The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (65 page)

BROOMS

There are many superstitions surrounding brooms. You should avoid placing a broom against your bed because the broom's evil spirit will cast a spell on the bed. Don't let a broom sweep over your feet if you ever wish to be married, and never step over the handle of a broom lying on the floor because doing so is believed to bring death. If you drop a broom, company will arrive. If you sweep trash out your door at night, it summons the visit of a stranger. And if you forget to sweep out the room where an unwelcome guest has stayed, that guest may return. To prevent additional bad luck, never take an old broom with you when you move.

THE BLACK CAT

The black cat is the most common enchanted animal of the mystical world. Often the companions of witches, black cats are believed to have the power to reason, perform sorcery, and understand human languages.

Just about everyone knows the superstition that says when a black cat crosses your path, bad luck will follow. But there are ways to counteract this omen. As soon as you spot the black cat, spit on the ground, turn yourself
around three times, or walk backwards retracing your steps. As you pass the cat, reach down and stroke its back as a gesture of kindness.

VAMPIRES

Vampires first appeared in Slavic folktales about one thousand years ago. Villagers blamed disease and death—which were completely mysterious in those days—on corpses that only came out at night and sucked people's blood. Eager to rid the village of this malevolence, people often dug up graves and dispatched those corpses that bore signs of being a vampire; by impaling the body's heart with a stake or beheading the body, the vampire could be permanently put to rest. To keep the undead out of the house, garlic and religious symbols were thought to work. The undead could also be destroyed by exposure to daylight.

Over the years, the vampires of legend have acquired various characteristics, such as superhuman strength and speed, hypnotic mind-control abilities, and inhuman stealth. But you'll notice that many details of the old superstition remain to this day.

AFTERBIRTH: BURNING PLACENTAS

In the seventeenth century, midwives had a custom of saving a woman's afterbirth, or placenta, and then burning it. The superstition was that the number of times the burning placenta popped indicated the number of children the mother could expect to have in the future.

APPLE BLOSSOMS

An apple blossom is said to be a sure sign of sickness in a house. If you are superstitious, never bring a branch of an apple blossom into your home.

ASH TREES AND CALAMITIES