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Witch-huntsHeading to Salem this October? 5 spots with true ghost stories Witch-huntsScottish council votes to apologise to women persecuted as witches centuries ago Stage magicHow Harry Houdini Became the Best Magician of All Time CharmsThe Horns Hand Gesture: One Sign With Five Very Different Meanings Witch-huntsSpooky Day Trips in Connecticut: Witchy History for Halloween CharmsA Jurassic fossil turned talisman in Morocco links science and faith Stage magicHarry Houdini returns from the grave in AI-generated Fox Nation series 100 years after his death Witch-huntsConnecticut's forgotten witch trial past FestivalsDay of the Dead festival resurrected at West Palm Beach arts hub Stage magicIllusionist Leon Etienne brings magic to Oshkosh this month Witch-huntsHeading to Salem this October? 5 spots with true ghost stories Witch-huntsScottish council votes to apologise to women persecuted as witches centuries ago Stage magicHow Harry Houdini Became the Best Magician of All Time CharmsThe Horns Hand Gesture: One Sign With Five Very Different Meanings Witch-huntsSpooky Day Trips in Connecticut: Witchy History for Halloween CharmsA Jurassic fossil turned talisman in Morocco links science and faith Stage magicHarry Houdini returns from the grave in AI-generated Fox Nation series 100 years after his death Witch-huntsConnecticut's forgotten witch trial past FestivalsDay of the Dead festival resurrected at West Palm Beach arts hub Stage magicIllusionist Leon Etienne brings magic to Oshkosh this month

EveryJaadu

Historical practices

Documented in the past; no continuous living tradition today.

Living
Revived
Fading
Historical
Legendary
Performed

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇬🇱 GreenlandAnguta A Greenlandic Inuit figure who guides the dead and fathered the sea goddess SednaBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of the Boulder Valley A legend attributed to Chief Niwot about the valley's beauty and its futureBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesThe Occult: A History A 1971 survey of occult figures and latent human powers by Colin WilsonText · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreAlaska Native religion Traditional spiritual practices of the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples of AlaskaTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇨🇦 CanadaOak Island mystery A centuries-old legend of buried treasure and unexplained engineering on a Canadian island.Belief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreKyöpelinvuori A Finnish mountain where dead women are said to gather after deathBelief Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesNew England vampire panic A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief · Protection · Healing Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesChepi A spirit of the dead in Narragansett belief, called upon for vengeance.Being · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesBelled buzzard A folklore omen of disaster, depicted as a vulture wearing a bellBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesMartian Monkey A 1953 Atlanta hoax involving a tailless monkey dressed as an alienBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreSolar Lodge A California-based magical order active in the 1960s, known for its A∴A∴ curriculum and legal troubles.Tradition · Power and authority Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of Rocky Colavito A baseball superstition linking a 1960 player trade to decades of team failureBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreChain letterFukou no Tegami A message that demands copying and forwarding to avoid bad luck or gain fortuneBelief · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Historical

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Belled buzzard: Saturday Evening Post Irvin Cobb Douglas Durr, Public domain, source
Martian Monkey: Tim Farley, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Chain letter: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Oak Island mystery: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven entries you may not know, what is on the calendar this week, and one rite drawn step by step.