 Horror/Scary: January 04, 2023 Issue [#11740] |
This week: Superstition Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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"Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today,
Oh how I wish he'd go away!"
~From "Antigonish" by William Hughes Mearns |
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Have you ever gone out of your way to avoid walking under a ladder? Or thrown spilled salt over your shoulder?
Superstition is any belief attributed to fate or magic, supernatural influence, or fear of the unknown. Superstition often involves the idea that something you do today might influence or predict a seemingly unrelated event in the future.
The origin of some superstitions has practical implications. For example, walking under a ladder might bring you harm if the ladder (or person or object on top of it) falls on you. Opening an umbrella indoors is said to be unlucky, possibly because old fashioned umbrellas had heavy metal spokes that might be dangerous if opened under close quarters. Some people believe that it is bad luck to cross a road or railroad track unless you first blow out a breath to the left and then the right. Since this action leads to looking both ways, the safety connection is obvious.
Superstitions vary by area and culture. In Japan it is considered bad luck to sleep with your head pointing north, while in parts of Africa, it is unlucky to sleep with your head pointing west. In both cases, the unlucky direction is the way the head of a corpse is positioned at a funeral.
Some people develop their own superstitions by seeing connections between events that might not be noticed by others. For example, my son says he will never get on a plane on his birthday because several plane crashes have happened on that date. Actually, plane crashes are probably just as likely on any date, but he noticed the ones on his birthday because that date has other significance to him. Superstitions like this arise from perceiving connections to events simply because they occur together or one follows the other.
Some superstitions continue even though nobody remembers their origin. I knew one man who thought it was bad luck to place a coat on a bed. He said he got the idea because it was something his mother never allowed in their home. When questioned about it, his mother said that at the time her children were growing up, some of the neighbor children did not bathe regularly, and the town also had a major outbreak of head lice. Rather than avoiding "bad luck" she was simply attempting to practice good hygiene.
One example of superstitions in literature is "The Lottery," a short story by Shirley Jackson. In this story, the residents of a small town continue a practice which has "always been done" there, even though they don't really seem to know why.
If you use an actual superstition in a horror story, try to find out its origins. You might also want to develop a new backstory for a well known superstition.
Something to try: Write a horror story based on superstition.
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