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September 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 29/09/2010 10:59 PM Page 18 18 The Phoenix Lights Explained (Again) The Phoenix Lights witchcraft can be found in the different cultural - Bibliomancy is the practice by some people of Explained (Again) origins - be it Scottish, Mi’kmaq, Acadian, opening the Bible at random and being guided among others, and many have overlapping for the day by whatever verse they see first. Continued from Page 16 beliefs. - An average person farts 16 times a day. “I’m fascinated by it. It’s worldwide. - Barbie's parents names are George and Perhaps all over the world, for various reasons, Margaret. Claim: The 10 pm lights fell in front of the the same beliefs have arisen because they are - Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given mountain range, so they couldn’t be flares needed to try and explain something... For out during World War II were made of wood. dropped in the distance by military planes (Videotapes taken by observers from higher example, many cultures believe that if you can - 74% of men in Great Britain admit to thinking about having sexual intercourse with an animal get something of a person, you can get power, elevations in the Valley saw the flares for a which is why people always say you never cut (I´m not one of them). longer period of time than those who were in the nails of a baby until they are a year old, you - Julius Caesar’s autograph is worth about lower places, confirming that the flares dropped bite them, and then you swallow them. $2,000,000. behind the Estrellas.) “Many women around the world will do - No where in the state of Michigan is a person that, so no one can get those pieces of the baby more than six miles from water. Perhaps it’s a good thing that NBC has and put a curse over them ... that’s universal.” - Monkeys only smile when they are scared. now declared this the numero uno UFO sighting To better understand contemporary - The largest number of children born to one of all time. Few sightings have been so practices of witchcraft and Wiccanism, Croft woman, who was a Russian peasant, is 69. thoroughly investigated by reporters, and so well debunked. But you won’t hear that from even took classes from a practicing witch. - The three best-known western names in China are Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis With this book he wanted to look at how the networks, who can’t get enough of the we talked about witches historically, and their Presley. ratings that come with “the unexplained.” place in society in the Maritimes. - Five percent of the people who use personal “We throw the term witch around too ads for dating are already married. Tales of witchcraft in the lightly, in my estimation,” he said. “What I - Orange, month, and purple are the only words Canadian Maritimes wanted to look at with the book were the two in English that don't have another word that main elements of the historical aspect: how rhymes with it. people were perceived as witches, and how - The average person laughs 13 times a day. people perceived themselves.” - The Declaration of Independence was written He says through his books he hopes to on hemp (marijuana) paper. inspire people to write their own history and - A giraffe's heart weighs an incredible 24 folklore. pounds. “If the stories are lost, people like me - There is enough water in American swimming can’t go to public archives and museums, and pools to cover the whole city of San Francisco libraries, and places like that, and never find seven feet deep. them again.” - Penguins eat 13 times their body weight in one Croft, who lives in Halifax, is the author day. of several books, including Helen Creighton: - The name of all the continents end with the Canada’s First Lady of Folklore, A Maritimer’s same letter that they start with. Miscellany, and Celebrate: The History and - In China, September 20 is "Love Your Teeth Folklore of Holidays in Nova Scotia. For Day." information, visit clarycroft.ca. [] - Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' According to local folklorist Clary Croft, when and 'bump'. someone brings up the subject of witchcraft, - On average, there are 178 sesame seeds on people react in various, and unexpected, ways. Strange and Unusual each McDonalds BigMac bun. “It’s a touchier subject than anything - During their periods womens middle fingers else I’ve ever written about before,” said Croft Facts shrink. No one knows why. during a recent interview in Halifax. “So when - Every three seconds a baby is born somewhere I decided to write this book, I pondered over - In a single breathe,a Blue whale can inflate in the world. how to present it...” over 2000 balloons - Forest fires move faster uphill than downhill. Croft begins his latest book, Witchcraft: - The brain continues sending electrical wave - The number one fear of Americans is public Tales, beliefs, and superstitions from the signals for 37 hours after death. speaking. Number two is death. Maritimes with a story from his own past. A - A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne - Forty percent of Americans iron their clothes story of how an elderly woman, known to will bounce up and down continuously from the while wearing their underwear or being practice witchcraft in his community, foretold bottom of the glass to the top. completely naked. his future. - 1 out of 350,000 Americans get electrocuted in - US Dollar bills are made out of cotton and “I’ve always been interested in their life. linen. witchcraft because of the childhood stories I - Close to 73% of girls in Bangladesh are - Cat urine glows under a black-light. heard. Whether I believed in it or not, I don’t married by age 18. - There have been over fifty million Mr. Potato know,” said Croft with a smile. - There is One AK-47 for every Nine people on Heads sold since it came out in 1952. “A number of years ago I did a talk at Earth. - According to a study by the nation's largest the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival about - There is 293 different ways to give back auto insurer, most accidents occur between 3 witchcraft. It drew a big crowd, but there were a change on a dollar. and 6 p.m. on Friday. couple of people that were absolutely vehement - Americans, on average, spend 18% of his or - There are 66 million different possible pizza that thought that I shouldn’t even be discussing her income on transportation as compared to combinations on the Domino's pizza menu. the subject.” only 13% spent on food. - Prince Charles and Prince William never travel In Witchcraft, Croft looks at many of the - It would take 1.2 million mosquitoes biting on the same airplane in case there is a crash. ‘almost’ forgotten stories identified throughout you simultaneously to drain all your blood. - One billion seconds is about 32 years. the Maritimes, including the Maritimes’ first - The clown fish has the ability to change its - The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara witch trial of Jean Campagna in 1684. sex. If a breeding female dies, the male fish will Falls froze completely solid. “Campagna is the first trial, but you can change its sex and mate with another male. - An average person uses the toilet 2500 times a go back even further, because there’s no dates - In every episode of Seinfeld there is a year. attached to some of the stories. A number of the Superman somewhere. - By age 20 we lose 20% of our sense of smell. stories from the first nations people are pre- - There are 318,979,564,000 possible By age 60 it is 60%. contact,” said Croft, noting that examples of combinations of the first four moves in Chess. - You lose 60 hairs a day.[]