Over half of all Brits (57%) believe in fate and 44% think it is responsible for one or more of life’s most important moments. According to a poll commissioned to mark the launch of Mystery Case Files: Fate’s Carnival which is released today, 28% of Brits put fate down as the reason why they found their partner or fell in love.
Big Fish commissioned the survey to see if fate really does play a part in people’s lives. The world’s largest producer of casual games found that it is not only love that people put down to fate. One in 10 people in the UK chose “getting a job” as something they’d put down to fate, rather than hard work.
Furthermore, the younger you are, the more likely it is that you will put life moments down to fate. For example 18% of 16-24 year olds put bumping into an old partner down to fate, whereas just 12% of those aged 55+ think the same.
The twists and turns of Mystery Case Files: Fate’s Carnival, in which Madame Fate (a gypsy fortune teller) has returned from the dead to reverse fate before it’s too late, may well appeal to the most superstitious part of the UK. Overwhelmingly, the North East attracts the most believers in fate (69%) and 29% of people from the North East even said that “Having a ‘near miss’ with their own or a loved one’s life” was something they’d put down to fate.
Wales on the other hand is the most rational part of the UK where 54% say that they don’t believe in fate.
It is not just fate that we superstitious Brits believe in. Almost half of us (48%) read our horoscopes, with one in four (24%) checking their horoscopes once a month or more.
Women are the greater stargazers with 58% having looked at their horoscope, whilst men seem to be a little more sceptical. Thirty eight per cent of men are interested to see what the future holds according to the stars.
The British may be superstitious but when it comes to paranormal, we are scathing. Eighty three per cent of those studied have never seen a psychic of any sort and 73% would never go. Of the 27% of adults who would contemplate a visit, 46% would want to communicate with a loved one who had passed away and 19% would want to ask about their own or a loved one’s health and wellbeing. Whilst 19% of men who go to see a psychic do so to remove a curse from a loved one or themselves.
by Professor Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman is certainly a book for our age. With unemployment on the rise and the the effects of the recession still causing trouble it is no wonder anxiety and stress are on the rise.
