Evidence status: WELL SUPPORTED — exact origin complex
Hang one above a door and it is supposed to keep trouble out.
Find one in the road and you have found good fortune.
But should the points face upwards to hold the luck in — or downwards so the luck pours over you?
Even the superstition cannot agree.
The Short Answer
Horseshoes became lucky charms through several overlapping European traditions rather than one identifiable event.
Before they were simply symbols of “good luck”, horseshoes were widely used as protective charms, particularly against witches, evil spirits and the Devil. Their material mattered: iron itself had a long reputation in European folklore as something supernatural beings disliked.
By the eighteenth century, horseshoes were documented above doorways as protection against witchcraft. Over time, the protective charm broadened into a general symbol of good fortune.
The famous story of St Dunstan nailing a horseshoe to the Devil is part of the tradition, but it does not provide a securely proven single origin. Folklorist Robert Means Lawrence concluded in 1898 that the horseshoe superstition had multiple sources rather than one starting point.
What We Know
Iron has occupied an unusual position in European folklore for centuries.
Knives, nails, horseshoes and other iron objects could be used to protect buildings, animals or people from witches, fairies and malevolent spirits.
The horseshoe was particularly convenient.
It was made of iron.
It had been associated with a powerful and valuable animal.
And when discarded, it was something an ordinary person might actually find.
By the eighteenth century, horseshoes nailed above doors were sufficiently familiar as anti-witchcraft charms to be joked about in print.
Robert Means Lawrence's 1898 survey quotes a satirical article from 1753 advising anyone worried about witches to nail a horseshoe to the threshold.
Lawrence found the custom across widely separated parts of Europe and beyond, with horseshoes protecting houses, barns, livestock and even ships.
That suggests the object did not begin merely as a lucky souvenir.
Its earlier function was protection.
How It Became a Habit
Protection and luck are close neighbours.
If a charm stops witches entering your home, prevents livestock being harmed, protects a ship or keeps evil spirits away, then it is not difficult for people eventually to describe the object itself as lucky.
Finding a horseshoe acquired its own significance.
A used shoe had already been in physical contact with a horse and had survived hard use. In some traditions, a horseshoe found accidentally was considered more powerful than one deliberately bought.
Eventually the protective object became decorative.
Miniature horseshoes appeared as jewellery, wedding charms, greeting-card symbols and ornaments.
The witch might disappear from the story.
The luck remained.
The Story Everyone Tells
The most famous explanation involves St Dunstan, a tenth-century churchman who became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Dunstan was traditionally associated with metalworking.
According to the legend, the Devil came to him and asked to be shod.
Dunstan recognised his customer and nailed a horseshoe directly onto the Devil's hoof.
The Devil found the experience so painful that he begged Dunstan to remove it.
Dunstan agreed — but only after extracting a promise that the Devil would never enter any building displaying a horseshoe above its door.
Therefore, the story concludes, people began putting horseshoes over their doors to keep the Devil outside.
The tale became enormously popular in nineteenth-century Britain. Edward G. Flight's The True Legend of St Dunstan and the Devil explicitly presented the story as an explanation of how the horseshoe became a charm against witchcraft. The British Museum preserves illustrated editions of the work.
What the Evidence Actually Says
St Dunstan was a real historical figure.
Stories about Dunstan defeating or tormenting the Devil are old.
But the neat horseshoe version cannot simply be treated as the historical invention of the superstition.
Modern scholarship has shown that Edward Flight's nineteenth-century retelling introduced or developed significant elements of the Dunstan tradition for Victorian audiences. Meanwhile, horseshoes already belonged to a wider folklore of protective iron and anti-witchcraft charms.
Lawrence examined many competing explanations in 1898 — including iron, crescent shapes, horses, blacksmiths, the St Dunstan legend and other symbolic associations — and concluded that the superstition could not reasonably be traced to one particular starting point.
So:
DOCUMENTED: Horseshoes were used as protective charms against witchcraft and evil spirits.
WELL SUPPORTED: The protective reputation of iron contributed to their power.
DOCUMENTED: The St Dunstan-and-the-Devil story became an important explanation of the custom.
DISPUTED: St Dunstan cannot be shown to have originated the horseshoe superstition.
WELL SUPPORTED: The modern lucky horseshoe developed from several overlapping protective and good-fortune traditions.
Different Elsewhere
Even people who agree that horseshoes are lucky cannot agree which way they should face.
In one familiar British tradition, the points face upwards so the horseshoe resembles a container and the luck cannot fall out.
Elsewhere, points face downwards, allowing luck or blessings to pour onto everyone passing underneath.
Lawrence recorded a German belief that a horseshoe nailed with its points outward protected a home against witches, fire and lightning, while Pennsylvanian traditions could interpret the opposite orientation positively.
There is no universally correct lucky-horseshoe orientation.
Folklore has managed to make both directions work.
Why It Stuck
A horseshoe has almost everything a successful lucky symbol needs.
It is instantly recognisable.
It has an unusual shape.
It is made from a material with old supernatural associations.
It comes from an animal associated with strength, travel and wealth.
And historically, people could genuinely find one lying in the road.
The object did not need to be invented as a charm.
It was already there.
Humans simply gave it another job.
Related Curiosities
Why Do We Throw Salt Over Our Shoulder?
Why Do We Cross Our Fingers for Luck?
Why Is a Rabbit’s Foot Supposed to Be Lucky?
Why Are Black Cats Considered Unlucky?
Sources & Further Reading
Robert Means Lawrence, The Magic of the Horse-Shoe (1898) — extensive historical survey of horseshoe folklore and the many competing theories surrounding its protective power.
British Museum — nineteenth-century editions and illustrations of The True Legend of St Dunstan and the Devil.
Cambridge University Press — modern scholarship examining Edward G. Flight's Victorian development of the St Dunstan legend.
Shelburne Museum — discussion of horseshoes as household protective charms and the St Dunstan tradition.
Last checked: 19 September 2026