Paranormal investigator explains the folklore of fog

Nothing sets the scene of a ghost story like fog over the harbour with ships appearing out of nowhere.

Fog can feel very spooky because it strips away one of our primary senses, sight. And we have to fill in those gaps with our imagination.

Katy Jean is a professional paranormal investigator in Nova Scotia. I met Jean in a cemetery in Dartmouth, N.S., where famed ghost story author and folklorist, Helen Creighton, was buried in an unmarked grave, at her request.

“Spirits, a lot of the time, will appear in fog. They may appear as a foggy figure, the fog may approach you, [and] you may hear voices," said Jean.

Nova Scotia fog. (Nathan Coleman/The Weather Network)

She says, according to folklore, you shouldn’t answer to voices coming from the fog.

“If you do see a fog appearing, or a fog is near you and you hear your name being called from the fog, never answer it, because the fog can be filled with a bunch of things that you can’t see, and you might not want to see if you could," said Jean.

Before the age of global positioning systems (GPS), encountering fog while at sea could be deadly, and many superstitions were born out of fear of the fog.

“It's bad luck to wear anything but white mittens on a boat. That’s across the board in Nova Scotia, all the way over to England," said Jean.

You especially shouldn’t wear grey ones.

Nova Scotia fog. (Nathan Coleman/The Weather Network)

“Because grey gloves attract the fog and ships in the fog, not a good time," said Jean.

Here are other quirky rules that some sailors still adhere to this day.

“No bananas on a boat, and also, don’t whistle on boat," said Jean.

Whistling on a boat might stir up a dangerous storm.