Friday 4 February 2011

WORLD OF THE WEIRD: Superstitions and Deaths

With the release of Mirror’s 2, we thought that it would be rather cool to bring up some unusual superstitions and of course deaths. Thanks to our Lucy (one of our marketing friends) we have this information on tap so to kick things off before we go and kick the bucket (proverbially speaking of course) we thought that we’d start with some unusual superstitions:

Whilst death can be entertaining, as mentioned above, we also feel that some of the supernatural superstitions from around the world can be a little strange, as such some of the more unusual ones are presented here for you:

“A loaf of bread should never be turned upside down after a slice has been cut from it”.
We might be missing something assuming this, but surely unless you bake a perfectly cuboid shaped loaf you can’t turn a loaf of bread upside down?! Or maybe this means we shouldn’t turn the bread onto the bottom of the side that was cut? Needless to say this is all very confusing and there seems to be no particular outcome to turning bread upside down apart from the fact your toast might be a bit mouldy? – you figure it out!

“A Bird in the house is a sign of death”.
What for the bird or the person in the house? This idea sounds like it’s been manifested off the back of the 1963 Hitchcock film “Birds” and assumes that we all have some irrational fear the bird might peck out our eyes or something.

“It’s bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.”
Aren’t you a little screwed if you don’t have a back door? Or live in a flat? They really didn’t think about the practicalities of this one did they?

“If you see a mongoose, drop everything that you are doing and follow the same path that it is taking as it will bring you good luck.”
In that case let’s a) hope you aren’t a funeral usher & b) hope you can run as fast as the Mongoose!

“If you lie down immediately after eating, you will become a cow.”
You won’t be surprised this is a superstition of Chinese origin and I guess there is some sort of metaphorical sense in this, you don’t do anything and you eat too much, you become a fat lazy cow, can’t see us lying down chewing the cud though.


Whilst this sort of information is interesting, we know what our readers enjoy and of course we’re only too pleased to present some of these deaths that are truly worthy of the Darwin Awards:

1. Death by toilet brush: Whoever told you the bathroom wasn’t a dangerous place is a big, fat liar. In 2005 Cindy Corton was left with a strange injury after a drunkard fall in a friend’s bathroom and it wasn’t until two years later that hospital staff found out what happened. Apparently when slipping over Cindy fell on a toilet brush handle which then embedded itself in her buttock. After convincing doctors something had gone wrong Cindy underwent a routine procedure to remove the handle but as it had been there for two years had to endure two more operations to try and remove it. After much riskier surgery in 2007 Mrs. Corton sadly died from a massive blood clot.

2. Death by Lava Lamp: Why or how this came to light in the first place we aren’t sure but Phillip Quinn, a 24 year old from Kent, Washington was killed in an attempt to heat a lava lamp bulb on his stove. The 24 year old, observing from just a few feet away was killed instantaneously by a shard of glass from the bulb which exploded when the heat built up pressure in the lamp.

3. Living in tropical countries has its perks but having wildlife at your door isn’t necessarily as magnificent as you might think, according to his servants, Surinder Singh Bajwa the Deputy Major of Delhi, India was warding off several Rhesus Macaque Monkeys at his home when he fell from a first floor balcony suffering severe head injuries. Surinder later died from his injuries.

4. Possibly one of the most bizarre deaths we’ve come across, Ronald McClagish died after being trapped inside a cupboard for a week. Attempting to free himself from the cupboard which trapped him, McClagish accidentally wrenched a water pipe from the wall, and the water gushing from the pipe eventually caused his death from bronchitis. His body was not discovered until two weeks later.

5. Last but not least Finnish actress Sirkka Sari died when she fell down a chimney. The actress was at a party celebrating the completion of her 3rd movie. Dancing into the night, Sirkka mistook a chimney for a balcony and fell down the chimney into a boiler dying instantly.

For more weird deaths visit:
The Darwin Awards

Or watch the TV Show:
1000 Ways to Die


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