Odd And Funny Superstitions

If you step on a crack, will you really break your mama's back?

Does your fortune cookie hold the key to winning the lottery?

Is your mother-in-law really going to come back and haunt you if you bury her in a black dress?

I think we can all think of a few superstitions we were told about growing up. Basically, these are 'folk stories' passed around from generation to generation that involve a 'cause and effect' relationship between two completely unrelated things. They usually don't make any sense and aren't taken seriously, but every now and then you'll find one that is. Some people are kind of picky about things based on superstitions but, unless it's really obsessive, it's usually harmless. Either way, they're just fun. Here are some of the stranger ones I've seen:

• It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same match.
• If you drop an umbrella on the floor, there will be a murder in that house.
• If you go to the bathroom in the night with no clothes on, insects will fall on you.
• If you secretly put your toenail clippings in a glass of lemonade and make someone drink it, that person will fall in love with you.
• To dream of a lizard is a sign that you have a secret enemy.
• A loaf of bread should never be turned upside down once a piece has been cut from it.
• If you get goosebumps or a chill up your spine, someone is walking over your grave.
• To dream of fish means that someone you know is pregnant.
• It's bad luck to say the word 'pig' while fishing at sea.
• If you use the same pencil to take a test that you used when studying for it, the pencil will remember the answers.
• If someone wears a walnut shell with a spider inside it around their neck, they won't get the plague.
• The lottery numbers found in fortune cookies are particularly lucky.
• If you spit on a new baseball bat before it's used, it will bring good luck in the game.
• A woman should never be buried wearing black clothes. Otherwise, she'll come back and haunt you.

And here's one I found particularly interesting-

• In Italy, the number 17 is considered the most unlucky, not 13 like other parts of the West. This is because '17' is XVII in Roman numerals. It's said that XVII is an anagram of VIXI, which means 'I have lived' in Italian. In other words, the number 17 means I'm dead. This superstition is taken so far that the airline Lufthansa no longer carries rows numbered 13 or 17 as a courtesy to its international clients.

I'm sure I left off a few of the superstitions you've heard, but these are some of the weirdest ones I've found. As you can see, most of them make no sense whatsoever. For instance, if someone made me drink lemonade that they'd put their toenail clippings in, love would be the last thing I'd have for them! True or not, silly superstitions like these are always good for a laugh!