Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Corresponding author: Mayank Gupta, Junior Resident, Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi-221005, Uttar Pradesh, India Mobile: +919565173207 E-mail: mayanknbmc@gmail.com
Online published on 19 August, 2014.
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.
The present retrospective study has been conducted for the period of 7 consecutive months i.e. June 2012 to December 2012 based on autopsy record of the unnatural death cases. During this study period total no. of unnatural Death cases were 1054. These cases were brought to the Department of Forensic Medicine, IMS, BHU, Varanasi and have been analyzed retrospectively.
The incidence of unnatural deaths in and around full moon and new moon days were compared with that of other days of the month by taking 5 days average and shown on the red line of the graph. The result shows rise and fall in the incidence and it is not related to some specific dates of a month, rather it was random.
It is concluded that there is no correlation between lunar cycle and occurrence of unnatural deaths.
Lunar Cycle, Unnatural Death, the Transylvanian Effect
