This Paranormal Life - #348 - 10 Superstitions to AVOID in the New Year

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Welcome to 2024! We want to make sure everyone has a fantastic, curse-free year and the easiest way to do that is to make sure you avoid unlucky superstitions. We all know you shouldn't break a mirror, or walk under a ladder, but what if there's even MORE superstitions out there that you didn't even know you were breaking? It's time to learn about some of the wildest superstitions from all over the world.Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunitySupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeIntro music by www.purple-planet.comEdited by Philip Shacklady Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If it's possible to summon a demon, can I summon an angel too and make them fight? What happens if you break a mirror with a black cat? All of these questions you can find the answer to on This Paranormal Life! Hello everyone and welcome back to This Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast where every week we investigate a brand new paranormal tale case claim or beast and come to a conclusion as to whether or not it truly is paranormal kit welcome to 2024 wow no i didn't think i would be alive still whenever we started this podcast i thought i'd be dead within the month, frankly.

That's why I said all that shit in the first couple of weeks. I didn't think I'd have to live to see the repercussions. I did. You were like, this is why I need to learn so much about what it's like to be a ghost.

Yeah. Because I think I got T minus 28 days. Yeah. It was really kind of an audio last will and testament. But I am still here. The podcast is still here years later. So unbelievably, we're sitting here in 2024 and i think somewhere around 2020 we learned to uh you

know stop jinxing things and saying like this is going to be the biggest best year yet let's just not do any of that and let's just say it's going to be fine even that is a bit optimistic. Yeah, it's going to happen. Yeah, it is. It will happen. It is. We started this podcast when? 2007, was it? Teen. Teen, yeah, 2017.

We would have been about 14 years old. Our voices sounded like it was in 2007. So this has been a long time to get here, and now we've got a fresh year ahead of us. What do you think? Do you have any New Year's resolutions? I think I might get into adult entertainment. Specifically, performing in it. I just think podcasting has been fun. Sorry, just before we go any further, because I think we may have crossed wires here a little bit. You stand-up like adult entertainment so stand-up comedy kind of no i mean sex work okay filmed digitally uh because podcasting has been great it's been a great ride it's not paying the way i would like it to okay and i think just i also think it might just be fun you're like it's not paying the way i wanted to do and i'm also having less sex than ever because I'm a professional podcaster.

So a way to fix that is to make money having sex. My New Year's resolution, learn to front flip. Okay. We have to address the elephant in the room, which is you spent a year, a year, not only talking about it, but annoying us, annoying me, annoying the listeners. Can you just update everyone about this new year, how last year's resolution to learn to backflip went? What kid is dancing around is the fact that my resolution last year was to do a backflip.

Yeah. And you know what? It got to December. I had so much time specifically 12 months and you know i told you that the whole process it's so mental you know 92 to 93 percent of the backflip is is mentality is believing in yourself and then sure the flip is like the thing you do at the end and i got i got so into the mental side of things, I actually forgot to do the flip. Yeah, we know, yeah.

So now it's like there's a new year and I'm kind of just like, oh, maybe I need to rethink this thing. Master the front flip, you know, get that down. And then we'll start working on that whole backwards thing. We can't do this for a year. We can't. Kit, I hope that you do have a successful year. I hope all of our listeners have a successful year. We can. Kit, I hope that you do have a successful year.

I hope all of our listeners have a successful year. You know, us here at This Paranormal Life, we deal with a lot of curses. We deal with a lot of strange objects that have some bad side effects, let me tell you. But we want to make sure everyone listening has the best year of their lives. So how can we help people have the best year of their lives. So how can we help people have the best

year of their lives, Kit? Well, we can help by stopping you from getting yourself cursed. Right. Okay. I mean, the medical professions, the health organizations of the world, they spend a lot of time banging on about blah, blah, blah, disease, mental health, whatever. Oh, you should eat some vegetables. You know, go for a run. Rory, why don't you ever eat any vegetables? Oh, you should talk to your family more about how you're feeling. The vegetables.

Yeah. You need to eat a single vegetable. Your bones are chalk because you haven't eaten a vegetable in 14 years. And I said, do you want to know why I can't talk, doctor? Is the vegetables. Is because I walked under a ladder seven years ago. All right. And all the vegetables in the world can't heal what's wrong with me.

Try offering the boy King Tutankhamun a stick of broccoli when he comes to your room at night demanding your soul. When he comes to your room at night demanding your soul. We know as paranormal investigators, as paranormal professionals, that one of the leading causes of a shit life is being cursed. Right. It's also a really great way to tell people that all of your problems aren't your fault. Hey, no one likes taking accountability. It's hard. It's boring.

It doesn't feel good. Right. Blame it on a curse. It's easy. It's boring. It doesn't feel good. Right. Blame it on a curse. It's easy to do. Well, we're going to make sure this year that there are no curses in your way, that you have a fantastic 2024. As we know, curses, hexes, and bad luck can be afflicted in a lot of different ways. For example, cursed jewelry, cursed dolls, punching a wizard, punching a cursed doll.

But really, when it comes down to it, the easiest way to accidentally inflict bad luck upon yourself is through the world of superstitions. Of course. Okay, okay, okay. So my head, probably like the listeners, is jumping to, of course, the classic, like you say, walking under a ladder, smashing a mirror, these kinds these kinds of things right a black cat crossing your path you know all of these do inflict some level of quote-unquote bad luck uh to certain degrees so you got to make

sure you're not breaking any of these rules uh and i know look you might think that you're an expert in superstitions maybe you think you've heard of all of them before. But there's so many out there from all the corners of the world that, believe me, you haven't heard of yet. So that's what we're going to do today. Make sure that you're not breaking any of these rules that you don't even know about. That sounds amazing because every culture probably has a blind spot that they're missing. So if we get all the cultures, superstitions, figure them all out, that's the cheat code to life. You know, you could be one of those guys that's walking down the street and you see a crack and you're like oh i know this one don't step on a crack or you're you'll break your mother's back so i'm gonna go slightly left and you stand in a puddle and some guy from france is gonna be like

don't stand in the puddle jesus yeah that's even worse than breaking your mother's spine like a toothpick. It's like the way, isn't it in China, for example, they love the number eight. Yes. And it's like... And they hate the number four. Do they? And it's considered to be an incredibly lucky number. So whenever they're either living or working in the west

you know those guys are you know they're hoovering up you know telephone numbers license plates with the number eight in it and us schmucks are walking around just giving away uh cool stuff with the number eight in it and they're like ha ha ha fools right we're gonna we're gonna hoover up all this good luck we didn't even know it was lucky so was lucky. So we'll try and end the episode eight minutes in. Well, that would be quite early. I think we're past it already. I think we should maybe go to 18 minutes. That would be more appropriate.

Even 18. Eight, eight, eight, eight, eight. Well, that's too long. Something like that? Yeah. Or just go for like 8,000 minutes. How many long is that? How about just a regular episode?

Let's just see what happens. Because we could just end at eight seconds past the hour. All right. So we are going to get into the wonderful world of superstitions right after a quick word from today's sponsors. And of course, you can get every episode of this podcast ad-free on patreon.com forward slash thisparanormallife. Our first superstition today comes from South America, and it's an extra important one for all the single listeners to the podcast. That's all of them.

In Brazil, they say that when sweeping the floor with a broom, be careful not to touch your feet with it. If the broom so much as makes contact, you are doomed to remain single for the rest of your life. What? Yeah, we're starting hardcore. Oh my God. Did I mention your mother's spine

snaps in half if even a bristle touches your toe? That is so easy to do. Every time I've swept up, I've hit my feet. It hits the feet. I'm a bit clumsy. Yeah, so that's a little PSA. If you're looking for love in 2024, Every time I've swept up, I've hit my feet. It hits the feet. I'm a bit clumsy. Yeah.

So that's a little PSA. If you're looking for love in 2024, keep your feet away from the broom. Hell, this is like Squid Game. The survival rate is absolutely minimal. The only way that the curse can be broken is if you immediately spit on the broom afterwards. So you do have a little way to get out of it. Okay. Is this a theme that we're going to be seeing throughout?

That there are kind of, you know, five second rules to each superstition? There are ways to get out. So even if this has happened to you, there are saves that you can roll. The precise origin of this superstition is a little unclear, but the most popular theory is unfortunately a little misogynistic. The idea behind the curse is that if you hit your feet while you're sweeping, you're probably not very good at sweeping. And a woman who cannot sweep does not make a good wife. Okay. Yeah. I see what you're saying. This is a kind of so you'll never get old-fashioned uh fable sure yeah we're not endorsing this belief this is just the historical explanation for the superstition yes so we might

be able to say there's probably a kind of modern version of this uh you know for men yeah in particular that's like you know fellas in 2023 if you uh accidentally type the wrong number into your Excel spreadsheet, you'll be single forever. Right. Because- A guy who can't provide? Yeah. In a thousand years, they'll be like, you see, lots of men made their money by typing spreadsheets all day long. If you couldn't type a spreadsheet, you wouldn't be able to support a family.

If you get the numbers wrong, you'll never see the thong, as the old saying goes. Right. Well, you made it misogynistic again. So that's good. All I'm going to say is, you know. You'll never see a thong. That's the only rhyme I could think of. Christ.

If the numbers don't look nice, you'll never get the weiss. The mice? That didn't come out right either. We can get a better one. All right Alright Running back If the numbers are looking funny You'll never get the honeys Yeah

They all sound wrong They all sound It's just The premise is bad So I insist we move on Look Not to defend myself But all I'm going to say is

If all that mattered to me And a romantic partner Was how successfully They could sweep the floor I'd be having sex With my Roomba every night. Well, the fact that I was about to ask with the fact that you own a Roomba suggests that you won't have an answer to this. But I feel like everyone's got a preference of which kind of generic old timey chore they prefer doing. You know, sometimes even in relationships, you know, couples will create some kind of agreement over

the fact that you know one person's like i hate washing up and the other person's like i oh i don't mind washing up what i hate is mopping they're like oh shit let's do it let's make an agreement here a trade i'll never wash up you never mop shake hands i mean i think everyone kind of likes hoovering there's kind of like a childhood kind of like, it's almost like using a play thing. I hate hoovering. Okay. I hate it beyond belief. It stresses me out so much because the wire gets tangled. You're always trying to pull it.

Then a nozzle comes off because you yank too hard. Also, I'm sure it's maybe changed a little bit, but I have a very old vacuum cleaner. So this thing is just blasting hot air into your face while you're trying to sweep. It's so loud. It's such a, it's awful. Rory has a 19th century analog kind of combustion engine Uber.

I have to start it like a chainsaw. You know what mine is. I weirdly like, I guess this isn't too old timey, but I weirdly enjoy defrosting a fridge. Hey, we should move in together again like we did in the past because I hate defrosting a fridge. I love it. I think my brother had to host an intervention with me where he was like, there's no frost left. To D. There's nothing left to D. There's no frost. You have to have an intervention and go, bro, it's Christmas day. Our family wants to see you, man. And I've seen your fridge. There's no frost. You have to have an intervention. Go, bro, it's Christmas day.

Our family wants to see you, man. And I've seen your fridge. There's no frost. It's not urgent. My brother's like, you've defrosted it so much that I put my frozen potatoes in the freezer and it cooked them.

It's hot in there now. That's how little ice there is. You've been hoovering the freezer so often. It's blowing hot air in. So there you go. If you're sweeping, don't hit your feet with the brush. Our next superstition comes from the Philippines, and it's a pretty simple one.

Do not go straight home after a funeral. The idea being, funerals, usually pretty sad. There's a lot of bad, negative energy floating about. And there's also at least one dead guy. If you're in a graveyard, there's a lot more than that. Yeah. So if you're not careful, you may end up taking an evil spirit back to your house after the funeral. Ooh, I think I've heard this one.

Because it does feel like some solid paranormal logic, doesn't it? Right? You know, you have all that negativity. You're in a space where there are a lot of spirits. You know, if you go straight from that funeral back home, there could be some bad juju piggybacking essentially off you. And you're taking them right to your house. It reminds me a little bit of our Ley Lines episode where it was believed that there were kind of these concentric lines around the United Kingdom and, in fact, the entire world, which lead directly to or from sacred or holy sites. Now, in the end, we sort of discussed, actually, it's probably just a little bit to do with the fact that in the beginning, roads were built straight.

Right. Because that was just the way to do it it was there was a belief at a certain point in time that you wanted to bury people and do ceremonial rites like that um so that ghosts had a clear straight line that they could travel into you know a holy place or whatever so that they because they would get lost otherwise um it reminds me a little bit of that that it's like you know we talk a lot about ghosts and spirits on this podcast we don't talk a lot about their public transport how they get about clearly there's some kind of you know they're traveling to and fro all the time so why couldn't they follow us home exactly you know that i think a lot of people

think of them as just floating through the sky like cartoon hobos when they smell a pie on a windowsill. But, you know, if... Were they always hobos? I feel like that's just like Tom and Jerry and shit. Oh, really? I thought they was always... I thought it was hobos. Maybe.

I think you mean the unhoused community. Yeah, that term is definitely not uh not thrown around a lot you're like hey i'll stop calling them hobos when they stop floating through the air when they smell pies this is you doing stand-up like side fellows like you know hey you can't even leave a pie on a windowsill anymore world's gone mad every time i have to leave a pie on the windowsill, I gotta check the flight path. There's at least 16 guys floating through the air right at this thing. And they don't even know what flavor the pie is, whether it's sweet or savory. All they know is, I smell pie.

To make sure this doesn't happen, to make sure they don't take any negativity back directly to their house, mourners will often stop on the way home from a funeral at a Starbucks or a McDonald's, wherever they can drop off any negativity. I was sure. That's rude. That's rude. I thought you were going to say we need some kind of decontamination ritual that, you know, like maybe a bit like in Japan, you know, when you enter a temple, you just kind of like, don't you like wash your hands or something like that outside the temple? Something kind of ceremonial. But you're saying you fly tip your negative energy. Right. It's like, yeah, dump the negative energy at your neighbor Craig's house.

Yeah. Just like leave it in his back garden. He'll trip over it someday, get cursed. Yeah, like let's just swing by a Wendy's bathroom on the way home. There's a lot of negative energy over there. So our little guy will fit right in. Although I do appreciate, yeah, the concept of kind of the two-in-one. Dump your negative energy, get a cheeseburger.

I was sure you were going to say the bar, though. I said that this would be an excuse to, like, hit the bar. Swing by the bar? Not a bad spot, you know? If you want to drop off a spirit there, that's probably a good place to pick. Our next superstition comes from Germany. And this one I've actually been guilty of breaking before and didn't even know it. The Germans say you're not supposed to congratulate someone before their actual birthday. You have to wait until the exact day or afterwards.

Oh, interesting. Wait, hold on. How come you break this one? I just, in my life in the past, have known someone's birthday is coming up and said, happy birthday in advance. Maybe someone's thrown a birthday party the week before their actual birthday. And I've said, hey, happy birthday. I can't relate to this one less. Now that you're saying it out loud to my face, it's insane behavior.

Insane. What are you talking about? To wish someone a happy birthday before their birthday. That does feel cursed. If someone... Yeah, well, it does actually when you say it out loud.

Because I completely understand, obviously, because that happens quite often, unfortunately, apparently, that someone will have a party and you'll go happens quite often unfortunately apparently that uh someone will have a party and you'll go hey yeah that's amazing happy birthday and they'll go well it actually isn't until next week but i thought this week suited exactly but if you knew when

their birthday is and you're wishing them a happy birthday in advance that is cursed there's nothing worse than showing up to a birthday party handing handing over the gift, and you're like, happy birthday. And they go, oh, it's actually in a few days. I think that present back then. Yeah, you haven't earned it. I thought you were a birthday boy. But you're just another man. Yeah, you're just a disgusting little liar.

You're no better than I am. Yeah. You know what? I'm going to rip it open. He's like, I'm going to set up this Apple iPad with my iCloud because it's mine. And everyone comes out and goes, happy birthday. No, no, no, no, no. Stop in your tracks.

He's a liar. Everyone. Everyone is walking into the bar. You're smacking the gifts out of their hands. Stop. No. The explanation for this birthday superstition is a little bit strange. The belief is that this congratulations essentially alerts demons that a birthday is coming up

and gives them extra time to make sure all the birthday wishes don't come true. Fucking hell, man. Yeah. This is rough. This is like the way whenever you're a little kid and you find out that like diseases exist you're like this is messed up why would god do that why why did he like just make up things that ruin our lives so is it so preposterous people believe in demons you know how unfortunate that we can't even we're put on this earth and we can't even have a bloody birthday without demons making sure that we don't get a Starbucks gift card.

Yeah, you got, so that's what they're saying is basically if you even talk about someone's birthday. Yeah. Keep your voice down because there are demons everywhere listening, waiting to find a way that they can f*** up someone's birthday. Well, it reminds me of one of my favourite catchphrases, which I can't remember the wording of, so I'm going to f*** it up. But words to the effect of, you know, if you're trying to quit something, if you're trying to start a new habit, if you're trying to improve your life in any which way,

don't tell the devil. Because, you know, the idea being that if you're trying to quit smoking, it's like, just keep it up here. Just like, don't tell anyone, don't make a thing of it, don't say anything, just keep quiet and just quietly do it. Because as soon as you kind of like start blabbing about it,

you almost start sabotaging yourself. Other people are bringing it up. Other people are making it into a thing. So it's almost best to just quietly go about your business. Don't make it into a thing. Right. I mean, it seems,

I understand it that it's like don't tell the devil as in like keep it to yourself kind of thing but when you first said it i was like you shouldn't be telling him anything yeah yeah yeah you know the devil you tell it you you know your friend sally tells you a good bit of gossip you tell the devil and the next thing he's told the whole community it should just be don't talk to the devil full stop right right it's like hey don't don't tell him whose birthday is coming up next it's like why are you talking to him in the first place well this is the same logic except we're just not talking directly to demons but apparently the demons are listening like in death note they're just kind of like oh they're

always listening yeah let me tell you like the nsa you've got to put a piece of sellotape over your webcam so they can't hear your birthday wishes. Next up is a superstition that I think a lot of people will be familiar with. It's one of the most famous in the world. The black cat. Now, black cats play a huge role in the occult and are often associated with witchcraft and evil. In fact, throughout history,

just dark animals like black cats, crows, or ravens have been said to signal death. In 16th century Italy, if a black cat laid beside someone's sickbed, it was a sign that they were about to die. Yeah, that's fine to believe that, but don't start winding down their primary care just because a cat's... Mittens has taken her place.

Just unplug the tubes, turn off the machines. Turn off the machines, yeah. He seems to be fighting real hard to keep those machines plugged in. Well, the last breath of a dying man, that's what it is. It's like, no, this is ridiculous. A cat shouldn't get to decide who lives and who dies. The nurse is like, to be quite honest, medical qualifications don't exist yet.

So he really is as qualified as we are. It would suck if you went to the hospital to, you know, get your tonsils out and you're kind of just coming to, sitting there in bed. You see a black cat in the doorway kind of walking over to you and you're like, get the f*** out of here. Get the f*** out. No, no.

Hey, woof, woof, woof. Get out, get out. Also, if you spot a black cat at a funeral, apparently it means another death in the family is right around the corner. There's so many superstitions surrounding omens and I think I've brought it up on the podcast before. Even in my own extended family, there is talk of an omen.

That I think it's happened a couple of times over the years, over the last hundred years. That in my dad's side of the family, that I believe it's a frog. If a frog is seen in the house, that means someone is about to die. Which, I have to say, I don't mind that one. Because a frog in your house is house that means someone is about to die which i have to say i don't mind that one because a frog in your house is weird right that's not going to happen every day it's literally like that is not that could not because if you see a black cat who who cares but like a frog in your house that i would sit up and take notice yeah is this a kit is this a greer mulvena specific superstition or is this one that i haven't heard of like an Irish one?

Well, it probably isn't if you go back far enough, but they're the only people understandably I've heard it from and I've not read about it anywhere. But I think it just is as simple as, oh, your great great granddad died the night that a frog was in the house. And then we were like, oh, that's weird. And then it happened again 10 years later when your great-great-grandmother died. It's as simple as that. I see, I see. It's just because you've told me about some superstitions that your family have. Right.

And they don't sound like any other family follows these or believes in them. Oh, the one where if you open a packet of crisps upside down, you're in love? Well, I was going to say the one, I mean, that's actually quite a cute one. But you had one that was, don't invite dad to anything or he won't show up. Right. Like if you tell him it's important to you, he doesn't show up. Yeah. And I was like, I don't know if that's a superstition or anything.

That might just be kind of like a bad father. We call him the devil. So we say, if you want him to come to christmas don't let the devil know don't let the devil know aka papa papa right because if you told him you were like you're like oh we're just we're going out to dinner he's like okay yeah then that sounds good you're like yeah and then we're gonna have like uh some cake afterwards with a couple candles on it he's like okay you're like because it's my birthday daddy's gone yeah daddy's gone the phone is hung up yeah oh it's going through a tunnel

dad i can see you i can see you walking down the street he's putting buckets after buckets of frogs in kit's house just convincing him he's gonna die to cancel all the plans. Faked his own death to get out of going to my birthday. But of course, most famous of all, it's believed to be bad luck if you're walking and a black cat crosses your path. Now, this last one is kind of bizarre because as British listeners will know, and a lot of other Europeans, over here in the UK, a black cat crossing your path is actually considered to be good luck. Oh, word? Okay. Yeah.

It's a bit like getting shit on by a bird. Everyone says it's good luck. Doesn't feel like it. No. But apparently it is. If you don't believe that seeing a black cat cross your path is good luck, what about this testimony from online user Joelle? She wrote,

I've always looked upon black cats as being lucky and have even waited to allow some to pass in front of me on occasions. But strangely enough, something happened last week that secured my beliefs. Coming out of my local Sainsbury's last Sunday, I was walking up the path towards the road when I accidentally tripped up and did one of those little runs where you have no control and you keep flying forward until you either stop and regain your balance or fall to the floor. I went flying into the road where I expected to be hit by a car, but the road was empty. This was normally a very busy road, and when I got home, I started to shake, thinking just how lucky I had been. If it had been a week

day, or if there had been any cars approaching, I would have been almost certainly hit. That's when I remembered that on my way out that morning, a black cat had been walking along our wall, Okay, I'm a bit confused. Why? I'm a bit confused. So to recap, they're saying it was lucky to see the black cat because when they tripped later on that day they weren't obliterated by a bus yeah that's the gist of it the cat was holding the cars back with its mind like magneto but couldn't if it if it were so lucky wouldn't they've just not

tripped in the first place couldn't we equally have said that bloody black cat made me trip up later that day i guess but you know tripping up isn't that bad that happens all the time yeah i'm aware that's why this is a real non-story but the fact that you trip up and you fall onto a highway and there's not a single car there that was lucky that was puss puss putting in the work this person is lucky to be alive this person wouldn't have lasted in prehistoric times because of the cat right no lucky because of the cat is what you're saying they're clumsy and they believe in voodoo nonsense and they would have been lifted by a pterodactyl and taken away so i mean the tripping over and that i think we all are picturing in our minds that exact trip and then like stumble

stumble stumble stumble stumble we know it and then you either hit the deck or not no one ever recovers it's you always hit the deck no you should just hit the deck i don't think that's true i don't think that's true at all i i think i think like if you're under the age of 30 you really ought to recover you should be nimble enough on your feet anyone over the age of like let's say 35 40 you're allowed to hit the deck but it's it is it is very like it's giving like wounded horse or something whenever someone like falls over and they can't get back up again it's like it's like jesus man you you basically tripped on a pebble yeah you shouldn't you shouldn't have hit the deck that hard i think the the older you get the angle of recovery becomes smaller yes it does

so like as you said when you're like six seven years old you could be perpendicular to the earth yeah yeah and still find a way to outrun the fall you could be like leaning like michael jackson in the music videos and still somehow recover whereas i've seen dads just step on a brick wrong yeah and they they tilt five degrees and it's all over yeah we're talking lean entire of pisa barely noticeable angle of falling and they just they body slam it is you know i have i have few few athletic qualities rory i was born with bow legs chalk bones some people have the gorilla arm span where their arms are like longer than their what is it it's like oh their reach is longer than they are um things like that that make them athletic i have none of those but from a lifetime of skateboarding i know how to fall and take it like a champ.

Right, yeah. From a lifetime of getting beaten up and pushed to the ground, you've learned how to pick yourself back up again. That's your talent. Oh, yeah. Just an average skate session, I will fall at least twice

in a potentially career-ending way. I have had borderline ambulances called for me by people just members of the public who come running over phone in hand about to dial 999 and i'm like i know i'm i'm totally fine totally feel nothing you are very uh lean and light though so like you hitting the ground is kind of like a feather dropping from the sky i think sometimes i hit the ground and that's the last time i move for two weeks you hit you hit it like like goku the ground itself smashes around me yeah like a sack of potatoes falling off of a cliffside uh it's a heavy hit.

But hey, all we needed, Kit, was to just try and find, to seek out a black cat. And apparently, we would have been fine too. Not sure about this one. I'm always suspicious when one group of people says it's good luck and another group says it's bad luck. That feels like this is a bit of a wishy-washy superstition. Of course, we are not done with our superstitions.

There are so many more that you need to be on the lookout for. And we're going to tackle them all right after a quick break. All right, welcome back to the podcast. We are going to dive in with one of our more popular superstitions that I'm sure that a lot of you have heard of before. But let's put Kit to the test. Oh, Kit, what are you supposed to do if you accidentally spill salt? Uh, throw it over my left side shoulder?

I'll take it, because I don't know the specific shoulder. Oh, there is a specific shoulder, I think. Uh, you're probably right. But yes, the superstition is that if you spill salt at any occasion, you're supposed to take a small amount and throw it over your shoulder. Gotta be left shoulder, I believe, then. Yeah, okay. Jesus, this is one I need to get on the right side of,

because I am spilling salt regularly. Right, yeah. Because you know I keep the little pot of the Maldon sea salt lying around. You do, actually, yeah. So, you know, I'm sprinkling. There the Maldon sea salt lying around. You do, actually. So, you know, I'm sprinkling. There's a lot of sprinkling going on. If you sprinkle from high enough, like Salt Bae himself, you'll spill it. You'll spill some.

Living with Kit was like living with a wizard who only deals in salt. You know, because I'm a very basic guy. Like, I have a nightlight I have just publicly available brain salt You go into a kid's bedroom He's got the Himalayan salt lamp He's putting crystal salt chunks onto his bread He's a salt wizard

Yeah, sea salt, rock salt, pink salt Pink salt, I forgot about that i forgot about that can't do without smoked salt then you got the the salt lamp then the salt chunk just resting on the bed which if you ever get dehydrated you can lick um that's not gonna help surely what are you having uh what did you that's how dehydration works you know it's like you need salt that sounds like something a salt salesman would say man this thing's so salty I need a glass of water

no you don't you just need more salt I don't believe you for a second I don't believe the guy who has more salt products than anyone in the world saying that the answer

to all the problems is more salt because they haven't fixed your problems evidently because you keep buying more salt I think that's what

even runners and shit do I think you put salt in your water i think you are right i am being facetious i think it does help with hydration you know enough about uh sports science um that's why you can't live on like just purified water with nothing in it you'll die it's like eating rabbit right you need to have some bits in it if you're wondering about the origin of this superstition, it's actually quite interesting. People believe that its origins come from European slash Christian slash ancient Roman beliefs. Believe it or not, kid, in the illustration of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, Judas, who betrayed Jesus, can be seen spilling salt on the table. Oh. The idea is that Judas basically had a shoulder devil convincing him to do something

pretty bad. So throwing salt over one shoulder would literally hit the devil in the eyes. Whoa. Yeah. It's interesting. I wonder what Leonardo da Vinci meant by that. You know, because you know that guy, he was on some Nicolas Cage national treasure bullshit. He didn't so much as do a single paint stroke that didn't have some deeper meanings. What did the salt signify?

Right. I mean, there's probably entire books written into what the significance is for why a fork is pointing left in that picture. And while I don't know the justification behind him spilling the salt, it is kind of cool that this huge superstition has come from a part of this picture that seems so irrelevant. I do really like that. Also like the idea of the devil, the greatest source of evil of all time, the fallen angel master of death and destruction, can also just be taken down by throwing salt in his eyes. Yeah.

Like if he's looming over you and it's like, you will betray Jesus, the son of God, and then I shall take my thing. Just chuck it backwards and he's like, Oh, mother f***er. Oh, that stings. Jesus Christ. Yeah. All right.

God, I need to go get some water. Stick to the plan. Stick to the plan, Judas. So there's your little PSA. Spill salt, throw it over your shoulder or the devil might whisper some bad stuff in your ear. Our next one is a tradition straight out of Great Britain, which again is extra worrying because I've lived here for about 25 years and have never heard of it before. Jesus, okay, this might be where we're going wrong. The superstition states that if you see a magpie in Great Britain, you must greet him politely with the phrase,

Good morning, Mr. Magpie. How's your lady wife today? Uh-huh. I can't imagine that this is one most people in Britain adhere to. I haven't heard of it. I think I have heard of this. Really? Yeah, I think magpies have long been associated with mischief and paranormal on the other world. Yes, because they steal your shiny shit. They say that if you do not greet the magpie, bad luck will follow you.

Now I should say the bad luck from this superstition allegedly only lasts a day. Oh, okay. In terms of severeness, this is on the lighter scale of things. The idea behind this one is that allegedly magpies are found in pairs, so a single magpie is probably going through a hard time.

Next up is a very simple one. If someone gives you something sharp like a knife, you have to give them a coin in return. Is this another British one? I think this one might be Irish. Oh. Yeah. I mean, originally when I read this one, I was like, that's just what getting mugged is. Someone points something sharp at you and you give them a coin in return

so you don't get bad luck. Well, it's either that or just buying something at a shop, isn't it? Right, buying a knife. Yeah, it's always a good idea. If someone gives you something, you should pay them. The idea is that sharp objects like blades, scissors, can sever a relationship.

So returning the offer with a coin ensures that your relationship stays safe. We know this works, Kit, because once for my birthday you gave me a set of bonsai tree scissors and we have never been the same since. Yeah, although

I was just hoping you would just fall on them someday and die, but... While trimming a tree? That's how I wanted the relationship to end specifically now here's a little superstition for the drinkers out there in germany if you're making a toast they say you must look everyone straight in the eye while you clink your glasses now this is probably in the wheelhouse of i would say that drinking and cheersing at least here in britain is some of the most important superstitions to this day this seems to be the one that people

bring up the most i feel like if i'm with a group of people and we toast or cheers about half of the time they'll bring up some superstition about it like hey like oh can't cheers an empty glass oh you gotta look look them in the eye look in them in the eye and people make a little. Tap the table before you take the drink. Oh, you can't cheers and not take the drink. You have to take it while everyone's sitting. Yeah, there's a lot of rules, a lot of rules to it, which you might think would have just been personal preferences.

But I think what we're about to learn is there can be some pretty bad consequences if you get it wrong. Oh boy. I believe the origin for this one comes from a fear of being poisoned so this is a way to keep your eye on your drinking buddy while you consume your first sip okay make sure they don't do the old you know like maybe even take this pretend take the sip like a little kid with a plastic cup or they take the sip and spit it back in immediately. Or back in, yeah. But people also say that if you don't do it, you can end up with seven years of bad sex.

Right. It's not even bad luck, not even, you know, being damned, not even, just like underwhelming coitus. Yeah, yeah. Just an underwhelming coitus. Yeah, yeah. Just an underwhelming romantic life. Yeah. I mean, it can't be that bad a superstition if the worst case scenario is you're getting laid for seven years. You're still getting sex.

Yeah, yeah. Even if you're single, it's just not good. And if it's not good, fair enough, you might have to be single because no one's going to want to shack up with you. Yeah, that's true. That's true. So always look them in the eye all right oh another one i don't know if you're sometimes people say you shouldn't cheers someone with just a glass of water that was the next one

on the list oh sorry i'm ruining the podcast no that was great do you know where this superstition comes from because this story is crazy i think rampant alcoholism i think people in the uk have a bad relationship with alcohol and they want to peer pressure people who don't drink into drinking. No, it actually has a different one. It comes from ancient Greek myth.

Fine, let's hear it. But if you get it wrong, you can't get a boner for ten years. If you have a boner that lasts longer than ten years, consult a doctor. This superstition comes from Greek myth where the spirits of the dead would drink the water

from a river in Hades that would cause the spirit to forget its past and memories before it passed on to the underworld. I mean, I don't know what the curse is that you forget your memories and loved ones if you cheers with water,

but I think it's just kind of associated with death and evil. Water is? Don't, not cheering, cheersing with it, you know? Right, okay. They all, they, I mean, this is somewhat believable.

I think the Greeks and the Romans, if I know one thing about them, they loved their wine. Yes. Oh yeah. I think that's in part that a bit like the Vikings, I don't know how clean the water was.

So I think that's a big part of why they drank a lot of alcohol. But I think they liked a good time as well. For sure. I think it was basically, you know, you'd hear in the Bible all these stories of someone being lost in the wilderness. And then they finally make it to a village and they just drink a gallon of wine. It's like, bro, that's not what you need right now. But that was basically their water. Here's another one from Ireland.

They say that if your nose is itchy, there's about to be a fight. That feels quite Irish. If any point you are in the Emerald Isle and you find yourself with an itchy nose, just start swinging. Because according to this superstition, at any point, a brawl is about to kick off. I don't know what this says about the world of superstitions or if it just says more about Irish pub culture

that a fight is just so likely to take place at any given moment that the smallest... Like, I don't know, man. I feel like I itch my nose maybe, like, several times a smallest like i don't know man i feel like i itch my nose maybe like several times a night i don't know i did see on one website that said when the fight begins a light punch and a handshake will do the trick and i was like that's just good general advice for any fight right like a boxing match hug it Exactly, yeah. And to round off today's list of superstitions, we have to include one that everyone knows about, but still needs to be warned of.

Breaking mirrors. Mmm, of course. In the olden days, people believed that a person's reflection in a mirror captured a piece of their soul. So breaking a mirror meant literally destroying a part of their soul. So breaking a mirror meant literally destroying a part of your soul. Wow. Luckily, the Romans believed that the soul actually renewed itself every seven years. Hence the idea that the bad luck would only last seven years. Oh, interesting. Now, of course, at the end of every episode of the podcast, we have to decide if what we're talking about is real or not real.

With superstitions, as you can tell, it's a very important one. Because getting this one wrong could mean seven years of bad sex. Right, I think there was a lot of other superstitions that had more dire consequences. Right, yeah, something unlucky. Something about my mother being hospitalized with spinal injuries Brother, I'm only concerned about one thing I'm like a f***ing squirrel If I can't get a nut, I'll die

So how are we gonna do it, Kit? How are we gonna find out whether or not superstitions are real? Please don't say we're gonna be guinea pigs Kit, you don't have to be a guinea pig. But I'm about to risk the next seven years of my life right now on the podcast and smash a mirror. Oh, shit. But I know what you're thinking. How will we know whether or not I've become unlucky after I smash the mirror?

whether or not I've become unlucky after I smash the mirror. Well, Kit, that's why I'm going to smash this mirror right now on the podcast and then play a game of roulette with a 50-50 chance of winning or losing. Russian roulette? Jesus, man. That way, we will know whether I have just activated seven years of bad luck.

This is very exciting stuff. We are, hey, never say we don't do anything for the listeners. We are testing this shit out. We're doing some jackass, too hot for TV, do your own stunts, Tom Cruise shit right here. And Jesus, this might be the last episode. Rory might die after this, honestly. Genuinely don't know. I don't think I've ever broken a mirror in my life

before. I don't know how easy or hard this is. You can see this on youtube.com, search this paranormal life, to see the full-length video of this episode. But for anyone just listening, which is probably most of you, Rory has... Yeah, he hasn't got like a floor-to-ceiling IKEA mirror. He has got...

It's a smart idea. You've got some pocket-sized kind of little makeup mirrors yes quite quite smart yeah i don't know how well these are going to break but we're going to give it a shot so i've got just a flashlight here i mean don't do any of this shit normally without eye protection do you want some sunglasses yeah that's actually a smart move yeah i'll take some sunglasses you take those i've got these I think these are kind of industry standard. Safety first. All right, let's ruin this guy's life.

Seven years of bad luck coming up. It's resilient. Jesus. This mirror doesn't want to smash. I think you've got to put some welly into it. Why do we have to warn people not to do this? It's impossible to do it, even if you want to. Oh, shit. You did it.

Okay. The proof of the pudding is in the smashing. It's done. The mini mirror is smashed to bits that one properly exploded okay the mirror is completely broken i can just see the color draining from rory's face i'm getting a little nervous now that we're doing it his penis has gone completely limp it won't work for another seven years it's shriveled up like a raisin as soon as the mirror cracked. It's a California raisin.

That's all that's left. Okay, the mirror is now broken. I should have just activated seven years of bad luck. There's one way to put this to the test, and that is by doing a 50-50 roulette wheel spin. Now, of course, any casino goer will know it's not exactly 50-50 because you have the green on the board. But this should still be enough.

If I can win this roulette spin, surely that is an indication there might be no truth to some of these superstitions. At the end of the episode, we normally do a yes or no. Sounds like this might decide for us today. Is that what we're going to say? If I lose this round of roulette? Because also, I could just lose

and it could have nothing to do with the superstition. We could make the choice now and say, depending on the result of this spin, whether or not I am cursed. I think let's do it. Okay, let's do it. I want this to be kind of high stakes and actually kind of tense.

So I'm thinking about putting a 10-pound chip on the table, meaning that if we win, we get a 10-pound chip back. For me, that's a lot. Anytime I've gambled, it's usually 10p to 20p. So this is a little bit more above my budget. Yeah, they don't like you in the casinos. They don't. I've been thrown out many times

because I just try and get as many free drinks as I can. Okay. So all we have to decide is red or black. I don't have to decide shit, brother. I'm just getting nervous now. I'm sweating a little bit because it's not even about

losing the money, but it's kind of like, what if I just did something really bad? Yeah. You know? Well, hey, the good thing is even if you're f***ed,

you're only f***ed for seven years. It's only your 30s you're burning. By the time you hit 40, you'll be all good. My doctors don't know if I've got seven left in me. Did I mention how little vegetables I've been eating? They're like, eat a pea. One pea will fix your heart. It is a breaking point.

Okay. I am going to place the chip on the red square. I'm going red. I'm going red. It wouldn't be me, brother, but you do. I'm going red. I think it's going to be red. I'm thinking red.

Okay. Are we ready to find out whether or not superstitions really are real? Let's do it. Okay. Time to spin. Okay. It's been rolled. The. Time to spin. Okay. It's been rolled.

The ball is on the board. It's going round and... Red! 19! That's a win! What? F*** your superstitions! Alright, cool it. Double down!

All on 24! Black! Yeah, I don't know if we want to say F*** your superstitions Because we've just gone through a laundry list Of all the beautiful and diverse cultures of the world All of which have their own unique superstitions So I don't know if we want to just blanket say F*** them all

Give me a glass of water Let's see if we can break my dick It's just like Because I'm hard already Off the back of that spin off the back of that spin double you it would just be us drinking water looking at each other three minutes of pure silence and then going i can still get hard great that one's bogus too wow well you know it's a funny one isn't it because like you had it been black, had you got it wrong and lost, it would have been a bit of a double edged sword.

Because, yes, on the one hand, you might have lost because of the superstition, the curse, or you might have just lost because that's life. It would have been hard to prove. But actually, this one is arguably a better outcome because we've we've tested it we've called this bluff and we've said well if i really i'm getting seven years of bad luck surely i can't even win something as small as a roulette spin right and you assume as soon as the point of the mirror breaking you know that's when the bad luck starts that's when it's going to be the most intense if right after committing that act i can win a roulette hand the bad luck can't be that bad or there is no bad luck at all rory goes back home tonight his apartment building burned on all right well yeah jokes on me i guess

yeah i'm like celebrating on my phone it's's like, all right, there you go. Just one, a couple of chips here. Hang on a second. Just getting a phone call. My mother's dead. Okay. So need to quickly revise the end of that. This is where, you know, sometimes we'll like drop in some audio

at the end of an episode. Be like, hey, Rory from the future here. Just to let you know, my entire extended family died in a plane crash. So, you know, don't break a mirror. Please disregard the conclusions of this podcast. Superstitions are very much real. I woke up this morning with no hair.

I woke up this morning with no hair and a penis as hard as a sock puppet. Tune in next week if I'm still alive. Well, there you have it, guys guys kit pretty much summed it up you know if i'd lost we could have chalked that up to the fact that maybe i just lost even if there was no superstition but the fact that we won after breaking the mirror i think means today is unfortunately gonna be a double no woof but hey maybe that's the news that you wanted to hear it means that you don't need to begin your year or live your life in fear of all these ancient rules and superstitions

unfortunately it does mean you are to blame for all the problems in your life kind of a double-edged sword there that's right we shouldn't believe in kind of arbitrary ancient hocus pocus and let it dictate the way we live our lives tune in next week we're going to be looking into horoscopes and how being a virgo or being a cancer absolutely should dictate every one of your life choices really should but hey at the very least you can go home tonight knowing that you could smash a couple mirrors and you'll be just fine. Thank you so much to everyone for tuning in to this week's episode of This Paranormal Life.

What a start to the year. Well, it's good news, honestly, because, you know, if this had gone wrong, if we had both been blinded and instantly cursed by the smashing of the mirror, we would have made it hard to make podcasts this year. But thankfully, we can keep doing the show. Thankfully we can. If you enjoyed this week's episode and you want a little bit more of This Paranormal Life, of course you know we have a ton of extra bonus

content over on Patreon.com. If you want extra weekly episodes, extra monthly episodes, or the chance to win some cool souvenirs from right here in the studio check it out go to patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life and also of course many of you know we are now recording the podcast in beautiful video so if you want to see me smashing that mirror in the studio

rolling the roulette ball we have all of it captured and it's all being put up on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, anywhere you want it. So check it out. It's a great way to see some of your favorite clips from the show in video form. All right. Kit has to go to a bathroom stall somewhere and take some pictures of his feet, I believe, to get his New Year's resolution underway. Let's just start the year with a bang.

Let's do it. I need to learn how to flip in any direction. So we got our work cut out for us. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. We'll, of course, be back next week and next week and the week after that all through 2024. That sounded like a threat. We'll be back.

Check your closets at night. All right. We'll be there. Thank you for listening listening see you next week