WE'RE a superstitious lot.
We probably get anxious if a black cat crosses our path on Friday the 13th, and I'd say many of us still fear that breaking a mirror could bring bad luck. I'd also bet none of us would deliberately walk under a ladder.
Then there's building superstitions. For years, rumours have circulated that some Sydney high-rise tourist hotels have no 13th floor, just a 12A on the lift button pad instead. And why do construction workers at the end of a major tower structure still often crane up a small fir tree to top it off? Is it an old building trades tradition, or simply superstition?
We can't match some bizarre overseas practices though. One Filipino belief is that pregnant women should not be allowed on a building site as they bring bad luck.
Then there's the belief over there that burying an old book in a house foundation means the children inside will grow up intelligent. What about placing a child's tooth under a house roof during construction to ensure good luck, or pouring expensive wine into the ground during site excavation to appease displaced spirits?
Superstitions are all around us. But sometimes, they're much closer to home than you might realise.
Take the case of homeowner Bob Gulliver living in a grand house, circa 1870, and part of Chapman's Terrace, on The Hill, in inner Newcastle.
The family came here a while ago from Sydney and he was delighted to find his house bricks were marked 'Gulliver' from a defunct Darby Street brickworks. It was a good omen.
Less reassuring though, during recent basement renovations, was an unexpected find hidden beneath a timber building joist where walls met.
"It's bits of clothing cut up in squares with scissors. Very odd," Gulliver said.
"It's been very well concealed and is definitely not a rat's nest. I've seen plenty of those. And there are no droppings. The items have been deliberately placed there, probably during construction as it's a completely sealed off spot. Some items seem to be silk underwear.
"I examined half a bucket of cloth then took a photograph before I put it back where I found it, like a time capsule. I'm told it's an old Celtic tradition. I don't want to break a tradition."
All very strange, or is it? Weekender later spoke to a previous owner of the house who was equally mystified.
Despite this, there is growing evidence of a once largely unknown practice of folk magic existing in Australia for more than 200 years. That is of concealing ritual objects in homes and stables to protect occupants from witches, demons and other evil spirits.
It may have been a secret ritual in the building trade that lasted here from the 1800s until about 1930. Unexplained finds of shoes, garments, children's toys and even the dried corpses of dead cats, suddenly came to light during old house demolitions after the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. Most items were simply thrown into rubbish skips, their significance not realised.
Often the concealed objects were placed at house entry points to deter evil spirits. These spots included under doorways, under floors, inside chimneys and in roof cavities.
Most commonly found hidden are 19th century shoes. They were apparently used as decoys to lure evil spirits into voids from which they couldn't escape.
Historian Ian Evans has spent more than 20 years investigating the phenomena, believing life was very fragile in the 18th and 19th centuries and, when prayer failed, people turned to ancient magic for protection.
Evans believes the Australian superstitions came from England "as part of the cultural baggage of convicts, settlers and administrators".
His initial research into concealed ritual objects in old houses was in Newcastle in 1984-85. Then in 2010, Evans received his PhD from Newcastle University for his thesis on the topic, entitled Touching Magic.
Since then, his research has taken him to medieval churches in England, a crusader fort in Syria and 1850s stables in Tasmania. He has inspected 109 sites there and in the western districts of Victoria for further clues.
The author said other ritual "magic" objects he'd uncovered included evil-averting marks like concentric circles in stables and farm buildings and X-marked iron strap hinges.
Burn marks here appear "to have been used to inoculate buildings against fire".
Another person familiar with concealed ritual objects, especially old shoes, is Julie Baird, the director of Newcastle Museum.
"Concealed shoes? We have four of them on display," she said proudly.
"I'm so glad you are doing something on this little-understood subject. It may be only publicised here in Newcastle and in Tasmania.
"The first I knew about it was years ago when a bundle of dirty shoes landed on my desk and I said, horrified, 'What's this?' I find it bizarre this folk belief, this medieval superstition, of concealing objects in houses to protect the people living there could last so long, right up until the 1920s. And yet, these same people didn't think it odd to also regularly attend Christian church services each Sunday."
Baird said the museum's four, well-worn single shoes on display came from a child, a woman and two men.
"One shoe was found in each corner of a Wickham attic during renovations, but I believe shoes are in probably lots of buildings, but not yet found. It's all rather weird."
Baird said another find was in a Carrington house once used as a brothel, and another find of children's shoes was made near a school.
Discoveries were often made in low-income areas where 19th century health was precarious with life-threatening illnesses rampant. Any type of protection was welcome, especially if house occupants believed evil spirits entering a home could be caught in witch traps (concealed shoes) because they couldn't go backwards.
After deciding ages ago to publicly display her four Wickham shoes, Baird finally put them in a religious exhibit to show how old religious practices had survived as superstition or tradition.
"Then I got a telephone call from a nun because there's a nun's habit displayed right above our shoes on show," she said.
"I thought, 'Oops! Now I'm in trouble by putting these pagan objects in our religious exhibit'.
"The caller, Sister Monica, said she had seen the exhibition and told her: 'No self-respecting nun would wear a habit so wrinkled. I'm coming right over to iron it'," Baird laughed.
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