Superstitions were devised as an antidote to fear. If something makes cold sweat trickle down your back, causes your arms to erupt in goosebumps and makes your heart pummel your ribcage, it may be because you didn’t heed a superstition. And because of this, you’ve unleashed the gruesome monsters that lurk in your closet, the sinister creatures that squirm under your bed, and possibly even the bogeyman, himself. Consider heeding the following superstitions about bad luck so you’ll know – cross your fingers and knock on wood – where danger awaits.

Friday the 13th

Last year, the 13th fell on not one, not two, but three Fridays. And they were all spaced 13 weeks apart. Fear of these freaky Fridays is a common one that has some of its roots in Scandinavia. They believed that the number 13 was cursed because the 12 mythological demigods were joined by an evil 13th one who brought bad luck to mortals. Friday the 13th also has negative religious implications. Christ was crucified on a Friday, and the number of guests at the Last Supper was 13 – the 13th guest was the traitor, Judas Iscariot.

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina, 17 million people have anxiety about Friday the 13th. Many people even refuse to drive on Friday the 13th and, consequently, with less traffic on the roads, there are actually fewer accidents. The superstition is so widespread that hotels, hospitals and high-rise buildings may omit the 13th floor, and airports will sometimes exclude Gate 13.

Spilling salt

Salt used to be prohibitively expensive and was chiefly used for medical reasons. Because of this, great care had to be taken not to spill it. The notion that spilling it is unlucky may have originated from the idea that, during the Last Supper, Judas spilled a salt cellar. Because of his gaffe, spilled salt is associated with deceit and lies that will haunt the person who overturned it.

To remedy this situation, spilled salt was thrown over the left shoulder and into the eyes of the devil, blinding him. It was presumed that he lurked behind the left shoulder, waiting for a chance to attack. Conversely, it was thought that a guardian angel perched on the right shoulder, and throwing spilled salt over that shoulder would be considered a protective offering.

Mirror, mirror

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the unluckiest one of all? The answer – the person who breaks it. According to folklore, someone who shatters a mirror will be cursed with seven years of bad luck. This fate is associated with the belief that mirrors don’t just reflect your image, but trap pieces of your soul – so if you break a mirror, you damage your soul. Years ago in the American South, mirrors would be covered when someone died, to prevent their soul from being trapped inside.

Being doomed to seven years of bad luck can be traced to the Romans, who believed that life renewed itself every seven years. If you shattered a mirror, it equated to damaging one’s health and well-being to the point of being irreparable until the next seven year cycle was completed. To counteract this fate, the mirror shards could be ground into a powder, thus destroying their reflective properties, touched to a tombstone, which will instantly remove the curse or thrown into a river flowing south so that any bad luck will be negated in seven hours instead of seven years.

Black cats

Despite the fact that cats were revered in ancient Egypt, and that 81 million are pets in America, superstitions have swirled around black cats for centuries. During the Middle Ages, it was thought that black cats were demons or witches in disguise, and numerous societies of that era were determined to exterminate them. Their female owners, also thought to be witches, were executed by drowning or burning at the stake. Due to their reputation as demons, a black cat crossing your path was thought to conjure up a barrier of evil, estranging you from God and obstructing heaven’s entrance.

These days, the superstition still exists, in different forms. If a black cat crosses your path, it’s a forewarning of bad luck, or even death. When one of these felines crosses your path from right to left, it’s a bad omen. If the cat crosses from left to right, good luck will follow.

Walking under a ladder

A propped-up ladder forms a triangle with the wall and ground. This shape – the Holy Trinity – was regarded as sacred, representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. If someone walked under a ladder and disrupted the Trinity, it signified that they were desecrating God, and were in league with Satan, and were doomed to bad luck. A leaning ladder was also thought to resemble a gallows, and anyone unfortunate enough to walk under it was ensuring their own death by hanging. Even if a ladder is lying on the ground, bad luck may await someone who walks between the rungs.

Opening an umbrella inside the house

This superstition, warning against opening an umbrella inside the house, originated in the days when umbrellas were utilized as a shield against the sun. If you dared to open one indoors, you risked insulting the sun god and triggering his wrath. Additionally, an umbrella shelters you from life’s storms, so opening one indoors implies that you think the protection of your home’s guardian spirits is insufficient, and, insulted, those spirits will curse everyone in the house. And, more practically speaking, you may get cursed with a poke in the eye.

For everything that defies a logical explanation, there’s a superstition to help everyone cope. Wonder if something good is going to happen? Well, there’s a superstition for that. Wonder if something bad is going to happen? There’s also a superstition for that. Just be sure to take it with a pinch of salt.