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The scapegoat. Millenia ago, priests would choose a goat, load it with the sins of the community and drive it into the wilderness. This superstition would symbolize an annual cleanse of vice and promote prosperity. Throughout history, human minorities have also been scapegoated. During the bubonic plague, for example, some Europeans blamed the Jews for poisoning their wells with Black Death. The scapegoat has modern day equivalents, such as Santa Fe’s Zozobra, a 50-foot dummy stuffed with grievances-on-paper, and set ablaze. Literature and art occasionally center on a scapegoat too: Shirley Jackson's story “The Lottery,” wherein the winner is stoned to death, is one plot. No proof exisits to support this superstition.