A rabbit ran over my grave?

[PallasAthena]

Sometimes I give a little shivver for no apparent reason. I'm not cold or anything, and it's totally involuntary. I've seen other people do it, so I know I'm not a freak of nature. Anyway, some people call this little shivver a "cold chill." When this happens to me, I usually say, "Oh. A rabbit ran over my grave." This usually gets me strange looks.

I have no idea where I got this particular phrase. Apparently I didnt' get it from my mom, and no one I've asked about it has heard of it. I know I got it from somewhere, though.

Does anyone else say this or something similar? Anyone have any idea where this might have come from? There's always been something unsettling about the "cold chills" to me, so maybe that's why the reference to the grave comes in, but I have no idea.

I've been curious about this for a while.

[RichardM]

I have heard the chills like that attributed to a person walking over your grave but not to a rabbit.

[zephyra]

Originally Posted by PallasAthena

Sometimes I give a little shivver for no apparent reason. I'm not cold or anything, and it's totally involuntary. I've seen other people do it, so I know I'm not a freak of nature. Anyway, some people call this little shivver a "cold chill." When this happens to me, I usually say, "Oh. A rabbit ran over my grave." This usually gets me strange looks.

I have no idea where I got this particular phrase. Apparently I didnt' get it from my mom, and no one I've asked about it has heard of it. I know I got it from somewhere, though.

Does anyone else say this or something similar? Anyone have any idea where this might have come from? There's always been something unsettling about the "cold chills" to me, so maybe that's why the reference to the grave comes in, but I have no idea.

I've been curious about this for a while.

Yeah, but it's a goose when I say it.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by zephyra

Yeah, but it's a goose when I say it.

I've heard goose, too.

I've also heard "Someone walked over my grave," without specifying that it's an animal.

[Lainie]

My father did that, all three of my brothers do it, and I do it. I've heard the phrase "someone walked on my grave," but not the rabbit thing.

We also inherited from my father an odd little thing that resembles an absence seizure. It's occurred to us that they might actually be absence seizures, but none of us has ever cared to bring it up with a doctor. Dad never seemed to age out of them, which is common with absence seizures, but my brothers and I have them much less often as adults.

Since we inherited them from Dad, we sometimes lump both oddities into the term "Dad'sLastName Thing."

ETA: From Wiki, this is the kind of thing we experience:

Others have no noticeable symptoms except for brief times when they are "out of it."

Basically, we just stare blankly into space for a few seconds until we "snap out of it." It's a strang feeling.

[Seburiel]

[sort of um, a major hijack]
I sometimes get a 'sparkly' sensation at the corners of my eyes, or I'll rub them, and it's like my vision pixelates back into focus, I often can't remember how I've gotten home, and tend to space out when people are talking; and I have a strange habit of vomiting about evry 3rd or 4th meal - I never thought about the symptoms all together, could this mean something (regarding 'absence seizures') or is this just random, meaningless occurance?

(The only thing that really disturbs me are the eyesparkles and the black-to-vision 'pixelation' effects - the vomiting I normally put down to eating too much, and the spacing out/suddenly realize that I'm home I put down to lack of paying attention, but now I'm sorta worried)
[/hijack]

[Noctilca]

My husband says the "rabbit ran over your grave" thing - I'm not sure where he picked it up from, but I'll see if I can remember to ask him when he gets off work. I think it might be something his grandmother used to say.

[Dropbear]

Goose here - came from my dutch relatives.

Dropbear

[kitoboo]

I first heard about the rabbit running over your grave when I was a teenager. I think my Dad heard it when he was a child too so the saying has been around for a long time. The way I heard it is that it is a good thing because it means that your grave is in an undeveloped part of the cemetery where there are many rabbits. This means you still have a long time to live.

[Andrew of Ware]

Over in the UK I've only ever heard, 'Someone's walked over your grave.' My younger brother says, 'It can't be. I'm going to be buried at sea.' He's a real wag my brother.

[JessBoo]

Goose here too.

Originally Posted by Seburiel

[sort of um, a major hijack]
I sometimes get a 'sparkly' sensation at the corners of my eyes, or I'll rub them, and it's like my vision pixelates back into focus, I often can't remember how I've gotten home, and tend to space out when people are talking; and I have a strange habit of vomiting about evry 3rd or 4th meal - I never thought about the symptoms all together, could this mean something (regarding 'absence seizures') or is this just random, meaningless occurance?

(The only thing that really disturbs me are the eyesparkles and the black-to-vision 'pixelation' effects - the vomiting I normally put down to eating too much, and the spacing out/suddenly realize that I'm home I put down to lack of paying attention, but now I'm sorta worried)
[/hijack]

Well that does tie in with the wiki link Lainie posted. But anyway, vomiting that frequently isn't right, I personally would go to the doctor. Do you drive home? It's a bit worrying that you space out, if you do.

[Ravenhull]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

Over in the UK I've only ever heard, 'Someone's walked over your grave.' My younger brother says, 'It can't be. I'm going to be buried at sea.' He's a real wag my brother.

If you ever catch him saying that again these days, you could always tell him that he just heralded the second coming...

[damian]

Originally Posted by Seburiel

[sort of um, a major hijack]
I sometimes get a 'sparkly' sensation at the corners of my eyes,[/hijack]

Could be caused by high blood pressure, especially if you tend to get it whenever you stand up.

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

Over in the UK I've only ever heard, 'Someone's walked over your grave.' My younger brother says, 'It can't be. I'm going to be buried at sea.' He's a real wag my brother.

Tell him he's digging his own grave.

[Joostik]

It's probably pretty old, as variations exist in several languages:

In Dutch: Er loopt iemand over mijn graf (someone walks over my grave), er loopt een hond over mijn graf (a dog walks over my grave), er springt een kikker over mijn graf (a frog jumps over my grave). 17th c. example: De menschen schricken, soo sy meenen, als yemand by gevall komt op haer graf te treen

In Friesian: der rint ien oer myn grêf (someone runs over my grave)

In German: Der Tod läuft mir über das Grab (Death walks over my grave); or Lower German: de Dôd löppt äöwert Grafft.

In French: on marche sur ma tombe (someone walks over my grave).

[Brad from Georgia]

Around here we say, "A rabbit goosed me!" Talk about getting strange looks....

[LeaLea]

In my family, it's usually said "a possum crossed my grave".

Yeah, we're from mississippi.

[Beejtronic]

How does someone walk over your grave if you don't have one yet?

[Andrew of Ware]

Originally Posted by Beejtronic

How does someone walk over your grave if you don't have one yet?

I've always taken the saying to mean that someone has walked over the place where you are going to be buried.

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by Beejtronic

How does someone walk over your grave if you don't have one yet?

You're looking for logic in this? Good luck with that.

Dropbear

[Nonny Mouse]

It seems to me that if one believes in reincarnation, then one could have a choice of several graves for assorted wildlife to be wandering around on.

Nonny