The WPJ blog

For as long as people have been building homes, some pretty creepy superstitions have been in circulation.

Check these out but beware; you may not sleep easy tonight.

1. 80%¹ of high-rise residential blocks and commercial buildings don’t have a thirteenth floor because of the number’s scary connotations.
2. A prehistoric custom was to kill a person and put their body in the foundations of a building to ensure it would remain standing.
3. Mummified cats were built in to the walls of a building as a form of security against evil.
4. Never open an umbrella indoors, otherwise bad luck will rain down on you.
5. Tear away your wallpaper and you may discover marks on the walls charting the height of Victorian children who have long passed.
6. New residents often find hidden objects and time capsules under their floorboards, left by their predecessors who wanted to tie their spirits to their beloved home forever.
7. Many builders would carve their initials into a building upon completion…you just have to scout for it.
8. A lot of people are scared to keep ladders in their homes as walking under a ladder means entering Satan’s territory.
9. If a death or murder has occurred on a site, many developers will refuse to build there to avoid disturbing lost souls.
10. Ever noticed strange symbols in the structure of your home? They’re protective measures, often found on rafters, beams and window cills.
11. People ward off evil from their homes with scary doorknockers and by stuffing fennel into their keyholes.
12. Some believe that building work should never be started on a Friday, and definitely never on Friday the 13th.
13. However, in Chinese culture the number eight is lucky, so if you live at Number 8 on your street, consider yourself blessed.

¹Elite Daily, 2014. 13 Of The Scariest Things That Have Happened On Friday The 13th. [Online] Available at: http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/13-weird-things-happened-friday-13th/631804/.