Is it bad luck to pose in a coffin? (Asking for a friend)

Open coffins as part of Halloween displays are basically photo op invitations, aren’t they? But is it bad luck to pose in a coffin, even if it isn’t a real one?

I’m asking because when my skinwalkers attended Dollywood’s Great Pumpkin LumiNights, a lady screamed at two girls posing in a coffin with their arms crossed (much like Court is demonstrating in the photo above).

“It’s bad luck to pose in a coffin!” she yelled. When they ignored her, she shouted more adamantly and angrily, “That’s bad luck! That’s bad luck!”

I don’t know much, but that was a new one I’d never heard before. Neither had Courtney. (Wayne is clueless about these things so of course he hadn’t.) Basically, that was news to all of us.

I can see how it might be construed as disrespectful, especially if it was a real coffin and a deceased person was in it. And what bad form it’d be if you removed the dead person to borrow their coffin to snap a pic.

But in a prop coffin? One that was obviously put there to pose with? Why would that bring bad luck? Dolly Parton would never put something out that might cause her guests misfortune. Would she?

I don’t think so. Still, the incident rattled and perplexed me so I decided to do some digging. (Pun totally intended!)

Death & Dying Superstitions

A quick Google search didn’t answer my question. Not completely. I did find something that sort of fit, but I also found some other interesting superstitions people have about death and dying.

Such as a post about 10 superstitions surrounding memorial services, death, and dying on OneWorld Memorials. There are some weird ones.

Like some people think “great misfortune” will follow if you wear anything new to a funeral, especially new shoes. I can’t see why that would matter, but then again I don’t much see the need for shoes —new or used— anyway.

Supposedly you’ll herald in your own death that much faster if you pass a funeral procession or count the cars in it. And if you bury a dead person in your clothes, you’ll get sick and die as soon as the clothes start to deteriorate.

Again, neither of which are problems for me and not because I’m already just bones. I don’t have the patience for counting much of anything, and unless I’m with someone who passes a funeral procession, I’m pretty much a homebody.

As for clothes, I’m (a) not really considered living and (b) the scant few clothes I do wear are so tiny who would they fit? Not to mention most of them are pet costumes anyway. So, yeah. There’s that too.

Note: According to some legal mumbo jumbo, I have to note the link I just shared is an affiliate one and that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (Or, rather Court does. But she shares with the Skeleton Crew!)

HuffPost also shared 13 death superstitions. Some were the same as on OneWorld Memorials, but some were different. Like, I didn’t know cemeteries are generally laid out on an east-west grid and people are generally buried with their feet facing east.

Also, corpses should be removed feet first from their place of death, which comes from the Victorians. They believed “if the corpse went out head first, it’d be able to ‘look back’ and beckon those standing behind to follow.”

Could this also perhaps explain some restless spirits and their hauntings? Were they not removed feet first?

Or maybe it has more to do with a window was never opened for their soul to leave. A post on A Grave Interest said one death superstition suggests that the living should “open a window in the room when someone dies so that they can move on.”

But is it bad luck to pose in a coffin?

A Grave Interest was also where I came closest to answering the question of whether it’s bad luck to pose in a coffin or not. Another superstition they shared was “if you lie down in a coffin you are taunting death to come and take you.”

But what about if you stand up in one? Does that still count as taunting? And what if it’s not a real coffin?

I don’t know. Those questions remain unsolved mysteries.

However, I can report that as of this post, Court is still alive and hasn’t experienced any bad luck that she knows of. Other than a nightmare about a cobra biting her twice (well, really grazing her with its fangs), she’s actually had pretty good luck lately.

But if that changes, I’ll be sure to share an update!

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What would you have done if you saw the coffin? Would you have posed in it too, or are you superstitious and believe it’s bad luck?