Monday, October 15, 2012

31 Days of Halloween: Halloween Superstitions, Omens and Charms

All Hallow's Eve is rife with superstitions, omens and charms against evil. I found a neat list of these collected here (warning: source site looks like it is stuck in the '90s) and couldn't resist re-posting! Check out a few superstitions, omens and charms about Halloween below.


  • If you hear foot steps behind you on this night, don’t look back. It may be the dead following you. Turning back could mean that you will soon join the dead.
  • Tying a knot into a handkerchief wards off evil.
  • Carry a lump of bread in your pocket when walking in the dark. It will serve as an offering to ghosts.
  • If you do not want to be haunting a graveyard any time soon, be sure you do not look at your shadow in the moonlight. Doing so on All Hallows Eve will guarantee your death within a short span of time.
  • Girls who carry a lamp to a spring of water on this night can see their future husband in the reflection.
  • If you see a ghost, walk around it nine times, and it will disappear.
  • If a candle lighted as part of a ceremony blows out, it is a sign that evil spirits are nearby.
  • If you hear 3 knocks and no one is there, it usually means someone close to you has died. The superstitious call this the 3 knocks of death.
  • When a good life was lived, flowers will grow on the deceased’s grave. But if the deceased was evil, weeds will grow.
  • Never slam a door. You might hurt a ghost, who’ll haunt you for the rest of your life.
  • Kill a black cat on Halloween and you’ll have seven years of bad luck.
  • Thunder following a funeral means that the dead person’s soul has reached heaven.
  • You will have bad luck if you do not stop the clock in the room where someone dies.
  • If you hold your breath while you drive by a cemetery, evil spirits can’t enter your body.
  • If a black cat meows on your porch or near a window, a death will soon occur in the family.
  • Peel an apple from top to bottom. The person with the longest unbroken peel would be assured the longest life. If you threw the apple peel over your shoulder, the initial it forms upon landing is the initial of your future mate.
  • Don’t point at a grave or your finger will rot off.
  • When bobbing for apples, it is believed that the first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry.
  • If you go to a crossroads at Halloween and listen to the wind, you will learn all the most important things that will befall you during the next twelve months.
  • A person born on Halloween can see and talk to spirits.

3 comments:

  1. Cool post. Love reading them all. Thanks for sharing.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everyone put their mark on a stone and throw it in the Hallowe'en bonfire. As soon as the flames die down, everyone must rush home, or get eaten by the Cropped Black Sow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, that black cat comes from The Pan Book of Horror Stories, which I am reading at the moment.I love the pictures, especially the second one. I love those old superstitions too.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...