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Articles on Superstitions
Displaying 21 - 38 of 38 articles
The idea of organized satanic witchcraft was invented in 15th-century Europe by church and state authorities, who at first had a hard time convincing regular folks it was real.
The internet has allowed pseudoscience to flourish. Artificial intelligence could help steer people away from the bad information.
In the early 1900s, fortune-telling provided entertainment, social connection and a job for some Australians. Its legal status made criminals of women, yet allowed others entry to the police force.
The curious history of a ritual meant to ward off bad luck.
Fear of a disease that seemed to turn people into beasts might have inspired belief in supernatural beings that live on in today’s creepy Halloween costumes.
In medieval England using magic was a bit like drug use today: against the law and seen as immoral, but still widespread across society.
The scientific explanations might not be definitive, but your brain is largely responsible.
Ghost stories are often about the departed seeking justice for an earthly wrong. Their sightings are a reminder that ethics and morality transcend our lives.
The blood moon myths are many and varied, but, at the end of the day, it’s just an eclipse.
This is the real reason you believe in superstitions.
Superstition holds that Friday 13th is the day to stay in bed and avoid taking risks. But it’s all in our heads.
Many sports enthusiasts are notoriously superstitious. Why is that so?
These days they are scary, but for the ancients, ghosts could be quite useful.
And it’s not all down to David Beckham…
Witches in fiction fascinate but what were they really like?
The discovery of battered old boots, tattered garments, trinkets and dead cats concealed in the walls of historic buildings sheds new light on the lives of Australia’s early white settlers.
If the latest spate of news stories coming out of Serbia are anything to go by, the tiny and otherwise unassuming village of Zarožje has something of a vampire problem. Local legend tells of Sava Savanovi…
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Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of South Carolina
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