Superstitions and myths have been passed on through generations. Your parents passed them on to you, their parents passed them to your parents, and so on. Things like “don’t walk under the ladder”, “if a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck” and ”a rabbit’s foot will bring you luck” has been around for so long, that in most cases we don’t even know where they came from. 

Superstitions, just like myths, are the products of our imagination. When our brain can’t explain something, it makes stuff up. Let’s take as an example the superstition about black cats and bad luck. The idea emerged back in medieval times when the belief in witches was present. Black cats were, and still are, associated with witchcraft. But witchcraft, just like this myth is not real. However, the superstition still persists, and it causes serious consequences for black cats in real life - it is proven that black cats stay longer in shelters, and have lower rates of adoption than cats whose fur is of a different color. 

Myths are also present in things like travel guides - like the one about pee and jellyfish sting. We don’t know where the myth about the urine helping in case of a jellyfish sting emerged from. It’s probable that it was the television series “Friends”, where in one of the episodes Monica, one of the main characters gets stung by a jellyfish and Chandler pees on her because he remembers that he saw it in some documentary. Even if the TV series was not the first one to come up with the idea, it definitely solidified it in the mind of people. But it is what it is - just a myth. Peeing on a person will not only not bring any relief from the pain, but in most cases will actually intensify it. 

To discover more untrue myths included in travel guides, check out the infographic provided by BuyFakeUrine.