# Ever a bit melancholy that you aren't superstitious? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249 "2017-10-30T21:26:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/1 "2017-10-30T21:26:39Z")
I have an interest in old fairy tales and folklore from around the world about supernatural creatures. Japanese folklore such as that gathered by Yanagita Kuino is especially rich and imaginative. And I don’t believe that anything supernatural or paranormal is real, not even a little bit. But I think that there is something romantic (in the non-boinky sense) about thinking that the night contains things that go “bump”, and thus time of year especially am just a little jealous of those who go looking for ghosts, goblins, and such and actually believe they might find something instead of playing seasonal make-believe. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/2 "2017-10-30T23:05:22Z")
Oh, man, Cthulhu is gonna kick your behind, talking like that. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/3 "2017-10-30T23:25:44Z")
“I’m a Gemini, and Geminis never believe in astrology.” In the sane vein, I feel that being superstitious will inevitably lead to all sorts of bad luck… ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/4 "2017-10-30T23:47:18Z")
Occasionally, I briefly envy religious folks, because the notions that there’s a magic dude in the sky taking care of everything and that we’ll all go to a super great place forever after we die seem to give people comfort. But believing in monsters and demons and such? Seems more crippling than anything. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/5 "2017-10-31T00:02:54Z")
If you watch \*“Let’s Make A Deal”, \*you know that Wayne Brady is The Devil. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/6 "2017-10-31T00:10:36Z")
It seems to me that being superstitious and believing in the supernatural are two different things. One could perfectly well believe that ghosts, fairies, etc. exist, while simultaneously believing that they don’t meddle in human “luck”, nor that “good luck” or “bad luck” tokens/omens/practices actually work. One can even be superstitious without believing in the supernatural, illogical though that may be: I doubt that any gamer actually believes in the existence of the Random Number Gods, but we sure do behave like we do. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/7 "2017-10-31T00:43:43Z")
Nope. My sense of joy and wonder on looking into the sky on a clear winter night and witnessing the panoply of stars spread above me is in no wise diminished by knowing that they are really enormous fusion furnaces scattered across almost inconceivable distances. It might even be heightened. Likewise, I can enjoy fantasy and horror, and be intrigued by folklore, without believing that they are about real things. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/8 "2017-10-31T01:01:35Z")
When I was a little girl, I loved to read books about magic. I always knew it wasn’t real, but I liked to pretend that it was, and you could always imagine that there was the tiniest possibility that it could be… I’ve told the story before on the Dope - One of the things I would wish for was a magic book. You would hold it in your hands and make a wish, and it would be any book you wanted. So now I’m all grown up, and I have my magic book. Thinking about that helps me to believe in magic, at least a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/9 "2017-10-31T01:16:33Z")
I’m not superstitious at all. Not one bit. But don’t talk to me or touch me when I’m the shooter in craps. Just don’t. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/10 "2017-10-31T01:41:20Z")
“I’m not superstitious; but, I am a little stitious” [INDENT]Michael Scott[/INDENT] ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/11 "2017-10-31T02:43:47Z")
I like superstition, or more specifically myths and legends and fantasy, either in a fictional world or our own, but I do not romanticise believing in superstitious things. Science has plenty of wondrous spectacle to satisfy that in me. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/12 "2017-10-31T03:26:14Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > . . . [I am] just a little jealous of those who go looking for ghosts, goblins, and such and actually believe they might find something instead of playing seasonal make-believe. And there ARE people who seek, and find, and BELIEVE. :eek: YOU too can be one of them! [Not Always Right has a round-up of Halloween stories](https://notalwaysright.com/holiday-roundup-halloween-devil/98630/) of customers who seem to really believe that Halloween decorations, and the purveyors thereof, are Of The Devil . . . [ul][li] [Driving Down Route 66(6)](https://notalwaysright.com/driving-down-route-666/78822/) – even the devil needs a place to buy gas and beer.[/li] [li] [The Costumer Is Always Right](https://notalwaysright.com/the-costumer-is-always-right/74169/) – because if you practise Voodoo you obviously hate Jesus.[/li] [li] [We Wish You A Merry Saturnalia](https://notalwaysright.com/we-wish-you-a-merry-saturnalia/78468/) – see what happens when you forget that Halloween and Christmas come from the same place.[/li] [li] [The Pope Might Have Something To Say About That](https://notalwaysright.com/the-pope-might-have-something-to-say-about-that/68065/) – or maybe it’s a Christian holiday after all?[/li] [\*] [All Judgments Are Final](https://notalwaysright.com/all-judgments-are-final/75192/) – once a store sells Halloween goods then it’s tainted forever.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/13 "2017-10-31T04:23:43Z")
No, because I \*am \*superstitious. I think it’s fun to keep items for rote divination, for example–runes and tarot cards–because they can be fun party games, but I won’t have a ouija board in the house. Or play Bloody Mary. That’s calling on \*specific \*spirits, and that’s a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/14 "2017-10-31T13:21:24Z")
I would love to see a ghost, but my utter lack of belief keeps them away. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-a-bit-melancholy-that-you-arent-superstitious/800249/15 "2017-10-31T13:53:41Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m not superstitious at all. Not one bit. But don’t talk to me or touch me when I’m the shooter in craps. Just don’t. But who’s going to blow on your dice?