5 Common Superstitions and How to Reverse the Bad Luck

Walked under a ladder? Opened an umbrella inside? Folklore has a fix for almost every bad-luck slip, from tossing salt over your left shoulder to walking backward under that ladder again. Below are five of the most common superstitions, where they likely came from, and the traditional remedies people have used for generations to undo the damage.

None of this is science, of course. But superstitions are some of the oldest stories we still tell, and the "cures" are half the fun. Keep these in your back pocket for the next time a black cat strolls across your path.

1. Walking Under a Ladder

The walking under a ladder superstition is one of the best known in the English-speaking world, and nobody can say for certain where it started. There are a few popular explanations.

The most repeated one points to the shape. A ladder leaning against a wall forms a triangle, and triangles carried sacred meaning in several traditions. Some writers trace the idea back to ancient Egypt; others tie it to the Christian Holy Trinity, so stepping through that triangle was seen as "breaking" something holy. Another explanation links ladders to the gallows, where a ladder was part of the grim machinery of a hanging.

And then there's the practical reading: someone might be standing on top of that ladder with a bucket of paint. Folklore has a way of turning common sense into a rule.

How to reverse bad luck from walking under a ladder

Richard Webster's Encyclopedia of Superstitions collects several traditional remedies:

• Walk backward under the ladder again, retracing your steps.
• Cross your fingers and keep them crossed until you see a dog.
• Say "bread and butter" as you pass beneath it.
• Make a wish while you're under it, turning the bad luck around.

Pick whichever one feels least embarrassing on a busy sidewalk.

2. A Black Cat Crossing Your Path

Few superstitions have shifted meaning as much as this one. In ancient Egypt, cats were revered. In medieval Europe, black cats picked up a far darker reputation and became linked with witches and the Devil, often imagined as a witch's companion or even a witch in disguise. By the time that belief crossed the Atlantic, a black cat crossing your path had become a warning sign.

Not everyone agrees, though. In parts of Britain, black cats have long been considered lucky, and some sailors and fishing families once welcomed them. Same cat, opposite omen, depending on where you grew up.

What to do if a black cat crosses your path

Folklore archives record a handful of counter-charms, many of them involving spitting:

• Spit three times over your left shoulder (a remedy recorded in Swedish and Russian tradition).
• Turn around three times over your left shoulder before continuing.
• Simply take a different route so you never "cross" the line the cat walked.

Or, honestly, give the cat a scratch behind the ears. Black cats have had a rough few centuries, and they could use the good press.

3. Opening an Umbrella Indoors

This one has a surprisingly specific backstory, or at least a few competing ones. One popular explanation reaches back to ancient Egypt, where umbrellas and parasols were tied to royalty and to the sky goddess Nut, so opening one in the shade of a room was considered an insult. Historians treat that theory cautiously.

The more grounded explanation is Victorian. Steel-ribbed umbrellas with stiff spring mechanisms became common in the 1800s, and popping one open in a cramped parlor could knock over a lamp, break a vase, or catch someone in the eye. A superstition is a very effective way to get people to stop doing something dangerous.

How to reverse bad luck from opening an umbrella inside

Here's the honest answer: unlike spilled salt, the umbrella superstition doesn't come with one classic, time-honored cure. People tend to borrow the all-purpose fixes instead:

• Close it right away and carry it back outside before opening it again.
• Knock on wood, the go-to remedy for tempting fate.
• Cross your fingers, or toss a pinch of salt over your left shoulder for good measure.

Mostly, just make sure nobody's standing next to you when it springs open.

4. Breaking a Mirror

Seven years of bad luck is a steep price for a slippery hand. The belief seems to grow out of a much older idea that your reflection was connected to your soul or life force. Damage the reflection, and you damage the person.

Ancient Greeks practiced a kind of fortune-telling with reflections, where a distorted image was a bad sign. The seven-year number is usually credited to the Romans, who are said to have believed life renewed itself in seven-year cycles, so a broken mirror meant misfortune until your next "renewal." That link is hard to prove, but it's the explanation you'll hear most often.

How to undo a broken mirror

• Gather every piece and bury it under the light of the moon.
• Don't look into the broken glass, which some say traps your reflection in the damage.
• Above all, sweep up carefully. Bad luck is optional; a shard in your foot is not.

5. Spilling Salt

Salt was once valuable enough to be worth guarding. It preserved food, carried associations with purity and protection, and wasting it was a genuine loss. Over time, spilling it became a bad omen in its own right.

The superstition got a famous boost from Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which shows an overturned salt cellar near Judas. Whether Leonardo meant it as a symbol or not, the image stuck.

The remedy: over the left shoulder

This is the one superstition with a cure nearly everyone knows. Take a pinch of the spilled salt and throw it over your left shoulder. According to folklore, the Devil (or a bad spirit) lurks behind you on that side, and the salt strikes him in the eye before he can cause trouble. Throwing it over your right shoulder, the story goes, doesn't count.

Why We Still Hold On to Superstitions

Most people who knock on wood don't really believe a tree spirit is listening. Superstitions survive because they're comforting little rituals, a way to feel some control when the world feels random. They're also stories, passed down at dinner tables and in dark bars, the same way ghost stories are.

Frequently asked questions

Is it really bad luck to walk under a ladder?

There's no evidence it affects your luck. The belief likely comes from old religious symbolism or associations with the gallows, though walking under a ladder someone is working on is still a genuinely bad idea for safety reasons.

Why do people throw salt over their left shoulder?

Folklore says a malicious spirit or the Devil waits behind your left shoulder. Tossing a pinch of spilled salt that way is meant to blind it and cancel out the bad luck from the spill.

Are black cats bad luck everywhere?

No. The bad-luck version took hold in medieval Europe and later America, but in parts of Britain a black cat has long been considered a sign of good fortune.

Where does "seven years" of bad luck for a broken mirror come from?

The most common explanation credits the Romans and a belief that life renewed itself every seven years. Historians consider that origin plausible but unproven.

If you love the strange old beliefs that shaped how people lived, you'll love hearing the local legends that grew up alongside them. Join a Nightly Spirits haunted pub crawl in cities like Boston and Savannah, and swap superstitions over a drink. Just don't open your umbrella at the bar.