The practice traces back to the Gullah Geechee, enslaved people living in the low country of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Gullah folklore explains that ghosts, also referred to as “
The blue color was meant to ward off “haints” or evil spirits who might want to harm the house or the family inside. Many people argue that painting your porch ceiling blue actually keeps insects away.
Because bugs see colors on the UV spectrum, they cannot register hues of green or blue. Painters even use blue paint to repel bees and wasps. Painting your porch ceiling in a blue tone could repel wasps, leading to fewer wasp-eating spiders around your home!
The Gullah believed that haints were afraid of water, so they painted their doors, window frames, shutters, and porch ceilings a watery shade of blue that would (hopefully!) repel any haints that approached their home with the intent of haunting it. They also painted their porch ceilings a sky-blue color.
The use of haint blue has lost some of its superstitious significance, but modern proponents also cite the color as a spider and wasp-deterrent. However, the color has not actually been scientifically shown to stave off bugs.
Blue. Historically, light blue is the go-to porch ceiling paint color—and for good reason. It mimics the natural sky and makes a covered porch feel open and inviting. However, it's important to find a shade that speaks to you and your house's locale.
Bugs naturally are attracted to vibrant colors such as orange, yellow, or white. Colours such as blue and green will not register as vividly when viewed in the ultraviolet spectrum, which deters bugs away from those colored items.
Does it work, and why? Lore claims the insects and birds see the blue as the sky and don't come beneath it. According to a history of blue paint on Sherwin-Williams.com, today's blue paint is probably not a true deterrent for insects and birds but it once was – back when blue paint was made with lye.
In South Carolina, haints are malicious ghosts, often seeking to steal or harm naughty children (maybe used as a story to make unruly children behave?). One online dictionary defines the word "haint" simply as a ghost.
The legend of haint blue porch ceilings, Gullah and haints
One widespread story involves haints, which are said to evil spirits or hags. Legend has it that the blue ceiling looks like water and haints won't cross water. So, they won't come into a house with a blue porch ceiling.
Bees rely on vision and smell to find their food so if an individual is wearing a certain color or scent, then a bee maybe confused and think a person is a flower. Bees can be kept away by avoiding blues and purples while also using more pungent smells that are too intense for bees instead of sweet-smelling fragrances.
Blue lights on porches, historically, have been a way for homeowners to honor and support law enforcement. The movement traces its roots back to 1989, when Dolly Craig chose to light up her window with a blue bulb, remembering her son-in-law, an officer tragically lost in the line of duty.
One study found that red, orange, cyan (blue-green), and black tend to draw mosquitoes, while colors that make you more difficult to see can repel mosquitoes, including white, green, blue, and purple. Based on these findings, wearing pastels in cooler hues may reduce your risk of bites.
The other step I highly recommend is to paint eaves and porch and patio ceilings with the color called haint blue. It is a robin's-egg blue that, according to Southern tradition, discourages wasps from building nests on its surface.
While Law Enforcement and Autism Awareness are the two most common reasons you may notice this blue glow on front stoops there are others as well. You can show your support for Alopecia Areata Awareness, a disease which can cause hair loss and is common in children, by displaying a blue porch light.
Children started painting their porch ceilings 'haint' blue, because their parents did, and so the tradition continued. It became less known for scaring ghosts away, but more known for keeping wasps and birds away. It has been known to keep them from nesting since they believe that the blue represents the sky.
The Gullah Geechee people, descendants of enslaved Africans, believed in the existence of malevolent spirits—haints—that could cause harm or misfortune. These spirits were often thought to be the souls of the dead who had unfinished business or had been wronged in life.
A place that is haunted is thought to be associated by the haunting spirit with some strong emotion of the past—remorse, fear, or the terror of a violent death. Individuals who are haunted are believed to be responsible for, or associated with, the ghost's unhappy past experience (compare possession).
The color that spiders tend to hate is light blue. People don't just paint their porches light blue for the aesthetic. Painting your porch ceiling in this shade is a pretty effective way of keeping spiders away. The color is also known to repel wasps.
Does painting a porch ceiling blue keep birds away? Similarly, while some may claim that blue porch ceilings deter birds by mimicking the sky, there's little scientific evidence to support this notion.
Gullah folklore explains that ghosts, also referred to as “haints,” were not able to cross water. In order to repel evil spirits from plantations, porch ceilings were painted a soft blue. The color was meant to mimic water in an effort to keep any haints or spirits at bay.
An article from professors at Oklahoma State recommends that “when in wasp-infested areas, avoid wearing sweet-smelling colognes, perfumes, and hair sprays and bright orange, yellow, and blue clothing, as they will attract flying wasps. Khaki, tan, and dark colors are less attractive to wasps.”
1. Cockroaches. The resounding winner, or perhaps loser in this case, were cockroaches, which received 27.3% of the votes. Cockroaches were also the most hated insect in 29 states.
One color that the majority of birds avoid is white. A dull or bright white signals alarm and danger to birds, causing them to avoid those areas.