Canal Boat Superstitions

[heyjude999]

Hi,

 

I have heard a few superstitions around boats and would like to hear the ones you know and where they originated from.

 

I am sure there are ones around colour and re naming just to start you off.

 

Here's looking forward to hearing them and then avoiding them like plague (lol).

 

Cheers

[GSer]

The one i've never understood is using somebody elses 'head' or toilet when visiting other boats.

 

Paul

[carlt]

There's "Kit Crewbucket" who haunts Crick Tunnel.

 

"The Kidsgrove Boggart" who is (iirc) a headless woman, on a white horse, who resides in Harecastle tunnel.

[Sir Nibble]

The golden rivet!

[WJM]

Around Southall on the Southern GU there are regular sightings of the faceless motorcycle boys. I have even seen them myself several times. They race up and down the towpath on a stolen Pizza delivery bike and they have no faces, only deathlike hoods where their faces should be!

[Alistair]

Don't change the name of a boat while it's in the water - cos that's really bad luck. Apparently.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

I was told a few years back when about halfway down the Hatton flight that I should not mention my boats name or "Eleanor would appear". Some investigation suggested that it had its roots in a local ghost story to do with a lock keeper and an inmate of the lunatic asylum (now the large housing estate at Hatton Park). It would seem that the old man who told me this was slightly wrong as the name that would make "Eleanor appear" was Alf or Alfred rather than Albert.

Edited March 18, 2009 by Allan(nb Albert)

[Tiny]

Not superstiton but a strange fact. Is it only me who over the last 30+ years moored at various places has been passed on a half dozen occassions by a boat or boats hell bent on getting somewhere at near midnight. Never had more than odd ones at other hours but if it hammers past chances are the clock will read around midnight.

 

The first time it happened I thought I had imagined it - especially as the very squeaky liftbridge nearby was not raised as the boat approached it and then passed on its way with engine noise heard for many minutes. But next morning the back pin was gone - torn out and lost in the cut due to the speed of passing of the boat in the night. But do these people only pass me at midnight or do they pass other boats at that hour?

 

Edited March 18, 2009 by Tiny

[alan_fincher]

There's "Kit Crewbucket" who haunts Crick Tunnel.

 

"The Kidsgrove Boggart" who is (iirc) a headless woman, on a white horse, who resides in Harecastle tunnel.

 

Although the old explanation used to also be that "Kit Crewbucket" was a contortion of "Kidsgrove Boggert", and I was aware of Kit being associated with Harecastle before I also knew the name associated with Crick.

 

There were certainly stretches of canal where most working boat-people would not tie up. Someone will know some, but I've long since forgottten. Some bridge just south of Buckby seems to ring a bell, but I may be wrong. Also maybe one somewhere near Leighton Buzzard ?

[Keeping Up]

Although the old explanation used to also be that "Kit Crewbucket" was a contortion of "Kidsgrove Boggert", and I was aware of Kit being associated with Harecastle before I also knew the name associated with Crick. Yes that's what I heard too

 

There were certainly stretches of canal where most working boat-people would not tie up. Someone will know some, but I've long since forgottten. Some bridge just south of Buckby seems to ring a bell anywhere in Brockhall Spinney was how I heard it, and it's also quoted as that in Margaret Cornish's book of canal ghost stories, but I may be wrong. Also maybe one somewhere near Leighton Buzzard ?

[sociable_hermit]

It is considered most unlucky to go forth on the good boat Amanda without a plentiful supply of ale (and an emergency reserve of gin and tonic).

[alan_fincher]

............anywhere in Brockhall Spinney was how I heard it, and it's also quoted as that in Margaret Cornish's book of canal ghost stories

 

Yes, that's one of the ones I was thinking of.

 

Personally, if mooring anywhere near there, I could live with the ghost, but certainly not the bloody M1 motorway.

[David Schweizer]

One superstition told to me by Ron Hough is that you should never paint an Ace of Spades on your boat.

 

He actually said that not only would he never have one on any boat he owned, but that he would refuse to paint one on someone elses boat.

 

I believe is something to do with the Ace of Spades being the symbol of the Devil.

[Dominic M]

Never have a pump out on the third Thursday of the month. The old working boats swore by this maxim.

[MIKE P]

The golden rivet!

 

Very good, although I believe it went over head high for some.

 

 

Also no whistling onboard, or so I am told.

Or is this for sea farers?

[Smelly]

The screaming beast of Shobnall woods was it? On the Shroppie.

 

And another that's served me in good stead, keep screwdrivers and caulking irons a long way from any bottom timbers more than 60 years old if they're still in the water, it's very bad for your nerves...

[heyjude999]

So I have to ask more about the Golden Rivet!!!

 

Lost on me sorry.

[Dominic M]

The screaming beast of Shobnall woods was it? On the Shroppie.

 

And another that's served me in good stead, keep screwdrivers and caulking irons a long way from any bottom timbers more than 60 years old if they're still in the water, it's very bad for your nerves...

And always leave a tot in the bottle of grog for the Valkyrie of Kinver.

[carlt]

One superstition told to me by Ron Hough is that you should never paint an Ace of Spades on your boat.

 

He actually said that not only would he never have one on any boat he owned, but that he would refuse to paint one on someone elses boat.

 

I believe is something to do with the Ace of Spades being the symbol of the Devil.

I thought it was because Ron never forgave Lemmy for leaving Hawkwind.

[NB Willawaw]

Are you sure you want to know ???

 

So I have to ask more about the Golden Rivet!!!

 

Lost on me sorry.

[heyjude999]

Yes I do...................waiting with baited breath...............................

 

Or is it unpublishable???

[NB Willawaw]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=golden+rivet

[heyjude999]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Could be a case of Indiana Jones and the Search for the Lost Golden Rivet.

[debbifiggy]

The one i've never understood is using somebody elses 'head' or toilet when visiting other boats.

 

Paul

Nah, that's simple. You don't want to fill your friends facilities if you can possibly help it as Elsan and pump out is limited in capacity and do you want to empty someone elses p, p or p following a party :-) Can you imagine emptying said facility if it's full following a heavy night of hospitality? I didn't think so Makes one feel a bit green around the gills :-)

D

 

Also maybe one somewhere near Leighton Buzzard ?

 

The drowned mother and child in the Soulbury 3 and the poltergeist in the Three Locks pub? There is one room in that pub you do not want to stay in or leave a bicycle in as the tyres are always flat when you get it and the room is very cold and something most definitely doesn't feel right ...... Oh, and the pub keeps going bust ..... you would have thought the regular spiritualist meetings and ghost hunting nights would have picked up on that.

 

D

[bastonjock]

Its not the ghosts that worry me guys it the living.

 

Dont whistle on board as this will whistle up the wind

 

is you rename a boat,you are meant to go throught two ceremonies,one to remove the old name and one for christening the new boat..

 

dont kill an albatross,not much of a problem that one on the UK,s canals

 

 

as for dead people,i walked pass one last week,a woman who has been missing since early January i did not see anything,neither did my dogs but she was found last friday.