Some interesting folklore regarding the African and South Asian concept of people with their feet on backwards. It is possible that such folk beliefs might have come to America with kidnapped Africans and informed the evolution of the ante-bellum cotton hoeing songs "Go Down Old Hannah" and "Lost John" that appear to be forerunners of the prison song "Lost John."
--in Nepali folklore there is an evil temptress spirit called a churel whose feet point backwards.
--Tamil ghosts have their feet on backwards.
--The Asante and their neighbors the Ewe in Ghana and Togo believe that female witches have feet that point backwards.
--the Greek writer Metasthenes, whose writings were often retailed in Medieval European writings, reported there were beings in Africa whose feet pointed backwards, the antipodes.
--there is actually an anatomical abnormality in which the foot turns down and under so that the instep touches the ground and the toes and soles are up. An old physiology book relates the case of a patient who had the condition in both feet and was able to walk. He wore half-boots, laced on backwards. It is easy to imagine how a person displaying such a condition in a traditional society might be accused of being a witch.