the salem witch trials resulted in the conviction and murders of 19 people, all because a young girl and her friends wanted attention and drove the people of their village into a frenzy, convincing them that the 19 practiced witchcraft and summoned the devil. a few years later, the convicted were 'pardoned' for crimes that were never specified, and money given to their families by the village elders.

in early 1900's america, when a family moved from one house to another, they would burn their old dish towels so that the 'bad energy' wiped up in the first house would not travel to the second.

in 1748, france passed a law that banned potatoes because french authorities thought that they caused leprosy.

in latvia, a wooden statue of the virgin mary was accused of being a witch. when it floated in water - a common test for witches - it was declared guilty and burned.

in the middle ages, human beings in the west believed that animals were rational and understood the concepts of right and wrong. there were numerous court cases where livestock, flies, and even slugs were sent to court, judged, used as witnesses, and executed.

between 1840 and well into the 1950's, it was a common belief in the u.s. that couples should sleep in separate beds so that the 'stronger' mate wouldn't drain energy from the 'weaker'. that's right - we believed that we were all energy vampires.

 in tucson, arizona, a teacher was fired in 1970 for being a witch.

ford, the u.s. auto manufacturer, paid a 'psychic' us$500 to tell them which day they should launch a new model - the taurus.

krampus predates christmas. originally, he was a son of hel, the norse god of the underworld.

the number of people who claim to be possessed by a devil has been on the rise of late. 500,000 italians claim demonic possession each year.

when eyeglasses for shortsightedness were invented in the 1500's, many people assumed that they were magic, and that their wearers were in league with the devil.

the last 'witch' was put to death in europe in 1775. altogether, more than 130,000 people were murdered over 500 years for the crime of 'witchcraft'.

in 2013, 3000 workers at a clothing factory in bangladesh went on strike to force management to do something about the ghost inhabiting the bathroom.

michael 'the king of pop' jackson once paid a witch doctor us$150,000 to put a curse on director steven spielberg for not casting jackson as peter pan in the movie 'hook'. (frankly, spielberg did jackson a favor.)

practitioners of 'therapeutic touch' are only correct in their 'location of human energy fields' about 44% of the time. that's right - flipping a quarter is more accurate. because it's a con.

in 2013, police in the maldives detained a suspect for loitering near an election polling place and for performing black magic. the suspect was a coconut. a magician told the police that the coconut was innocent, so no arrest was made.

in 2013, swaziland banned all witches from flying above 150 meters. (this is the kind of asinine thing that happens when you live by superstition, rather than science.)

mary bradbury, who escaped the salem witch trials, was the ancestor of writers ralph waldo emerson and ray bradbury, actors christopher reeve and linda hamilton, and astronaut alan shepard.

more than 50% of icelanders believe in elves.

if you are a religious person, you may recognize this quote from the christian bible:

"The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood."

the answer, of course, is red algae bloom.