SUPERSTITIONS : Superstitions About Death

LORE & SOURCES

CANDLES

Light candles on the night after November 1. One for each deceased relative should be placed in the window in the room where death occurred.

If a clock which has not been working suddenly chimes, there will be a death in the family.


You will have bad luck if you do not stop the clock in the room where someone dies.

DYING

A person who dies on Good Friday will go right to Heaven.


A person who dies at midnight on Christmas Eve will go straight to Heaven, because the gates of Heaven are open at that time.


All windows should be opened at the moment of death so that the soul can leave.


The soul of a dying person can't escape the body and go to Heaven if any locks are locked in the house.


If a broom rests against a bed, the person who sleeps there will die soon.

COWS

If a cow moos after midnight-death is coming.

CEMETERIES

You must hold your breath while going past a cemetery or you will breathe in the spirit of someone who has recently died.


Once you have left a cemetery, and forgotten something, do not go back to get it, for you will bring death back with you.

BIRDS

A bird in the house is a sign of death.


If a Robin flies into a room through a window, death will shortly follow.


If an owl looks into your window during the day, death will occur in your family.


Death will come soon for anyone who kills a red bird or a blue bird.


If you see a Raven flying towards your house, the woman you love is doomed to die unless you can stop it from landing on the house.

DOGS

Dogs howling in the dark of night, howl for death before daylight.


If a dog howls at night and it's facing towards you, you will soon die.

CORPSES

If a woman is buried in black, she will return to haunt the family.


If a dead person's eyes are left open, they will find someone to take with them.


Mirrors in a house with a corpse should be covered or the person who see themselves will die next.

DREAMS

If you dream of death, it's a sign of birth.  If you dream of birth, it's a sign of death.


If you touch a loved on who has died, you won't have dreams about them.

EYES

If the left eye twitches there will soon be a death in the family.

FAMILY

If a dead person's eyes are left open, he'll find someone to take with him.

FLOWERS

Having only red and white flowers together in a vase means a death will soon follow.


If you prick your finger on the thorn of a red rose, and the puncture looks black, you will die.


Bringing Hawthorn Blossoms into a house will be followed by the death of the mother of the house.

FUNERALS

Funerals on Friday portend another death in the family during the year.


It is bad luck to count the cars in a funeral cortege.


It's bad luck to meet a funeral procession head on.


Thunder following a funeral means that the dead person's soul has reached heaven.


Nothing new should be worn to a funeral, especially new shoes.


Point at a funeral procession will cause you to die within the month.


Pregnant women should not attend funerals.


If it rains during a funeral procession, someone related to the deceased will die soon.


Seeing a white chicken on the way to a funeral, brings bad luck.


If you see a hearse, you must touch a button, or you will be the next one in it.

GRAVES

If the person buried lived a good life, flowers will grow on the grave, if the person was evil, weeds will grow.


Rain falling into an open grave means bad luck for the family.


If you take three steps backward when leaving a loved one's grave, you will die within three months.

HATS

A hat on the bed means death in the family.

MIRRORS

If a mirror in the house falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will die soon.


Mirrors in a house with a corpse should be covered, or the person who sees themselves will die next.


If you say the name Mary worth 100 times into a mirror in a darkened room, and she appears in the mirror, you will die soon.

THE MOON

Look up at the moon, and if there is something red passing by it, someone close to you will die soon.

MOTHS

A white moth inside the house or trying to enter the house, means death.

PHOTOGRAPHS

If three people are photographed together, the one in the middle will die first.


If you take pictures of someone in their casket you will bring death to your family very soon.

SHOES

Leaving shoes on a table for a long time will bring sickness or death to your family.


Never put your shoes on the table, or you will die by hanging.


Hanging a horse shoe over a door with the open side downward will spill out all the luck, and a death in the family will soon occur.

THIRTEEN

If thirteen people sit down at a table to eat, one of them will die before the year is over.

UMBRELLAS

Dropping an umbrella on the floor means that there will be a murder in the house.

WATER

Water in the grave means the deceased will be a restless spirit.

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