Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: superstition

superstition stories: 14 news summaries
world series

 If Yanks Win, Thank 
 Kate, Blame Macy's 

Omens abound in countdown to Game 5

Nov 2, 09 5:10 PM CST
(Newser) - With the Yankees sitting on a 3-1 lead heading into tonight's World Series Game 5, there's already plenty of credit and blame to go around. Should New York defeat the Phillies, give a cheer for actress and Alex Rodriguez galpal Kate Hudson, David Wells writes for the New York Post.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entertainment • Philadelphia Phillies • New York Yankees • Alex Rodriguez • Philadelphia Inquirer • World Series • Kate Hudson • omen • superstition • baseball • 2009 World Series

(Newser) - The meticulous attention a pro tennis player gives to choosing balls ahead of a serve is a little bit of science with a healthy dose of superstition—or even stalling. Players say balls that have seen more play are fluffier and therefore have more drag, though the consensus is that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
science • ritual • Novak Djokovic • US Open Tennis • OCD • superstition • Jo Wilfried Tsonga • Caroline Wozniacki • tennis players • tennis ball • serve

(Newser) - Wednesday’s total solar eclipse is eliciting fear and speculation across the Indian subcontinent, AFP reports. A New Delhi gynecologist says caesarian sections scheduled for the day of the eclipse have been canceled. “This is a belief deeply rooted in Indian society,” he said. “Couples are willing... More »

MORE ABOUT:
India • moon • superstition • solar eclipse • shadow • astrologer • astrology

(Newser) - A Saudi Arabian family has taken a genie to court and charged it with harassment and theft, the BBC reports. Family members say they were forced to abandon their home near Medina after the spirit made strange noises, threatened them, and stole their cell phones. A local court is looking... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Saudi Arabia • court • superstition • spirits

 'Vampire' Unearthed in Venice 

Gravediggers took steps to stop corpse feasting on other plague victims

Mar 14, 09 2:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - Italian archeologists have discovered evidence of an ancient vampire-slaying ritual in a 16th-century plague pit near Venice, the AP reports. A female skeleton was unearthed with a brick wedged between her jaws, in what experts believe was an attempt by superstitious gravediggers to stop the corpse from eating through its... More »

MORE ABOUT:
archaeology • plague • Northern Italy • superstition • Venice • vampire

 World's Oddest 
 New Year Rituals 

Grapes, bonfires, effigies are some nations' traditions for a lucky 2009

Dec 29, 08 1:50 AM CST
(Newser) - While much of the world indulges in the traditional New Year's Eve fare of glittery balls and fireworks, other countries have more unusual ways of shepherding in the next year, reports Travel and Leisure. For example: 
  • Spain: Gobbling a grape for each clock stroke is considered a fruity
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Spain • Japan • Scotland • Brazil • Denmark • superstition • rituals • luck • New Year

(Newser) - Superstitions and conspiracy theories all boil down to control issues, a new study says. When subjects in a University of Texas test were made to feel out of control, they saw more patterns that did not exist—whether images in a fuzzy picture or links between unconnected actions. Which is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
study • science • research • psychology • conspiracy • mind • superstition

Brit Brides Cheer Chimney Sweep Boom

English cleaning out their fireplaces as heating costs rise

Sep 19, 08 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - High energy costs in the UK are proving to be a boon for chimney sweeps, Reuters reports. A national group says they’re getting a bigger than usual rush of fall business as homeowners look to their fireplaces as an inexpensive way to keep warm. That means more chimney sweeps... More »

MORE ABOUT:
brides • superstition

Pre-Olympics Eclipse
May Give Chinese Jitters

A solar eclipse shortly before the Olympics won't bring doom, 'experts' say

Jul 29, 08 12:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - Eager to shake its reputation for being superstitious, China will be downplaying a total solar eclipse—once seen as a portent of disaster—Aug. 1, a week before the Beijing Olympics, AFP reports. Feng shui and astrology experts are predicting that the eclipse, visible in China but not Beijing, will... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • 2008 Beijing Olympics • omen • superstition • Astrology • solar eclipse

Olympic Omens Worry Superstitious Chinese

An unfortunate 2008 has some talking of a 'curse of the Olympic mascots'

Jun 21, 08 11:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Superstitious beliefs the Communists once tried to stamp out have been making a comeback in China, the Christian Science Monitor reports, especially in this troubled Olympic year. The Games are set to begin on August 8, as 8 sounds like fortune in Mandarin, making 8/8/8 an especially lucky date, but... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • 2008 Beijing Olympics • mascot • Chinese • superstition

Canadians Bully Burmese Junta With... Panties?

Women mail skivvies
to embassy to spook superstitious tyrants

May 28, 08 10:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - When international pressure fails, try… underwear? Canadian women think they can change the Myanmar junta’s ways by mailing a steady stream of panties to the Myanmar embassy in Ottawa, Sify reports. The military dictators apparently harbor a superstitious fear that touching a woman’s undergarment will “rob them... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Canada • protests • Myanmar • Burma • superstition • military junta • underwear

 Why Close the Markets Today? 

Observing Good Friday one reason; superstition about 1907 panic another

Mar 21, 08 3:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Big Board is closed today—but the reason is open to some debate, Bloomberg reports. The last time the markets opened on Good Friday was 101 years ago, when they saw one of two huge crashes that made up the Panic of 1907. Fear of repeating that catastrophe may... More »

MORE ABOUT:
New York Stock Exchange • Dow Jones • financial markets • Nasdaq • superstition • S&P 500 • Good Friday • Panic of 1907

Ooh, Scary: 33% of US Believes
in Ghosts

New poll finds Americans very superstitious

Oct 26, 07 5:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - Americans spook easily, with nearly a third of people admitting to believing in ghosts and nearly a quarter claiming to have seen or felt one, an AP-Ipsos poll finds. Nearly every other person believes in ESP, and 20% believe in witchcraft and spells. Singles, Catholics, and those who never attend... More »

MORE ABOUT:
superstition • ghosts

Junta Cremates Protesters

Crackdown carries on, as soldiers arrest more activists and the wounded are refused treatment

Oct 7, 07 5:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - Burma's army is burning the bodies of activists in secret cremations, hiding their true death count forever, the Sunday Times reports. Locals near Rangoon report trucks are driving by a crematorium at night as smoke rises constantly from its chimneys. Rumors of victims burnt alive have swept the city,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
United Nations • Tiananmen Square • Red Cross • Myanmar • Burma • Buddhist monks • junta • Rangoon • humanitarian workers • omen • superstition

14 Stories


from our news partners