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Dec 06, 2023

Wait, Why Aren't You Supposed To Put Hats on Your Bed? The Superstition—Explained

Bad luck charms, omens and superstitions are all about belief. If anyone warns you about something in these categories, it’s because they grew up with that belief and continue to uphold that

Bad luck charms, omens and superstitions are all about belief. If anyone warns you about something in these categories, it’s because they grew up with that belief and continue to uphold that superstition. So if someone warns you not to walk under a ladder, not to break a mirror or not to put a hat on a bed, it’s hard to say if it’s definitively a bad thing or not. But if you were to ask those who believed in it, then yes, leaving your hat on a bed is bad luck.

While some superstitions haven’t stood the test of time—hello, black cats are worthy of love and too cute to be wardens of evil karma—others have held up, hence people still believing that hats on beds are bad. Read on to find out more about the “hat on bed” superstition, where it came from and what it means.

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Similar to believing religious teachings, or practicing good karma actions, believing in bad luck and avoiding certain actions that lead to it is common. Not only that, but it often dictates how people live their lives. Did your friend spill salt? Don’t be surprised if they throw some back over their shoulder. Did you put new shoes on a chair and your friend immediately moved them to the floor? Not uncommon either.

So if you were to ask, “Is putting your hat on a bed back luck?” you’d get different answers depending on who you asked. While putting any item that goes outside on your clean sheets is just bad practice—you don’t know who’s also sat in that restaurant chair or maybe you got lice at work or school and now they’re all over your pillows and sheets—there are still people who believe it’s bad to do for luck’s sake.

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As HowStuffWorks reported, like most superstitions, the origins of this one aren’t well known. But they write that it might have started because people used to believe that evil spirits lived in hair. This “evil” was seen in the form of static electricity reacting with people's hair. Back then, before there were logical, scientific explanations for things that seemed like magic, this superstition might have developed because of the unexplained. Why would you want the evil static that’s in your hair now where you sleep? Again, just like how you wouldn’t want outside clothes on your bed, evil spirits are also a big no-no.

On the question-and-answer site, English Language & Usage Stack Exchange, some users explain that putting a hat on your bed will lead to misfortune and prevent good things from happening to you. Putting a hat on a bed could also be someone’s way of warning another person of a coming curse.

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Related: 20 Full Moon Rituals To Manifest Your Best Life

The belief that a hat on a bed is bad luck can even be traced to sporting superstitions, where anything out of the ordinary can be blamed as bad luck for a losing streak.

Funnily enough, the superstition is also connected to cowboys and actors. It’s unlucky for cowboys to leave hats on their beds not only because of inviting bad luck into their homes (although some believed this), but because of more "practical" reasons: either risking the spread of lice and bedbugs, or getting sunburnt without them. Those hats weren’t just fashion accessories for cowboys, but a vital part of their daily uniform to keep them safe from the sun when out riding. The same with actors: if they leave their hat—which is part of their costume—on a bed or anywhere else, their look would be incomplete for a scene.

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Now, even though these both have rational reasons behind the cautionary tale to “Not leave your hat on a bed!” they still turned into superstitions all the same. While leaving a hat behind as a cowboy sealed your sunburnt fate, again, it also carried the meaning that you opened yourself up to bad luck, in general, that might lead to injury or worse: death.

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If you’re a person who believes putting a hat on a bed is bad to do because it’s bad luck, you’re not wrong. And if you think that you shouldn’t put a hat on a bed because it’s just an unclean thing to do, you’re also not wrong. Superstitions are a belief-based system so you’re going to do—or avoid doing—whatever you think will curse you less.

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So while you might get become panicked if you see a purse on the floor or a hat on a bed, someone else might not believe in these bad luck omens. But, meanwhile, it's fun to learn about new superstitions and find out where they came from.

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Next up, read on about the oarfish and the Japanese superstition that sees it as a "doomsday" omen.

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