Luck Myths Quiz

In 1989, a man browsing at a Philadelphia-area flea market purchased an old, torn painting for $4 because he liked the frame. When he took it home and attempted to remove the painting, he discovered a folded-up document hidden behind it. It turned out to be one of 500 copies of the original 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence – only 25 of which are known to still exist today.

It was sold at auction for $2.42 million to another lucky man: He re-sold it in 2000 for over $8 million.

If this sounds like the plot of a cheesy movie -- well, it was.  The 1994 Nicolas Cage/Bridget Fonda flick It Could Happen to You was based on a true story.  Richard Cunningham, a New York police detective, was a regular customer at Sal's Pizzeria in Yonkers and would frequently joke around with the staff and other customers while he enjoyed his linguine with clam sauce. 

One evening, he offered his favorite waitress, Phyllis Penzo, an unusual tip: half his lottery winnings if she helped him pick the numbers.  She went along with the joke, and they each picked three numbers.  The next day, Cunningham walked into the restaurant with the winning lottery ticket in his hand and made good on his promise to split the $6 million prize with Penzo.

In the superstitious world of auto racing, green cars have been considered unlucky ever since a couple of fatal accidents occurred involving green racecars in the early days of the sport.  Although corporate sponsorships have now tempted many racers to forgo this taboo for the promise of even more green (money, that is), some drivers still refuse to get behind the wheel of a green car.

Green is also traditionally an unlucky color for wedding dresses and  theatrical costumes.

While there is some truth behind this tale of a lucky would-be astronaut who twice cheated death at the expense of being left off the NASA roster, it doesn't quite have its facts straight. 

In 1986, Idaho elementary-school teacher Barbara Morgan was the back-up for Christa McAuliffe on the ill-fated Challenger mission as part of NASA's new "Teacher in Space" program.  But she wasn't bumped – she would only have flown on that mission if McAuliffe had been unable to go.  In 2002, NASA announced that Morgan would get to fly her first mission -- to the International Space Station -- in November 2003, but that mission was postponed after the Columbia disaster in January 2003. 

It wasn't until August 2007 that she finally made it into space, without incident.

Although Saturday weddings are de rigueur nowadays, it was once considered an inauspicious day to get married.  According to a well-known old rhyme:

Monday for wealth
Tuesday for health
Wednesday the best day of all
Thursday for losses
Friday for crosses
Saturday for no luck at all

There are many versions of this story floating around. The Harley was bought at a yard sale -- or on the side of the road, or found in a barn -- and was later discovered to have an inscription either under the seat or the fender to Elvis from Priscilla (or James Dean, or someone else). The lucky owner sells the bike to Jay Leno or the Harley-Davidson company for several hundred thousand dollars – or even as much as $4 million!

No matter the details, none of these stories are true. Harley-Davidson does own a bike that once belonged to Elvis, but it was purchased from a collector who was well aware of its provenance. And Leno even saw fit to debunk this myth on the air after being hounded by calls from the press asking if the story was true.

Legend has it that anyone removing volcanic rock or sand from Hawaiian beaches will incur the wrath of Pele, goddess of volcanoes.  While this "curse" may have been invented by rangers at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) to prevent tourists from making off with bits of the park, enough people have suffered as a result that they felt compelled to bring or send their "souvenirs" back to Hawaii. 

HVNP and countless hotels receive a steady stream of packages containing rocks, sand and shells along with notes asking to return them to the beach so the sender can reverse their sudden string of seriously bad luck.  There are even businesses you can mail your purloined items to so they can return them to the beach for you.

Did you snicker?  Well, it is a pretty funny joke – but that's all it is: a joke.  You may have heard similar stories involving other golfer's wives in a variety of embarrassing situations – usually on live TV – with the same punch line. 

The truth is, Arnie Palmer's wife was never a guest on the Tonight Show, and while versions of the story have Palmer uttering the double entendre himself, he debunked that legend in person during a 1994 appearance on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno.