Humanity has invented some pretty elaborate ways to avoid bad luck.
Sometimes it’s a black cat. Sometimes it’s a ladder. And sometimes it’s apparently chewing gum after dark because it might turn into the flesh of the dead.
Around the world, generations have inherited oddly specific rules about what you can eat, touch, say, gift, sweep, write, whistle, or even do with a perfectly innocent pair of shoes.
The strangest part?
A surprising number of these beliefs are still alive and well.
Here are some of the wonderfully unhinged superstitions people still take seriously around the globe…