The Caul - a Strange Family Artifact

On a recent visit east to see my brother, his wife (a maritime lady) brought out a family artifact. Wow! Inside a standard white letter envelope, I saw what looked like pale ancient parchment. The item was the caul of her late father. Doctors had removed the membrane when he was born and passed it onto the family. What is a caul? A caul is a piece of membrane that can cover a newborn's head and face. Birth with a caul is rare (less than 1 in 80,000). The caul is harmless and is immediately removed upon birth of the child.Folklore suggests that possession of a baby's caul would bring its bearer good luck and protect that person from drowning. Medieval women often sold them to ship captains for large sums of money; a caul was regarded as a valuable talisman.In Irish lore a person born with a caul was considered both lucky and magically powerful - said to foresee the future and to travel easily to the Otherworld communicating with spirits.Some historians claim that Alexander the Great was born with a caul which may have signaled his amazing life as well as poet Lord Byron, actor Liberace, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, actress Liliian Gish and Mormon Church Founder Joseph Smith.