Green Cotton was haunted by evil spirits, but when the crop matured and ripened, the spirits emerged to haunt people and livestock.
 

This Old South tale was told of horses who came to stay in a cottonfield one night during a heavy snow.  while the horses were grazing, they  were mounted by the ghosts of long dead indians. The next morning not a single horse was alive...the ghost-indians that had mounted them the previous night had ridden them to  death...they lay everywhere in the cottonfields with frothy, gaping mouths tinged with blood.

This tale circulated around plantations and cotton gins...causing many people to fear a cottonfield at night. 
 

1.  Cotton was chewed as a headache remedy

2.  Cotton potions are used to this very day for   chronic headaches.

3.  Powdered cotton-root bark was used as a stimulate.

4.  Because of these Real Life effects Cotton was surrounded by superstition.

5.  Young couples kept cotton bolls tucked away to symbolize their marriage.

6.  If the boll turned white, the marriage would be successful; if it turned to a creamy color, the couple would soon separate.

7.  To protect against financial difficulties, the couple had to sleep on a cotton mattress on their wedding night.

8.  If an unmarried girl found a twin boll then one of her suiters was on the way to court.

9.  If a newlywed couple found a twin boll they could expect twin babies.

10. It was taboo to use a cotton tablecloth on one's wedding day...the result would be crippled offspring.

11. On the contrary, romancing your lover in a cotton field at harvest time during the daylight hours brought on endless good luck to the couple.

12. The cotton Plant was believed to posses powers of incredible attraction.  This happened with people and animals alike.

13. When going fishing a young  fisherman superstitiously carried 20 dried cottonseed with him to insure a successful fishing trip.

14. It was very dangerous to find a boll with no cotton inside...the slaves believed that someone's kin would soon be sold before the night unless one dropped everything and slowly counted to ten.

15. Dreaming of a cottonfield was thought to bring on a peculiar desire to "pick cotton'