Superstitions: Watch the plaque, Jack!

Don't step on the crack or you'll break your mother's back. And don't step on the plaque or you'll fail all your finals. The plaque in the center of Tappan Square is just one of several icons of superstition looming around campus.

Superstitions are alive and well, even in cynical Oberlin where well-informed Johnson House residents know better than to leave their doors unlocked at night. Last year, Matt Stinchcomb's (OC '97) documentary on the house, "Ghost Town, U.S.A.: The True Story of Oberlin's Haunted Buildings," exposed the eerie side of attending a 150 year-old college. Since then, students have laughed off most of the anecdotes, but some students are still talking.

Graduate student and Johnson House AC Tamar Meltzer was forced to put her superstitious fears on hold for Winter Term when she had to battle out two weeks at the house alone. "I hardly slept at all, but I never saw anything, and I think I just got to know the house really well," she said. "I'm less superstitious now, but I was petrified when I found out I had to stay there by myself."

The fact that today is Friday the 13th - the first of two in a row for 1998 - opens up a whole new ballpark of superstitions. Some legends say the date got an unlucky reputation from fables about the number 12. Thirteen is apparently symbolic of the first departure from the completeness of 12, and thus the first step toward evil. For example, the ill-fated Apollo 13 space mission was launched at 13:13 hours from pad 39 (the third multiple of 13) and was aborted on April 13.

For Obies, stories about Friday the 13th are more nostalgic and cynical than scary, but nevertheless, the holiday has its history. When college senior Stefanie Ramsden was little, she had a pet goldfish that died on Friday the 13th. "I watched him float to the top [of the tank]," she said. Ramsden hasn't had a pet since.

Not everyone has a specific Friday the 13th story, but for some reason, childhood memories of superstitions are still sharp in some students' memories. As a child, conservatory senior Pete Lutkoski was suspicious of a certain double-patterned fork in his family's silverware collection. "I had a theory that whoever got the fork with the pattern on both sides was a bad person," he said, "so when I set the table, I would pretend to be random, but I would secretly feel for the evil fork and give it to someone else."

Other landmark spots for Obie superstitions include the memorial arch, which some students have reservations about walking under until they graduate. The other big graduating senior superstition is to not watch The Graduate until one's final May on campus.

Of course, there are some who refuse to believe superstitions at all. Superstitious pedestrians might be hesitant of street lamps that go out while in view - a sign of bad luck. However, Physical Plant area manager Daniel Cunningham insists the sudden dimming of street lights is purely electrical. "I've had lights turn out on me quite often," he said. "It's because the lights tend to short cycle; the constant heating and cooling makes them turn off."

Believe what you will, but beware. Superstitions only hold truth if the individual knocks on wood enough times. But just in case, take caution walking around the scaffolding ladders at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, and don't step on the Tappan Square plaque unless you're positive you've got your exams aced.