HELP! Ye olde curse of Patrick Hamilton

[*Lulu*]

Greetings dear reader! Please take a moment to read my little pitch: I'm a starving writer looking for info on what students think about the warning not to step on the PH outside Sallies chapel. Do you avoid it, do your friends? do you know anyone who blames their poor grades or other agues on having staggered onto the PH one drunken night? Do you brazenly march over it daily and continue to receive 20/20? do you believe his face was burned in the stone by psychic means or did someone do a hammer and chizzle job?
Any little feedback is much appreciated and if you leave your e-mail address i will tell you if and when the findings are published.
Cheers!
Louise

[Big X]

well, about an hour before i started my final (and first, this possibly has something to do with the rest of the story) revision session for a certain 1st year module i was in a bit of a rush to get to the library before it shut and accidently stepped on patricks initials, 2 weeks later i recieved a mark of, well, less than 5 for the module. proof if ever you needed it!!

[hr]

"Never apologise for showing feeling, in doing so you apologise for truth" Disraeli

[David Bean]

I always walk around the initials. Not only because of superstition (I've already graduated, and I continue to avoid them), but also out of respect: a man died on that spot, a martyr, and so it only seems appropriate to step politely around. Sometimes I think the superstitious aspects can trivialise its true significance.

[David Bean]

Also, there are two ways of looking at the superstition. The way you present it is negative: one who steps on the spot will be 'cursed' to fail their degree or otherwise perform badly in assessments. On the other hand, so far as I do hold any store by the legend, I like to think of it more positively: that if a student does show due respect to the memory of Partick Hamilton, his shade will guide, protect and watch over the student, helping him to achieve his academic potential. If the student breaks this covenant by stepping on the initials (evem by accident), he shall lose this protection, as Hamilton has no reason to aid those who fail to respect his memory.

[The Yettoner]

I purposefully step on them in defiance of ridiculous superstitions and my grades haven't suffered.

[hr]

"Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see." - Hebrews 11:1

[ariel]

on occasion, whilst waiting for a friend, i have stood and watched people as they walk past the initials. It's funny that almost everyone, save for one or two people, avoid walking over the spot. Even people who 'i know' are not superstitious. As for whether it's true or not...who knows?
I have yet to run around the quad backwards...

[Al]

Quoting The Yettoner from 17:10, 10th Jul 2005
I purposefully step on them in defiance of ridiculous superstitions and my grades haven't suffered.

The tradition is that you will fail your degree. Not that you will suffer bad grades. There is still time for the curse to work.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

I'm not superstious but I think it's a nice tradition and always dilligently avoid the initials, as a simple way to make a contribution to the mass of St. Andrews traditions.

[hr]

IMAGE:www.btinternet.com/~brother.war/white10-2.gif

[Gealle]

I remember back in my first year coming back from McSorley's utterly smashed out of my face. I came within an inch of stepping on the letters, and threw myself clear... Ruined a good pair of jeans, totally bollocked my specs - but nearly four years on, that plunge may well have saved my (academic) life!

[physicist]

Stepped on it a couple of times in the first eighteen years, but after I first matriculated I have avoided it all the time and have a first class degree to prove that Patrick Hamilton has helped me achieve my academic potential. Still avoiding it as I am now studying for a Ph.D!

[James]

I don't believe in the curse, but I avoid them out of respect for PH. Plus, I suppose it's good to maintain tradition.

[McNugget]

i'm not superstitious, though I avoid them out of respect. You wouldn't trample on someone elses memorial would you? I'm assuming the initials are a memorial to patrick hamilton.

[Grandpa]

Quoting Mcnugget from 22:15, 10th Jul 2005
i'm not superstitious, though I avoid them out of respect. You wouldn't trample on someone elses memorial would you? I'm assuming the initials are a memorial to patrick hamilton.

Yes, quite.

And I also respectfully avoid treading on said initials. I agree with the above statememnts of respect to a tragic, unitmely death and will always do so after I have left St Andrews. It is only decent, after all.

[hr]

God save The Queen, long live Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories - Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

[Gubbins]

Well, I always avoided good old PH. When sober, I used to respectfully walk around his initials. When less sober, I used to jump over them. Still, I got myself a 2:2, and upon coming out of graduation, jumped up and down on them. I do hope he wouldn't have minded too much. And with a nod, and a smile to the poor man, I set out into the world of post-graduate education... and have been getting first-class grades ever since. Presumably his sphere of influence only stretches as far as St Andrews.

[hr]

...but then again, that is only my opinion.

[Zombie Sheep]

I never stepped on it. I'm not sure why, I'm not really superstitious, but it seemed to make some ridiculous sense to me.

[hr]

This post may be intended in jest and should be read as such. Any queries relating to the seriousness of it should be addressed to the author. The author requests that readers DO NOT follow the advice or requests in this post. This statement is retrospective with regards to all previous sinner posts.

http://www.zombiesheep.name

[Pedant]

I hear that if a car drives on the initials, it will fail its MOT

[jennyo]

Quoting pedant from 09:27, 11th Jul 2005
I hear that if a car drives on the initials, it will fail its MOT

Yeah, because it would probably drive into the lamp post that's right there.

I'm with Tenebrae on not stepping on the initials purely for random-tradition-preservation reasons.

[hr]

Doubt everything at least once.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

Yes, I think it was at an open days, many years ago (6 or 7 - how time flies) and the guide said it was traditional for students to jump up and down on the initials after their final exam.

But really, surely it would make more sense to do it after graduation (though I may have remembered incorrectly). I suppose that would kind of go against the whole respecting a memorial thing though...

[hr]

IMAGE:www.btinternet.com/~brother.war/white10-2.gif

[Pender Native]

I actually did a project on this for a module on social memory for anthropology - the vast majority of people we interviewed didn't know the story, just that it was bad luck, and that the university seems to be the main perpetuator of the tradition since most people learned to avoid the stones from university ambassadors on open days, or through some other offical channel rather then by word of mouth.

[hr]

"I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces,
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,
So I trust, too."

[Atangaladhion]

I step on them everytime I go down that part of North Street and always have. My grades in first year were good; they've been declining, but I hardly think it's because I walked on a couple of stones. It much more likely because I haven't done enough/any work.

Curses and superstitions; bah humbug!