They Make You Kiss A Cod To Join A Club
You want to be a Newfoundlander? They'll make you kiss a fish, drink rum, and say a daft line like it's a sacred oath.Read More 
They Doused Every Hearth And Made Fire With Sticks
When a village couldn't trust doctors, they snuffed every home fire, rubbed wood until it screamed and turned the ashes into anti-plague talismans.Read More 
Romans Wore Little Wangs For Luck, Proper
They actually hung tiny bronze penises about like talismans to scare off the evil eye - Romans were oddly practical about indecent knickknacks.Read More 
We Hid Dead Cats in Chimneys to Ward Off Ghosts (Yes, Really)
Old houses sometimes contain deliberately placed mummified cats in chimneys and walls, used as talismans against witches, pests and bad luck.Read More 
That Time a Horse Skull Sang at the Door and Demanded Cake
Wales' Mari Lwyd is an actual decorated horse skull that waddles from house to house, declaiming rhymes and bargaining for hospitality like a very polite undead equine street performer.Read More 
The Sin-Eater Who Ate Your Shame (Very Bad Manners)
In parts of Britain a shunned professional would eat bread and drink ale over corpses to 'take' their sins for a crust and a pint, and everyone behaved as if this were entirely sensible.Read More 
Hag Stones: Holey Rocks That Outsmarted Witches
Tiny holed stones were hung in cradles, stables and boats as talismans against curses, lightning and bad luck-people even peered through them to glimpse fairies.Read More 
Why Italy Hates Seventeen
The number 17 is treated like a mildly dangerous relative in Italy - an ancient Roman insult, a hotel-room nuisance, and a perfect excuse for bureaucrats to be theatrical.Read More 
Rue: The Smelly Herb That Bossed-Off Bad Luck
Folks from Naples to Nuevo Leon used bitter rue-ruda-to hang over cradles, sprinkle in doorways and bathe babies so jealous eyes and nasty luck would take a hike.Read More 
How The South Outsmarts Ghosts With Old Bottles
They hang colored bottles in trees to trap roaming spirits - a Hoodoo-rooted Southern trick that's equal parts faith, recycling and stubborn charm.Read More 