03.28.15
by

Superstition Lives in the Strangest Places

I was at a friends place a few days ago. He had a couple of friends there I did not know, and the conversation turned to gremlin bells. They talked for a few minutes about the where and the whats about one of these things and I was at a loss to what they were discussing, and finally I said “what the hell are you talking about?”

Someone pulled one out of their pocket for me to look over, and I tried and probably not too well, to hide my skepticism which was probably oozing from my pores, as I looked it over. I was able to muster something along the lines of “that’s cute.” Then my friend pointed to the one hanging from his Harley Davidson, and while I have looked at the bike a few times, I never noticed the little bell thingy hanging from the bottom of it. Sure enough he had a gremlin bell in the shape of a tiny hand grenade hanging there.

So, my obvious question was “what the heck are they for?” I was informed in short order about gremlin bells. I was told they keep the road gremlins from causing equipment malfunctions and other road hazards… I tried and not too well, to feign a mild interest in the subject, and all the while was a little dumbfounded upon the whole topic. I honestly don’t know the religious leanings of this person and his wife, they don’t have obvious religious symbols decorating their surroundings, and the topic of religion has yet to come up, which in my opinion is a good thing. So I have assumed that they are only slightly religious, if that. And I have seen no need to bring it up and possibly ruin my association with them. In other words, what I don’t know can’t hurt me. And I’d rather keep it that way. The thing is though…

You just never know what kind of weird little superstitious oddities might jump up and bite you in the ass when you are out there among the people you might know. I kept having the insane urge to ask them if any of them had ever actually seen a road gremlin, but managed to keep my ornery-ness in check. At least it turned out to be good blog fodder. I will leave it at that.

So, you think I’m crazy?

http://www.gremlin-bells.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20

Click to access Legend%20Of%20The%20Gremlin%20Bell.pdf

What do you think now? Looks to me like a good story to sell gremlin bells to superstitious monkeys. Sometimes you just have to roll with it and hope it doesn’t come up again…

18 thoughts on “Superstition Lives in the Strangest Places”

  1. Best Gremlin stuff is the Bugs Bunny cartoon where the gremlin is tearing a plane apart that Bugs is flying. Love that episode. Also the Bill Shatner Twilight Zone episode where he sees the gremlin tearing the wing off the plane he’s in. And, of course, the Gremlin movies are cute. That anyone takes such stuff literally is frightening to me. I want to slap them around, but, fear of prison, and/or them being armed, keeps me from doing so. You have to be kidding?! But, no, you’re not. I know. Wow. Never heard of this before. I really should become a bridge salesman. People will fucking by into, believe, and buy anything.

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    • Wow, I remember that Twilight Zone episode, it was awesome! I can’t for the life of me remember the Bugs episode, and I am almost certain I’ve seen it. CRS syndrome I guess.

      Gremlins (the movie) is a classic, which nowadays is pretty popular ’round x-mas time.

      These guys are old divers like me, that are kinda burly biker types these days, probably not a good idea to slap em around (or make fun of their gremlins lol.)

      …and yeah, it is strange what otherwise intelligent, normal appearing people will buy into. While you would think they would be buy the bridge types, they are generally smarter than that, yet at the same time will go for gremlins, bigfoot, UFO’s, or some other such nonsense. Tis a strange society we live in.

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      • Indeed. The Bugs cartoon ends with the plane stopping just shy of smashing into the ground cause it runs out of fuel. Bugs and the gremlin sit in the cockpit sharing a carrot, I think. It’s an older one from the 40’s when Bugs was nuts. Love those.

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  2. I guess that kind of superstition isn’t really harming anyone…belief in road gremlins doesn’t demand some moral adherence or admonishing of certain groups. Seems more about luck than an actual belief in gremlins.

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    • I suppose you are right, no one gets hurt from this , unless they spend their last ten bucks on one. It is more of a “bad cat crossing your path” silly luck superstition. But, it is extraordinarily silly, and superstition is a close relative of religion, so closely intertwined to religion I am afraid you can’t have one without the other.

      Can you imagine 2000 years from now there might be a road gremlin cult? All hail the gremlin bell!

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  3. do you know where I can order one for me car?

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  4. I have a little bell I was told will keep green elephants away. It must work because I haven’t seen a green elephant since I started using it!

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    • Thanks for dropping in Steve.

      I am impressed with your green elephant bell.

      I have access to a very rare hells bell. It will keep you from going to hell. It’s only $25.00

      Superstition and gullible are apparently close kin.

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