Death is an uncomfortable subject for many folks. Perhaps it’s the severe emotional reaction people have to death—especially if it’s someone close—that makes the living act in bizarre ways. Or maybe it’s because death’s process is not well understood that causes normally rational individuals to believe in irrational concepts.
Recently, I looked over notes from my coroner understudy days. One training segment was in understanding various cultural practices and traditions about death. This was valuable information, as a difficult part of a coroner’s job is interacting with the deceased’s family, and those relatives can come from a diverse ethnicity with some pretty peculiar beliefs.
For today’s Kill Zone piece, I thought I’d share thirteen strange superstitions about death.
- Coins on the Eyes
The practice dates to the ancient Greeks who believed the dead would travel down to Hades and need to cross the river Styx in order to arrive in the afterlife. To cross over, they needed to pay the boat driver, Charon, so coins were placed over the eyes of the dead so they’d be able to pay the fare.
Secondly, and more practically, many people die with their eyes open. This can be a creepy feeling, having the dead stare at you, and it was thought the dead might be eyeing someone to go with them. Coins were a practical item to weigh down the eyelids until rigor mortis set in—coins being round and fit in the eye sockets as well as being relatively heavy.
The most famous set of eye coins is the two, silver half-dollars set on Abraham Lincoln, now on display in the Chicago Historical Museum.
- Birds and Death
Birds were long held to be messengers to the afterlife because of their ability to soar through the air to the homes of the gods. It’s not surprising that several myths materialized such as hearing an owl hoot your name, ravens and crows circling your house, striking your window, entering your house, or sitting on your sill looking in.
Birds, in general, became harbingers of death but somehow the only birds I personally associate with death are vultures.
- Burying the Dead Facing East
You probably never noticed, but most North American cemeteries are laid out on an east-west grid with the headstones on the west and the feet pointing east. This comes from the belief that the dead should be able to see the new world rising in the east, as with the sun.
It’s also the primary reason that people are buried on their backs and not bundled in the fetal position like before they were born.
- Remove a Corpse Feet First
This was Body Removal 101 that we learned in coroner school. We always removed a body from a house with the feet first. The practice dates from Victorian times when it was thought if the corpse went out head first, it’d be able to “look back” and beckon those standing behind to follow.
It’s still considered a sign of respect, but coroners secretly know it’s way easier to handle a body in rigor mortis by bending it at the knees to get around corners, rather than forcing the large muscles at the waist or wrenching the neck.
- Cover the Mirrors
It’s been held that all mirrors within the vicinity of a dead body must be covered to prevent the soul from being reflected back during its attempt to pass out of the body and on to the afterlife.
This practice is strong in Jewish mourning tradition and may have a practical purpose—to prevent vanity in the mourners so they can’t reflect their own appearance, rather forcing them to focus on remembering and respecting the departed.
- Stop the Clock
Apparently, this was a sign that time was over for the dead and that the clock must not be restarted until the deceased was buried. If it were the head of the household who died, then that clock would never be started again.
It makes me think of the song:
My grandfather’s clock was too large for the shelf
So it stood ninety years on the floor
It was taller by half than the old man himself
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born
And was always his treasure and pride
But it stopped, short, never to go again
When the old man died
- Flowers on The Grave
Another odd belief is about flowers growing on a grave. If wildflowers appeared naturally, it was a sign the deceased had been good and had gone on to heaven. Conversely, a barren and dusty grave was a sign of evil and Hades. The custom evolved to putting artificial flowers on the grave although it’s now discouraged by most cemeteries due to maintenance issues.
Additionally, it’s always been practice to put flowers on a casket. This seems to have come from another practical reason—the smell from scented flowers helped mask the odor of decomposition.
- Pregnant Women Must Avoid Funerals
Ever hear of this? I didn’t until I researched this article. It seems to have come from a perceived risk where pregnant women might be overcome by emotion during the funeral ceremony and miscarry.
That’s pushing it.
- Celebrities Die in Threes
Most people heard that Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson died three days in a row. It’s an urban myth that this always occurs with celebrities and it’s the celebrity curse.
To debunk this, the New York Times went back twenty-five years in their archives and apparently this is the only time three well-known celebrities died in a three-day group.
- Hold Your Breath
Another popular superstition is that you must hold your breath while passing a graveyard to prevent drawing in a restless spirit that’s trying to re-enter the physical world.
That might be a problem if you’re passing Wadi-us-Salaam in Najaf, Iraq. It’s the world’s largest cemetery at 1,485.5 acres and holds over five million bodies.
- And the Thunder Rolls
Nope, not the Garth Brooks song. It’s thought that hearing thunder during a funeral service is a sign of the departed’s soul being accepted into heaven.
Where I grew up, thunder was thought to be associated with lightning and being struck by lightning was always a sign of bad luck.
- Funeral Processions
There’re lots of superstitious beliefs around funeral processions.
First, it’s considered very bad fortune to transport a body in your own vehicle. And approaching a funeral procession without pulling over to the side and stopping is not only bad taste, but also illegal in some jurisdictions. It’s said if a procession stops along the way, another person will soon die, and the corpse must never pass over the same section of road twice. Counting cars in a procession is dangerous because it’s like counting the days till your own death. You must never see your reflection in a hearse window as that marks you as a goner. Bringing a baby to a funeral ensures it will die before it turns one. And a black cat crossing before a procession dooms the entire parade.
One thing I know to be true about a funeral procession is what happens when you leave the back door of the hearse unlatched and the driver accelerates going uphill.
- Leaving a Grave Open Overnight
I don’t know if this is a superstition or not, but I see it as good, practical advice to not leave a grave open overnight. According to the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association, the standard grave size is 2 ½ feet wide by 8 feet long by 6 feet deep.
With a hole that big looming in the dark, one could fall in and seriously harm oneself.
Kill Zoners—What other strange superstitions have you heard about death? Have you used any of these in your writing? Feel free to add to this list.
The item about birds and death strikes a chord. Yesterday when walking my dog a raven (could have been a crow, but raven sounds more mysterious) flew at a low angle straight towards us, and the bird seemed to make eye contact as he passed. Then another pair of ravens huddled on a rooftop below ours, and they seemed to keep looking back in our direction; plus, an owl recently started making nocturnal visits to our roof.
When I noticed the behavior of those birds I thought, “Something is up.” And sure enough, this morning,
I learned that a relative is very ill, and the outlook is grim..
So I guess I like the notion of birds as messengers, even though they seldom bring cheerful tidings. 🐦⬛
This makes me think of Hitchcock’s movie Th Birds, Kathryn. I was bout 12 when I saw it and it freaked me right out.
I respectfully disagree. Crows and ravens are NOT harbingers of death. They’re intelligent, emotional, curious individuals with families and culture and traditions not unlike our own. Hollywood and the media perpetuated the myth about death, along with the idiot who gave their families stupid names like a “murder of crows” and “an unkindness of ravens.”
I have never heard of an unkindness of ravens, Sue. Where in the world did that come from??
No clue. That’s the name given to a flock of ravens. Stupid, right? Ravens and crows are so loving. This morning, Odin (raven) was serenading me from the deck while Poe, Edgar, Thoreau, Allan, Chee, Mini Me, and Hemingway engaged in an outstanding aerial display that took my breath away. They bless my life every moment of every day. If they brought death, I would’ve been dead many years ago. LOL
I just went up to some random guy in the hotel lobby and asked him if he knew what a group of ravens was. He gave me a strange look and walked away.
There’s a sizable group of ravens in Baltimore. They tend to congregate on autumn Sundays.
They’re very large specimens, from what I’ve heard.
Garry, I’ve heard of an unkindness of ravens. There’s also a “flamboyance of flamingos.” I learned that one when I moved to Floridia.
I like that name, Elaine. It paints a vivid image.
Crows and ravens flock to battlegrounds filled with the dead to feast. That’s where this superstition came from.
Interesting. I’m familiar with a few of them–being Jewish, the ‘cover the mirrors’ is one I’ve known. They also want the grave filled at the graveside ceremony. I’ve heard of the coins on the eyes, too. I recently read a book with a Native American character talking about wanting to be buried with his feet pointing–and I don’t remember whether it was east or west. Old brain.
I’m with you on the old brain thing, Terry. Some Native American cultures are opposed to autopsies so we had to be very discretionary in those cases.
There’s nothing amiss with old brains. They’re simply chock-full of memories–people, places, things, poems, lines, etc.. Our brains are like that humongous warehouse in Indiana Jones, and there’s just that one guy with his hand truck. As your warehouse fills up, it naturally takes him longer and longer to find a particular memory.
I’ll be 85 in May, but I still have a memory just like one of those big, grey animals.
Good for you, JGA. I’m 67 and, for the life of me, I can’t remember what those big grey animals are.
What a great piece, Garry. I loved it. One of my good friends is a retired coroner and we have some strange conversations. However, a superstition I grew up with in the Midwest was, it was very bad luck to carry a shovel through a home because it carried an omen of death to someone in the household in the near future.
Thanks, Betty. I’ve never heard the shovel one before.
Fascinating info, Garry. I’ve heard the superstition that a bird striking a window portends death. I don’t know about that, but it can’t be healthy for the bird.
If memory serves (and it does–I just looked it up), didn’t C.S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley, and John F. Kennedy all die on the same day?
Have a healthy week. 🙂
Come to think of it, I do recall the bird strike superstition. It certainly holds true for jet engines. And you have a healthy week, too, Kay!
I am so screwed if birds hitting windows portends death. I find little bits of feathers on windows a few times a month. Once, I found a greasy spot where a dove flew straight into a window. The image looked like an angel. Since I had my glass windows replaced, I rarely find a dead bird.
I had a dove fly .into my kitchen window and knock itself out, Marilynn. When I went out to see if it was a goner, it just up and flew away as if nothing happened.
Interesting subject, Garry, and useful for adding a touch of reality to a story. Deaths coming in threes is a common superstition around here, and it comes true more often than not. I don’t believe in these things, but last year a neighbor on my block dropped dead while on his daily walk, two days later, another neighbor died from a freak accident, going over the handlebars of his bike and slamming his head into a pile of rocks. Our next door neighbor came over and declared he was next, and he gave my husband a list of things he wanted him to do for his wife. He hasn’t died yet, but another person on the block did that same week.
I’d never heard of the pregnant woman at a funeral superstition , but that might be why my husband’s whole family was adamant that I not attend the funeral of his grandfather when I was six months along. It upset me more than, I think, going to the funeral would have.
There seems to be something in threes, Becky. I just had a trio of mishaps yesterday and said to myself, “Well, that’s three. Should be the end of this.” That was until this morning when the shower in the hotel room I’m in right now wouldn’t work. 🙁
Fascinating stuff, Garry! I esp. liked the practical reason for #10–easier to bend the body at the knees to go around a corner.
People besides celebrities often seem to die in threes. When two next door neighbors died within a short time, the rest of us on that block started looking at each other, wondering who was next. Fortunately the crows moved to a different neighborhood so we were spared. 😉
Nooooo, Debbie. Not you too! Where are all my crow lovers?
I read TKZ every day and have often thought of commenting because I like it so much, but I have never felt compelled to say something until now. Sue, your plea for a response from a crow lover got to me! Crows are amazing for many reasons including their warning system. One day, the crows in our back yard screamed and called, creating an uproar. We looked outside. A bobcat stalked beneath the oak trees, no doubt hunting. However, it wasn’t long until he must have figured the crows had alerted all his prey. He gave up and slunk off into the woods. Though I felt sorry for him missing his dinner, I truly appreciated the crows gettting our attention. I would never have had the opportunity to view this magnificent creature if not for them sounding the alarm. If I ever hear them squawking like that while I’m outdoors, I’ll know it’s time to head for safety.
Well, thanks for stopping by and commenting, Katherine!
Love that story, Katherine! <3 You're my kind of people. Hope you comment more in the future.
I was just joking, Sue, honest!
Actually you converted me from a crow hater to a grudging admirer b/c they are so smart. But they wreak havoc in my veg garden so I can’t pledge unconditional love.
I could tell you a few stories about body removal, Debbie, including the time I accidently dropped one out of an airplane.
Did you say, “Oops!” Or is that something they teach you not to say, like in med school?
I said something a lot stronger which we’re no allowed to repeat on this site. Enjoy your evening, JGA.
Fascinating, Garry. I love learning death rituals of different cultures. Good stuff.
Thanks, Sue. BTW, I’m on Team Crow. Oh, and my double-sided tape trick worked fine. 😉
You are, Garry. And that’s one of the reasons I luv ya. <3
For both Muslims and Jews it is traditional to never leave a body unattended. Orthodox Jewish Burial Societies have people who will sit with a body from the time of death to burial.
Traditionally Jews are buried in a shroud and a plain pine box. The coffin is pinned together with wooden pegs, no nails. Everything returns to dust.
Processions.
My mother used to work near Jefferson Barracks National Cemetary. Don’t try to hold your breath driving by it is over 300 acres with more than 230,000 graves.
It is an active cemetery. If one of your loved ones is being buried, you have exclusive use of the cemetery. Services are timed and scheduled. Things don’t always run on plan. The other families need to wait. Mom saw hearses and families waiting along the road before they could enter the cemetery.
Good morning, Alan. I have first hand experience in death investigations in Middle Eastern cultures. It is a very uneasy situation when the death has a mandatory autopsy regulation attached to it.
So interesting, Garry. I’d heard ten of the thirteen superstitions, except instead of a crow or raven portending death, a cardinal is a message from a loved one passed on. Another one is never transplant a cedar tree–you’ll die once it’s tall enough to cover your shadow.
The cedar tree is a new one to me, Patricia. Learn something every day 🙂
Birds are now associated with the afterlife. Many believe that the dead will use birds to let people know they are fine after death. It’s usually a favorite type of bird like a hummingbird or cardinal. The bird will keep appearing in an unusual place or out of season. Coins and butterflies are also used by the dead for the same reason.
Facing east is connected with Judgment Day. Some Christian sects believe that the Angels will blow their trumpets on Judgment Day, and the souls which have stayed with the body will rise to face the final morning sunrise.
In the South, there are all kinds of traffic laws around funeral processions. I actually had a hand in a new law in my city. I wrote a letter to the editor about funeral processions not having their lights on so people couldn’t tell when the procession ended. I’d seen all kind of dangerous behavior because of it.
I wonder about the headlight law now that most vehicles have automatic driving lights on. Enjoy your day, Marilynn!
Fascinating story, Garry. My family believed that deaths come in threes — not just celebrities but ordinary people, too. Of course, they stopped counting when they got to the third death, so I’ve never tested that superstition.
I’m not sure where the law of threes came from, Elaine, but it’s been around a long time.
A stirring visit to the world of the passing, Garry. As for crows, on this morning’s jog a family of seven cruised overhead from breakfast at a nearby shopping mall, a daily routine for them. I choose to consider it a blessing.
Sounds like you’re another player on Team Crow, Dan.
From reading Tony Hillerman’s mysteries, I was aware that in Navajo culture, the names of dead people are not spoken. I was surprised to see a cultural trigger warning on the opening credits of an Australian TV series that names of dead people are used in the show. On researching this, I found that different cultures world-wide have this taboo. I’m a bit befuddled that it would extend to fictional characters who died on the show, but I suppose it isn’t that different from people who are triggered by violence in various kinds of entertainment media.
I’ve never heard of this tradition. Thanks for sharing it, KS.
Great article, Garry. Death is so sanitized for many of us, it’s always educational to read about other customs and practices. Of course, we just finished rewatching “Six Feet Under”, and throughout that series, I spent a lot of time wondering about how much was true about funeral directors. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
My mother had many superstitions she passed on to us, including the one about deaths in threes. I’d heard of many of those, but some were new. I love the idea of inserting them into stories when a bit of the mystical is needed, even though we all know those superstitions are hokum (or are they?). heh heh.
When the songbirds in the neighborhood are squawking, it usually means there are preying birds around; sometimes crows, vultures or the neighborhood owl, who by the looks of him/her, does not miss many meals. I think the crows get a bad rap sometimes.
Yay! Another one on Team Crow! We have numerous crow flocks in out city. (We also have numerous murders.) I’m with you that crows get a bad rap, Susan, and I don’t see how they brought that on themselves.