Historical practices
Documented in the past; no continuous living tradition today.
- Living
- Revived
- Fading
- Historical
- Legendary
- Performed
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
🇺🇸 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic
A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreHorace Goldin
A stage magician known for his fast style and the sawing illusion.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Kybalion
A 1908 book presenting seven principles of mental philosophy as ancient Hermetic wisdomText · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesSalem Witch Trials
A colonial legal crisis where over two hundred people faced accusations of sorcery in Massachusetts.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreEstonian mythologyeesti mütoloogia
The pre-Christian beliefs and legends of the Estonian peopleTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreRabbit's foot
A charm carried for luck, often linked to graveyards and strict folk rulesCharm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreDavenport brothers
A pair of American stage magicians who performed spirit cabinet illusions in the late nineteenth century.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreHarry Kellar
An American illusionist known for large-scale stage magic and mechanical tricks.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesFox sisters
Three sisters from New York who launched the Spiritualism movement with spirit rapping séancesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesHoward Thurston
A stage magician who built the largest traveling magic show in historyIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇲🇽 MexicoAztec religion
The polytheistic and monistic belief system of the Aztec Empire in central MexicoTradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesFolk healer
An unlicensed community member who provides healing care using local plants and traditional knowledge.Tradition · Healing · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomGiles Corey
An English-born farmer pressed to death for refusing to plead during the Salem witch trialsFigure Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreChung Ling Soo程連蘇
An American stage magician who performed as a Chinese man and died during a bullet catch illusion.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMarie Laveau
A New Orleans priestess and herbalist who led Louisiana Voodoo in the nineteenth centuryTradition · Healing · Protection Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreLouisiana Voodoo
An African diasporic religion practiced in Louisiana from the 18th to early 20th centuriesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesCotton Mather
A Puritan minister and writer known for his role in the Salem witch trials and promotion of smallpox inoculationFigure Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Long Lost FriendDer lange verborgene Freund
A Pennsylvania German grimoire of folk remedies and magical charms published in 1820.Text · Healing · Protection Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreSpiritualism
A nineteenth-century religious movement focused on communicating with the dead.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesKennedy curse
A pattern of tragedies linked to the American Kennedy familyBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇦 CanadaSpoon bending
A magic trick and paranormal claim involving the deformation of metal cutleryBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of the Bambino
A sports superstition linking a long championship drought to a player saleBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesExorcism of Roland Doe
A 1940s American case of alleged demonic possession and the exorcisms performed on the boyRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesDavid Copperfield's laser illusion
A stage trick where a magician appears to be sliced by a beam of light and reassembled.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesHot foil trick
A stage illusion where foil heats and burns in a volunteer's handIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCurse of 1940
A superstition explaining a long championship drought for the New York RangersBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreHiisi
A Finnic spirit of sacred places that evolved into a demonic giant in folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesHodag
A fabricated American cryptid from Wisconsin folklore and tall talesFigure · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesGreenbrier Ghost
A West Virginia murder case where a mother claimed her daughter's spirit revealed the truth.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreWhite House Ghost
A spirit said to walk the White House and former Illinois homes of the sixteenth president.Belief Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreFearsome critters
Tall tale animals from North American logging camps used to jest and explain the wild.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 2 moreHaltija
A supernatural guardian of a specific place or animal species in Finnish and Baltic Finnic mythologyBeing · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesLava bear
A small bear from Oregon's lava beds once thought to be a unique speciesFigure Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesPolka-dot paint
A stage magic trick and a real paint product that creates dotted patternsSubstance · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreRemote viewing
A claimed psychic ability to perceive distant targets without using the sensesBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesKa-Bala
A 1967 talking board game that claims to tell the future with a spinning marble and tarot cards.Illusion · Seeing and foretelling · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesStamping
A childhood gesture believed to capture luck from specific animals or objectsBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesJewett City vampires
A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief · Protection Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDianism
A 19th-century American practice of sexual contact without ejaculationTradition · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreThe Teachings of Don Juan
A 1968 book presenting an apprenticeship with a Mexican sorcerer as anthropological fieldwork.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreVäinämöinen
An ancient Finnish demigod and master singer from the Kalevala epicBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesDreaming the Dark
A 1982 book by Starhawk linking magic, sex, and politicsText · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesGhost shirt
A sacred garment of the Ghost Dance believed to protect the wearer from bulletsCharm · Protection Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesZelph
A figure identified by Joseph Smith as a buried warrior in IllinoisFigure · Power and authority Historical
🇨🇦 CanadaPinga
An Inuit goddess of the hunt and medicine who oversees caribou herds and souls.Being · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesSecond-term curse
A belief that U.S. presidents face greater trouble in their second term than their first.Belief Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBaskerville effect
A theory that superstition about unlucky numbers causes heart attacks through stressBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesOpen Source Order of the Golden Dawn
A modern magical order using open-source principles to adapt ceremonial ritualsTradition · Change and initiation Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kennedy curse: Walt Cisco, Dallas Morning News, Public domain, source
- Spoon bending: Sgerbic, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hodag: Gourami Watcher, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Folk healer: calliopejen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Louisiana Voodoo: I cropped, original authors are Ridpath, John Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Zelph: HotWheels53, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Curse of the Bambino: National Photo Company, Public domain, source
- The Kybalion: American Libraries, Public domain, source
- Salem Witch Trials: unattributed, Public domain, source
- Estonian mythology: Jeannette Berkowitz (illustrator), Public domain, source
- Rabbit's foot: Sobebunny, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Curse of 1940: Trophy: Unknown Photo: Alexey Chernyadyev Derivative work: J . delanoy, CC BY 3.0, source
- Spiritualism: Rossington, W. W. and Garrett, J. Ellwood, Public domain, source
- Väinämöinen: Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Public domain, source
- Dianism: Guillaume Seignac, Public domain, source
- Lava bear: Guy M. Ingram, Public domain, source
- Fearsome critters: Coert Du Bois, Public domain, source
- Harry Kellar: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
- Ghost shirt: Wolfgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cotton Mather: Peter Pelham, Public domain, source
- Marie Laveau: E. W. Kemble, Public domain, source
- Second-term curse: Achille Beltrame, Public domain, source
- Chung Ling Soo: AndyScott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Aztec religion: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Howard Thurston: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Fox sisters: N. Currier (Firm), Public domain, source
- Davenport brothers: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- White House Ghost: Alexander Gardner, Public domain, source