[crashryan]

That's Kurt Schaffenberger on "Three on a Match." He seems to have drawn himself into the story (the fellow with a mustache and glasses). I'd never heard any of these explanations for the "three on a match" superstition. The one I heard was that it dated from World War I. Lighting three cigarettes on the same match at night supposedly gave an enemy time to kill you: the first light catches the sniper's attention, the second light gives him time to aim, and on the third light he fires.

Link to the book: Creepy Worlds 196

[narfstar]

that is always the story I heard for three on a match