This may not make a whole lot of sense to some of my readers, but I've come across an explanation for a maddening superstition I encountered in the dorms.
I never really shared this superstition, but many of my friends in the dorms never used white Bic lighters for anything. They wouldn't touch them, wouldn't take them from your hand, would casually curse anyone holding such a lighter...the only explanation I ever received as to why they acted so was things like "Bad things always happen when there's a white lighter around..." or "I don't know...it's just bad luck..."
Such a ridiculous superstition, I remember thinking, but also remember refraining from obtaining white lighters, mainly because of the hassle it would engender with my friends.
It turns out that the superstition goes back to a (verified?) claim that Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain all had white lighters in their possession when they died, all, rather randomly, at the age of 27.
gosh another thing as a non smoker I was not aware of..... so thankful to be ignorant on this topic
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't know about this paranoia!!! Strange thing is, it was always exlained to me as a light blue lighter!!! Mike and Corey Kusaba and John Burell all felt this way!!! Dark Blue was o.k., but Light Blue was askin to get it chucked!!!!
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