List of unlucky symbols

This is a list of symbols and signs believed to be unlucky according to superstition:

• A black cat crossing one's path
• The number 4 (tetraphobia) in Chinese culture
• The numbers 4 and 9 in Japanese culture
• Also in Japanese culture, maternity wards numbered 43, as it can literally mean "still birth".
• The number 13, known as triskaidekaphobia
• Friday the 13th
• Failing to respond to a chain letter
• Viewing one's doppelgänger may be considered a harbinger of bad luck
• Walking under a ladder
• According to Eastern cultures, spitting in public, as the spit may land on invisible spirits, who in response to the disrespect, may place a curse on the spitter.
• Hanging a horseshoe with the ends pointing down, as it is believed that the luck will fall out^[1]
• Breaking a mirror
• Placing chopsticks in a bowl of food sticking upward
• United States two-dollar bill
• Shoes on a table
• On the Isle of Man, the mention of the word "longtail" (referring to a rat)
• Three on a match (superstition)
• Giving a clock as a gift in Chinese culture
• Saying the word "Macbeth" while inside a theatre
• Opening an umbrella indoors
• A hanging picture falling from the wall
• Stepping on a grave
• Ravens
• Spilling salt
• Ouija board

See also

• List of lucky symbols
• Curse
• Sailors' superstitions#Bad luck
• Belief in luck

References