Unlucky in Devon - 3

Ladder of Devine Assent - 12th century Icon from Egypt

It is unlucky to -

"To pass under a lean-to ladder without first crossing the middle fingers over the front ones.
 

"This superstition," says the Weekly Western News, Plymouth, "originates from an old coarse joke formerly frequent among the lower class. It took its rise from the fact that at the gallows at Tyburn the culprit had to walk up a ladder, there being no platform. The ladder was afterwards withdrawn and he was left suspended.""

Hewett 1900