Do you think it is bad luck to walk under a ladder? Or how about when a black cat crosses your path? Do you knock on wood?

Where did superstitions come from? And why are they so prevelant today?

I haven't done a lot of research into the origins of superstitions, but I honestly think many of them came from 'fear'. Most of them probably started out as a fateful thing ...like a black cat crossing a path and then someone dying ...and became imbedded as a fact as time when on. Kind of like reasons that explain the unexplained.

A lot of people consider Friday the 13th unlucky due to the Knights Templar being arrested on that day. Its interesting how some of them start.

The few I've ever researched are fascinating.

13 has so many connotations and has for years. But it's interesting that most buildings now include the number for floors ...used to you never saw a 13th floor.

I myself, no. I don't understand who a black cat; crossing your path could be bad, but I'm a skeptic to superstitions. I understand the ladder part, I've seen paint fall off of ladder and onto poeples' head before... whether under or passing.

I just read that black cats got their original bad name in Egyptian times because the black cat signified a type of religion that was banished. On the flip side, black cats are supposed to bring good luck in the U.K.

guess that superstition is a wash lol.

No, i'm not really superstitios. When something like a mirror breaks i stop for a minute, but then i forget all about it.

I don't beleive in superstitions but I do tend to research a lot of them. They are very intruguing and a lot of superstitions seemed to develop because people didn't have any other explanations for the events happening in their daily lifes especially the bad things.

I guess I would cosider myself somewhat superstitious. I 'knock on wood'. But I would have to say that I don't think there to be a lot of validity in some of the superstitions, such as Friday the 13th being unlucky, or breaking a mirror causes 7 years bad luck. I think that that root of some of these superstisions come from experiences that people have had and those experiences being passed on to future generations. I have not really research any superstitions but I have heard of the Friday the 13th being connected to the Knights Templar.

Oh, heavens, yes, I'm superstitious. I've walked under ladders, had black cats cross my path and broken mirrors with no ill effects. Logic and reason tell me there's no truth to superstitions, from my own experience. Even so, I still knock on wood and throw a pinch of salt over my shoulder. Some folklore defies logic.