Birth Rate Spookily Drops 11.3% on Halloween

Expecting mothers apparently have watch The Omen a few too many times. After examining 1.3 million births between 1996 and 2006, a group of Yale scientists determined the birth rate for American women drops 11.3 percent on Halloween when compared with the two-week window surrounding the holiday, according to a report published in the New Scientist. What really makes the drop really spooky: it occurred not only with C-sections and induced births, but with natural births as well. "The study raises the possibility that the assumption underlying the term 'spontaneous birth', namely, that births are outside the control of pregnant women, is erroneous," says Rebecca Levy, who headed the study. We know no momma wants to give birth to a devil baby, but if your spawn is truly evil, it'll find a way to burst "spontaneously" from you on the day it wants to. (On a whole other note, the birth rates spike 5 percent on Valentine's Day.)