Strange Superstitions and The Superstitious Among Us

[Travis]

I guess mainly the salt thing and something I read in Classic Style, no hats on the bed. That one came by way of my maternal grandmother.

I've always had this belief myself, I think it probably stems from the reality that a hat lying on a bed is far more likely to get sat on that a hat on a hat rack.

 

[Miss Sis]

My Great Grandmother was apparently very superstitious and it rubbed off a bit on my Nana. Some things I got from her include:

No shoes on tables
Never live at a house whose number is 13 (although I use it as a lucky number for other purposes)
No peacock feathers in the house - it was something to do with the evil eye.

I also throw salt over my shoulder if I spill it. Lately I have been making sure that when i get out of bed I put my Right foot on the floor first. Don't know where I go this from!

I have always thought of black cats as being GOOD luck. They are always super friendly and come running up to me, so I hope one day I'll be able to have one.

 

[Helen Troy]

The only superstition I have: Whenever I am trying to do some difficult fixing, building, escaping, breaking in or such, I always hum the "McGyver"tune believing that it makes success much more likely to be the result.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I never answer the telephone on the first ring, because if I do I know it'll be bad news.

When I was a little girl, we believed that if the wrapper of your Tootsie Roll pop had a picture of an Indian on it, you were cursed forever.

 

[Grnidwitch]

Before my man takes off on his motorcycle, or I on mine, I always tell him I love him.

I try to never use the last match in a book. Something about the light going out (odd, I know).

 

[Dan G]

Beware of a horse that sweats in the morning...
Not because I think there's a warlock aroundlol lol lol

We had quite a few predatory species in our neck of the woods, and if your horse was jittery and sweaty in the cool morning air, chances are it was wound up tighter 'en a drum overnight. Be on the look out for Nasties...

 

[Flying Scotsman]

None. I don't believe in superstitions, jinxes, karma, ju-ju, lucky streaks, magic, paranormal anything, religion, astrology, etc. Nothing.

I believe that *everything* can be explained without resorting to supernatural causes.

Do I have fun saying things like "I've got my IFR mojo on today!", or "Must be karma...", and so forth? You betcha...but I absolutely don't believe any of it.

Sounds kind of boring, I guess. But it's who I am!

(ETA: The whole Feng Shui craze drives me nuts...don't get me started. I cringe every time people start referring to "energy" as a thing that exists all by itself...).

 

[goldwyn girl]

No shoes on the bed, means a death in the family. Got that from my grandma, she was very superstitous but it's the only one I picked up.

 

[Elaina]

Lizzie, the Tootsie pop Indian down here was GOOD luck, but only of you had the star with it.

Funny, I ate one today and looked for it.

 

[Dan G]

Can you still get free tootsie pops for sending one of those in?

 

[Elaina]

No, they're not as rare as they once were. I check my son's out when he gets them, and he has one on it about half the time.

 

[Dan G]

Thats a drag. I got many a free tootsie pop that way...

 

[pigeon toe]

I forgot about that Tootsie Pop thing! That was SUCH a big deal for me as a kid. All my friends and I would go to the corner store after school in elementary to buy Tootsie Pops, just to find the indian with the star. I don't think I even liked Tootsie Pops, I just liked winning free things!

 

[Chanfan]

I have three wrappers like that on my table upstairs at this moment.

http://www.snopes.com/business/redeem/tootsie.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/business/a/tootsie_pop.htm

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000474.php

 

[olive bleu]

I won't own a white cat,.

THE ONLY BAD LUCK i GET FROM OWING A WHITE CAT IS SHOWING UP FOR WORK DRESSED IN HEAD TO TOE BLACK, ACCESSORIZED WITH WHITE CAT HAIR

 

[Amber DeCadence]

I do the whole salt, knock on wood, no shoes on the table and mirror thing (to the point where broken mirror peices have to be washed in the local stream to remove the bad luck ) I also wont look in a mirror at midnight for fear of seeing a devil (yeah....me at midnight lol ) and wont do laundry on the 1st January (or you'll be doing laundry every day for the rest of the year)

I dont agree with the peacock feather thing, but thats probably the theatric in me - I love them!

Flying Scotsman, I subscribed to the whole feng shui thing for a long time and thought it worked rather well, but then realised it was simply because I was keeping everything clean and uncluttered and switched to FlyLady instead lol

 

[Dan G]

I have three wrappers like that on my table upstairs at this moment.

http://www.snopes.com/business/redeem/tootsie.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/business/a/tootsie_pop.htm

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000474.php

Thats a drag! Try taking them to your local store, they always honored it for me.[huh]

 

[Diamondback]

Well, one more thing that isn't really superstition, more like a quirk. In all of recent memory, you can count the number of people who've seen my eyes on the digits of all four extremities, with change to spare--not out of being "cool" or "tough", but out of how my eyes work. I don't take my tinted lenses off unless I consider the point I'm trying to make so important that I consider migraine, some degree of temporary vision loss and all the associated pain worth it.

 

[Rockapin-up]

I do the spilled salt over the shoulder, the not putting my purse on the floor, And I got a talking to by my boyfriend for putting his hat on the bed lol . As for Peakock feathers, I know they are aslo supposed to be the eyes of Hera, and I also read somewhere that some people kept them in the house to prevent the women who lived in it from getting pregnant (I'm starting to believe that last one ). I'm pretty sure there are others that I believe in I just can't think of any.

 

[Adelaidey]

I don't do superstitions in everyday life... my mum does "knock on wood" occaisionally, but I don't believe all that stuff.

However, I am in theatre, and there are some theatre superstitions that I keep for tradition's sake:

~ NEVER say the name of Shakespeare's Scottish play out loud in a theatre (most, including me, are conditioned to never say it out loud ever, just in case).
~ Don't whistle in the theatre, esp. the dressing rooms.
~ Never walk under a ladder set up onstage.
~ Respect the theatre's resident ghost (all theatres have a ghost). Or, to prevent a ghost from settling in, always leave a light on at center stage when closing the theatre.
~ Never recieve a bouquet of flowers before the show has begun. Also never use real flowers as props/decor onstage.
~ Never clean out your makeup box.... also, never spill the contents of a makeup box, and never wear new makeup on opening night.
~ Never knit onstage or in the wings.

And of course.... NEVER say "Good luck"!!! Always "Break a leg!"

Of course, there's lots more, but I don't feel like listing them all right now... most have stories behind them, so its more like keeping folklore/tradition than really believing in the superstitions.