Never Put Your Hat on a Bed
For years people, especially here in Acadiana, have considered placing a hat on a bed to be unlucky. Throughout history, many believed it would bring everything from bad luck to death. Historians believe it may have all started with static electricity.
To this day, there are some people who won't give up their hats at dinner parties, afraid that the host might place them on a bed. There are grandparents who wouldn't let their children and now their grandchildren toss a baseball cap or hat on a bed. And many in the Jewish community absolutely forbid a hat to touch the top of their bed. Why?
The exact origin of the whole hat on a bed bad luck belief is not known, however, there are a few theories about it.
The first theory is static electricity. When wearing hats started to become popular, after a few hours of wearing a hat, static electricity would build up in the hair of the person wearing the hat. So when they would take the hat off, their hair would stand straight up and make a crackling sound. Since no one knew what static electricity was at the time, society thought it was the result of evil spirits living in human hair. And putting a hat on a bed would transfer the evil in one's hair to the place they slept.
The Jewish community had a little different take on the situation. They believed placing a hat on a bed would cause death in the household where the bed was located. However, according to HowStuffWorks.com there have been no reported cases of someone dying from a hat on a bed.
And lastly, another reason a hat on a bed became known as bad luck is because of lice. Lice would get on the bed and ultimately in the hair of those who slept in the bed.
Of these three hat superstitions, of course, the only one that really makes sense in modern times is the transfer of lice from a hat or cap to the bed.
So from what we've seen throughout history, placing a hat on a bed will not bring evil spirits into your life or bring death to anyone in the household, but it could give you head lice.
Don't lose too much sleep over it.