Blog
The per-omen pages are deliberately narrow — one belief, thoroughly researched. This blog is where we zoom out: the bigger patterns across dozens of traditions, the psychology behind why superstition persists in an era of science, and deep dives on the omens with the richest, most tangled histories.
Start with our mega-pillar, "The World's Superstitions: Where Our Strangest Beliefs Come From," if you want the full guided tour — it links out to every category and culture hub on the site. From there, the rest of the blog covers specific deep dives: why 13 became the West's unluckiest number, the black cat's long and reversed history, the real psychology behind why smart, skeptical people still knock on wood, and a running series of seasonal pieces timed to Friday the 13th, Halloween, and New Year's.
New posts are added periodically rather than on a fixed schedule — we'd rather publish a well-researched piece a little later than pad the calendar with something thin. If you'd rather be told when a new one goes up than check back manually, the newsletter signup in the footer covers exactly that, alongside a weekly featured omen.
Every post here links back out to the specific omen, category, or culture pages it discusses, so a blog piece is never a dead end — it's a way into the deeper catalog, not a substitute for it. We'd rather write fewer, better posts than churn out shallow ones just to fill a calendar, and each one is researched to the same standard as the rest of the site.
- The World's Superstitions, and Their Roots
Why an itchy palm, a black cat or the number 13 mean opposite things depending on where you are standing — and what actually explains the pattern.
- Why 13? The Real History of a Number Fear
The documented history of the fear of 13 — the Last Supper, a 19th-century Norse revival, and the New York club that set out to disprove it.
- Black Cats: From Sacred to Cursed and Back
A black cat's reputation has flipped at least three times in three thousand years — Egyptian reverence, medieval persecution, adoption-drive rescue.
- Why Smart People Still Knock on Wood
The real research behind superstition: pigeons that learned rituals from nothing, fishermen who got warier as the water got rougher, and lucky charms.
- Wedding Superstitions Around the World
A red dress in Beijing, a blackened bride in Scotland, a broom to jump in the American South — rituals that differ, solving the same few problems.
- Itching, Twitching, Ringing: Body-Sign Lore
Why an itch, a twitch or a ringing ear became message-bearing signs, the real physiology behind each, and where the folk readings split by culture.
- Friday the 13th: The Maths and the Next Dates
Why the 13th falls on a Friday more often than on any other weekday under the Gregorian calendar, plus every Friday the 13th from 2024 to 2036.
- Halloween Superstitions, Explained
How a Celtic fire festival for the dead became trick-or-treating, jack-o'-lanterns and black cats — traced era by era, not as one unbroken tradition.
- New Year Luck Rituals Around the World
Twelve grapes in Spain, a dark-haired stranger in Scotland, round fruit in the Philippines — how different traditions ritualize the same midnight.
- Folk Belief or Urban Legend? How to Tell
Folklorists have checkable criteria for telling a centuries-old superstition from a modern urban legend dressed up as ancient. The method, with examples.
- Lucky and Unlucky Numbers Around the World
Elevator panels map the world's number fears: 13 missing in North America, 4 across East Asia, 17 in Italy. Why each culture picked its own digit.
- Money Superstitions: Do Any of Them Work?
An itchy palm, a red envelope, a coin in a new purse. None of them attract cash directly — but a few genuinely change how people handle money.