Bad Luck Charms

Everybody has that one object that they consider a good luck charm. Whether it is a pair of socks, a bracelet your mom gave you, a keychain, or even a rock, you believe that when you have the thing with you, you are invincible. But, some people believe in bad luck as well; I know I do. Some just call it "unlucky coincidences" but some of these things are known to cause bad luck all around the world.

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1: Friday the 13th. This is definitely the most widespread bad-luck superstition of them all. In fact, some people are so terrified of it that they refuse to leave their houses all day when Friday the 13th occurs. There is actually an official word for the fear of this day: Friggatriskaidekaphobia. Kinda stupid if you ask me, but hey, if you really believe that you have increased chances of dying or something on that day, feel free to lock yourself in your room.

2: Spilling salt. Salt is actually supposed to ward off spirits, but apparently if you spill salt, you are actually INVITING the devil in. You know, I always thought that you would have to have like a whole seance or something to contact the devil, but if you can just knock over a little salt, why do seances even exist? Just something to think about… 

3: Upside down horseshoes. Normal horse shoes are supposed to bring good luck, but as soon as someone flips it over, BAM, bad luck.

4: Walking on someone’s grave. I don’t think that this would bring you bad luck, or that a dead body will reach up from their grave and pull you under or something, but it is really disrespectful, so if you want to see if bad lucks charms really have an effect, please don’t do this one. 

5: Encountering a black cat. Black cats were supposedly the companions of witches, but I really don’t think a cat can bring you bad luck. All cats are amazing regardless of color, and who knows? Some witches could’ve had tabby cats, and we don’t discriminate them. 

6: Walking under a ladder. The only thing that is bad about this is the possibility of the person on the ladder falling on you. 

7: Stepping on a crack. I will admit that I wholeheartedly believed this one as a child. But, if “Step on a crack and you’ll break your mothers back” was actually true, 99.99% of women would be hospitalized right now. 

8: Chain Emails. This one actually makes me really angry. You know when you get one of those emails that is about a ghost story or something and that the end it says, “forward this to 10 people or a little demon child girl will be in your room tonight”? Please please PLEASE don’t forward them. The only bad luck that results from them is that you end up with a virus on your computer. 

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There are several others that are quite popular, such a breaking a mirror, opening an umbrella indoors, seeing a raven, and even spitting in public. I do believe in bad luck, even though most of these “bad luck charms” are kind of ridiculous. But, if you really do think that walking under a ladder will cause you to die tomorrow, it is totally fine by me if you don’t go near one. 

-Allie