Most people are at least a little superstitious. Thinking that breaking a mirror will bring bad luck is a common belief among many people in the US, whereas they see four leaf clovers as a sign of good luck. Different cultures have incredible stories behind their superstitions.

For many Southerners, there is one superstition that has now become an ongoing trend in various homes. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of sipping sweet tea on a wraparound porch in the South, you might have looked up and found a colorful surprise.

Porch ceilings in the South and now in multiple parts of the Northeast, are almost always painted blue. Specifically, a “haint” blue. “Haint” is an old southern word for a specific type of ghost or evil spirit from the Carolina coast. In South Carolina, haints are malicious ghosts, often seeking to steal or harm naughty children. The blue is meant to represent water, and it’s been said that spirits can’t journey across water. People would paint the ceilings, the window trim and sometimes the doors to keep spirits away.

What started as superstition has since translated into a design trend and even if you don’t believe in ghosts, a blue ceiling adds plenty of benefits from a design perspective. Painting a ceiling blue brings in nature and the sky. Blue also represents optimism.

Another perk of blue paint is it’s believed to keep bugs and birds from nesting. While some think this is due to the heavy doses of lye that used to be in the paint supply, many think it’s a visual trick. If an insect perceives that a ceiling is really the sky, it instinctively wouldn’t nest there.

Next time you are biking, walking or enjoying a run in the Lowcountry, see how many porches you discover with blue ceilings!