The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (64 page)

Long ago, people looked at their reflections in water and were amazed because they thought they were glimpsing their soul. When the reflected image was altered by waves or ripples, they thought that their soul was in danger. Over time, this belief morphed into the belief that if someone broke a mirror, it would take seven years for their soul to return to them. The term of seven years was established by the Romans, who believed it took a body seven years to repair itself. These beliefs eventually became the superstition that breaking a mirror means seven years of bad luck.

Another superstition says that should a mirror fall and break on its own, a death in the home is soon to be
expected. Even the house where the mirror breaks is thought to be cursed for seven years. Looking at your reflection in a mirror by candlelight is also said to bring bad luck.

CANDLES

• Candles are shrouded in mystery and superstition. First of all, beware of a candle that blows out during a ceremony. It's a warning that evil is nearby.
  
• Three lit candles in a row are bad luck, so be sure to blow one out if you see them.
  
• Light a candle inside a jack-o'-lantern on Halloween to guard against evil spirits that are lurking about.
  
• If you look into a mirror by candlelight, you not only risk giving yourself bad luck, but you also may find the souls of the dead.
  
• A corpse candle is a small, sourceless flame that floats through the night air and is believed to be a lost soul. This sight is considered an omen of death.
  

SALT

For thousands of years, superstitions about salt have been incorporated into religious, domestic, and business practices. Because salt could preserve food, people thought it had the power to protect them as well. Salt was poured into wells to purify water against evil and placed on the chest of a corpse before burial. Mothers even salted their babies, believing salt would lengthen their lives.

In biblical times, people ate salt to ensure that business agreements would remain true. But salt was not always considered good luck—it was forbidden to speak the word “salt” while at sea for fear of the consequences.

In supernatural workings, salt is also relied upon. It is often placed in the corners of a room before a spell is cast, and people often take ritual salt baths to break harmful spells put upon them. It is also understood that when we spill salt, friendly spirits to our right are warning us that evil approaches on the left; tossing a pinch of salt over the left shoulder staves off danger.

GUESTS

Hundreds of years ago, people traveled very little. Communities were fearful of the world that existed
beyond the boundaries of their villages. Witches and ominous gods were thought to live among the surrounding mountains, valleys, and seas. People believed that the stranger knocking on their door could be a spirit in disguise. If not treated hospitably, the spirit could cast an evil spell on a home. So families welcomed strangers and treated them well, providing them with food and comfort, so that the spirit-stranger would leave their homes in peace when he or she moved on.

LADDERS

Historical explanations seem to justify the superstition that walking under a ladder brings bad luck. To the ancient Egyptians, the triangular shape of pyramids was sacred, and to walk under a ladder would be to break the triangle it formed with the wall. This act, they believed, would have deadly consequences.

The Christians believed that the triangle formed by a ladder leaning against a wall represented the Holy Trinity (the Father, Son [Jesus Christ], and Holy Ghost). If you were to walk under the ladder, you would be violating the Holy Trinity. It was also feared that when you walked through the ladder-based triangle, you walked with the devil.

In more recent times, tall ladders were used to take down the corpse from the noose after someone had been hanged. It was believed that if you walked under that ladder, the dead person, swinging from the gallows above, would watch you pass, and then you, too, would meet your death. It was also feared that the body would fall onto those who crossed below the ladder.

HUNGARIAN VIEWS

• Traditional Hungarian culture is rich with superstitions. Here are a few of the most prominent, recorded by famed Hungarian witch Zsuzsanna Budapest in her book
  The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries
  :
  
• If your left palm itches, money is coming to you; if the right itches, you will soon spend the money.
  
• If salt is spilled from its container, let the one who upset the container clean it up. Otherwise poverty will strike the house, bringing great fights over money issues.
  
• If you place a loaf of bread upside down on a table, there will be fights in the home.
  
• If your nose itches, you have adversities.
  
• If you are traveling to visit someone without an appointment and a bird flies across your path, forget the visit; the person will not be home.