Picture the scene, you wake up late, skip breakfast and run to work. We’ve all been there so it’s easy to comprehend. Then your phone rings, you fumble around in your bag and answer it, you explain you’re just five minutes away and in that 30 seconds, whilst you were distracted you walked under a ladder.

Do you freeze with worry? Would you think you are destined for a lifetime of bad luck? Or would you simply carry on rushing to work?

In this article we look at the longstanding superstition of walking under ladders.

The first thing we noticed when you talk to people about walking under ladders is that you will generally get two responses; it’s bad luck or it’s unsafe. We can understand the unsafe factor, but where did the bad luck side come into it.

An early Christian belief about ladders was that a ladder leaning against a wall was a sign of the holy spirit. Many people at that time compared walking under a ladder to being a blasphemer. This means that if you were alive a long time ago in a Christian land and you walked under a ladder, many people would believe that you invited the devil in and are therefore destined for bad luck.

But, even for non christians, people still believe in this superstition, so we delved a little deeper at other possible origins.

Another time the superstition could have arisen dates back to the medieval times. This was at a time when ladders were a stark reminder of the gallows and those people that have been hanged. This is because ladders were often used in the gallows to help retrieve the bodies. So, if a person was to walk under a ladder, many people would believe that they would face their own death by hanging or some even believed that they would be risking injury or death from a falling body.

Another root we came across was from Ancient Egypt. As we all know, the Egyptians believed that pyramids had powers. But did you know, that it also meant that anything that could be associated to a pyramid also had powers too. In fact, a ladder leaning against a wall was considered to look like a pyramid because of its triangular shape, so it was believed that if someone walked under the ladder the power of a pyramid was broken.

But don’t fear, although these consequences may seem scary, over the years there have been a number of ways found to apparently undo the bad luck. Just for those superstitious people out there, we’re now going to remind you of what they are, just in case you ever accidentally walk under a ladder.

The first one is probably the easiest, all you need to do is walk back through. This then means you remove the bad luck that you had set on yourself in the first place.

Secondly, some people choose to cross their fingers until they see a dog. We’re not entirely sure what the dog has to do with it, but many people will complete this act to ensure they remove the bad luck curse.

If none of these tactics sound appealing we do have a couple more quirkier alternatives. You can spit three times through the rungs of the ladder or you can choose to spit on your own shoe. If choosing the shoe option make sure you avoid looking at your shoe until the spit has completely dried. Like we’ve already said, we have no idea what this has to do with removing bad luck but trust us when we say many people across the world do it.

But, in general, if you can avoid walking under ladders in the first place and then you won’t be destined for bad luck or have to take part in these weird but wonderful activities!