8/91Percentage of Americans who believe they have healed physical ailments “using the power of mind”: 25

Gallup Organization (Princeton, N.J.)

12/93Pages of forms an applicant must fill out to be considered for the position of elf at Macy’s: 10

David Sedaris (N.Y.C.)

3/93Average number of operations performed each week by Joanna Corti, a Santa Fe, New Mexico, “psychic surgeon”: 15

Joanna Corti (Santa Fe, N.Mex.)

10/94Rank of Virginia, among states with the largest ghost population, according to the Ghost Research Society: 1

Ghost Research Society (Oak Lawn, Ill.)

8/94Average amount left by the tooth fairy in 1969, per tooth: 25¢

Susan Jorenby, Dorf & Stanton Communications Inc. (Los Angeles)

    Average amount left today: $3.30

Susan Jorenby, Dorf & Stanton Communications Inc. (Los Angeles)

2/96Amount U.S. intelligence agencies have spent on psychics since 1972: $20,000,000

CIA (Langley, Va.)

5/07Amount the British military spent in 2002 researching whether psychics could find terrorist hideouts: $35,000

Ministry of Defence (London)

    Chance that a psychic it tested could, blindfolded, identify some portion of the contents of a sealed envelope: 1 in 3

Ministry of Defence (London)

    Chance that a psychic fell asleep during the test: 1 in 6

Ministry of Defence (London)

5/08Percentage of Britons who believe that Winston Churchill is a mythical figure: 23

Taylor Herring Public Relations, Ltd. (London)