What are some America only superstitions?

27 comments

1. Skinchangers

2. There’s plenty of local legends, but the majority of our folklore and superstition comes from the nations that make up our ethnic backgrounds.

   I suppose there are a number of Native American myths that are somewhat pervasive here that probably don’t really exist elsewhere except maybe Canada. Windigos, skinwalkers, etc. Bigfoot might technically be America only but there’s similar stories in other parts of the world like Yeti.

3. The Monkey Man of Hoboken.

4. Mothman.

5. You don’t talk about a no-hitter in progress. 

6. Chiropractic.

7. The Jersey Devil.

8. Q-anon

9. Skunk ape is Floridians version of Bigfoot. There’s spook hill, it’s an illusion that makes it look like you’re moving uphill. However you are going downhill.

10. Bigfoot/sasquash, toads and frog give you warts, don’t walk under a ladder. Etc

11. Maybe that a black cat crossing your path brings bad luck, elsewhere it’s the opposite?

12. We love a good regional monster story. Champ in Lake Champlain, the moth monster in West Virginia. These are very area specific and people outside of that region don’t know about them.

13. Never acknowledge the lack of mosquito’s cause the second you do they start biting you. Not sure if this is specific the US or not but players and fans of professional sports teams will wear the same jersey without washing it or not shave as long as their team is the playoffs for the championship.

14. The Loveland Frogman

15. The Jersey Devil in South NJ and Pine Barrens. 

16. O W Grant.

17. Hodag, the mythical beast of Rhinelander WI

18. Everything the Mormons believe.

19. Snipe hunting.

20. You can trade a graphing calculator for a garbage bag full of marijuana.

    That’s the warning my High School math teacher told us in the 90s to impress upon his students how expensive they are and to not lose them.

    I am still searching for Mr MacAuley’s supplier to this day.

21. The Alabama White Thang

22. When you wash or wax your car it’s gonna rain the next day.

23. I knock on wood

24. Not sure, but these ones seem likely to be U.S. & Canada only:

    * You gotta hold your breath while you’re driving past a graveyard.

    * If you see a cop at a red light, touch the ceiling of your car. (wards off getting pulled over)

    * When you drive over train tracks, everyone touches a screw. (not really in the “superstition” category, but close enough?)

    * Turn the 13th cigarette upside-down when you open a pack

    * Never toast with water. (if you toast with water, a sailor will drown. Pretty sure this one’s international, though.)

    * All the stuff in *The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*. (but my guess is, those superstitions are practiced throughout the entire African diaspora)

    * It’s bad luck to kill a ladybug.

25. Never say “it’s quiet tonight” in an ER.

26. I think non-Americans probably don’t realise the full extent of just how deep the mythology of Bigfoot runs here. It’s enough that it probably warrants watching a documentary on it.

27. I dunno if cryptids are included in this, but I grew up with my aunt scaring me with stories about the stikini. It’s a skinwalker type creature from Seminole tradition that looks and acts like a human during the day (though some stories say there’s something a bit “off” about them to most people), and at night they turn themselves inside out, vomiting up their entrails, which they hang in a tree, and turn into an owl. As an owl, they can then fly into their enemies’/victims’ homes and kill them. So, naturally, I was convinced for a couple of years that the owl that made its nest in the tree outside my bedroom window was really some evil monster that wanted to peck my heart out, haha.