"Fright night just got a little bit spookier. Pregnant women have their own little trick on Halloween – they seem able to time the delivery of their baby to avoid giving birth on this day.
Rebecca Levy at Yale School of Public Health and colleagues examined 1.8 million US birth records from 1996 to 2006, and found that birth rates dropped by 11.3 per cent on 31 October, when compared with the two-week window surrounding the date. The significant declines in deliveries on Halloween applied to natural births as well as scheduled caesarean and induced births.
"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 Levy. She says a psychological influence over hormonal activity may be at work."
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