Looking for solace in Japanese mythology during a pandemic
Amid growing anxiety over an invisible pathogen that has so far claimed tens of thousands of lives worldwide, some Japanese are turning to faith and mythology for solace.
Belief in witchcraft hampers drive to end female genital mutilation in Guinea, campaigners say
Belief in witchcraft is hampering efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) in Guinea, where almost all girls are cut, campaigners said on Tuesday. Aminata Bah, who underwent FGM at the age of 5, said many people in the West African country believe traditional circumcisers ...
Scotland's fabled Loch Ness monster could possibly be a giant eel, scientists said on Thursday after an intensive analysis of traces of DNA in the Loch's icy waters. The results ruled out the presence of large animals such as dinosaurs, they said. But there was a ...
Beware of interpretations posing as facts. And when explanations are incomplete, don't fall for the fallacy of "god of the gaps."
New York witches aim hex at Supreme Court's Brett Kavanaugh despite death threats
Melissa Madara was not surprised to receive death threats on Friday as her Brooklyn witchcraft store prepared to host a public hexing of newly confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh this weekend. The planned casting of an anti-Kavanaugh spell, one of the more striking ...
Spooky Japanese tales will scare the summer's heat out of you
Until recently, summer nights involved turning off the AC and doing things like kurumaza ni natte kaidanbanashi (sitting in a circle and telling ghost stories).
Spooked no more? Hong Kong's 'haunted apartment' prices levitate with white-hot market
Ng Goon-lau pointed at a window inside a dark, tiny bedroom. The window was small and easily sealed, Ng explained, a perfect place for carbon-monoxide poisoning. A man once burned charcoal to kill himself there. Another tenant, a policewoman, also hanged herself in the same ...
'Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan': Traditionally spooky felines
Cats. Modern Japan loves them in all shapes and sizes. But they weren't always so cuddly. Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan, by Zack Davisson.120 pages CHIN MUSIC PRESS, Nonfiction. From translator and folklore scholar Zack Davisson, "Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan" is a spooky read ...
Vietnam's spirit mediums revive ritual once forbidden by ruling Communist Party
Dressed in the bright silk garments of a woman and dancing with candles between his fingers, Nguyen Duy Nam leads a temple of worshippers in a ceremony honoring mystical goddesses of forest, water and heaven. Nam, 24, is one of a growing number of spirit ...
U.S. spooky clown phenomenon spreads to Australia and New Zealand
Sightings of creepy clowns that have spooked the United States appear to have sparked copycat acts in Australia and New Zealand, with police issuing stern warnings for would-be clowns. Numerous sightings of clowns appeared on social media in the early hours of Sunday in several ...
Canadian man kills Brit in psychedelic ceremony in Peru's Amazon
A Canadian killed a Briton after the two men took a hallucinogenic plant brew known as ayahuasca together at a spiritual retreat in the Peruvian Amazon, authorities said Thursday. Witnesses told police the Canadian man, 29-year-old Joshua Andrew Freeman Stevens, killed the British man, Unais ...
As country emerges from shadow of Ebola, Liberia president says ritual killings on the rise
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Thursday vowed to crack down on those responsible for a rise in ritual killings in the West African country as it seeks to emerge from the shadow of an Ebola epidemic. In some areas of central Africa, body parts ...
