Hello Mr. Magpie How Is Your Wife

A lone magpie shows up and suddenly you’re supposed to salute and ask about his wife. Someone offers you flowers and you have to count them. You glance away during a toast and now it’s seven years of bad luck. Superstitions can sound ridiculous until you realize how many of them you already follow without thinking, especially when life feels uncertain and you want a little protection on your side. 

We start with the familiar: the Ohio rules I heard from my grandparents like never walking under a ladder and what to do when you spill salt, plus a Sicilian warning that you do not put a hat on a bed. From there we go global with lesser-known superstitions from the United Kingdom, Poland, Korea, Japan, India, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Russia, Romania, Kenya, Rwanda, and beyond. We dig into why the number four gets avoided in parts of Asia, why some cultures ban whistling after sunset, and how simple etiquette like eye contact during a toast turns into a high-stakes luck ritual in parts of Europe. 

We also look at how new folklore forms in real time, like Argentina’s caramel candy soccer tradition, and why travel can put you face-to-face with rules you have never heard before, including graveyard customs meant to show respect and keep the unseen at bay. If you love paranormal stories, cultural history, and the psychology of belief, this one is packed with strange details and practical takeaways you will remember the next time you raise a glass or step into a cemetery. 

Tell us the superstition you heard when you were young, then subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find Spirit Tales And Magic.

Transcript

Family Superstitions From Ohio

Strange Luck Rules Worldwide

Food Rituals And New Year Luck

What These Beliefs Reveal

Haunted Tour In Old Town

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey everybody, it's Dr. G Spirit Tales and Magic. I hope this finds you well. We always like to start out some of the episodes saying thank you to some of our new listeners. So as of today, we are in 72 countries and 434 cities. That is very humbling to me, and I want to say thank you to everybody who makes that happen. And I also apologize in advance if I mess up the name of your city, but hello to everyone in Malin in East Java. War Contonment in Pakistan. Chandigar in Punjabi. And how about Pabona in Bangladesh? So today, my friends, we're in the US, of course. We're in Vietnam, we're in the United Kingdom, we're in Australia, we're in Poland, we're in Singapore, Germany, Pakistan, Oman, the Ukraine, and Brazil, we're in France. And again, thank you to everybody who helps us out with that. It's very humbling, and I do definitely appreciate it. And hey, let's keep that going. The goal is to break the internet and to have you remember that telling paranormal stories is good for you. Ever since man set around fires in caves, we've told stories. And you know, if you're a frequent flyer of the podcast, that one of our goals is to revive Firelight because it's dying. Where 80% of Firelight was reverted was reserved for stories. Now it's down to something like 25%. So let's get it back up there. Superstitions is what we were going to talk about. I grew up in a small town in Ohio, and I was raised by my grandparents. So my grandmother had some of the superstitions that you've probably heard of. Don't walk under a ladder. If you spill the salt, you gotta sweep it in your hand, throw it over your left shoulder. I'd actually even seen her do that in her very occasional visits to a restaurant. I always wondered when I was a kid how do the people behind you feel about that. But if you know you couldn't leave the salt on the table, that's bad. She used to have one that I'll digress here for a moment. If you're a frequent flyer of the podcast, you know that we have a storytelling magic show. It's the presidential award winner, it's really cool to see. And I think I would say that even if it wasn't mine. But there's an experiment in there with a pack of matches. And if you're a frequent flyer of the show or the podcast, you know what that is. I'm not gonna blow it by explaining it. You gotta see the show and see it. But my grandmother had this thing about if you play with fire, you'll pee the bed. I don't know where she got that. I never beat the bed, but played with a lot of fire. My father had one. My birth father was uh come over on the boat, Sicilian, and you better not ever lay your hat on the bed. Well, you might as well have committed murder if you lay your hat on the bed. He was very, very strong about that superstition. So you probably heard of some of the common ones. Knocking on wood, and some of the ones that we've already covered. But what you might not know is there are hundreds of lesser-known superstitions from all around the world. We did a little research on it, expecting to find you know, four or five of them I could mention, and there are pages and pages and pages of them. And we're just going to mention a few of them. Some, maybe, let's say, of the more strange superstitions, like asking a magpie about his wife. In the United Kingdom, seeing a magpie on its own is thought to be a sign of bad luck. So, according to the superstition, excuse me, if you should see this magpie, you should greet it. Specifically, you should stop and say, Hello, Mr. Magpie, how's your wife? While waving or giving a salute to show the magpie respect, and then he might not curse you. Don't sit down while there's a cake in the oven. So, according to a Polish superstition, would-be bakers should say stay standing the entire time you're working on a cake. Now, some believe if you sit down, then the cake will sit down. It'll cause it to come out flat or maybe sunken in the middle. So if you plan to bake a cake in Poland, make sure you have some interesting activities to keep yourself busy and on your feet. Now, my grandmother had a different one about cake. If you were baking a cake and you put it in the oven, once you got the cake into the oven, the next time you opened the oven door was when the baking time had expired on the cake. You did not open the oven door to peep on the cake. She said that was bad luck. Now, of course, we know later on that that superstition came about because people would open the door and then they'd slam the door, the oven would jar and the cake would fall. But that was her thing. It's just no slamming the door. But the Polish superstition is no sitting down. How about avoiding the number four? In some parts of Asia, you should avoid the number four. If you want to stay happy and lucky, four is definitely not the number for you. And in Korea and Japan, the word for four is very close to the word for death, so they avoid it. Some buildings skip the fourth floor because there's so much worry about what it could mean. Now you also won't see the number four on license plates in Beijing, nor will you find car models or phones with names that include that number. Many years ago, as a much younger man, when Transylvania was still Transylvania, and you'll hear me say that on the podcast a lot, I got the chance to visit Dracula's castle. One of the strangest things that I saw on the list of things we were not allowed to do was whistle after sunset. Now you might think whistling a tune after a long day of work is a good thing because my grandparents did that. But it's not true in Romania. It's not true in countries like Korea. People believe that ghosts and evil spirits are drawn in by the sound of whistling. An evening breeze can carry the sound, and even hissing snakes may invade the whistler's home. After hearing his merry tune. Now, my grandmother had one about whistling. If you whistled while you were laying in bed at night, if you whistle in bed, revert to playing with fire. It's the same thing. You're going to pee the bed. How about don't cut your hair nails before bed? In some countries, cutting your hair or nails might be a typical part of someone's nightly routine. But in other parts of the world, let's say India or Japan, you got to take care of your grooming things in the daytime. Now, those practicing Hinduism believe that cutting hair and nails at night leaves dirt around the home. And Luxami, a Hindu goddess, is thought to visit people's homes at night. Dirt, they say, is a sign of disrespect. And if you make her angry, it may bring bad luck and or poverty to your home for an indefinite period of time. Expect to receive money if your palms are itchy. Now, my grandmother, we had that one in Ohio too when I was growing up. She said, Oh, my hand's itching. I'm going to get money. But she would always scratch her hand. Now, this is a common superstition in parts of Africa, say Kenya. So itchy palms might feel annoying at the time, but many people believe that it means you will receive a huge amount of money at some point in the future. But let's be cautious, if you scratch that itch, you may rub away your good luck and miss out on the money. You've heard of clinking glasses while making a toast. Most of us have heard of that. And on occasion, when I was a young adult, I got to be around some people who enjoyed a lot of formal dinners and giving toasts. And we were always taught if you didn't clink the glass, it was a sign of disrespect. But in some European countries, let's say France and Germany, they take that one step further. So according to superstition, if you don't look the other people directly in the eye during a toast, not only is it disrespectful, but you are asking for seven years of bad luck. Now, when I grew up, the seven years of bad luck thing was if you broke the mirror. But in this case, if you don't look the person you're toasting with in the eyes, seven years bad luck. How about don't do anything important on Tuesdays? If you're in Spain or Greece, you don't get married, don't start your vacation, don't start a new job, don't move in or out of a house, or do anything that you consider vitally important on a Tuesday. There's a history of bad events on Tuesday. The Greek god Typhon was born on Tuesday, which is also the day of the week when the ancient city of Constantinople fell, I believe. Then there's Ares, the Greek god of war. He dominated Tuesdays. His name in ancient Rome was Mars, which inspired the name for Tuesday in Spanish, which I believe is Martis. This links warfare to a day. And that confirms just how unlucky Tuesdays can be, so says the superstition. How about starting on your right foot? We had that one, but in Turkey, this takes a very literal meaning, and people are encouraged to make their first move with their right foot or their right hand. This is because the left side is considered to be a sign of bad luck. People get out of bed on the right side in the morning and even wash their right hand before their left. And additionally, a twitch in your right eye could mean you're about to get some good news. But if it's a twitch in your left eye, you could be in for some extremely bad news. Here's one I've never heard of before. Eat candy before a soccer game. Argentinian superstitions are common. They're not all from decades ago either. This one I believe came from 2021. Eating caramel candies or caramel candies, depending on which camp you're in, is an important part of the ritual to bring good luck in Argentinian soccer. It began when a couple of players ate caramel candies before a quarter final and won. Eventually, staff members began buying candy in bulk for the team, and I believe that started in the year 2022. It was during the FIFA World Cup. Now, the brother of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez sent a large owner of candies to keep the tradition alive. The tactic clearly works since Argentina won the tournament. Don't give somebody yellow flowers if you live in Russia. Now you would think that that would seem like a beautiful gift for a loved one. But yellow flowers in Russia, bad luck. Giving your wife or girlfriend a bunch of those flowers could actually even end your relationship. You should make sure that you give an odd number of flowers, and I knew this one too, because an even number of flowers, they say, should be saved only for funerals. There's an Australian superstition that dates back to about 1929. I believe it was Sir Don Bradman, one of the greatest batsmen ever in cricket. He lost a match with a score of 87. Soon after that, it was noticed that several famous cricketeteers also lost at 87, cementing the idea that it was an unlucky score. Here's a funny side note to that through research. I actually found out that Dawn hadn't scored 87. He had actually scored 89. It was a scoring error, but by then the superstition had already set in. And the devil's number, as they call it, remained to this day an eighty seven. How about hiding your thumbs when you walk through a graveyard? In some parts of the world, specifically Latin America, and also in some parts of Japan, and even parts of Europe. This is seen as a sign of protection, respect. Tucking your thumbs inside your fist as you walk through a cemetery is believed to keep evil spirits away and avoid inviting bad luck from the dead. Now I will say that recently, while Cassandra and I were walking through a graveyard on a haunted tour, I saw a couple of young ladies that were learning to be guides on these guided tours. When we went into the cemetery, they put their hands in their pockets. The main tour guide put one hand in his pocket. He was holding a lantern with the other hand. And when we came out of the cemetery, everybody took their hands out of their pockets. I said, I couldn't help notice you guys putting your hands in your pockets. Why did you do that? And basically it was the same thing. They didn't tuck their thumbs inside their fists, they put their whole hand in their pocket. If you spend New Year's Eve in Spain, you might take part in the tradition of twelve lucky grapes. It's an important part of a ritual to bring good luck. The clock will chime twelve times at midnight, and you'll try and eat one grape for every chime to ensure good luck and prosperity for the next year. The goal here obviously is to eat all of the grapes before the clock stops chiming. Now, excuse me, some historians believe that this superstition dates back to the late 19th century, when poor people mocked the rich for eating grapes and drinking champagne. But still today the superstition continues, and the people who eat grapes either at home or at a gathering near a clock tower are said to have good luck. In Rwanda, don't eat goat meat if you're a woman. They're told that eating goat meat will make you hairy and cause you to grow a beard. It's disrespectful and it's unlucky. And if that isn't bad enough, goat meat could also make you stubborn, according to the superstition. However, most women say men made this up to keep all of the good meat for themselves. Let me know if you've ever tried goat. Just let it go at that. But if you've eaten goat meat, let me know and let me know what you thought of it. So, what have we learned in this little exercise? I guess you could say from the food we eat to our nighttime rituals, many activities worldwide are steeped in long-held superstitions. You know, I've also found that people continue to create new superstitions and follow the rules that they believe will bring them the best luck. Like eating candy before a soccer game. So if you're traveling to a new country, you may encounter some of these strange superstitions, or maybe one of several hundred that I didn't mention, which we may move on to later. So, what's the superstition you heard when you were young? I'd love to know what that is. Then if you go to the website, you know that there are several ways you can send us your paranormal story, or you can tell us what superstitions you heard about as a child, or maybe even as an adult. Or do you have a new superstition that hasn't gotten out into the world yet? Once again, thank you to all the new listeners. And please, everyone, give us a like, give us a share, pass our information on to a couple dozen of your friends, and get them on the bandwagon as well. Because together we will revive firelight. And you know we always say there is indeed a world unseen, a world that exists all around us all the time, and every now and then, for whatever the reason, we catch a glimpse of it, and the dead get in. That's been our moniker for quite some time. Would also like to mention that yesterday, Cassandra and I took a bus tour, haunted bus tour through Old Town, San Diego. Our tour guide was a gentleman named Jack. Now, I also want to tell you that I've taken literally In my lifetime, hundreds of tours, seen hundreds of shows, given hundreds of shows, thousands of shows, two years of my life every day a sold-out show. In anything that you do with a great deal of repeating, repetition seems sometimes to get you accused of what people say you're phoning it in. I don't phone it in, I never have. This guy's great. We had a great tour. He had everybody singing, he was, you know, going a little off his script, but it was a fantastic thing. So if you're around Old Town San Diego and you want to take the trolley tour, you might want to see when Jack is going to be the driver, because not to knock any of the other drivers, I'm not doing that, but this guy's the one you want to get. And hey, tell a paranormal story. It's good for you. Dr. T, Spirit Tales and Magic. Good night from SoCal. Talk soon.