Friday 13th: omens of bad and good luck 3) Finding your initials in a spider's web brings good luck forever 4) Finding a penny on the floor. As the saying goes, "find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck. If you pass it to a friend, then your luck will never end. 5) The first butterfly of the year. If it is white, it will bring good fortune. A white butterfly at the start of the year is good luck 6) A tiny spider dropping on you indicates you will come into money. 7) Bird dropping landing on your head. 8) Bats nesting in your home means you are likely to become very wealthy 9) Unusual creatures in the house: a grasshopper means a distinguished guest will arrive; a ladybird suggests visitors; and a frog indicates money is coming. 10) A cow in the road suggests prosperity and fertility Bad luck: 1) A single magpie. The superstitious witness may salute them to ward off bad luck and chorus: "Evening Mr Magpie, how's the wife and children?" 2) Black cats; they are believed to be linked with witchcraft 3) Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck 4) Walking under a ladder 5) An owl looking through the window. Some believe it is an omen of death. 6) Spilling salt. One should throw a pinch over the shoulder to negate it. Spilling salt is considered bad luck 7) Killing a sparrow. These are thought by some to carry the souls of the dead. 8) Putting new shoes on the table or a hat on the bed 9) Opening an umbrella indoors 10) Treading on cracks in the pavement Other Friday the 13 supersitions: In Somerset, it is said that whoever turns a bed on a Friday turns ships at sea. In Cumberland, babies born on a Friday were laid on the family Bible. Calling a doctor for the first time on a Friday is a certain omen of death. Cutting hair and nails on a Friday is a certain path to misfortune. A Yorkshire legend has it that laundry should not be performed on a Friday. It is said that as Christ was walking to Calvary a woman washing outside her house derisively waved a wet garment at his face, leading him to curse her and all those who washed on that day in future. Suspicion around the number 13 has Christian origins as well, reflecting the last supper where Christ dined with his twelve apostles. The Romans also disliked the number, believing it to be a symbol of death, destruction and misfortune. It is considered very unlucky for thirteen people to dine together, and the first to rise will reach serious misfortune Some historians have claimed it was the day on which Eve bit the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, the great flood began and the builders of the Tower of Babel.