Old Superstitions and Where They Came From: Salt, Cats, Mirrors & 1,000 Years of Strange Beliefs | The Strange History Podcast

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back, my dearly superstitious listeners to the Strange History Podcast, where facts get weird, ghosts get chatty, and history always knocks on wood before speaking. Tonight, we're unpacking some of humanity's strangest beliefs, the things our ancestors feared so much they invented rules about salt, cats, and even the number thirteen. These are the superstitions that haunted dinner tables, ships and bedrooms for centuries and occasionally still sneak into our lives today. So grab your lucky charm, toss a pinch of salt, and let's wander down history's creaky hallway of irrational fears.

0:40 Speaker 1: Let's start with something every clumsy person knows too well, spilled salt. In ancient Rome, salt was worth its weight in gold. Soldiers were paid in it literally where we get the word salary. So if you spilled it, you weren't just making a mess, you were basically wasting your paycheck and inviting missforts to dinner. To make matters worse, medieval Europe decided that spilling salt also tempted the devil himself, but salvation came in the form of a quick toss a pinch over the left shoulder to blind old scratch before he could whisper bad luck into your ear.

1:18 Speaker 1: Leonardo da Vinci even painted Judas spilling salt in the Last Supper, sealing the idea forever. Personally, when I spill salt, I toss some over both shoulders, mostly because I'm not coordinated enough to remember which side is the devil side.

1:33 Speaker 2: This segment is sponsored by Salt Begone, the world's first vacuum made specifically for exercising your countertops, because a clean kitchen is a blessed kitchen.

1:44 Speaker 1: Mirrors the original selfie device, and apparently a cursed one. The ancient Romans believed a mirror reflected not just your face, but your soul. Break it and you shatter your spiritual self. The soul they thought, renewed every seven years, hence seven years of bad luck. Fast forward to the Renaissance, when mirrors were made of polished silver and cost more than a small house. If you broke one, it wasn't just a superstition, it was a financial catastrophe. Servants could lose months of wages over a single crack.

2:18 Speaker 1: So next time you break a mirror, just remember it could be worse. You could be living in sixteen hundreds venice, owing your boss a soul and three months rent.

2:29 Speaker 2: Today's show is also brought to you by Mirror Men, the first adhesive tape guaranteed to fix your reflection and your reputation. Warning does not repair souls.

2:40 Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about black cats. Sleek, elegant, and historically slandered. In ancient Egypt, cats were sacred protectors of homes and grain, and killing one was punishable by death. But in medieval Europe people flipped the script entirely. Black cats became a accused of being witches, familiars, shape shifters, or even witches themselves. The church declared them omens of Satan, and the cat cull began. Ironically, this wiped out one of the best defenses against rats, which helped spread the black plague.

3:16 Speaker 1: So really, the superstition about cats being unlucky turned out to be the most unlucky superstition of all. If cats could talk, I'm sure they'd say, you fools, we were trying to help you. Then they'd knock a goblet off your table for emphasis.

3:31 Speaker 2: This episode is sponsored by Catastrophe Insurance, protecting you from broken mirrors, spilled salt, and feline revenge. Since thirteen forty eight.

3:40 Speaker 1: Ladders simple, useful and apparently portals to doom. In early Christian symbolism, a ladder leaning against a wall formed a triangle representing the Holy Trinity. Passing through it meant breaking that sacred shape. Add in the fact that ladders were also used at gallows, and walking beneath one was basically like volunteering to be next. Today people still avoid walking under ladders, though mostly for practical reasons like not wanting a wrench to fall on their skull. So maybe this one's less superstition and more Darwin Award prevention.

4:19 Speaker 2: This safety tip is brought to you by Stairway to Heaven. Ladders guaranteed to get you high safely, spiritually, or otherwise.

4:28 Speaker 1: Then there's the charming belief that getting pooped on by a bird brings good luck. This one began in Russia, where it was said that bird droppings were a symbol of unexpected wealth. The logic if something so random and gross could happen, then surely good fortune could too. Sailors believed the same thing bird poop meant calm seas and safe voyages, because when you're months away from land, you'll take any good omen that doesn't involve drowning. So next time a seagull targets you, don't get mad, get optimistic.

5:02 Speaker 1: You just got funded by fate.

5:05 Speaker 2: This episode is also sponsored by Pooh Tection, the only umbrella app that sends you an alert when birds are overhead. Pooh Happens be prepared.

5:14 Speaker 1: Friday the thirteenth, the day the calendar itself seems to flinch. Long before it was the title of a horror movie, it was already cursed. Norse legend tells of twelve gods feasting in Valhalla before Loki the trickster crashed the party as the thirteenth guest, Chaos ensued and one god died proof Apparently that odd numbers ruin everything. Centuries later, Christianity gave the superstition new fuel thirteen guests at the Last Supper Crucifixion on a Friday, the unholy combo stuck, and humanity's favorite unlucky day was born.

5:52 Speaker 1: To this day, hotels skip room thirteen, airlines skip row thirteen, and I skip work on Friday the thirteenth, just to respect the ancient math.

6:03 Speaker 2: This frightful fact brought to you by Friday's Off, the world's first excuse generator for taking cursed days off work. Say it's spiritual, we won't tell hr.

6:14 Speaker 1: Let's move on to the world's most delicious anti vampire weapon, garlic. From ancient Greece to the Balkans, garlic was believed to repel evil spirits, sickness and the undead. Romans hung it around newborns, and in Transylvania people rubbed it on door frames to keep vampires away. Even science agrees garlic really does kill bacteria, so it's not mystical, just medicinal and maybe a little smelly. If Dracula ever shows up at my door, I'll greet him with an entire garlic bread loaf. If that doesn't work, at least I'll die deliciously.

6:52 Speaker 2: This hour of protection is brought to you by garlic, not guardians. Vampires hate them, cardiologists love them.

7:00 Speaker 1: Next, the oldest justin case superstition of all knocking on wood. Long before ikia furniture existed, ancient Celts believed that spirits lived inside trees. If you needed a little luck, you'd knock on the trunk to wake a friendly spirit. If you wanted to keep quiet about your good fortune, you'd knock to prevent jealous spirits from hearing you. Later Christians adapted the custom, saying the wood represented the cross. Today, I knock on wood so often my neighbors think I'm summoning Morse code ghosts.

7:33 Speaker 2: Knocking on wood brought to you by tree Mail, the app that lets you send gratitude directly to local forest spirits with one easy tap.

7:42 Speaker 1: The rabbit's foot, that furry little token of luck that's equal parts adorable and disturbing. This superstition began with Celtic tribes, who saw rabbits as magical beings that could speak to gods because they lived underground. Later, African and a American hoodoo traditions made it specific. Only the left hind foot of a rabbit caught in a graveyard at midnight brought luck. By the twentieth century, it became a keychain fad, proof that humans can turn literally anything into merch.

8:15 Speaker 2: This story is brought to you by Lucky Bun Rabbit foot alternatives. No rabbits harmed, no midnight graveyards required. Now in pink sparkle.

8:25 Speaker 1: The horseshoe, simple, shiny, and powerful against evil. In medieval lore, iron was a sacred metal that frightened witches and fairies, and the shape a crescent moon symbolized fertility and protection. Legend says Saint Dunstan, a blacksmith once nailed a horseshoe to the devil's hoof. The devil screamed in pain until Dunstan agreed to remove it on one condition, he must never enter a home with a horseshoe hanging above the door. I don't know if it works on demons, but it's definitely effective at keeping door to door salesman a wway.

9:01 Speaker 2: This divine tale is sponsored by Lucky Hoof Hardware, the only home improvement store where demons pay full price.

9:10 Speaker 1: And then there's the evil Eye, that unblinking blue charm that's been glaring back at misfortune for thousands of years. In ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and the Middle East, people believed envy could curse you through a single glance. To protect themselves, they wore talismans shaped like eyes, a spiritual mirror that bounced the bad vibes right back. Archaeologists have found these charms dating to three thousand, three hundred BCE. The design hasn't changed much in five thousand years, proof that side eye has always been a universal problem.

9:48 Speaker 1: Today, I wear one just to ward off angry social media posts. So far, so good. Finally, let's end on something beautiful. Wishing upon a star. From the astronomers of ancient Greece to medieval dreamers, people believe that shooting stars were moments when gods peeked down at Earth. Make a wish at just the right moment, and they might hear it. Over time, that celestial hope became a nightly ritual, a blend of science, faith and childhood magic. Today, we still whisper our wishes to the night sky, knowing full well it's probably a chunk of space junk burning up.

10:24 Speaker 1: But hey, if it keeps hope alive, that's pretty magical in itself.

10:30 Speaker 2: This segment is sponsored by wish Star, the only app that records your wishes before gravity ruins them. Download today and make your dreams slightly more data driven.

10:41 Speaker 1: And that, Dear listeners, concludes Part one of Old superstitions and where they came from. We've thrown salt, dodged ladders, and learned that sometimes luck just falls from the sky. Join me next for Part two, where we'll uncover thirteen more bizarre beliefs, from lucky chimney sweeps to cursed umbrellas, and maybe discover why toasting wine is less about manners and more about ancient survival. Until then, knock on wood, hang your horse shoes high, and keep your cats close. I'm Amy reminding you that in the grand story of strange history, maybe superstition isn't so irrational after all.