Which playing card is known as the "Devil's Bedpost"?

For centuries some playing cards have enjoyed alternate names, including, but not limited to the Four of Hearts (Hob Collingwood), the Ace of Diamonds (Earl of Cork), the Nine of Diamonds (Curse of Scotland), the Six of Hearts (Grace card), the Queen of Clubs (Queen Bess), the Four of Spades (Ned Stokes) and the Jack of Clubs (a Sunderland Fitter).

When cards were first printed, back in the 1430s, the standard suits were Hearts (Herz/Rot), Bells (Schellen), Leaves (Grün), and Acorns (Eichel). In fact, to this day, these cards can still be found in Eastern and Southeastern German decks today for such games as Skat, Scharfkopf, and Doppelkopf. However, the four suits most commonly used in most of the world today originated in French around 1480. By the 16th century, the standard design in England is the one we know today as a deck of playing cards.

But it is the Four of Clubs that is known as the “Devil’s bedpost“. In Cartomancy (fortune-telling done with a normal deck of playing cards rather than a Tarot deck) the Four of Clubs is said to foretell an imminent major setback, an unexpected set of circumstances, a great misfortune.

There are those who will tell you that the Four of Clubs has been called the Devil’s bedpost by sailors for generations. The name for the Four of Clubs is derived from the design of the pips on the card, which can be imagined to be the four posts of a bed.