Bad luck for the walker
Walking under a leaning ladder brings bad luck, from mishaps to a missed opportunity.
Household superstition
Walking under a ladder
Walking under a ladder: bad luck, sometimes said to invite death. First recorded: Medieval Europe; the gallows association from the 1600s. That makes it somewhere between 500 and 1,500 years old — joint 29th oldest of the 45 superstitions we have dated.
- Earliest record
- Medieval Europe
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
Medieval Europe; the gallows association from the 1600s
That makes it
somewhere between 500 and 1,500 years old
Rank by age
Joint 29th oldest of 45 dated here
Category
Household
A ladder against a wall makes a triangle, and the triangle was read as the Trinity — passing through it broke something sacred. A grimmer version comes from public hangings, where the condemned walked under a ladder to the gallows.
28 of the dated superstitions here were written down earlier and 12 later, while 4 share its date.
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The versions people follow
What exactly is believed
The broken triangle
A ladder against a wall forms a triangle, and walking through it is said to break a sacred shape.
The gallows ladder
In older English lore the ladder recalls the one leaning against a gallows, so walking under it tempted a hanging.
Wishing under a ladder
A rarer reversal says a wish made while passing under a ladder will come true — if you say nothing until you see a dog.
How the bad luck is traditionally undone
Traditional remedies include crossing your fingers until you see a dog, walking back out the way you came, or spitting three times through the rungs.
Where it lives today
Of all superstitions it has the most obvious practical sense: tools and paint fall from ladders, and walking around one is sound workplace safety.
What people say
Bad luck, sometimes said to invite death.What is going on
One of the few superstitions in this set with a straightforward physical justification: things fall off ladders. Avoiding the space under one is sound regardless of belief.Where it applies. Europe and North America.
Other household superstitions
Nearest in age
Walking under a ladder is joint 29th oldest of the 45 dated superstitions here. Of those, 3 date from 1900 or later and 14 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Walking Under a Ladder Superstition: Origin and Meaning.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/superstitions/walking-under-a-ladder/
For Wikipedia
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