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There are many ways one can avoid bad luck. You should always knock on wood, if you spill salt, throw it over your shoulder, and avoid ladders and black cats at all costs. You are also better off staying at home on Friday the 13th and while you’re there, do not open an umbrella, put shoes on a table, or go near any mirrors in the house. According to lore, that, plus a lucky penny and an evil eye amulet, should save you from any misfortune. 

Unfortunately, the people on this list must have done all of those on the same day as they could not avoid their unlucky fate. Luckily for us, someone captured their calamities and shared them on the “Images that are unfortunate events” Facebook group so we can all have a good chuckle. And, also, feel better about our days. After all, life seems pretty good when you look at these images, right?


But what’s up with all these superstitions? Why are we afraid of black cats and not red or blue ones? Unsurprisingly, it all somehow ends up being related to religion. You see, back in the day, cats were considered divine symbols by Egyptians. They would also appear in Greek mythology alongside Hecate, the goddess of magic, sorcery, the moon, and witchcraft.

In other words, pagans loved them. And what pagans loved was a big no-no to the Christian church. Add to the fact that cats tend to be independent and not listen to authority, which is another thing the Christian church hates, and everything starts falling into place.

#2

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Mabelbabel
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

1st place is "Essence of Dog." Its what you get when you take away all the non-essentials and are left with basic Dogginess, which is a goofy smile.

MaximumKarmaSaint
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree that the left was better, but as someone with empathy, I hate to think of the thoughts that the second place winner had.

Alex Stahl
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This gets posted every few months and it's just fake. I know who drew the "winning" picture. It was a doodle of their dog. And if you saw the picture it was based off of it's weirdly accurate, as s****y as the drawing seems to look. The dogs name was Stanley and he was a very good boy. Sadly he passed from cancer a few years ago. This picture was never entered in a competition and thus never won a competition.

E2U&U2
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Both images delight my soul. Put them on a sweatshirt and I'll be cozy all winter.

Graham_Illegal
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have an MFA, and I strongly agree that the piece on the left is far better indeed.

María Hermida
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hey! Picasso did something similar with a dove and he was supposed to be a genius!

Tigger O
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My now-deceased cat (yes,, I know, l know!) didn't show much interest in the television. EXCEPT -once there was a cartoon which, without ever looking like a cat, exuded essence of cat. She was transfixed. For 20 or more minutes. And she was a real artist.

Duuuuuuude
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It better captures the unreserved joy of a dog upon seeing its owner after a 30 second separation.

#1 Candevil Fan
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Rip person who worked for days to be outdone by a pre-k kid who can't draw a dog

Barbara R
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perhaps 1st Place was awarded by the artist's parents efforts in getting friends and family's votes.

Savanna Riley
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

how is it even possible for a simple sketch to get first place?

Ruby
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh no not this again, this screenshot always starts a war

Michael Danhauer
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People are just silly... Let's declare a crappy doodle is better when it obviously showcases less skill and is less pleasing to the eye... I agree the ""winning" drawing is cute though

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Suddenly, the fact that in the 13th century, the church declared that black cats were incarnations of Satan is not that surprising. You also start to understand why people would want to avoid them—whether they were scared of the evil spirits or the possible persecution.

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Supposedly, another superstition that was born out of Christians wanting to oppose pagans at all costs was the number 13. The thing is that, for ages, this number was related to the menstrual cycle and feminine power. It was believed to be connected to goddesses of fertility, love, and motherhood. 

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NapQueen
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Love it when people have photos of themselves like this on dating apps!!

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Women's empowerment, though, wasn’t really a Christian thing. So, wanting to get rid of all that nonsense, they labeled the goddesses witches and made sure that the number was associated with the evil spirits. This was all turned around in the 21st century, of course, when Taylor Swift swooped in and gave the feminine power back to the number 13.

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Hippopotamuses
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12 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I shouldn't laugh, but I can't stop. He makes me think of Wile E. Coyote.

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Surprisingly or not, walking under a ladder is also related to religion. You see, when a ladder is propped up against the wall, the space underneath makes a triangle. In Christian faith, a triangle represents the holy trinity. So, walking through it means “disrupting” it, which was considered blasphemous.

Egyptians, apparently, were also not so stoked about walking under ladders. That is because they would leave them in tombs for the dead to be able to climb to the afterlife. The space under the ladder, though, was thought to be the home of all sorts of good and bad spirits. Walking through that space would disturb and anger them, which it was believed would lead to really bad consequences.

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liam newton-harding
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’ll just put this fire, with the other fire…0118..999..881..999..119..725…..3.

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Weirdly enough, Egyptians might be the reason for why some consider opening an umbrella inside an unlucky thing to do. See, Egyptians used to use umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, and they believed that using one inside would anger the sun deity Ra. Umbrellas were also a luxury reserved for royalty only, so if you are not of noble blood, stepping into the shade provided by an umbrella was simply a sacrilegious thing to do.

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Nina
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Excellent timing on the photograph, took me a few secs to see it

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Nick (He/Him)
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The whole dumping gatorade thing is dumb IMO. Big waste of perfectly good sports drink.

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Still, it’s very unlikely that such a minor superstition managed to survive such a long time. So, it is more likely that we avoid opening up umbrellas inside simply because it used to be quite a complicated contraption. Opening it up in a tight space could lead to injuries or broken items, so it was best to avoid it.

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Peppy
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That tiger in the cage is thinking “ so that’s how you get out of here “

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All in all, superstitions might be a silly thing. They seem to be based in people’s need to control others and there’s really no proof out there that they work at all. So, feel free to ditch them! Unfortunately, that will not save you from bad luck and you might still end up on a list like this one in the future. But, you never know, it might help!

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And this is why they tell you to keep your hair tied up in shop class. Sorry bro, but that was really dumb. Same reason I yell at my co-workers for wearing wedding rings when they're running the machines. You ever seen a finger get ripped off?

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Danny Trejo
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

depending on where you look at this picture, you can experience four different moods XD

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Crowthistle
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nevermind the cheese, what is that brown gunk in with the clean washing??

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Firstname Lastname
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a "why did the chicken *not* cross the road" joke somewhere in this picture.

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Floeckchen
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12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's where you should draw a wheelchair up the stairs to not damage the tiles

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Note: this post originally had 84 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.