This summer at Augusta Sheila Kay Adams told us about sin-eaters and asked if we were familiar with the idea. My wife (Eastern KY) knew it but I (WV) didn't. The concept was apparently still alive in the southern mountains around the halfway mark of the 20th century. According to Sheila Kay, sin-eating was a family tradition and passed from father to son. She said that the sins of the dead person would enter bread that had been left in the same room as the deceased. The sin-eater would consume the bread and sins. When the sin-eater felt death approaching, he notified his son, and it was the duty of the son to perform the service for him.