Pajiba

I regularly knock on wood when needed, and I will even throw salt over my left shoulder when I spill it. The knocking on wood is one thing, but the salt? I don't know why I do that. I also try not to talk about when my toddler has been sleeping regularly through the night, lest I might jinx it.

I usually have a psychotically good memory when it comes to what I'm wearing and when I'm wearing it, and if something bad happens when I'm wearing a particular item--a shirt or a coat, usually-- it takes me a good while to wear it again. Weird, but eh.

I may have mentioned on the site that I'm a fan of the Indianapolis Colts. Well, two years ago, on the night benfore opeing Sunday, I got myself inebriated. On Sunday morning, I did something I rarely do: I drove to McDonald's and got myself one of those Hangover McMuffins for Mrs. Pajiba-hyphenate and I to soak up the alcohol. And the Colts won that day. So, naturally, my superstitious ass attributed the win to the Hangover McMuffin. So, I vowed to get one every single Sunday until the Colts lost.

They won their first 13 games.

I haven't had a McMuffin since.

you name it... i am superstitious about it. black cats? hate them. ladders? won't walk under them. knock on wood? wherever i can find it. you get the idea? it creeps me out. i won't watch my college football team play or wear their colors on gameday (i feel as though i am personally responsible if they lose-- nutso). i have never even broken a mirror... knock on wood. shit!

I act in a lot of stage plays so I've picked up a ton of supersitions. I cross myself before I go onstage even though I'm only Catholic by birth and not devout at all; I've recently developed supersitions towards naming the Scottish play (aka the "M" word) outloud; I go outside, spit and spin around thrice if I slip; I believe vehemently in theatre ghosts and won't taunt them, and if I talk about them I continually voice my respect for them; and I always have to do the yoga sun salute and belt the highest note in my register before the show starts. I always lift my hands and feet when going over train tracks. Other than that, I tend to avoid stepping on cracks and the like, but I don't feel strongly about them.

I'm not superstitious but will knock wood when the occasion warrants.

But when I was pregnant and working with homeless families, one of my gals said I was going to have to get rid of my cat (completely black, by the way) after the baby was born. When I asked why, she said "Cuz it will suck the breaf right out your baby!"

I explained to her that while my cat may be able to put it's mouth over the baby's, I'm pretty sure that it couldn't pinch his nose.

I believe in jinxing myself, but it's more to do with having had a lot of disappointments and not wanting to feel that way again. I grew up in Africa mostly so we had different superstitions. My grandmother would fly into a rage if I drank milk from her cows standing (apparently, it kills them). Girls shouldn't whistle or they'd be attacked by snakes at night (I actually learned to whistle as a kid specifically to see if it would happen.). I don't like stepping on cracks in the pavement and I'm ridiculously happy when I can fit my foot in one section. That's not a superstition though, it's my obsession with symmetry.

I am surprisingly superstitious, though mostly in non-traditional ways; however, I throw salt over my left shoulder. I'm somewhat obsessed with jinxing things. I'll some times avoid answering questions about things going well, or answer the question by asking if the person is trying to jinx me.

Once I think that something bad might happen if I don't do a particular thing, then I have to do that particular thing to avoid the bad occurrence. Like, yesterday, I got a chain email that promised good luck if forwarded, and bad luck if not. And as much as I simply wanted to delete the damn thing, I became concerned enough about the bad luck that I sent it along to 20 of my friends. Sigh.

Clearly, I need to feel like I have more agency in my life...

My grandmother insisted that you can't do laundry on Fridays or someone you know will die. That goes triple for New Years. Rationally I know that I couldn't possibly kill someone by doing laundry on the wrong day, but I can't bring myself to test it.

Any time the clock hits 4:44 or 5:55 etc. I make a wish. Plus when I was little I was TERRIFIED of the basement, so my mom, bless her heart devised a way to protect me from the nameless boogie monster in the basement. She told me to hold my breath and nothing bad would happen to me. So now to this very day, whenever I pass a creepy place I hold my breath until I am passed it.

I do the knocking on wood thing.

And for some reason I JUST started throwing salt over my shoulder. I never even thought about it before, so I have no idea why I started now.

Ladders, cracks and black cats do make me pause for a second, but I'm not overly worried about those.

Oh yeah, and if a restaurant bill or receipt comes out to total 666, I'll tip more or add/drop an item to get a different number.

I don't think of myself as superstitious, but I do throw spilled salt over my left shoulder, and I'm afraid of ghosts even though I don't actually believe in them (not during the day when I'm fully awake anyway). I have never named the Scottish Play in a theater (I'd almost forgotten about that one Ling!), but it's mostly so the people around me don't freak out, don't step on sidewalk cracks, but I also think that's a symmetry thing, not fear of something bad happening, and like tt_marie that stupid Urban legend has me checking the back seat of my car at night when I get in it.

Sooooo....there is a certain free news paper in Manhattan. Which has in it a certain horoscope. And for months I was fighting the growing feeling that this particular horoscope writer KNEW something. But like a good skeptic I hid my growing conviction/addiction to this horoscope, never mentioning it to a soul. Until one day an old friend that I happened to meet at a party sheepishly admitted to an enslavement to this particular horoscope. I was thrilled to discover I was not alone. But neither one of us could come up with a justification for our conviction.

The only other prevalent superstition I have is object related. If something I value breaks or is lost, or found for that matter, it feels like a sign.

After pondering the diversion for a bit, I realized that I'm hardly superstitious at all. When I was involved in the theater, I used to drive the other actors insane with my refusal to kow-tow to all the old wives tales. Theater folks are some seriously superstitious mo-fo's.

I love black cats and have had two as pets. I'm also rather fond of cemeteries.

I do the knock on wood thing a lot. That's about it. And since owning my Emily the Strange black t-shirt, I've always worn it on when it's Friday the 13th, but I guess that's more of a tradition.

My husband, on the other hand, is crazy superstitious. He will hold his breath when passing a cemetery, even when he's the one driving. When he does this, I keep my hands ready to grab the wheel should the graveyard prove to be rather large and my husband passes out.

He's a kooky one!

Hey Misty: "My grandmother insisted that you can't do laundry on Fridays or someone you know will die. That goes triple for New Years."

HAHAHAH! I think what she meant was SHE can't do laundry on those days or someone will die. It was her way of getting a day off!!! I like it. I may borrow that technique for lots of things. "Hey boss, I can't get that report to you on Friday because someone will die. How about next Tuesday?"

Half my family is Carribbean, which takes superstition to a whole 'nother level. We're talking belief in zombies and paying money to witch-doctors and the whole nine yards.

I don't believe in an iota of it myself, but it's pretty damn freaky how those who do seem to be justified by all the spooky stuff that works out in accordance with their wacky superstitions...

As for me, I think 22 is my lucky number, and that when I see it, someone is thinking of me, though don't ask me why. I'm still afraid of the dark, at the age of 30, and I can't even imagine saying Bloody Mary into a mirror. Jesus.

I don't believe in anything supernatural. However, bad things seemed to happen when I was wearing a certain pair of pants -- got dumped, got trapped at the airport -- and even though I knew they were just fabric and that it was all in my mind, those pants went to goodwill fairly quickly. It might have all been in my head, but hell, how you feel about something influences your day.
I do love how superstitions start though -- salt is supposed to blind the devil, knocking on wood is essentially swearing on the cross. Entertaining stuff.

Oh, and I can't watch a football game without doing something weird: I have to imagine a wall of air when my team's defense is out there - this huge whoosh of energy the other team can't bust through. I, like, focus on this wall with all my might. And I kinda freak out when I can't watch a game, because I think it is important for me to do this. Craaaazzzyyyy.

My boyfriend has a million little superstitions that he follows and I indulge his idiosyncracies to a degree since they're the normal superstitious stuff we're all familiar with.

He's only got one that baffles me. I had never heard it before, but apparently you're not supposed to light a cigarette off of a candle because every time you do a sailor dies. It dates back to when sailor's wives would light a candle in the window while their husbands were away at sea. If it blew out, that was a bad omen for the life expectancy of their breadwinner. I don't really know how he translated such a superstition into the cigarette thing though. Seems like an odd leap.

But I break superstitions like their going out of style.

Darling hubby is a professional astronomer (not astrologer) and there is an asteroid with my name. It is asteroid number 1313, which I find very amusing. Unfortunately, my name will not become famous unless asteroid 1313 smashes into the Earth.

For the most part I am not superstitious at all, except for two things. If I look at the clock at 11:11 I always make a wish, and I have this thing I call 'Bus Luck'. For some reason I never ever have to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus. Usually the bus arrives right after I get to the stop. I got it from my dad who has what he calls 'Parking Karma'.He always gets great parking spots.

I get nervous around black cats, but not enough to avoid them.

Besides the knock wood thing, I used to literally step on the sidewalk cracks (no, not because I wanted to break my mother's back) because I was slightly obsessive compulsive and felt weird if I didn't do it. I've grown out of it since then.

Many of my superstitions have been handed down to me from my old Italian relatives...

1)NEVER, under any circumstances, place shoes, especially new ones, on a table. It is extremely bad luck. I don't know why.

2)Dropping silverware: A fork means someone's coming to visit. A knife means someone will soon die.

3)Doing laundry on New Year's Day is strictly forbidden. To do so means that you will throw away all your good luck for the new year with the dirty water.

4)Keeping your hands under the dinner table means that you have something to hide and are not to be trusted. Try explaining that one to the parents of non-Italian friends when visiting for dinner.

Here's my own: I always make a wish at 11:11. Not 3:33 or 4:44, but 11:11, and 11:11 only. The duality of the numbers gives me greater hope that my wish will come true.

I also know many tricks & rituals to remove curses. Yeah, those old bitches were crazy. Good meatballs, though.

Ranylt--I also am still scared to say "Bloody Mary" in a mirror.
My ultimate thing is that I will never ever try a Ouija board. Those things are creepy, I don't care how lame they are. I don't want to touch it.

Alabamapink, I do the same thing when I pass cemeteries and have come close to passing out myself. I think that's mostly to do with my fondness of horror movies from a young age, you dont ever disrespect the dead or they'll come gunning for your ass.

I also knock on wood but can't really justify it. The one thing I do try to look out for is mentioning the fact that I haven't caught cold this winter, or that the mosquitoes haven't gotten me tonight, or anything else related to my health or general comfort. Because the second I say it, its bound to happen.

TK- my husband thinks I am a curse to his team, because the first Huskers game he watched with me was a bad loss and the start of their recent suckage. But he still lets me in the same room when the game is on.
Now I'm pregnant; the baby is due in September. If the Huskers start winning, how much do you want to bet that the baby becomes the good luck charm?

I don't have any superstitious; I just have anxiety!

I have inherited from my father the Persian belief that if a guest has overstayed their welcome, you can get them to leave by sprinkling a little salt in their shows.

I'm not so much superstitious as Obsessive compulsive. I insist that
1) Then clothes are hung, that the hook faces the inside of the closet
2) Toilet paper rolls are replaced so that the paper rolls over instead of under
3) When I put on earphones I check to make sure that I am putting the "Left" earbud in the left ear and "Right" in the right ear.

When I was a little-un, my dad read me A.A. Milne, especially the poem about the "bears" who'll get you if you don't walk in "only the squares." Translation: bears will sit idly by until you step on a crack, and then they'll chase you and try to bite you. When we'd be out and about, and I was casually walking ahead, he'd sometimes give my leg a light, ticklish grab and roar in my ear. This was twenty years ago. I know, instinctively, when I step on a crack. Bad. Baaaaaad to step on cracks.
I also write angry missives to those who send me chain letters, because I don't like the negative energy they're putting out? And when I was in love with someone, I'd put all my pennies face-side up on the sidewalk to show off for them, trying to put more good luck around wherever we went.

It worked.

Every time I spill milk I sacrifice a goat.

I'm not remotely superstitious and never have been, not even as a little girl. I was born on the 13th, my cat is black, and after college I managed a bookstore so I think nothing whatsoever of walking under ladders all day. The summer I was ten I slept in a cemetary one night because my cousin's friend dared me to, and I thought it was no big deal, but my grandmother was horrified and hauled my ass to church the minute my cousin told her that I had probably become possessed by ghosts.

I think chain letters are a stupid waste of time and usually delete them, but sometimes if I'm feeling evil I'll just send ten copies right back to the person who sent it to me so I can watch them panic while I point and laugh. One of my best friends has a Zombie Survival Kit (no, seriously - she really does, with like an ax and flares and shit) and she is absolutely convinced that someday zombies will attack and she will be one of the only survivors because she's so well prepared.

I genuinely don't understand superstition, but my zombie survivin' friend tells me that's because I'm evil to the core and have no soul and am far scarier than anything supernatural. I suppose this theory has some merit, but I suspect it has more to do with the fact that I don't have any real phobias, either. I'm not afraid of heights or bugs or water or the dark or anything. I don't think I'm invincible or anything fatally insane like that, but I guess I just figure I'm guaranteed to die someday and I can waste my life worrying about how, or just deal with it when it smacks me upside the head and in the meantime get on with the business of living.

I bought a crucifix when I visited Rome. I decided to carry it around one day even though I wasn't Catholic. That was 9/11/01. I haven't touched the crucifix since.

Of course being Irish, I could hog this thread for quite a while so I'll only post the ones I like best and have kept up since Granny died.
1. Make sure you witness the sunrise on the Winter Solstice or the winter may never end for you.
2. When somebody known to you dies, it's important to stop all the clocks in the house until the person has been buried. Otherwise, the spirit will not know that time has stopped for them and continue in this world instead of moving to the next.
2. On Halloween night, make sure there is no standing water in the house or the ghosts who came back from the other world for the evening will use the water to hide in and be stuck in your world for another year (this one obviously originated long before indoor plumbing and would drive Granny to distraction flushing the toilet and putting bricks on the seat to try to comply).

I'm in the same category as all those above who think "this will be hard, superstitions are for idiots" and then come up with half a dozen things I do off the top of my head.

My superstitions are entirely hockey-related: When I used to play as a teenager I would never get more than half-dressed until the Zamboni was on it's way off the ice; at that point I would hurriedly put on skates, shoulder pads, etc as quickly as possible (I got very good at it and it usually didn't take me mre than 90 seconds). Once on the ice I always re-tie my skates at least twice (sometimes 3-4 times) between hitting the ice and the game starting, and I constantly tuck and re-tuck my jersey into opposite sides of my pants until I'm on the ice for a goal by my side (at this point the jersey stays exactly where it was when that happened).

I hadn't played hockey at all for 7-8 years; then last winter I was playing in a company hockey tournament in Ottawa and fell right back into old habits (the jersey-re-tucking was even subconscious; I didn't realize I was fiddling so much with it until a co-worker asked if something was wrong with my equipment). Yet I'm completely unsuperstitious in every other area of my life, even going so far as to walk under ladders and such to prove that superstitions are bunk.

Mistress Violet-

My address is also 1313 and we have two black cats, so I can't be too superstitious either.

However, I do hold my breath going past cemeteries (as a passenger or driver), and knock on wood. Couldn't tell you why.

I own two solid black cats, and 13 is my lucky number. From something I read a long time ago 13 was considered a good number for good people and a bad number for bad people. Hopefully I am one of the good.

I was born with a caul over my head, which according to various folkore/legends/tales means I am unable to drown and able to see into other worlds. I do like to swim (Pisces) but I try not to test the drowning theory too much, cause it would really suck if I had been misinformed.

Does deja vu count as a superstition? Or premonitions? I have had both and now I try and pay attention to recurring patterns of thought. Before I was in a hit and run, there was a week or two that every time I was driving I just had the word "crash" keep repeating in my mind. After the jackass hit me, the "crash" thought went away.

Ooh, I forgot to add the funniest superstition I've personally heard.

When my husband and I married, in an effort to save money, we decided we weren't going to bother with an engagement ring or wedding bands. But then my mom gave me the rings that my dad had given her (they divorced when I was a child but she kept the rings for me) so I had them resized and wore them.

When an acquaintance found out that the rings (the very rings!) on my finger were from my parents marriage that had ended in divorce, the look of absolute horror on her face was hysterical. She mumbled something about how she would never wear those rings and at my complete look of incomprehension, she quickly explained that because I was now wearing them, my marriage was doomed and if I had any hope of saving it I should immediately get rid of the rings and wear new ones. I thought she was joking and laughed. When I finally figured out she was completely serious I explained very earnestly that these wedding rings were only temporary and that in the near future I would be having 666 tattooed on my ring finger as a sign of my pledge to both my husband and our dark master Satan.

Now she doesn't talk to me anymore.

Peyton Manning = Evil. That is all.

I am superstitious about walking under ladders and the bad things in threes. It is more like deaths occur in threes. I will never, ever go into a cemetery at night. I will also never wear the same outfit to a test if I did bad on an earlier test in that outfit. I will also not look in a mirror and say either of those words.

Given that I own two solid black cats with yellow eyes, the black cat thing does not bother me one bit.

a hilarious superstition that i heard from a bulgarian friend is that while clinking glasses during a toast, you must look the person in the eyes or you will have bad sex for seven years.
the fact that it is hilarious has not stopped me from complying.

Being Hispanic and growing up in "The Theatre" I come by my superstitions honestly. I observe/practice them all but mostly out of habit. I do have unbelievably good luck--a friend claims that I have an "Armada of 'Guardian Angels'" looking out for me. Examples: (1)Because it was such a beautiful in New York on 9-11 I decided to walk to my 10:00 a.m. appointment in WTC Tower Two rather than observe my usual practice of arriving early and having coffee in the basement. I still got covered with dust as the Towers fell, however, I was not in the building but on the street and uninjured. (2) I was horribly annoyed to have to cancel my long-planned trip to Madrid at the last minute but was relieved to learn that I would have been on the train that was blown up by terrorists that very morning. (3)When a teen (15 yrs) I could not convince my parents to let me go to the mountains with friends. Later, on the evening news, it was reported that a car with four teenagers had failed to make a turn and careened over a 200 ft. cliff--all were dead. Despite the failure to list their names (pending notification), I knew in my heart that they were my friends and told my parents that I had to go see the mother of my longest-term friend. I was there when she got the call from the police. Three suffice, que no? I make sure to pray consistently to my guardian angels.

I also hold my breath passing cemetaries, and bite my tongue when I have a passing thought about something terrible happening.

Sarina: Honey, there is nothing superstitious about zombie preparedness. Nothing.

When, not if, y'all.

"What y'all fail to realize is that my wife is not a sports fan... or if she is, it's for Philly teams (and we all know what THOSE fans are like)."

Do you mean unequivocally awesome? :p

I'm a curse in person on my own teams. I went to the Bears/Eagles game this year (my best friend's dad has season tickets) and when I sat down, the guy next to me (another season ticket holder who I have sat next to 3 other times) started laughing and said that the game was doomed. The other three games I went to we lost two and the other was won in overtime, and he remembered me joking that I shouldn't be allowed into the stadium. Naturally, the Eagles lost in the final minute and a half of the game. To his credit, he did not throw his beer at me.

The same goes for the Phillies, I attend at least 3 games a season and they NEVER WIN when I'm there. It's been that way since I was a kid, even in the glorious '93 season.

PQ: How did you come to the "splitting the pole" superstition? That one is very big for me, to the point where I feel very anxious if I am walking with a group and one person splits to one side while the rest of the group stays on the other. But I thought it was unique to my group of friends in college; the splitters generally had something very bad happen to them: arrests, write-ups, broken front teeth, car accidents... although looking back, maybe that could be attributed to the drinking. :)

I also will not say "Bloody Mary" in a mirror, or "Candyman" for that matter. Also I throw salt over my left shoulder if I spill it. And knock wood. So mostly normal, right?

I do the heads-up penny thing, complete with the rhyme under my breath: "See a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck." I also have a weird thing about jinxing myself; if I really like a particular guy or girl, if I apply for a job I really want, or anything else I want badly, I won't talk to anyone about it. Maybe it's weird, but I recently applied for the same promotion twice. The first time, everyone thought I was a shoo-in, and it was discussed at length with my coworkers. Didn't get it. I applied again for the same position a month later, didn't say a word, and got an offer two weeks later. Coincidence? Yeah, probably, but I feel validated.

TK...I'm right there with you buddy. And Julie will know EXACTLY what i am talking about since we are both in the Philly area.

I am EXTREMELY superstitious about my sports teams. Being born and raised around Philly I was entrenched in the Philly sports scene from an early age. I have also come to the realization that I am directly responsible for multiple Philly team losses and victories. And I have MANY examples. Let's go with one of the more recent ones. The Phillies were making the push towards the playoffs and had a legit chance for the first time in a few years. My dad and I have a partial season ticket package. Every time I have seen the Phillies play the Atlanta Braves in Philly they have lost. It started when I was 9. First Phillies game with my dad. Phillies lose to Atlanta. The next year...bus trip with the local civic association to play the Braves. Phils lose. Later in the season...again with my dad. Loss. I was aware of my jinx by age 13. Any time the Phils played the Braves i gave up my ticket. i didn't have a hard time doing this because they were easy to get rid of or switch with another holder. This past summer...7 games left in the season. Phils v. Braves. First game in YEARS (10 I think) where I'd gone to see the Braves play in Philly. Guess what happened? I apologized to everyone sitting around us and to my dad.
But...on a good note...any time I am flipping channels and stop to watch a couple seconds of a Phillies or Flyers game...they score. So now I live by the philosophy of 'If I'm not watching it from the start on TV...they'll score when I flip past. must keep flipping.' More than a few times these have been the goals or points that have put the teams up late in the game. That's right people...I'm responsible. And don't even get me started on the Eagles.
Other than that, I just have a neat idea surrounding the number 11. My best friend is 1 year, 1 day, 11 hours, and 11 minutes older than me. We foind out one day when, for some reason, we both had to do something where we need birth certificates. I've noticed since then that I will always see a clock at least once a day at 11:11 or 1:11 and something good has happend to me on Nov. 11th for years. Jan 11th is a good day as well, but not clock-work. I'll keep you posted. And imagine my surprise when my girlfriend told me her lucky number was 22???? what's that? 2 times 11. Oh yeah.

My only real superstition is about jinxing things, but as long as we're telling creepy stories I have a really lame one from this morning : Okay so I was just standing at the bus stop and I saw a cop car coming so I thought *what if I just smiled and waved at that cop for NO GOOD REASON* and then the cop drove by and smiled and waved at me for NO GOOD REASON!

Also, I'm afraid of standing by railroad tracks while trains are on them because of the Final Destination movies, but I guess this could be because like 5 people got hit by trains my senior year of college.

Maria: If one of your brothers has a birthmark on his forehead that his nursemaid tried to erase by dipping his head three times in the outgoing tide at dawn, he would be the one to watch.
By the way, according to the picture book version of the legend that I read as a child, you have long auburn hair that I coveted.

BWeaves you have an asteroid named after you?! I'm jealous. As a child I wanted to be an astronomer specifically so I could name various planets, comets, anything after myself and my family/friends.

On the topic at hand, I won't say Biggie Smalls three times into the mirror because he'll appear and bust a cap in my ass.

The Bloody Mary Legend *cue scary music*
Okay, so from what I remember, Mary is some lady who was in a terrible car accident in which her face was mutilated by flying bits of glass. When she saw her face in the mirror for the first time after the accident, she killed herself. Creepy. So allegedly, when you turn of the lights in the bathroom (my friend claims you have to light a single candle), and say "Bloody Mary" three times, she either 1) shreds your face with her fingernails/pieces of the mirror, 2) kills you, or 3) just stares out at you malevolently.

I'm guessing this game has something to do with a long-standing fear people have had of mirrors - that they steal your soul, etc. It was tradition for people to cover up all the mirrors in their houses while a dead body was in there (because back in the day, people dressed the body themselves, and put it in thier parlors for viewing for several days...YUK). The theory was that if the body was reflected in a mirror, the person's soul would be trapped in the house...forever. YEEEK!

Sometimes, I'm walking down the street, la-de-da-de-da, all innocent and sweet like, when the phrase, "Step on a crack, break your mother's back," pops into my head and until something knocks it loose again (my phone rings or I start a conversation with someone, etc.) I can't step on any cracks. It's really annoying. I wish I had control over it.

Oh holy frank. The post of my dreams. I also will not pick up a penny tails-up, though I will flip it--still in contact with the ground--and then leave it for another. As a horseperson, you must hang a horseshoe always with the open end facing up (like a U) or it is baaad. I also try not to ride on a full moon. Animals (and kids my mom tells me from her kindergarten) act goofy.
But the craziest is my numerology fetish. There are good numbers and bad numbers; I don't know why, but I know what they are. Kinda how I know grammar. 2,4,7,10,11 are good. All others are questionable unless they are in a certain pattern. There is much to divulge, and certainly I would be committed if I explained all the rules. But I was married on 11/10, born 10/4/77, hubby born 7/10, it goes on and on. I am deeply disturbed.

Hey Ziva...I do the exact same thing! I was always told that if you don't hold your breath when you pass by a cemetary then evil spirits can enter your body. To this day, no matter what, I ALWAYS hold my breath when I pass a cemetary. Even if I feel like my lungs are about to explode I absolutely will not breath.

I'm not sure if its superstition or OCD, but if a step on a crack with my left foot, then I have to step on one with my right foot. Must be equal!
I also have to say the same prayer every night before bed or I fear that something very bad will happen. The 'bad things happen in threes' is something else I believe in. I also believe it is bad luck to pay to watch a Regency movie. At least most recent and upcoming Regency movies...

wsapnin, as I understand it the cats and babies superstition comes from the thought that cats will lay on top of the warm baby and suffocate it, which led to the belief that they suck the breath out of infants. My family has survived many cat/baby encounters (in fact, "cat" was my niece's first word) so I think that it is, like most other superstitions, pure bunk.

I always throw salt over my shoulder if I spill it on the table. I feel sorry for those sitting behind me, since I'm incredibly clumsy.

KJ
i don't know where the splitting poles thing came from, but my friends and family hate it--i have tried not to split poles all my life, but i have no idea why. because i'm really anxious i have decided that poles that don't have a solid top don't count--like telephone poles or light poles--otherwise i wouldn't be able to walk anywhere with anyone (i train for the breast cancer 3-day every year with my best friend and it's almost impossible not to split telephone poles when you walk 20 miles at a time).

whereismymind i have wonderful parking karma. no really, i do.

i have a thing--thanks to my sister--about 5:55 and 11:11, but that is just the crazy, not superstition. i am going to have to try the turning over pennies for someone else thing. i always walk under ladders and i routinely open my umbrella inside--how else do you get it dry? of course living in Seattle, i rarely use my umbrella because only tourists use umbrellas.

I was in the horse business for years, and, as with any professional athletics, it is FULL of superstitions. These are the ones that stuck with me:

1) Never put your hat on the bed (bad luck).

2) Never throw peanut shells on the floor (bad luck).

3) Never button the bottom button of your vest (good luck to leave it unbuttoned, though I believe buttoning it is not necessarily bad luck).

Now, these are some of my little personal weird superstitions/OCD tendancies:

1) When I'm eating, I have to chew the first bite of food on the left side of my mouth. The next bite has the be chewed on the right. This pattern is repeated until food is gone, and MUST end on the right side (since I started on the left), even if that means having to take weird size bites to make it work out.

2) When walking on tile, stone, or seamed concrete, I have to step an even number of times in each square and not on the cracks. If I DO step on the crack, I HAVE to step on the next crack with the opposite foot.

3) I HAVE to sleep with the covers pulled up all the way around my neck, tucked in and bulked up. This is because of vampires. Also, I can't hang my feet over the edge of the bed after the lights are out or the girl from "The Ring" will get me.

Yes, I'm 26 years old, but recurring nightmares about vampires and "The Ring" keep me sleeping bundled up under a heavy duvet with no body part other than my head sticking out even when it's 95 outside and our AC is on the fritz.

Oh! Another one from riding! It's bad luck to wear red underwear at a show. This was proven to be the true when my navy blue jods split from stem to stern while getting on my horse in the warm-up ring. Despite the application of multiple safety pins and the insertion of a large piece of dark denim for blocking purposes, the denim fell out and the safety pins broke (posting can be strenuous on these things, I assume), exposing my red undies to the entire crowd during my class.

I also do the holding your breath thing when passing a cemetery. Glad to know I'm not alone on that one!

I haven't finished reading all the comments yet but I had to respond to Kolbys.

No shoes on the table ever, especially brand new ones. According to my darling Italian grandmother it invites death into the house. I was being a rebellious 8 year old and put a pair on my grandmother's kitchen table and their dog was hit by a car a few hours later. Seriously and completely fucked me up for life. I still feel responsible for that poor dog and have come completely unglued with my hubby for forgetting my one house rule.

I'm not superstitious exactly (can't count how many mirrors I've broken but I've had a great life, not bothered about ladders, black cats, etc.). However, I have a big imagination that makes me a bit skittish in the dark. I'm not afraid of the dark exactly, but if I see a scary movie, watch Ghost Hunters (man, I love that show; I know it's probably very uncool but I enjoy it), or if my husband just mentions ghosts or something, it scares the bejeezus out of me. I also have really weird freaky dreams (alien invasions, being a ghost myself, fighting a mobster Big Bird) so I have to be careful about what I think about or watch before bedtime. I can't watch anything scary if my husband is out of town either. Yikes. Nothing like watching Ghost Hunters and then going to bed in my 150 year old house by myself.

I should also mention that in the light of day I am a pretty sensible, skeptical sort of person, not prone to believing other people's ghost stories (except my mom's--she's got some great ghost stories).

Geesh - just reading through all these comments is making me more superstitious about things I didn't even know were possible to be superstitious about!

I am a religious knock on wood person - I even knock on paper if there is nothing else around because it is at least made out of wood.

One time that a superstition really got to me was with the whole "it's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors" thing. On a typical day, someone doing this would not bother me in the slightest. But I had been studying for a really tough exam for an intense 5 months of my life. I got to the testing hall early (on a rainy day), had my back-up calculators in place along with plenty of number two pencils... and lo and behold, several people walked into the room, OPENED THEIR UMBRELLAS to let them dry out, and left them open right there in the testing room. I don't care if you're superstitious or not, but with these tests you don't want anything to F--- up your mojo. I dealt with it, but c'mon people - don't you know any better?

I'm not superstitious, but I will knock on wood, just in case. This isn't really superstition-based, but I cannot look into a mirror in a dark room. It scares the shit out of me. I'm not sure why.

Oh, thank you, Pajiba. i'm here at work till 2 AM and this is keeping me entertained.

Anyway, I'm not so much with the superstitions; ladders are awesome, love cats, don't throw salt, don't bother with pennies. But i can think of 2 things that I guess can qualify.

First one, whenever I go into a bathroom for any reason, I have to check the shower, even if it's just out of the corner of my eye. I don't know what's supposed to be there. I've never seen Psycho. But I've done this for years.

The other one, i think, is really weird; never heard of anyone else who does it. But whenever I have food/a drink/etc on the counter, if I have to open the cupboard right above it, I either move the food or cover it before opening the door. I don't know why. But it must be done.

I don't comment on other peoples misfortunes, because I worry that it will happen to me as revenge for being a bad person...kind of like Karma I guess - but different...

For instance, when I was a teenager - I ripped the shreds of this one guy because he had bad dandruff - a few months later, I got psoriasis in my head and the flakes were like pieces of bread...

I assumed that this was a way of being punished for laughing at someone for their problems...So, I don't do that anymore...If a friend makes a comment on someone being fat, bald, tall, short etc. I will tell them to STFU or it will in turn, happen to them...

For me, it relates to my football team that I support - the Adelaide Crows. Hey before you start picking on my team being called crows understand that I come from a state where we are called crow-eaters. The logic of our main football team being the crows I think escaped them when naming it.

Ok, to get to the superstitious point - when watching a game at home, my dog has to be in the room with me. Preferably on the couch. He hates yelling of any kind and will invariably run away and hide when he figures out that it's a footy game. It was my mum that scared him initially, the woman thinks that if she yells loud enough the sound will transmit through the tv and out the camera at the game so that the players can hear her! When I go over my parents to watch a game, we often banish mum to the her bedroom to watch the game by herself, although we can still hear her loud and clear. It takes considerable treats to make the dog stay in the living room.

The other superstition relates to game day for home games. A certain combination of jeans and top seem to work quite well and they tend to be worn for the home games. My scarf will not appear until we start walking to the ground, only then will I bring it out and put it on.

I won't walk under a ladder, it's not a superstition it's just a desire to not have it collapse on me or people or things on the ladder fall down on me.

I would have thought that AFL would be too lowbrow for Pajiba; however, AFL and SANFL football have produced an overabundance of superstition in many members of my family. Many of whom scoff at the very thought of superstitious intervention in any other circumstance. My Nana has a "lucky" ceramic rooster that, if it fails to work its magic, must face the wall until North Adelaide plays their next game...

Ahem... I don't believe in fairies...

It looks that way. Maybe it's just the right time of the day and we all have really boring jobs...?

Late again, but I'll play anyway (just can't help myself).

I follow all the superstitious rules (knock on wood, salt over shoulder, no umbrellas inside, no walking under ladders, etc.) because I'm a freak like that.

One thing that is not a true rule but I follow religiouly is that I will not ever, never, ever, never, ever play with a Ouija Board. Those things are instruments of Satan and scare the shit out of me. Oh hell naw, don't ever come at me with one of those things.

Also, I did that Bloody Mary thing when I was a kid and that caused so much harm to my psyche that I can not even walk past a mirror in the dark. Ever.

"Pajiba: Scathing Reviews, Bitchy People, Cheaper Than Therapy."

You name it, I got it, and if the theory seems valid, I'll adopt it. Not only will I knock wood, if there is no real wood around I'll rap myself on the head with "heads count". I also throw salt over my left shoulder. I cross myself at the beginning of a flight. I will never, ever say Bloddy Mary in front of a mirror.
I'm afraid of ghosts, especially angry theater ones. I can't say the Scottish Play in a theatre. When I'm in a play, (among other necessary rituals) I have to say shitfuckbitchassholeassholeasshole before my first entrance.

i also need to work out the involutary reaction of where upon seeing a VW beetle, i turn to the person i'm with and slug them in the arm while gleefully shouting, "slug bug [insert colour of VW seen here]!"

Posted by: thatgirlshines at January 10, 2008 1:04 AM

Hee.

Okay, carry on.

Whoever said that thing about the undead uprising, RIGHT ON. NOT IF--- WHEN.

I touch glass when I go over a train track in a car... I have no idea why. Also I hold my breath past graveyards so I don't suck in a haint, ESPECIALLY when I'm in a strange town. Like I was in Pittsburgh and nearly passed out because we were going past a HUGE boneyard and my friend drove really slow on purpose just to see if I WOULD pass out. I didn't, though. I was afraid if I sucked in a Pittsburgh haint I'd end up goin ghome with it and then it would demand Pittsburgh food like grinders or pirogies or whatever, and I wouldn't be able to get that food where I live and then it would like, wreak havoc upon me until I could get it out of me or feed it a pirogie or something.

Yeah, I know.

I'm pretty sure those last two are more OCD than superstitions, Lisa. Just remember if you run into Helen Hunt, the line's "you make me want to be a better man," or something like that...

1) I always knock on wood. Heads don't count, but woodchip or something with a veneer over the top does
2) No shoes on the table especially new ones (I'm Irish, this seems to be an Irish or Italian thing)

3) The main one with me is, if I care about a person, when I leave them, I have to tell them "Take Care". This is whether we have spoken in person, on the phone, IM or whatever. If I don't get to say it to them, I worry, and sometimes just say it out loud anyway with my fingers crossed. Yeah I know it's a bit weird.

4) Somebody mentioned it waaaay up above in the thread - if you think of something bad fleetingly it will happen but if you think about it properly it might not. It's as if by letting your head go over all the bad possibilities you are somehow protecting yourself from them.

Have I mentioned that I'm a sane rational atheist with no belief whatsoever in the supernatural??! It's amazing the coping mechanisms we use to give ourselves some illusion of control in our lives isn't it?

I guess this counts. When driving through a yellow light I blow a kiss at the traffic signal - the intent being that I then will not get a ticket. Honestly, I just realized that everyone I know does this too, which is really entertaining in that in Chicago, a yellow light really does mean go faster. (meaning there is very little chance of actually getting pulled over for this violation)..... whatever, I think this is just a habit now.

I'm superstitous to a degree. I knock on wood, but i'll walk under the ladder. The key is to walk back under the ladder and then it's not bad luck.... Not so sure about throwing salt over your shoulder, and apparently it's really bad luck to put new shoes on a table. Strange, these old wives tales and superstitions!

I don't know if I would call myself superstitious, but I have a few

I knock on wood and cross my fingers, but mostly out of habit

I have a Pats jersey I always wear during games, the one time I forgot was when they were playing the Colts earlier this year, they were down 10 points with 20 minutes left when I realized I had forgotten to put it on, ran out of the room, shoved the jersey over my head and they made an incredible rally to win...coincidence? I think not...

and somebody wrote about blowing a kiss under a yellow traffic light to avoid police, when I was in high school it was a yellow light meant 5 minuites of great sex, a red light got you half an hour if you were willing to risk it, after 11pm when all the lights blinked red and yellow was just pure genius

I don't think I'm particularly superstitious, but I follow a lot of those superstitions for practical reasons. I don't open umbrellas in the house because it's hard to get them out the door when they're open, I don't walk under ladders because I could get hit in the head, shoes on the table make the table dirty, etc. But I am convinced that I jinx myself out of good things by talking about them too soon (and I get colds by saying "I'm so glad I haven't gotten a cold yet"), and I am superstitious about the first day of the year - I think that how you spend that day reflects how the rest of the year will go, so I always try to set it up well (including cleaning house in the few days before). And I carry a picture of Hanuman for protection, which I guess is superstition, since I'm not Hindu.

I touch the side of the airplane too. And pat my car on the dashboard.

Damn, I guess I am superstitious.

Forgot to add: I also make a wish when all the numbers on the clock match.

i also need to work out the involutary reaction of where upon seeing a VW beetle, i turn to the person i'm with and slug them in the arm while gleefully shouting, "slug bug [insert colour of VW seen here]!"

Hehe, it's "Punch buggy [colour], no punch back!" here.

You all need to take your friends and family seriously if they are warning you about zombies. Try to be prepared because there's only so much those of us who are prepared can do to help you!

I even bought my house based on how it could handle a zombie invasion--whether they are of the traditional slow-moving variety or those super-fast new zombies that came out in 28 Days Later--it's two stories, open in the center, and there's only one staircase to guard. The windows are out of reach, except for one, which can also serve as an escape from the second floor. That saves me from having to board up windows.

One great piece of advice I heard is to head to the nearest Costco. It has no windows, big roll doors, is three stories high, and has a huge amount of food, batteries, and entertainment devices. Always keep your car gassed up, nothing below half tank ever. So when the zombies come, put on your shark-proof suits (zombies can't bite through them), bring a machete/club, and head to Costco!

Other than that, I don't have many superstitions except not to lie. If you lie about being sick, you will get sick, etc.

I don't fuck with ouji boards either - when it comes to ghosts and the like, while I don't necessarily "believe" in them, I certainly do NOT need to know for sure whether they exist or not. That opens up a whole Pandora's box I'd rather leave untouched, thank you very much.

That said, most of my superstitions are Pacific-island based, due to my childhood in Hawaii and my family in Guam. The biggest one in Hawaii was about not taking lava or lava rocks from away from the volcanic sites. Pele will have your ass, fo' reals. I have read many, many stories about mainlanders who thought some lava rock would be a great keepsake - and their luck was so rotten afterwards they actually sent the rock back.

Another big deal in Hawaiian folklore was respect for the dead, esp their place of rest. There are several high rises in Waikiki/Honolulu that locals won't go into because they are built upon old burial grounds. Mainlanders be warned!

In Guam, they have spirits called the Taotaomoana (sp?? sorry to any Chamorros I may have offended with my terrible spelling) that reside in the jungle. You are supposed to ask permission before entering the jungle, and you BETTER ask permission before you do anything else in there, like peeing on a tree or killing a boar. Or else.

Honestly, here in CA, I could give a rat's ass about superstition, but when I'm back home in Hawaii or visiting Guam I make sure I'm on point. I must respect those gods more. :-)

Lainie---OMG!!! I had a dream about a giant killer Big Bird!!! Coincidence?? I think not.

Philly fans have a whole other level of crazy. I didn't watch the very beginning of the Birds/Pats Superbowl, and so was forbidden by my parents from entering the room. All was going well, until I insisted on crossing through to get to the kitchen.

My mother didn't speak to me for two days.

Also, I think the Phils would have won the '93 WS if the city hadn't put that hat on William Penn's head.

dammitjanet, I always heard if your nose itches, you're either going to get in a fight or kiss a fool.

yay for the Adelaide love! We are not progression anti-development people, really..... Waves hi to Loob, Dexter and rach. If we don't know each other, we will know people that know each other.

Oh Dexter, that poor rooster, in the 80's and 90's that thing would have faced the wall the majority of the time! But I'm a South supporter really so I can't really say a lot. For those you who are not aware of the mighty South Adelaide Panthers, the last time they won a premiership my mother was 12 and at the game. :p

I also don't like walking on the cracks on the pavement, yes people I said pavement and not sidewalk!

Amber light - my sisters hit the roof of the car as they drive through, apparently so that it won't turn red on them. I have decided against informing them of the lack of logic in that little scenario.

I still refuse to do Bloody Mary. Even though I know nothing will happen, I still can't do it!
I used to think villains from Disney movies lived in my closet, so I'd keep the doors shut.

I don't know if I'm actually superstituous or not. I mean, I guess I am in the traditional sense of the word, in that I believe in spirits and external forces and whatnot. However, the way i deal with it is not always the prescribed remedies like knocking on wood and throwing salt over my shoulder, although I do that.

No. My strategy is one of "don't start no shit, won't be no shit." I believe, like everyone else, the supernatural simply wants to be respected. So like, if I'm in a place where i feel creeped out, I just ask the forces there for permission to do what I need to do, then I do it and leave. The last word in that sentence is important. You leave after your done and you leave shit well enough alone.

The problem I have with horror movies is that the characters are asking for it for the most part. If there's a house rumored to be haunted, don't go there. On a similar note, if you don't know what that cool little demon figurine you got from the market on vacation means, maybe you shouldn't bring it into your home. And if you know it's an old Babylonian spirit of malice and you add it to your collection anyways, don't come whining to me when your 4 year old child has white pupilless eyes and talks like Barry White.

Ok, I'm almost done. I just wanna say one more thing.

All you kids who think it's cool to get high and drunk in the graveyard at night. There's a reason why no cops or people come to kick you out. You're sitting on dead people. It's disrespectful and they don't like it.

"Pittsburgh food like grinders or pirogies..."

We do NOT eat grinders. I've only seen that since coming to boston. Hoagies, subs--those we eat.

I have a lot going back to child hood, handed down from my southern family. knocking on wood, throwing the salt (right hand, left shoulder) not walking under ladders, jinxing myself, don't tell a bad dream before eating, ALWAYS have your black eyed peas on new year's day (and i can prove that one... we missed one year, and it was the worst year we ever had).
i'm also still afraid of the dark (or, specifically the things i can't see in the dark), i still sleep with the covers all the way over my head to thwart 1) the vampires and 2) the "invaders from mars" (the original movie, not the remake), and (3) the 1960's disney picture book of "babes in toyland" screwed me up for life... for some reason i got it in my head that the bad guys in that book had their sacks full of lips. yup. they went around at night and stole people's lips. i have no idea where that came from.

my mom and her friends use to play ouija board all the time when i was little, and it freaked me out, but nothing evil or even bad seemed to come from it, so i'm not sure how to feel about that one. oh, and the first variation of the bloody mary story didn't have a name, my friend just told me that if you looked in a mirror in the dark (maybe it was midnight), a witch would come out and do something... to this day, i won't look it a mirror in the dark (and i'm 48!).
and here's an interesting tidbit: i've always had more than my share of deja vu. sometimes even to the point where i've said in the prescient moment "i've done this before". i had a grand mal seizure (first time) a few months ago, and have since found out that "feelings of deja vu" can be associated with epilepsy.
weird, huh?
-buns

I beleive that will die before my 30 th birthday , I have known this since I was little I have seen it and i know it will be a car accident, for my new car is cursed first reversed over my pet lamb, he survived, kangaroo jumped into the side took a month to fix and the kangaroo died. I ve had 4 windscreens in a year and finally got one that didn t leak and then yesterday on my 25th birthday a stone flicked up from a garbage truck doing 100km smashed through my windscreen.No one beleives that my car is cursed but what else could it be????

Do any of you know the myth that if you nail 1 joker card to every wall in a room at night it will come to life and you will be able to hear it laughing and running around your room only if the lights are out but as soon as you turn the lights back on it goes back in the card?

Or about the myth that you shouldnt walk in halls around 3:15 to 4:00 in the morning because that is the hour of the devil?

every time i shiver i feel that something bad is happening and then at nights i have like dreams of different people and something good or bad is happenig to them like thiis guy that is 15 i had that he got shot by these 3 bad guy and i cannot explain ever thin thats happen to me but when a black cat pass me i get good luck and when i go
under a ladder i get bad luck i either get hit on the head or i almostget crashed by a car it is very very weird