OldSuperstitions.com - A List of Good Luck and Bad Luck Superstitions

A List of Good Luck and Bad Luck Superstitions

13: An unlucky number
3: a lucky number that signifies strength because of the Trinity
666: The Devil's number, bad luck
7: a lucky number
A bird that comes in your window brings bad luck
A bride should be carried through the door of their new home for good luck.
a buckeye in your pocket is good luck
A cat has nine lives A cat will try to take the breath from a baby
A cricket in your house is good luck.
A dog howling at night when someone in the house is sick is a bad omen.
A drowned woman floats face up, a drowned man floats face down
A forked branch, held with a fork in each hand, will dip and point when it passes over water
A groom seeing the bride before the wedding is supposed to be bad luck.
A horseshoe hung in the bedroom will keep nightmares away.
A lock of hair from a baby's first haircut should be kept for good luck
A peculiar noise heard three times in succession at night, means someone will die.
A person cannot drown before going under three times
A rabbit's foot brings good luck
A ring around the moon means that rain will come in three days.
A sailor wearing an earring cannot drown
A shark pursuing a ship means bad luck, especially if there are sick people onboard.
a small new potato in your pocket will help with arthritis
A squat bottle with nails, broken glass or anything sharp should be placed in a wall or attic of a new house. This gives witches a pain in the womb should they approach.
After receiving a container of food, the container should never be returned empty
Always say "so long" or "I'll see you later", and never "goodbye", when leaving family members or you might never see them again.
An acorn at the window can keep lightning out of the house
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
An itchy palm means money will come your way
Ancient roman soldiers often observed ants. If the ants were fighting, it meant the enemy was near.
Animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve
At midnight on Christmas Eve, all the animal can talk for a min.
At the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold
Baseball: "Statting" a player by mentioning his excellent statistics in this situation is seen to jinx that player.
Baseball: A lucky bat or glove.
Baseball: Chewing only three wads of gum per game
Baseball: Drawing in the batter's box before each at-bat
Baseball: If a batter is hit by a pitch, they should not rub or touch the spot of impact
Baseball: Not shaving after the first postseason win
Baseball: Not stepping on the foul line when taking the field.
Baseball: Not talking about a no-hitter or perfect game in progress
Baseball: Not talking about the outcome of a 7 game series before it is over.
Baseball: Tapping one's bat onto the home plate before an at-bat
Before getting married, it is bad luck to buy your significant other a watch, as it symbolizes that the time of the relationship is running out.
Cabbage or black eyed peas on New years with some change in your pocket means all your needs (not wants) will be met during the that year
Cats go crazy when a death occurs in their environment and consequently are kept out of the house on such occasions.
Clothes worn inside out will bring good luck
Cold hands, warm heart
Cover mirrors during thunderstorms to prevent lightning coming in to the house.
Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and helps a wish come true
Don't break a mirror
Don't cut down a hawthorn tree or the fey will be angry
Don't kill spiders
Don't let a black cat cross your path.
Don't let moonlight shine on your washing, or they'll be the clothes for a funeral
Don't marry in may
Don't open an umbrella inside - it is unlucky.
Don't put new shoes on the table
Dont put shoes on a table or counter
Don't step on a crack
Don't sweep dirt out the front door after the sun goes down or bad luck will come to your home.
Don't sweep over anyones feet
Don't walk under a ladder
Dream of a birth, someone will soon die. Dream of a death, a baby is coming.
Dream the same thing 3 times, it will come true.
Eating fish makes you smart
Evil spirits cannot harm you when you are standing in a circle
Find a penny pick it up but only if it faces heads up & you will have a day of good luck
For good luck, wear new clothes on Easter
Four leaf clover is good luck
Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day
Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires
Goldfish in the house bring bad luck
Goldfish in the pond bring good luck
Hold your breath as you past a graveyard, or you may loose your soul.
If a bird flies into your house a death will occur.
If a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck
If a black cat crosses your path, bad stuff will happen.
If a flying bird hits your window and dies, someone will soon die.
If all of the biscuits were gone before the next day, the weather would be fair.
If all the food on the table is eaten it will be a clear day tomorrow.
If an important object from someone cracks, it's a bad omen for them.
If bird poop lands on you, it is good luck.
If one has a realistic bad dream, the next morning breakfast must be eaten before the dream can be mentioned or discussed. Otherwise, the bad dream will come true.
If salt is borrowed from anyone, pay it back with sugar or bad luck will come to you.
If the bottom of your feet itch, you will make a trip
If the groom sees her in her wedding dress before the wedding is also considered bad luck and is believed to lead to an unhappy marriage.
If two forks are laid at a plate with no knife you will be invited to a wedding.
If you answer a witches question, she can take something from you.
If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first breath you will get whatever you wish for.
If you break a mirror, seven years of bad luck will follow.
If you carry a hoe, spade, or shovel in the house, you must carry it out the same door you came in by, or a death will follow.
If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn you will not catch a cold all winter.
If you count the number of rigs in a funeral procession you will soon have a death in your own family.
If you cut your hair or fingernails at night, ghosts will come around.
If you drop a dish towel on the floor, a worse housekeeper than yourself is coming to visit you.
If you drop a fork, a man will come to visit you.
If you drop a piece of silverware someone is coming from the direction it is pointing
If you drop spoon, a woman will come to visit you.
if you hold a toad & it pees on you you will get a wart
If you live someplace where you usaully don't hear a train whistle, and suddenly hear it, the weather is getting ready to change.
If you pee in the road you will get a sty in your eye
If you see a black spider a stranger coming
If you shiver, someone is casting a shadow on your grave
If you smash a mirror, you have 7 years of bad luck.
If you sneeze cover your mouth so your soul doesn't fall out
If you spill some salt, pick some of it up and throw it over your left shoulder to stop bad luck from coming.
If you start to go somewhere and come back for something you will have bad luck.
If you sweep under a person's feet, that person will never get married.
If you turn three times in a circle in a dark room lighted by candles and say Bloody Mary the whole time you will call her spirit to you.
If you walk beneath a ladder, you have several years of bad luck.
If you wash on the last friday of the year you wash out one of your family members.
If your ear begins to itch or burn someone is talking about you
If your index finger itches you should go play the lottery
If your nose itches someones coming that you know
It is bad luck to chase someone with a broom
It is bad luck to put new shoes on a bed (or a table).
It is bad luck to sing at the table
It is bad luck to sleep on a table
It is good luck to eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day.
It is unlucky to rock an empty rocking chair
It's bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.
Keep a shallow bowl of water at your kitchen window so keep out evil coming in thru the glass. Evil cannot cross over water.
Keep garlic hanging in the doorway of your kitchen to keep out all people who wish you harm.
killing a cricket is bad luck
Leaving a dwelling from a door different from the one you entered is bad luck.
Lift your feet up when driving over railroad tracks for good luck.
Never begin a task on a Friday that you can't finish that week, or expect ill.
Never invite a door knocker to come in without seeing who is there first. It might be an evil spirit.
Never say "thank you" when someone gives you a plant or it will die.
Never shut a pocket knife someone else opened, they must shut it themselves
Never tickle a baby's feet because it will make it stutter.
Our fate is written in the stars
Place old baby shoes in the attic to prevent witches from stealing babies. The witches are confused by the odour and take the shoes instead.
Placing a hat on a table is bad luck.
Placing a hat on the bed is bad luck.
Placing keys on a table means bad luck.
Plaster or stone lions or dragons at the foot of stairs will frighten away demons.
Play with fire and you will pee in the bed that night.
Put a pair of open scissors under your pillow for good luck and to keep away evil spirits
Putting a line of salt across all enterances to your house will stop all evil from coming in.
See a 'ghost' of yourself, you will soon die.
Share a pillow with a dog, and you will have the same dreams.
Smell dandelions, wet the bed
Spikes should be placed at the ends of the gable of a house to prevent witches landing on the roof. This is the origin of the finials seen on the gable ends of older houses, they were originally not meant as decoration.
Step on a crack, break your mother's back
The number of fogs in August predict the number of snow storms the following winter.
The wedding veil protects the bride from the evil eye
To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck
To cure a sty, rub it with a gold wedding band
To drop a dishcloth means bad luck is coming
To drop a fork means a woman will visit
To drop a knife means a man will visit
To drop a spoon means a child will visit
To find a four-leaf clover is to find good luck
To find a horseshoe brings good luck
To find a penny heads up, brings good luck
To give someone a purse or wallet without money in it will bring that person bad luck
To have a wish come true using a wishbone, two people make a wish, then take hold of each end of the bone and pull it until it separates. The person with the longer end gets his or her wish
To kill an albatross is to cause bad luck to the ship and all upon it
To make a happy marriage, the bride must wear: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
To open an umbrella in the house is to bring bad luck
To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck
Toads cause warts
Two deaths in the community will be followed by a third.
walking past a pole with someone it is bad luck to split up & each go around on different sides of it.
Walking with one shoe on & one shoe off will make you have some kind of leg or foot problem one day
Warm hands, cold heart
Washing a car will bring rain
Wearing an opal when it is not your birthstone is bad luck
Wearing your birthstone will bring you good luck
When a dog howls, death is near
When chimney smoke goes to the ground, bad weather will follow.
When leaves on trees turn up, a storm is coming.
When someone dies in a house cover up all the mirrors or their ghost will get trapped.
When you hang a horse shoe on the wall, never hang it facing down or all the luck will run out of it.
When you peel an apple say the alphabet and the letter that you are on when the peel breaks is the initial of the person that you will marry.
When you speak of good luck, always knock on wood.
When your palm itches, you will come into some money.
While trying to conceive a baby; for a boy put a knife between the mattresses, for a girl put a frying pan under your bed.
Wild birds inside the house are considered bad luck.
You can break a bad luck spell by turning seven times in a clockwise circle
You must get out of bed on the same side you got in on or you will have bad luck