Spiritualists believed that after shedding the body in death, the spirit would continue on a celestial journey and help those on Earth create a more just world.
An ‘onmyoji,’ an expert on yin and yang, performs divination with counting rods in an Edo-period illustration.
Kyoto University Library/Wikimedia
Alessandro Poletto, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
In medieval Japan, healing might mean taking medicine, undergoing an exorcism or sidestepping harm in the first place by avoiding inauspicious days.
In November 2023, a bottle of Macallan Scotch whisky fetched the highest price of all time for a bottle of wine or spirits.
Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images
The government and some producers are pushing to industrialize the sugar cane-based spirit to boost its popularity around the world, while small farmers fear losing their livelihoods.
Monsters and spirits –including ‘tsukumogami,’ which are made of everyday objects – in the ‘Hyakki-Yagyō-Emaki’ scroll, painted between the 14th and 16th centuries.
Wikimedia Commons
Shinto and Buddhist ideas about interconnectedness have deeply influenced Japan, shaping centuries-old rituals and stories whose impact continues today.
The Ouija board was first developed in 1890.
Couperfield/ Shutterstock
Research has been inconclusive on the degree to which drinking alcohol leads to the growth of harmful fat. But a new study suggests that beer and spirits are far bigger culprits than wine.
Fruitcakes are known for their legendary shelf life.
CSA-Printstock via Getty Images
Today viewers may be preoccupied by the methods used by spirit photographers, but spirit photographs had a notable impact on the bereaved who commissioned the portraits.
Halloween can also be a time of expression of cultural and social anxieties.
AP Photo/Richard Vogel
In the early 1970s, rumors about poisoned candy on Halloween led to mass paranoia. A historian explains why such fears emerge – and what, in reality, feeds them.
Actor Roger Moore poses with a martini after learning he would play the British secret agent James Bond.
AP Photo
Deep sea mining could supply valuable rare minerals to green technology, but one project in the south-west Pacific is invoking the wrath of local spirits.
An expert argues our connection with these figures is longstanding. They are embedded in our myths and help us explore deeper questions about being human.
There’s a reason we apologise to our livers after a big night, and it’s not pretty.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
Is a shot of tequila actually good for you? What’s the deal with the worm? Who was margarita, anyway? A food historian explores some little-known aspects of the popular Mexican spirit.
Three of the 12 rescued boys in their hospital beds.
Thailand Government Spokesman Bureau via AP
A scholar, who has conducted research on the Thai caves in which 12 children were recently trapped, explains their power and appeal, including the rituals and myth surrounding these sacred sites.