Hello,

I've been searching for a book for years and am worried I might never be able to actually find it. In the mid 1990s as a kid, I bought it at a used book store somewhere in Virginia. I remember very little about the book itself aside from a few facts:

• It didn't have a book jacket (maybe it was just lost), but the hardcover was all black. I remember it being a fairly wide and tall book, but not very thick. Maybe 150 pages?
• It was illustrated with black & white pictures. Some were of real life people as photographs. Others were drawings.
• It DEFINITELY made mention of two specific things :
  • A creature called a "Brownie". I remember this being near the beginning of the book. It described what it was and how it related to other folklore. I think I remember other creatures detailed as well, but this is the only one I remember specifically - if only because I had never heard the term before. It showed a black and white drawing of a Brownie creature.
  • A hex called a "Whammy". I think it was in context of a real person using it at a baseball game, like to curse a pitcher. It showed a man curling the ring and middle finger on each hand, placing them on top of each other, thrusting both hands forward while yelling WHAMMY. This was a black and white photograph.
• I think it contained a list of hexes. I just recently came across Phillipa Warning's "A Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions" (https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofomen0000phil/) and it rang such a bell that I had the urge to try to find this once and for all by coming here. The book almost definitely had a large section like this, if not the entire style was like it. Punchy alphabetically arranged sections made up of superstitions. If this book contained a picture of a Brownie and a Whammy, I would be convinced it was it.
• The book was likely published some time between the late 1950s and 1980s. If I had to guess, it maybe was 1970.

Any and all clues welcomed!! Please help me put this almost 30 year old mystery to rest!