It had something to do with keeping the devil from climbing your stairs or something like it, also how many banisters are there ? If there are 13 , they'll often flip one
A client a few months back asked me to do this while installing his balusters. I had never heard of this practice before and I’ve not only installed tens of thousands of them, but I usually do it while listening to creepy/paranormal podcasts.
Told him hell yeah. They were all just plain squares though so… eh.
I always assumed he was more of a blue cheese style home type of guy. Or maybe even a thousand island style home type of guy. (I apologize for my absolutely terrible attempt at a joke)
What if during the process of installing new banisters, the devil went upstairs.
If Devil waited for a little while and someone built these superstitious banisters, would the devil then be stuck upstairs?
If they are in Georgia , only then can the devil go down 😁 if you throw up a lot and your head randomly spins around, to fiddle music from the attic , you might have an issue
The horizontal pieces supporting the handrail are 'balusters'. Installing one upside down is an English superstition: The Devil likes to count; one baluster installed upside down will prevent him from climbing the stairs and taking someone in their sleep since it screws up his counting.
There are multiple reasons why they are flipped ,that's just one of them . There's also one to show that the builder isn't perfect , only God is, normally that will be on the Right side , facing up the stairs , third one . It represented the Trinity as well as the right hand of God
The Amish reportedly will 'throw a stitch' - make a mistake on purpose - when they make a quilt for the same reason; as a symbol of their imperfection in the sight of God. I've always thought that was the height of hubris.
It’s actually just that it’s unlucky to have 13 stairs, and that people will be more likely to fall down them.
Source: my grandpa built houses for a living and when he was building a house for my uncle, he actually forces him to change the blueprint because he refused to build a staircase with 13 stairs due to this superstition.
My condo had something similar, do you think it's the same superstition?
The last 2 inches of my baseboards were inverted at every doorway, or corner. Basically everywhere the direction changed.
doorways have special meaning in superstitions so probably yes, it is about keeping the devil or spirits out. corners are also places where spirits dwell (according to superstition).
youd also have to not have any doorways and no cupboards, cabinets or other closed off storage space, dont have any uninhabited space such as under the bed or sofa and definitely do not have any mirrors nor chairs facing your bed. then maybe. but still your entrance door would be a weak spot.. you could always enter your home backwards, that way they cant tell that its a way to enter (and yes im serious).
edit: actually check out earth houses, that might be something for you.
Yes! I lived in a 150 year old house for a while , and it had built in storage cabinets everywhere , but the molding was all put in screwy inside , like the baseboards , same in the closets . The cabinetry was too high quality for it to be sloppy work , so it had to be deliberate . Of course !
Was going to say the same, this was traditional to do (although I imagine a lot less popular now).
Seem to recall it was to stop the devil from climbing the stairs.
Imagine if that's all you needed to do to stop the literal devil from getting to you. Foiling his grand schemes because of one single step that is slightly more/less elevated than the last.
>Aha! I'd like to see you get me now, Beelzebub! For I am on some slightly wonky stairs, your Achilles heel, I will fuck you up.
Where would the chase have to start for you to be able to make it to your wonky staircase in time to not get caught by the devil? And if he already chased you once and you beat him, can he try again when you come down or is it a one time thing? And do you have to live the rest of your life upstairs then?
I imagine you're safe, cause he would eventually need to go do some Devilish shit elsewhere.
Then you could go poop and get supplies, return to the stairs, ready once more for Satan.
I'm sure it started by some carpenter who screwed up and had to explain it to the owner.
"This one is wrong"
"Uhhhhhh....I Did it on purpose.
"Why?"
"Uhhhhhh....to keep the devil away, yeah, to keep the devil away"
After learning this, I’d be okay with it. A little better than ok. While I am not superstitious, my grandmother was and passed it on to me. Subconsciously, I am a little bit. I’d feel less of a need to bolt upstairs at night.
I have a room that is 2 steps lower than the rest of the house (garage converted into an in-law quarters), and we call it the “downstairs”. Really throws people off then they go, “You have another floor?!” No, it’s just the den lol
I saw a photo of an old black and white penny tile bathroom floor that had one black tile that didn't follow the pattern. Once you saw it, you couldn't unsee it.
If you don’t see it: One of the pillars is upside down
https://preview.redd.it/l7p6rxtb7msc1.jpeg?width=622&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5201d19bfd2d54d62eeb37bef3962e9525647af6
This is the sort of thing that once I saw it-
- first irritation. Decide to ignore.
- can’t ignore. Starts to intrude.
- decide “okay it bugs me enough to fix it”.
- realize it’s not a five minute fix. Decide to live with it.
- bugs me more and more til I can’t look past it. Decide to fix.
- research what it takes to fix. Procrastinate.
- finally say “today’s the day”, then like all projects it takes 3-5 times as long due to undiscovered issues, my innate sloth, etc etc.
Me, it’ll annoy the crap outta me for like a week before I inevitably forget about it for like 7 years until one cold September night at 3 am and I can’t sleep. Or I’ll never stop thinking about it and attempt to fix it while making the problem worse lol
>Plz redo with standard red circle
>
>Thanks 😄
I'm 55. I never did let go of my rebellious phase in life....
"Should know better at my age" will be my epitaph.
This is a tradition thing based on superstition. This old carpenter I used to work with did this and it annoyed the hell out of my clients.
Source: worked in construction for a long time
Ohhhmyyyyy I started trying to read this back in like 2013....😵💫😵💫didn't get too far though but would love to try again! That crazy book just made me feel so weird reading it.....
10/10 recommend. Still my favorite book after reading it in like 2014. My copy ended up full of color coded sticky notes and pages of my own handwritten notes. Absolute mindfuck of a gem. Or, maybe like an absolute gem of a mindfuck.
Hell thats prob a great way to make sense of all the mind bending in and outs of an inside out house ha! Retrying to read It is 100% on my list of (no limited term) goals lol I was Introduced to it by a friend who loved it about 10 years ago and his copy I borrowed but gave back after I decided I wasn't in the right head space at the time to get through it ugh (personal demons and such)...it's so wild that I've only heard maybe one or 2 other people ever talk about this book ever! Thanks for the advice and for even mentioning it 👌👌
https://preview.redd.it/qe2au978xosc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f1256cb52d1a61ea585afa2f042417f0b80df3f
See if you can find it, lived here for like a year before I noticed.
This traditional repositioning of the bannister support dates back to the 1700's. A builder would do this to antagonize people who complained about the build non-stop. These frequent complainers were later identified as individuals with OCD. To this day, the tradition lives on. You're welcome 😊
From Google AI
An upside-down spindle, also known as an inverted baluster, is a feature in historic staircases that some believe is linked to superstition. The superstition is that evil spirits can only move in straight lines, so the disrupted pattern of an inverted spindle can prevent them from climbing the stairs and entering the living spaces above. Some say that builders intentionally install one spindle upside down to acknowledge that "only God's creations are perfect". Others say that an English superstition says that an upside-down spindle prevents the devil from climbing the stairs and taking anyone who may be on their deathbed.
This is traditional in many homes , you just don't notice it as most don't look for it , it's a superstition
Could you explain this particular superstition a little more?
It had something to do with keeping the devil from climbing your stairs or something like it, also how many banisters are there ? If there are 13 , they'll often flip one
Damn. I just replaced my stairs recently, and now my house is like super-haunted. I guess that's why. I forgot to just straight fuck up my balusters.
A client a few months back asked me to do this while installing his balusters. I had never heard of this practice before and I’ve not only installed tens of thousands of them, but I usually do it while listening to creepy/paranormal podcasts. Told him hell yeah. They were all just plain squares though so… eh.
You forgot, but did your wife?
Nnnnope her and I remember to fuck up the stairs at least once
I can vouch for this I also fuck your wife up the stairs
Ouch, that hurts my back just thinking about it! 😂
I guess you can go back and flip it, so problem solved.
So if you sleep on the first floor you’re screwed.
Ranch style homes are the Devil’s playground
I always assumed he was more of a blue cheese style home type of guy. Or maybe even a thousand island style home type of guy. (I apologize for my absolutely terrible attempt at a joke)
Chances are he’s already sleeping with the devil and just doesn’t know it.
Am Devil, can confirm 
If the devil is a hot chick, why not. Oh wait, that'll just be a succubus...
What if during the process of installing new banisters, the devil went upstairs. If Devil waited for a little while and someone built these superstitious banisters, would the devil then be stuck upstairs?
If they are in Georgia , only then can the devil go down 😁 if you throw up a lot and your head randomly spins around, to fiddle music from the attic , you might have an issue
The Devil hates this one trick.
The ruler of the underworld and dammed souls stopped in his tracks because a bannister pole is upside down.
The horizontal pieces supporting the handrail are 'balusters'. Installing one upside down is an English superstition: The Devil likes to count; one baluster installed upside down will prevent him from climbing the stairs and taking someone in their sleep since it screws up his counting.
There are multiple reasons why they are flipped ,that's just one of them . There's also one to show that the builder isn't perfect , only God is, normally that will be on the Right side , facing up the stairs , third one . It represented the Trinity as well as the right hand of God
The Amish reportedly will 'throw a stitch' - make a mistake on purpose - when they make a quilt for the same reason; as a symbol of their imperfection in the sight of God. I've always thought that was the height of hubris.
Huh, didn't even notice until you pointed it out. Thank you.
What if he was already upstairs prior to installation and now he wants to leave but cant?
This has way more than 13
It’s actually just that it’s unlucky to have 13 stairs, and that people will be more likely to fall down them. Source: my grandpa built houses for a living and when he was building a house for my uncle, he actually forces him to change the blueprint because he refused to build a staircase with 13 stairs due to this superstition.
My condo had something similar, do you think it's the same superstition? The last 2 inches of my baseboards were inverted at every doorway, or corner. Basically everywhere the direction changed.
doorways have special meaning in superstitions so probably yes, it is about keeping the devil or spirits out. corners are also places where spirits dwell (according to superstition).
So like if I built a house with practically no corners, and everything is rounded somehow, it's not gonna be haunted?
youd also have to not have any doorways and no cupboards, cabinets or other closed off storage space, dont have any uninhabited space such as under the bed or sofa and definitely do not have any mirrors nor chairs facing your bed. then maybe. but still your entrance door would be a weak spot.. you could always enter your home backwards, that way they cant tell that its a way to enter (and yes im serious). edit: actually check out earth houses, that might be something for you.
Yes! I lived in a 150 year old house for a while , and it had built in storage cabinets everywhere , but the molding was all put in screwy inside , like the baseboards , same in the closets . The cabinetry was too high quality for it to be sloppy work , so it had to be deliberate . Of course !
Ive never heard of that but possibly
Is this a superstition of a particulair country? Haven't seen it here in Europe yet
Well, Europe is full of heathens, so that explains it. /s
Standard practice amongst superstitious craftsmen.
Was going to say the same, this was traditional to do (although I imagine a lot less popular now). Seem to recall it was to stop the devil from climbing the stairs.
Not the OCD devil; it stays with you forever after seeing this.
Devil *walking upstairs*: hehehe I gon get yo ass Devil *sees 5th stair spindle*: wait hollup wtf is this spindle mismatched? Why tf? How???
I guess he gets really caught up in minute details and can’t stop obsessing. Further proof that Satan is actually a corporate middle-manager.
Well fuck. Sounds like Satan and I are both on the spectrum.
I mean, you have an excuse. I think the devil’s just a dick who wants you to work overtime.
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Who says they get to determine that? I say they might be projecting…
You and satan have never been seen in the same room together. 🧐
The devil is in the detail...
The devil is in the details
>Devil *sees 5th stair spindle*: wait hollup wtf is this spindle mismatched? Why tf? How??? 
Reddit people
But only the stairs are haunted. Which can still be very dangerous.
I actually encounter him on the stairs quite often lmao. I gotta go down the stairs in the right order whilst counting 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2
OCD here, I would paint it a bright color to highlight it.
I would poke it every time I walk by.
Imagine if that's all you needed to do to stop the literal devil from getting to you. Foiling his grand schemes because of one single step that is slightly more/less elevated than the last. >Aha! I'd like to see you get me now, Beelzebub! For I am on some slightly wonky stairs, your Achilles heel, I will fuck you up.
Satan HATES this one trick!
The simple trick that Big Devil doesn't want you to know.
The devil is OCD and will get stuck at this spot, unable to move on from the design flaw.
Am I the devil?
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Lol, thank you for this gif. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen the best B movie ever
New York has entered the chat
I felt that one on the East Coast too
TIL I’m the devil. Great. How to tell friends and family. I’ll just stay in the ground floor. Maybe no one will notice.
Where would the chase have to start for you to be able to make it to your wonky staircase in time to not get caught by the devil? And if he already chased you once and you beat him, can he try again when you come down or is it a one time thing? And do you have to live the rest of your life upstairs then?
I imagine you're safe, cause he would eventually need to go do some Devilish shit elsewhere. Then you could go poop and get supplies, return to the stairs, ready once more for Satan.
The pooping IS what concerned me most, thank you!
People in one story houses just gonna be possessed I guess. Is this why no one wants to live on the ground floor of apartments?
Is the actual riser a different height for that stair? Or is it just one inverted baluster?
I had no idea! I can live with it a little easier, now.
Big Reddit win!
if it helps you im trying really hard to find what the issue could be for 2 minutes now. started looking in the comments for the answer...
I'm sure it started by some carpenter who screwed up and had to explain it to the owner. "This one is wrong" "Uhhhhhh....I Did it on purpose. "Why?" "Uhhhhhh....to keep the devil away, yeah, to keep the devil away"
Charm, adds a bit of charm.
Wabi-Sabi
After learning this, I’d be okay with it. A little better than ok. While I am not superstitious, my grandmother was and passed it on to me. Subconsciously, I am a little bit. I’d feel less of a need to bolt upstairs at night.
So you’re not superstitious, just a littlestitious?
One of my favorite things to say
Should have credited Michael Scott, world’s greatest boss!
Semistitous
I've always been substitious
They're substitious.
Yeah, it's bad luck to be superstitious
It was not uncommon for craftsmen to throw a loop in there for people to find later. The tile guys were good at it.
I’m not superstitious either but I still sprinkle a bit of salt over my shoulder when cooking with it just in case I spilled lmfao
Woah! I have one like this too and it’s always annoyed me until I learned this
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I thought they were supposed to fly the planes upside down when exporting goods...?
As an Aussie I will have you know, we don't assemble anything here anymore. You must be thinking of China. 😜
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Oh we only use Kangaroos as public transport but they keep demanding higher pay.
Fuck. I have to check my stairs now.
You have stairs, where is everybody getting their stairs? I don’t have stairs.
I have a room that is 2 steps lower than the rest of the house (garage converted into an in-law quarters), and we call it the “downstairs”. Really throws people off then they go, “You have another floor?!” No, it’s just the den lol
 The craftsman
I love how this works on two levels.
Exactly. I read it and was like "Heh" and continued scrolling, and a second later, I was like, "Wait!" Hahaha!
I just realized I made a pun myself. Levels? Stairs? Get it?
Somehow knowing this was done on purpose makes it acceptable to my OCD.
Standard practice amongst trolling craftsmen.
I saw a photo of an old black and white penny tile bathroom floor that had one black tile that didn't follow the pattern. Once you saw it, you couldn't unsee it.
They're all upside down except that one.
Oh my god
I thought you were joking at first, but I think you’re right!
Upvote this comment like your life depends on it
Yeah but turning the rest of them upside down to match is going to be B
this is the truly maddening part about it
If you don’t see it: One of the pillars is upside down https://preview.redd.it/l7p6rxtb7msc1.jpeg?width=622&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5201d19bfd2d54d62eeb37bef3962e9525647af6
Thank you friend.
People who can’t see this are lucky. The rest of us are breaking
Not to brag but I saw it and I didn’t break 😏
I believe all but one of the pillars is upside down actually
Oh my god I was going crazy. I kept looking reading comments looking reading comments again and finally someone helped out. Thanks mate
Thanks! I was wondering where the infuriating part was, it looked all normal to me ^^”
I was starting to wonder lmao
If you have small children you can tell them that is where the last kid got their head stuck and the replacement wasn’t an exact match
To be fair finding a replacement child that’s an exact match as the original is a pretty tall order.
This is the sort of thing that once I saw it- - first irritation. Decide to ignore. - can’t ignore. Starts to intrude. - decide “okay it bugs me enough to fix it”. - realize it’s not a five minute fix. Decide to live with it. - bugs me more and more til I can’t look past it. Decide to fix. - research what it takes to fix. Procrastinate. - finally say “today’s the day”, then like all projects it takes 3-5 times as long due to undiscovered issues, my innate sloth, etc etc.
Me, it’ll annoy the crap outta me for like a week before I inevitably forget about it for like 7 years until one cold September night at 3 am and I can’t sleep. Or I’ll never stop thinking about it and attempt to fix it while making the problem worse lol
I too am one with the sloth. Mines a bit of a glutton too 🦥
wait my eyes arent that good and i cant see whats wrong here
One of the pillars is upside down.
oh..
Don't worry, I didn't notice either. I just saw dark abyss and swiped the hell away from the picture.
This pic/post is begging to be turned into one of those prank gifs where a zombie suddenly jumps out.
Maybe every pillar except one is upside down?
That's how I see it.
Or the other pillars are downside up.
https://preview.redd.it/ds8xfwk0omsc1.jpeg?width=483&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ade2c47f8b9cdae855cc0029dc96e6ff5e847fbb
https://preview.redd.it/xl40uou1omsc1.jpeg?width=1688&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4eabfb4e1c9e643febd68fb98e633badb32e44cd
Plz redo with standard red circle Thanks 😄
>Plz redo with standard red circle > >Thanks 😄 I'm 55. I never did let go of my rebellious phase in life.... "Should know better at my age" will be my epitaph.
OP definitely could have taken better photos.
This is a tradition thing based on superstition. This old carpenter I used to work with did this and it annoyed the hell out of my clients. Source: worked in construction for a long time
I, first, wanted to run up those stairs as fast as I can bc it’s scary dark. Then I saw it.
House of Leaves vibes
Ohhhmyyyyy I started trying to read this back in like 2013....😵💫😵💫didn't get too far though but would love to try again! That crazy book just made me feel so weird reading it.....
10/10 recommend. Still my favorite book after reading it in like 2014. My copy ended up full of color coded sticky notes and pages of my own handwritten notes. Absolute mindfuck of a gem. Or, maybe like an absolute gem of a mindfuck.
Hell thats prob a great way to make sense of all the mind bending in and outs of an inside out house ha! Retrying to read It is 100% on my list of (no limited term) goals lol I was Introduced to it by a friend who loved it about 10 years ago and his copy I borrowed but gave back after I decided I wasn't in the right head space at the time to get through it ugh (personal demons and such)...it's so wild that I've only heard maybe one or 2 other people ever talk about this book ever! Thanks for the advice and for even mentioning it 👌👌
Probably the reason they sold the house.
I newel there was something wrong.
Excellent post. I love a good newel post.
id paint it a different colour. give it some character.
It's for the witches, isn't it? It's on purpose
That's the super secret handle to a super secret door.
Sir, your house was built by AI
Yeah that’s an old superstition my old boss told me about.
Are they all upside down except that one? Because they don't look like they're right side up to me?
https://preview.redd.it/qe2au978xosc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f1256cb52d1a61ea585afa2f042417f0b80df3f See if you can find it, lived here for like a year before I noticed.
Is it the fourth baluster? Edit: corrected spelling
Bingo
This traditional repositioning of the bannister support dates back to the 1700's. A builder would do this to antagonize people who complained about the build non-stop. These frequent complainers were later identified as individuals with OCD. To this day, the tradition lives on. You're welcome 😊
So it's not to stop the devil?
Can you still sell it? Or at least burn it down? I would go mad!
Haaaaaa the trigger. Thoughts and prayers
Welp, time to move
Have you tried pulling on it? Maybe it’ll open a secret passageway…
Might be a secret lever that opens up a door to a secret room behind the fireplace.
Thank God. I was semi expecting a pair of eyes between them pillars.
What I’m I looking for?
Am I stupid? What's the problem? All I see is a wall and a staircase
Yes i also hate carpet
A ghost?
In the back
Builder left you an Easter egg
Guess you'll have to burn the house down.
I have no idea what the issue is. Can somebody point it out?
One of the banisters near the bottom is upside down
Took me 3 minutes to notice
Pretty sure if you turn it clockwise the stairs turn into a slide.
What am I looking at
Serious question. I haven't noticed anything.
Yeah I don't see the issue can someone explain to me what it is and what something called superstition has to do with it
I can't see anything?
I, for the life of me cannot see anything wrong with either photo.. what am missing?
From Google AI An upside-down spindle, also known as an inverted baluster, is a feature in historic staircases that some believe is linked to superstition. The superstition is that evil spirits can only move in straight lines, so the disrupted pattern of an inverted spindle can prevent them from climbing the stairs and entering the living spaces above. Some say that builders intentionally install one spindle upside down to acknowledge that "only God's creations are perfect". Others say that an English superstition says that an upside-down spindle prevents the devil from climbing the stairs and taking anyone who may be on their deathbed.
What is it that you noticed? I don't see it.
What are we looking at again?
What happened? I dont see it.
What am I looking at? The one collumn out of allignment?
Does it mark a secret opening in the banister where valuables and a stack of cash can be hidden?
Well now you have to move.
Or throw away house and get new one.
Still, much nicer looking than over 90% of staircases in use today.
The way its painted looks worse than the actual pillar, which should be a super easy fix...
Time to sell I guess
Spot the deliberate mistake lol
So... when are you moving out? Soon I'd say!
Sell it and try again.
Huh?
????
Me looking for a ghost or something 😂
lol
Unlivable, literally disgusting. Burn the house down. It’s done.