Current Superstitions

Fanny D. Bergen spent years collecting the living superstitions of ordinary Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, gathering beliefs that people actually whispered, avoided, and relied upon in their daily lives. This isn't a distant anthropological study but a vibrant record of the magic thinking that permeated homes, workplaces, and relationships: the rituals before journeys, the warnings about mirrors and麻雀 (sparrows), the remedies for bad luck that someone, somewhere, swore worked. Bergen interviewed real people, recorded their stories, and preserved beliefs that might otherwise have vanished entirely into silence. What emerges is a portrait of a world where the rational and the wondrous coexistence, where a railroad engineer might check his horoscope and a farmer's wife would never begin planting on a Friday. For readers curious about how our ancestors navigated uncertainty, this collection offers an intimate window into the folk wisdom that shaped decisions, comforted anxieties, and gave shape to the invisible forces they believed surrounded them.