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Before the internet was in your pocket...
Old Wives Tales are some of the most fascinating tidbits of our culture and can cause serious SLOH* if you're not careful. The rabbit holes are deep, the once-upon-a-reasons range from laughable to logical, and the sideways twists of the interwebs can lead to places you've never dreamed of and may run away from. For all the toxicity and normalized polarization the internet can bring, having unlimited knowledge at your fingertips has become as common as breathing. Have a thought? A question? Look it up! And so we did.
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Recently, while driving past a graveyard, I heard a choir of 8-11 year olds shout from the backseat, "Hold your breath!"
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Of course I asked why, and I was surprised to hear, "Don't you know? Everyone knows!" Because apparently every child in the school knows, and based on the sampling of adults I queried, many Pennsylvanians know, but this Wisconsin transplant of a girl had never heard of it — and I've been lurking around graveyards my entire life!
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Apparently, if you hold your breath, you are preventing the spirits from getting in, blocking them from being breathed into you and therefore possessing you. How had I never heard of this? And why is it only when you're driving by? Away to Google we went. We also learned this was a Victorian practice and may have also been attached to trying not to make the spirits jealous because you have breath (life) and they don't. (And why did I mentally whisper the end of that sentence?)
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I asked the backseat what other things they did like this and they joyfully told me how they simply must lift their feet off the floor when going over a train track. And back to Google I went.
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Lifting your feet when you cross railroad tracks is for one of two very different reasons: to protect yourself from dying young or help you find true love. And according to the internet, it is "wide spread in areas with a lot of trains." As someone who grew up walking, riding, crossing, and forever waiting at train tracks in Superior, WI, I had never heard of this strange old wives tale.
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No wait, they're superstitions!
Wives tales are things like "carrots help your eyesight" or "coffee will stunt your growth." Wrong or not, they're meant as warnings or wisdom, and are considered by the dictionary to be a common belief passed down in a family. They are a type of superstition, but not all superstitions are old wives tales. And the graveyard and train tracks fall outside that realm into straight superstition.
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As a matter of fact, they land squarely on a list of 13 Superstitions I found and thought it would be fun to share for the Halloween season. Here are the other eleven:
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- Slapping the roof after driving through a yellow light (expression of gratitude for making it without an accident)
- Scratching your new car on purpose (so as to not temp fate with a perfect vehicle)
- Holding your breath when you drive through a tunnel (preventing bad luck with a bonus—if you make it all the way through, you get to make a wish)
- Crushing lemons under vehicle wheels to avoid car accidents (especially if the car is brand new, this wards off evil)
- Throwing loose change under the driver's seat (for good luck)
- Bird poop on the car is good luck (says car wash owners everywhere!)
- Honking before you enter a tunnel (to ward of evil spirits or as a sign of respect for any ghosts in the tunnel)
- Changing your oil every 3,000 miles (experts agree it's not needed that often and you should do what the manual says for your car... Okay, I do this because I thought it was real. I guess they got me on that one!)
- Hiding your thumb if a funeral procession drives by (to avoid bad luck)
- Black Cats (poor things, it's not bad luck, it's just a cat)
- Not talking about selling your car while inside it (it will hear you and begin malfunctioning)
So which crazy things do you remember from your childhood that fall under the superstitions (or old wives tales)? I'd love to hear.
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*SLOH - severe loss of hours
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WRAPPING UP OCTOBER SIGNINGS THIS WEEKEND!
Two short appearances at two locations, and then I'm done for 2024
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Thanks for reading and remember, a current inventory of available autographed and/or personalized books is on the website!
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