Woman Now Believes The Superstition That It's Good Luck To Be Pooped On By A Bird After Having The Best Day Ever
Does getting pooped on by a bird bring unexpected cash? For one waitress it did.
Harvey Reed / Canva Pro Birds are mysterious creatures, quite literally, in that they are the subject of tons of superstitions. And one woman's experience indicates that there just might be some truth to at least one of those bird-related old wives' tales.
The woman's experience with the bird poop superstition has left her a believer after it brought her a stroke of good luck.
For the uninitiated, it has long been said that getting pooped on by a bird is a good omen, especially if the bird dumps out on your head specifically. The scatological act is supposed to bring not only good luck but prosperity specifically.
Personally, I am prone to believe in superstitions, just in case. You never know! But my personal experience with this one has been that it is a fraud. I once got pooped on by a bird at Ohio's Cedar Point amusement park when I was in middle school, and all it got me was my older brother changing my initials from JPS to BPS — "bird poop shirt" — while I shrieked at him to shut up and my mom threatened to push us out of the car and leave us for dead on the Ohio Turnpike if we didn't stop fighting.
Photo: 365 Focus Photography / Shutterstock
Even worse, a friend of mine who we'll call Abbie because that's her name (hey girl!) once got pooped on by a bird IN THE EYE at the same amusement park while descending the first drop on a roller coaster.
(What is going on with the bird population of Sandusky, Ohio, is what I want to know. When will someone do something? Sorry to get political but why have none of Ohio's governors addressed this? It's the incompetence for me!)
All Abbie got in return was an infected eye and one of those roller coaster camera photographs of the incident. So I don't know, the bird poop superstition kind of seems more like a different kind of excrement, frankly, the kind that comes out of a bull, if you catch my drift.
But Crystal, an English teacher and TikToker, begs to differ after her experience with avian scatology went exactly as the superstition predicted.
Right after being pooped on by a bird, Crystal received a random and unexpected sum of money.
"So a bird just pooped on me on my way to work. Excellent," Crystal said in a recent TikTok as she walked to her restaurant job. There truly is no worse feeling, especially when you don't have time or recourse to go home and clean the bird dung in question from your person.
"But I think that's supposed to mean good luck," she went on to say, "so here we go." She then followed up after leaving her shift, and sure enough, the news was good.
"So after I got [redacted] on by the bird today, I went in and I told a co-worker about it, and she said, 'Don't worry, it is good luck. Money is coming to you in abundance.'"
Yeah sure it is, you are probably saying as you roll your eyes.
Ah but! "Do you know what happened?" Crystal went on to say. "A customer came in later to the restaurant, went around, and tipped hundred dollar bills to all of us for no reason. So I guess thank you, bird."
Oh, ye of little faith!
The bird poop superstition supposedly originated in Russia and is just one of many bird-related legends.
So what's the origin of getting pooped on by a feathered "friend" supposedly being a gooey, disgusting blessing? The superstition is believed to have originated in Russia, where it extends to basically any run-in with winged defecation on your home, car, or person.
The thought is supposedly that being dookied on by a bird is so unlikely — you only take up a tiny fraction of the space they fly over, after all — that it has to be a good omen.
The Russians aren't alone in this, however. Turkish tradition also says bird poop is good luck, while many Catholics and Italians believe bird poop is not just lucky, but a divine gift from the gods.
However, in some cultures, you need to be careful of exactly what kind of bird drops a deuce on you. Hindus believe crow poop signifies bad luck or illness — one of several cultures, including the Greeks, for whom crows are malevolent — and in British tradition, poop from nocturnal birds like owls bodes ill.
Old traditions also say that if a bird flies into your house a life change is impending, hummingbird poop means love is coming your way, and weirdest of all, magpies foretell the future. Here's a picture of one who's obviously up to no good, so you know what to watch out for.
Photo: kristof lauwers / Shutterstock
Superstition says that because of their mystical powers, you should always greet a magpie (???) by tipping your hat (??????) and saying "Hello, Mr. Magpie" (?????????) as a sign of respect. Which is obviously insane, but I will be doing it anyway. You can never be too careful!
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.