This is indeed an American superstition, and one this clueless American had never heard of. (I do know that if I step on a crack I'll break my mother's back.)
The footnotes on the Wikipedia article above go to:
"Signs and Superstitions Collected from American College Girls", The Journal of American Folklore
Louisiana folklore miscellany
101 American superstitions
Ozark tales and superstitions
As to ordinary stitions, just stand still and you've got one!
superstitious Look up superstitious at Dictionary.com
late 14c., from O.Fr. superstitieux, from L. superstitiosus, from superstitionem (nom. superstitio) "prophecy, soothsaying, excessive fear of the gods," perhaps originally "state of religious exaltation," related to superstes (gen. superstitis) "standing over or above," also "standing by, surviving," from superstare "stand on or over, survive," from super "above" (see super-) + stare "to stand," from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (see stet). There are many theories for the L. sense development, but none has yet triumphed. Superstition is attested from 1402. In Eng., originally especially of religion; sense of "unreasonable notion" is from 1794.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=superstitious