Curses & Superstitions

355 years ago a cursed kimono torched the city of Tokyo burning three-quarters of it to the ground. A Japanese priest was attempting to exorcise an evil force from the garment that had been owned by three teenage girls consecutively. In the presence of the girls' fathers, the priest attempted to cremate the kimono.

As it caught fire a raging wind appeared and whipped the blaze into a frenzy, as if a wicked spirit had been released and was taking charge of the flames. The surrounding paper and wood buildings were mere kindling as over the next two days the firs destroyed 1,200 tradesman's houses, 770 samurai residences, 9,000 shops, 350 temples and shrings, 500 palaces, Edo Castle and 61 bridges.

Do curses really exist? What to do? What to do?

Many of us develop good luck charms or rituals:

• Artist Paul Klee had to have at least seven cats around him before he would pick up his paint brush.
• French writer Voltaire would only step out of his house left foot first. He was terrified to leave leading with his right foot.
• Transportation tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt had the legs of his bed placed in dishes of salt
• English author Thomas De Quincey washed and polished every coin he handled.
• Winston Churchill petted black cats for good luck
• German poet Schiller could not work unless he was surrounded by piles of rotten apples