Your Dark Passenger

Greetings, dark passengers. Can you smell fear in the air? Don’t worry if not because, really, you can’t unless you happen to be a dog or a bee. The point is that it’s once again time to stock up on magic candles and nuts and salt and whatever else can ward off evilry because Halloween is around the corner.

So let’s chat about some of the Halloween superstitions that freak people out year over year.

If you’re born on Halloween then you can communicate with spirits.

Awesome. If you were born on Halloween and you see dead people, let us know. Still wondering how the people born the other 364 days of the year can still see ghosts. Perhaps leap year has thrown us off to the point that each day was Halloween at some point…

If a candle goes out by itself on Halloween, a ghost is visiting.

Awesome. I don’t light any candles and ghosts still visit me, but that’s beside the point. If people are going to get all freaked out when a candle goes out on Halloween night, wouldn’t common sense tell you not to light the candle in the first place?

If you see a spider on Halloween, it’s a dead loved one coming to visit.

Really? My loved ones would know better than that. My house is not what you’d call a spider-friendly hangout, Halloween or not.

It’s bad luck to burn Halloween candles any other day of the year.

Ah…So it’s not just silly to burn orange and black candles covered in ghosts the rest of the year? I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m looking to light a romantic candlelit dinner in the middle of March.

Don’t let fires burn out on Halloween night or you’ll have bad luck.

Great. Now, remind me why I’m burning a fire at all? Oh, well. Just make sure you can get a priest to come over and relight it and you’re totally safe…until you find a conflicting superstition.

Casting a headless shadow is an omen of death.

Sure, I’ll go with this. Of course, I’m thinking the lost of your head has more to do with your death than the resulting shadow…

If you hear footsteps behind you on Halloween night, don’t turn around or you’ll look death in the eye and die!

A better solution is to run screaming like a crazy person from the 5-year-old fairy princess trick or treating with her parents behind you. Don’t want to look that little harbinger of evil in the eye, huh?

Toss a hazelnut into the fire for each guy you’re dating and the one that burns up will represent your true love.

Unless you read the other Halloween superstition where it tells you the one that burns up represents a shallow love that cannot last. Have fun with that.

So here’s the moral of the story, dark passengers…Failure to do something is bad luck, but doing anything is bad luck. Bottom line: Light a candle in your jack-o-lantern to ward off the evil piggy flu that’s gonna kill us all before we need to worry about that blown out candle killing us.

…or you might try throwing handfuls of salt on all the trick or treaters to ensure they aren’t demons come to the door to beg for candy. Whatever works for you.

So, what’s your favorite Halloween superstition? Is it one I left off the list? Tell us about it. Who knows? You might even save someone’s life by reminding them why they have to bob for that sour in the bucket of icy water!

Jen

“Let your dark passenger come out to play…Be your own nemesis!”

Do you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13?  If you do then you’re not alone.  In fact, the superstition involving unlucky 13 and Friday the 13th is the most widespread out there.

Think I’m making that up?  Consider the fact that many US hotels don’t list a 13th floor…

Are some numbers just born bad?  Let’s take a look at all the numerous and varied origins of my good pal, number 13.

• 13 people sat down to the Last Supper, including both Jesus and Judas.  Regardless of which of them was the 13th person at the meal, I think we all know how that turned out.  It is now believed that if 13 people sit down to a meal, one of them will be dead in a year’s time.
• October 13, 1307

Continue Reading »

Hey dark passengers.  Welcome to our third installment of Superstition Week.  As you can see from the title, tonight’s topic is the dangerous and deadly mirror.  Though I don’t know how much stock I put in this particular superstition, I do enjoy it because it is quite easy to remember.

Basically, anything that happens with a mirror means you’ll die.  Woo.

Care to join me in just how much worse a broken mirror can get than seven years of bad luck?

Continue Reading »

Are you scared of black cats?  Do you get a little edgy whenever one crosses your path?  You aren’t alone.  The superstition of black cats being bad luck has been around far longer than you’ve been freaked out by them.But do you know how this superstition got started?  There may be more to our dark friends than you thought. Continue Reading »

Welcome to Superstition Week, dark passengers.  In honor of our second consecutive Friday the 13th, I thought I’d devote a full week to all those fun little quirks so many of us have, how they got started and why we still believe in them today.

Of course, seeing as how 13 is my lucky number and I used to have a black cat, I’m using the term “we” very loosely.

I’ll start with one I know we’ve all either done or seen: You spill the salt; you toss a pinch of it over your shoulder.  Personally, it’s always seemed a little silly to me.  First I make a mess by spilling the salt and then I make it right by throwing more salt around the room.  Sure, okay.

Am I the only one who thinks that sounds a little… Continue Reading »