MORE: Do you cross your fingers to bring luck? Do you believe bad things come in threes? What do you think about black cats crossing your path?

Farmers’ Almanac featured a story about the origins of superstitions, and we thought it was pretty neat.

“Ever wish or hope for something and then cross your fingers? The reason for this was that it is believed that bad luck is trapped at the point where the two fingers meet so when we cross our fingers, we stop the bad luck from escaping and allow our wishes to come true. Not very likely, but it’s still one we almost all practice.”

We’re familiar with this one: Bad things come in threes. We would argue against it being a superstition when it’s proven time and again.

“There are several theories behind this belief. One links once again to the holy trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with the notion that important things (good and bad) come in threes. Another is that three establishes a pattern, so something happening once could be random, twice could be simply chance, but three times means something significant.”

Maybe we’re just arranging the facts in our heads to fit the “come in threes” pattern? Interesting.

What about black cats? We know it’s simply a matter of genetics, but that wasn’t the case in the Middle Ages when it was believed a witch could take the form of a black cat.

“There’s a story about an English father and son meeting a black cat they suspected of being a witch. They stoned the cat and the next day encountered the witch in her human form. Her face was bandaged and she died shortly thereafter. This story seems to be the origin of bad luck coming your way if a black cat crosses your path.”