A woman says she found a cow tongue nailed to a tree outside on Willoughby and Marcy Avenues in Bed-Stuy this morning. Elena Carey told Gothamist she was afraid to touch it because it looked "like it's stitched up with something...I could only assume wicked spell materials?"
Two years ago, multiple cow tongues were found nailed to trees in Inwood Hill Park. After the Inwood incident, Elizabeth McAlister, PhD, a professor of religion at Wesleyan University who has written books about the spirituality of the African Diaspora, told Gothamist about the possible meaning behind the tongues.
"It’s a defensive sort of prayer," she said. Nailed animal tongues can be used to "instruct the spirits to stop someone from gossiping, from spreading harmful rumors or the like...or to stop a witness from testifying in court."
This isn't the first time a cow tongue has been found nailed to a tree in Brooklyn. Last March, a tipster informed us of a decaying cow tongue full of needles that was attached to a tree in Prospect Park.
"Needless to say, it's freaking me out and I'm doing everything to keep my 3-year-old from noticing," Carey told us. Too bad it's not fresh, it could have made for good lengua tacos.
