Animals considered "unlucky"

[moonfall]

This is sort of a spin-off of the black cat thread, but what other animals do people associate with bad luck? My grandfather and his sisters have always said that frogs and owls are unlucky, although the rest of the family cannot figure out why. My mother's best guess is that frogs are associated with the plauge of frogs, but my grandfather and aunts have never said anything about locusts or grasshoppers being unlucky. As for owls, I think I read somewhere that people used to think an owl's hoot was an omen of death.

Does anyone else have a better suggestion? Also, how widespread is the belief that saying "alligator" on a fishing boat jinxes the fisherman (because it "scares away the fish")? It's apparently pretty common in the part of Florida I come from, but I've never heard it outside one particular town.

[Troodon]

There are those beetles that live inside walls and tick. I've heard that that's bad luck, but I've never actually heard the beetles (I think - there's so much noise in a city that it's hard to know).

[tribrats]

Not bad luck but more a superstition that if you kill a spider it will rain.

[moonfall]

Aren't they actually called "Deathwatch beetles" because the clicking was supposed to foretell death?

[llewtrah]

I don't consider any animals unlucky, but I'm aware of several bad luck superstitions associated with animals.

Seeing a single magpie is supposed to be unlucky here ("one for sorrow ...") and rooks, ravens and crows are associated with death and doom.

A horse or pony with one or two white socks is unlucky ("one white leg - keep him not a day, two white legs - send him far away, three white legs - give him to a friend, four white legs - keep him to the end").

[me, no really]

Originally Posted by tribrats

Not bad luck but more a superstition that if you kill a spider it will rain.

Hmmm, we are in a really bad drought at present. I wonder how many I need to squish.....

me

[Eddylizard]

Supposedly you can mitigate the bad luck of the magpie by saying hello to it.

I've heard various versions from a simple "Good morning/afternoon/evening Mr Magpie" through to s auper elaborate "Good day Mr. Magpie" followed by tugging your forelock and turning around three times (quite difficult to do when you are driving) and different shades of elaboration inbetween.

[llewtrah]

I just tell the magpie to **** off you vermin as they are becoming a serious pest here (numbers are growing into seagull proportions as they congregate near bins)

[putitinwriting]

I've been told several times that having a wild bird get into the house is bad luck. (Yeah, sez I, because it will panic and poop on your stuff.)

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by llewtrah

A horse or pony with one or two white socks is unlucky ("one white leg - keep him not a day, two white legs - send him far away, three white legs - give him to a friend, four white legs - keep him to the end").

Now I've heard the opposite, but in terms of a horse's soundness. A horse with four white socks was thought to have weak feet.
I've also heard stuff about whipper-wills; something about them sounding off before someone's death.

[Morrigan]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

Now I've heard the opposite, but in terms of a horse's soundness. A horse with four white socks was thought to have weak feet.
I've also heard stuff about whipper-wills; something about them sounding off before someone's death.

The rhyme for legs was this:

One white foot, buy him.
Two white feet try him
Three white feet, doubt him.
Four white-feet do without him.

Not week feet, but soft hooves. Which isn't true.

Here's a link about the myth:

http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/col...hoofcolor.html

Morrigan

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by Morrigan

The rhyme for legs was this:

One white foot, buy him.
Two white feet try him
Three white feet, doubt him.
Four white-feet do without him.

It's interesting that the superstitions about horses' legs/feet are the opposite way round, same as the black ccats lucky/unlucky are the opposite way round!

[Stan The Man]

Originally Posted by putitinwriting

I've been told several times that having a wild bird get into the house is bad luck. (Yeah, sez I, because it will panic and poop on your stuff.)

This is the version that I've heard.

[tribrats]

Originally Posted by me, no really

Hmmm, we are in a really bad drought at present. I wonder how many I need to squish.....

me

I am so afraid of spiders that I can't even let anyone use my shoes to kill it! Hubby used my sneaker once and I wouldn't wear it until he washed the bottom off. But if you need some to squish, I could have my son box some up and send to you.

[Wolf333]

Has anyone else heard this?

Catch a ladybug and hold it on your finger; blow on the ladybug and when it flies away say "ladybug, ladybug, flyaway home?"

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Wolf333

Has anyone else heard this?

Catch a ladybug and hold it on your finger; blow on the ladybug and when it flies away say "ladybug, ladybug, flyaway home?"

The version I heard as a child:

"Ladybird, ladybird fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are gone
All except one, and that's little Ann
For she crept under the frying pan."

No idea what it's supposed to mean though.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by putitinwriting

I've been told several times that having a wild bird get into the house is bad luck. (Yeah, sez I, because it will panic and poop on your stuff.)

Or the cat will trash the house trying to catch the dang thing.

[llewtrah]

Friend's cat always brought magpies into the house. Is that double bad luck? He was the one who nearly trashed the place trying to evict angry magpies.

[ganzfeld]

A mouse under the wheel of a moving semi is generally considered to be unlucky -- a very unlucky mouse.

My Grandmother was Japanese, and a Buddhist, and she always said that it was terrible bad luck to kill a spider, especially after dark. It had something to do with ancestors watching over you in the form of spiders. Unfortunately I can't remember the details, she died when I was young but my mother remembers the same thing. Has anyone more familiar with Japanese or Buddhist culture ever heard this?

Incidently I'm terribly arachniphobic, but can't shake the idea that I'm squishing a helpful grandparent or something. My ancestors have spent quite a lot of time under overturned drinking glasses waithing to be relocated!