Current Superstitions Part 42

_Pennsylvania; somewhat general in the United States._

1159. To open an umbrella in the house is a sign of ill luck. An action of this sort seriously disturbed a friend of the informant, an American girl of good family. "I would never dare to do that," she said.

_Niagara Falls, Ont._

1160. If a hoe be carried through a house, some one will die before the year is out.

_Mansfield, O._

1161. Carrying through the house a hoe, spade, or axe indicates a death in the family.

_Virginia._

1162. Carry an axe or any iron implement through the house, and some one will soon die.

_Southwestern Michigan._

1163. Death is foretold by the ringing of a bell that cannot otherwise be accounted for.

_Southern Ohio._

1164. When bread, in baking, cracks across the top, it means death.

_New Jersey and Ohio._

1165. Cracks on the top of a loaf of bread indicate the death of a friend.

_Several localities._

1166. When bright red specks resembling spattered blood appear on linen, it is held to be a token of misfortune, probably of death.

_Northern Ohio._

1167. If the candle burns blue, it is token of a death.

1168. To see a coffin in the candle is a token of death.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

1169. To see a "winding-sheet" in the candle has the same significance.

_Virginia._

1170. Three lamps or candles burned close together mean death.

_Virginia._

1171. If a sudden and unaccountable light is seen in a carpenter's shop, it indicates that the carpenter will soon have to make a coffin.

_Cape Breton._

1172. If a coffin creaks in a carpenter's shop, another order soon follows.

_Newark, N.J., and Virginia._

1173. If the coffin does not settle down smoothly into place in the grave, but has to be raised and lowered again, another in the family will die inside a year.

_Stevens Point, Wis._

1174. Change a sick person from one room to another, and he will die.

_New Jersey._

1175. If a clock, long motionless, suddenly begins to tick or strike, it is a sign of approaching death or misfortune.

_Newark, N.J., Virginia, and North Carolina._

1176. If a corpse remains soft and supple after death, another death in the family will follow.

_Trinity Bay, N.F., and Prince Edward Island._

1177. A cow mooing after midnight means death.

1178. To dance on the ground indicates disaster, or death within a year.

_Boxford, Ma.s.s._

1179. The hearing, in the wall, of the "death-watch," or "death-tick,"

betokens a death in the house.

_General in the United States._

1180. A dish-cloth hung on a door-k.n.o.b is a sign of death in a family.

_Deerfield, Ma.s.s._

1181. To knock on a door and receive no answer is a sign of death.

_Virginia and Englewood, Ill._

1182. The last name a dying person calls is that of the next to follow.

_New Hamps.h.i.+re._

1183. Sometimes the dying call for an absent one, as if in trouble. This is a sign that that person will have some great trouble in after life.

_New York._

1184. Death takes place at ebb tide.

_New England Coast._

1185. The person on whom the eyes of a dying person last rest will be the first to die.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

1186. It is a sign of death to see a flower blossoming out of season, as, for example, a rose in the fall. This has proved a true omen in several cases, according to the experience of a lady who believes in these signs.

In consequence of this belief, when she has such a a flower, she will pick it off the stem and throw it away, without mentioning the incident to any one.

_Niagara Falls, Ont._

1187. It is a sign of death to see a tree blossoming in the fall.

_Orange Co., Va._

1188. If a garment is cut out on Friday, the person for whom it is made will not live unless it is finished on the same day.

_Southern Indiana._

1189. If you begin a quilt on Friday, you will never live to finish it.

_Maine._

An act of this sort gave great distress to a domestic servant, who, until after the completion of the quilt, daily expected disaster. This woman came from French Canada.

1190. If a doctor is called on Friday, the patient will surely die.

_Cambridge, Ma.s.s._