Lunar Cycle Affecting Homicidal Death in Varanasi Region: A Reality or Myth

The effect of lunar cycle on human behavior has always been the area of interest for the researchers worldwide. It is accepted in academic literature as The Transylvanian Effect. While some has drawn results in favor of this, some also has rejected this hypothesis on the basis of negative results. This study aims to find out the effect of lunar cycle on unnatural deaths. This prospective study is done over a period of 18 and half months (1st January 2013 to 17th July 2014). During this period, a total of 312 cases were taken in this study which include unnatural death by homicide. These cases were brought to the Department of Forensic Medicine, IMS, BHU, Varanasi for medico legal postmortem examination from the various police station of Varanasi and have been analyzed prospectively. The incidences of homicidal deaths in and around full moon and new moon days were compared with that of other days of the month which are statically analyzed by employing the one-way parametric ANOVA. The study reveals a rise in incidences during the full moon and new moon days over the others but is statistically insignificant. It is concluded that there is no correlation between lunar cycle and occurrence of homicidal deaths.