Superstitious Beliefs on the Rise Among Americans

(Oct. 30) -- Just in time for Halloween, a new book by two sociologists concludes that more Americans than ever buy into a variety of superstitious beliefs -- from ghosts and hauntings to UFOs.

The book, called "Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture," is based on anecdotal evidence compiled by Christopher Bader and F. Carson Mencken.

After years of research, the two are convinced that paranormal beliefs aren't as fringe as they once were, and have assembled an array of demographic information on which Americans cop to which out-there ideas.

What exactly is a superstition, anyway?

To put it academically, a superstition is a claim that if X occurs, then Y will subsequently and necessarily occur. The crux of the connection? That X and Y are completely unrelated.

"By definition, superstitious beliefs are irrational beliefs," Dr. Duane McClearn, a psychology professor, told the Los Angeles Times.

Like thinking that an octopus can accurately predict the outcome of a soccer game, for example. Just saying, guys. Just saying.

Who is most likely to hold one?

There's no major demographic distinction that splits believers from nonbelievers, according to Mencken and Bader. But polls indicate that around half of Americans, across the country, hold at least one superstitious belief.

Women are more likely to fear haunted houses, ghosts and poltergeists. Single white men are tracking the night sky for UFOs. And successful professionals are trekking the forests to look for Bigfoot.

And uh -- why?

Despite decades of research, nobody's quite sure.

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"Most believers in miracles, monsters, and mysteries are not hoaxers, flimflam artists, or lunatics," reads a passage from Michael Shermer, executive director of the Skeptics Society.

It might be that, given the human impulse to explain and connect events and situations, we often turn to "easy answers" or weak connections or connections that don't exist at all, when the solution is unclear.

"The bottom line is simple," Kevin Foster, a research fellow at the University of Oxford, told the LA Times. "In an uncertain world, natural selection can readily favor making all kinds of associations between events, including many incorrect ones, in order to make sure that the really important associations are made."

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