If you grew up in South Baltimore like I did, chances are you’ve heard your fair share of strange warnings, mystical cures, and absolutely bizarre bits of advice passed down from the neighborhood aunties, your Nan, or the lady next door who smoked menthols and knew everything. Whether they made sense or not, we believed them—because in South Baltimore, old wives’ tales weren’t just superstition… they were gospel.
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and revisit some of the most memorable old wives’ tales that echoed through our rowhomes and stoops:
1. Don’t sweep someone’s feet—or they’ll never get married.
You could’ve dropped a crumb on the floor and the broom police would still come after you if you got too close to someone’s toes. I remember yanking the broom back mid-sweep like I had just crossed sacred ground. If you did mess up and sweep someone’s feet? They’d make you spit on the broom and toss some salt over your shoulder to reverse the curse. Romantic, right?
2. If your ears are burning, someone’s talking about you.
And in South Baltimore, someone was always talking about you. The trick was to guess which ear was hot—left meant they were talking trash, and right meant it was something nice. Most of us assumed it was the left. Always the left.
3. Don’t put your purse on the floor—your money will run out.
This one was so deeply ingrained, I still won’t do it. I don’t care if it’s a Louis Vuitton or a plastic grocery bag filled with coupons—if it holds money, it better stay off the floor or risk going broke forever.
4. If you kill a spider, it’ll rain.
This one felt more like an excuse to not deal with the creepy thing in the corner. “Leave it alone, hun—it’s keeping the rain away.” Right. I’m all for weather control via spider diplomacy.
5. Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.
Sidewalks in Baltimore were practically a minefield of broken backs waiting to happen. We’d hop around like little lunatics just trying to spare our poor moms. No wonder our knees are shot now.
6. Rubbing a raw potato on a wart will make it disappear.
Some of us probably still have potatoes growing under our beds from this one. No clue if it ever worked, but you better believe we tried it—especially if Mrs. Shirley from up the street swore it cured her cousin’s foot wart in 1973.
7. Pregnant women shouldn’t reach above their heads—“The cord will wrap around the baby’s neck!”
This one terrified half the neighborhood when someone was expecting.
8. When your palm itches, you’re getting money—unless it’s your left hand, then you’ll lose money.
Everyone in South Baltimore had an itchy right palm at some point. We were all just waiting for our big break. Spoiler alert: it usually didn’t come. But it was a nice moment of hope while it lasted.
9. If you drop a fork, company is coming—and if it’s a woman, it’s a knife.
Flatware had an entire secret language we all took seriously. The sound of a fork hitting the kitchen floor would have someone yelling “Company’s coming!” from the other room like it was a verified fact. And we’d check the window just in case.
10. A dog howling at night means someone’s gonna die.
This one chilled us to the bone. If a dog started howling out of nowhere, we’d all get real quiet and say things like “God rest their soul” even though we didn’t know whose soul it was yet. Just spooky enough to make you pull the blankets up a little tighter.
We may have outgrown some of these tales—or Googled our way out of believing them—but they still hold a certain kind of charm. They remind us of where we came from. Of rowhomes and Formstone, of families yelling over dinner, and of a community that always had a story ready to explain why things happened the way they did.
What were some old wives’ tales you grew up hearing in South Baltimore or your own neighborhood? Drop them in the comments—I promise not to sweep your feet.
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