew what necropants were. If you think the term sounds as neat as I did, savor that just a moment before the following knowledge changes it forever.

So. Necropants are pants made from the flayed skin of a corpse. They are believed to bring wealth to the wearer. Here's a very generous description of the practice.

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 sorcery could only be performed by two men, and the one had to die of natural causes.

*Here is a picture of the nábrókarstafur stave.

One source says the coin must be stolen at Christmas, Easter, or Whitsun (pentecost). Fortunately, the nábrók practice was considered to be "unusual behavior" in their time. Origin is 17th Century Iceland.

Also, here's a picture of a replica of the pants, if you so wish. Sources under cut as well.

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