Pirates believed that piercing the ears with such precious metals as silver and gold improved one's eyesight.
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According to an age old custom, carrying a dead shrew in your pocket wards off rheumatism!
24
Placing a hat on the bed is, apparently, bad luck. (South Carolina)
9
An acorn at the window will keep lightning out
93
Before traveling a person should, apparently, sit on their luggage. (Russian)
117
It's bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.
143
Many believe that if all of the candles on a birthday cake are blown out with one breath, while making a silent wish, the wish will come true.
298
A single magpie is considered a sign of bad luck. A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar recites an old proverb concerning the incidence of bad weather when magpies forage alone and a possible scientific explanation for this.
49