shivers

[4getmenot]

when people get a shiver down their spine and say, someones just walked over my grave. What does this mean?

[andy-hughes]

There is a superstition that everyone has a psychic link to the area of ground in which they will one day be buried.

If someone walks over the patch of ground, a psychic signal is transmitted to the potential occupant, and they feel it as a shiver, and say "Someone has walked over my grave ..."

An alternative version is that of a goose walking over the grave area, which leads to the shiver being called 'goosed'.

[4getmenot]

Thanks andy you ol china :-)

[Quizmonster]

The following (modified) sentence appears in Macbeth ..."By the tingling of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." (It's not 'tingling' in Shakespeare's version, but I'm sure AnswerBank won't allow me to use the actual word. If you need a clue, it's what you feel if you stick a needle into your finger.)
There's also the idea you suggest...namely, if you shiver, that that means someone is walking over your eventual grave-site. An itchy palm means money is coming your way, burning ears mean someone is talking about you and there are many other similar beliefs.
All of these examples are superstitious hangovers from the days of witchcraft/angels etc, when people believed they were constantly being offered signs and warnings of distant or future events.