Giving a donkey some bread will treat whooping cough. They may sound a bit strange now, but folk remedies like these are an important part of human history. Building a folklore archiveIn 1937, the Irish Folklore Commission began a project to document and collect forgotten Irish lore with the help of some young researchers. A child’s account of various local cures for whooping cough. Infectious diseases including mumps, whooping cough, and scrofula (a neck swelling, often caused by tuberculosis) are more frequently associated with supernatural cures.