Need Your Help

my mum always said you should unplug the TV ariel from the set to stop the lightning traveling down the cable and blowing up the set !

Is that relevant

thanks nina ....I could only think of that one. I know my Gran used to say to cover up the mirrors but I can't remember whether that was because of lightning or when someone died!

Not quite sure what they are after here lucid . You friends email is not very clear. Could you get some clarification.
Not at all sure what the objective is. To debunk superstitions? To somehow blend superstition and science??????

It sounds to me as though they want to be able to give a scientific explanation but highlight the 'grain of truth' that a myth or superstition might hold. I'm sure the covering of mirrors was something to do with preventing the lightning, or a lightning bolt, ricocheting around the room!

They are trying to find out if we have any customs/superstitions relating to thunderstorms/lightning that may or may not tie in with the African customs. They're trying to finds some common ground as a starting point. My friend is instructing teachers in conducting science (mainly Physics) lessons.

I vaguely remember being told to open the window to let the lightening get out!

Never mind lightning, at my age I cover the mirror ALL the time!!!!!!

lucid my grandparents covered mirrors in both thunderstorms and death!

Yes, what was it about death? Did they think the deceased person would appear in the mirror?

Thanks for all your replies....

Maybe those guys can harness lightening bolts.
I guess the telly thing goes back to the time TV aerials started sprouting on roofs. Similar principle to lightening conductors we might have thought. Not sure that satellite dishes would be the same. And what difference switching the TV off would have made - well absolutely none (I just checked with v clever at physics DH and we agree). Interesting in that it was a modern superstition - hardly an ancient tradition!!
Mirrors reflect light, not electrical things. Very different. One is light radiation and the other is a flow of electrons.

My DH's irish grandmother refused to have mains water installed indoors because it might make the house damp.

Reversing the subject of weird beliefs they have about people with supernatural powers ... lots of people consult fortune tellers and read their horoscopes. People pay money too for reiki "healers" and religious "healers" to wave their hands around. People all over the world like believing in magic. They like believing there are things that they don't understand.

When the telephone in our house in France stopped working the telephone company in France actually recommended that we unplug the phone during thunderstorms. I presume they had good technical reasons forthis. In which case there may well be good scientific reasons behind many of these superstitions about unplugging.

Thinking as I write we do have anti-surge plugs on our computers and that is probably the technical reason for unplugging the phones. To protect the line/instrument from damage by power surges. As mirrors reflect light and many people are afraid of lightening and turn away from it there would reasonable be a fear of accidentally seeing lighteneing in a mirror

If the table was laid for a meal, my Grandmother used to cover the cutlery up.
Also we had to switch the TV off.

Nice analysis of the mirror fear flicketyb
Suspect the telephone company was taking the p. . As in, stop complaining and go away we can't be bothered with this complaint. I have worked in a utility and I heard similar stories about spinning customers a yarn. Did it fix the phone problem?
But people come up with all kinds of beliefs without any scientific basis.
My grandmother believed: If you spill salt, it's bad luck and you can avoid the bad luck by throwing some salt over your shoulder. Presumably it was bad luck to spill something valuable, and the pinch over the shoulder was to placate the devil or something.

It had to be the LEFT shoulder! I still do it....

definitely for the Devil then alie

When I was a young teenager, I was scared of lightning and used to take my hair grips out when there was a storm! Then, when driving through the Pennines during a spectacular storm, I suddenly saw the beauty of it and was never afraid again. I loved a good tropical storm too.

And of course once you had removed the hair grips you were not struck by lightening were you.

Obviously not! She's still here!

A guardian angel was sitting on your right shoulder keeping you safe, and the devil on your left (sinister) side watching for an opportunity to cause trouble. Salt was one of the essentials, so spilling it was a serious disaster and gave the devil a chance to interfere. Throwing salt in his eyes confused him. Same principle as saying "bless you" when anyone sneezed, to counteract demonic mischief.

And yes, it was thought that spirits could appear in the mirror (not just the newly departed one) in the interval before the funeral. I suppose it was also a bit like wearing sackcloth and ashes and tearing your hair and garments - it showed a disregard for personal appearances.

You may well scoff about taking out phone lines and TV plugs during thunderstorms in France BUT let me tell you it is true in some areas. We have had two televisions (one brand new) which have 'blown' and we have been replaced by the insurance company. We had taken the TVs to be fixed and when we went back the man gave us the paperwork for the insurance claim and told us parts had blown because of the storm. The insurance company paid in full with no further questions. We had a telephone cease working too and my French friend never uses the phone in a storm.

In Oxford years ago my ansaphone was destroyed by lightning - and my computer was turned ON...(!). Weird.

Can't remember what else it did to the computer, but a nice IT man from the Guardian told me how to sort it - the effect was not unknown....

I do now turn things off here if I hear near thunder.

The computer probably has a surge breaker that stops the lightning strike getting through to it.

Thank you for all your input...I've emailed my friend and am awaiting his reply, may take a while as they are in quite a remote area.