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Smitten woman bought a 'love spell' from a witch on Etsy and it backfired spectacularly

This story has ethical conundrums galore.

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You can buy curses, potions, and spells on Etsy now.

Unrequited love—we've all been there, right? Rejection sucks, even when it's self-rejection in the form of being too afraid to tell someone you have feelings for them. It hurts to keep it inside, and it hurts to get shot down. If only there was a better way!

Some people believe that there might be. While it may not be possible to just snap your fingers and make someone fall in love with you, potions, spells, and other forms of witchcraft promise to bring you basically the same result. What's great is that, in 2025, you can hire a witch to do your romantic bidding on the Internet from the comfort of your own home!

One woman recently decided to take a chance on a magical love spell, and got way more than she bargained for.

Yes, it sounds like the opening backstory montage of a Disney movie, but this one takes place in our very real world. A TikTok user named Corinne recently shared the embarrassing story of witchcraft gone wrong in a thirteen second video clip. Previously, she had decided to pony up a few bucks for a "love spell" on her crush.

A similar product description from a different seller on Etsy describes it like this: "Dive into the deepest, most powerful realms of black magic with this LOVE OBSESSION Spell, designed to create an unbreakable bond of passion, obsession, and undying love. This is not just any love spell; it’s an advanced black magic voodoo ritual, tailored to ignite intense passion and force someone to obsess over you—an emotional, irresistible connection that can't be broken."

As of this writing, the spell costs an eyebrow-raising $66.

But people have certainly done crazier things for love! Unfortunately, once Corrine's order was processed, the seller turned out to be a bit of a backstabber.

“Guys the Etsy witch told on me,” she said in the social media video, clearly upset and humiliated. “I said the guy’s name, his birthday and stuff, and she literally DM’d him on Instagram and exposed me.”

"So much for supporting small businesses" she added in the video's caption.

@andtheg4gis

So much for supporting small businesses 😭 #etsywitch #lovespell #fyp #foryou

The video quickly went viral to the tune of two million views. Commenters were furious on Corrine's behalf.

Whether or not you believe in the occult, it's pretty screwed up to out someone like that, right? One user called the betrayal a HIPPA violation:

"AW NAH THAT'S A WIPPA VIOLATION," one joked.

"Genuinely like report that to Etsy that's so crazy"

"u better have disputed that charge babe"

"Imagine getting a 'hey girly' text from a witch"

"oh baby you gotta tell the elder witches"

Probably the best advice was for Corrine to own up to the whole thing with an outrageous level of confidence:

"GIRL DOUBLE DOWNN!! dm him n say 'did it work?'"

"Did it work" is such an amazing line, I'm mad I didn't think of it."

witches, witchcraft, love, love spells, love potion, relationships, dating, romance, women, girls, internet, tiktok, funnyJust your basic witch supplies. Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash

The whole wild story brings up so many questions. For starters, is it ethical for psychics and witches to perform these "services" for money?

Witches have become super popular on Etsy, but that doesn't mean that everything is on the up-and-up. There's quite a bit of evidence that psychic powers and witchcraft aren't real and can not be verified by science. So there's been fierce debate for years over whether people should actually be allowed to sell psychic/witch services. Isn't the entire industry inherently misleading? Does it exist to prey on vulnerable people who are desperate for good news or a positive outcome in their life Then again, maybe it's not all about the outcome. Maybe believing in an unexplained power and using it for selfish reasons can be cathartic. Just ask all the people spending their hard-earned money paying Etsy witches to "curse" certain hated political and public figures.

If we assume all parties know that a "love spell" won't actually work — what's the harm in ritualistically throwing yourself at the mercy of the universe and asking for a break? Even if it costs a couple of bucks?

Jeffrey Moriarty, a professor of philosophy at Bentley University, argues in a paper that psychic services should be allowed for sale provided customers are not being lied to or mislead, "even though much of the money spent on them will be money wasted."

If we assume that certain parties really do believe a love spell will work and "make" a person fall in love with them... well, that brings up even more ethical questions, doesn't it? Consent, free will. It's an extremely messy witches brew, that's for sure.

As for Corrine, her story has a happy ending. After getting a deluge of viral fame and advice, she decided to perform a love ritual herself!

People encouraged her to take matters into her own hands, so she did.


@andtheg4gis

UPDATE!! I sooo have my man back (that is, if he doesn’t look down😭) #etsywitch #lovespell #update #fyp #foryou #foryoupage

"I wrote his name on the bottom of my foot," she says in an update a few days later. "Dipped it in a jar of manuka honey. Literally 20 minutes later he texted me asking what I was doing tonight. So now I'm going over."

All's well that ends well. But the lesson is to never trust a witch unless they've got a perfect five-star Etsy rating. Otherwise? You're better off performing your own spells.

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Innovation

12 real scientific facts that sound completely made up, but aren't

Did you know that placebos work even when people know it's a placebo?

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Real life is far stranger than fiction.

And now we have the proof.

A recent thread on r/AskReddit posed the question: "What sounds like pseudoscience, but actually isn't?"

The answers were far more interesting than all the science classes I ever took. Combined.

Let's take a look at some of the strangest scientific facts the good people of the Internet could come up with.

1. Phantom limbs & mirror therapy

Most people have heard of phantom limbs and phantom limb pain, the phenomenon where someone who's lost a limb can still feel pain or other sensations where the missing appendage should be.

But the connection between the brain and the missing limb gets even wilder the more you dig into it.

Did you know that a common treatment for phantom limb pain is something called "mirror" therapy, where a therapist will use a series of mirrors to make it look like the missing limb is still there? This tricks the brain and eases discomfort over time.

Sounds like psuedoscience, but can be extraordinarily effective!

Tip of the cap to u/MonSoleil937 for this one.

2. Ear crystals going haywire

Close-up of an ear with skull earring Photo by Christof Görs on Unsplash

User u/shinjithegale nominates "Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo", or BPPV, a common type of vertigo and dizziness that usually occurs in people over the age of 60.

The weird part? The vertigo is caused by small calcium crystals inside the ear coming loose and flowing into the inner ear.

"Your magical ear crystals are out of sync" definitely sounds fake but is 100% a real, treatable condition.

3. Redheads need more anesthesia than everyone else

This one comes from u/explorerdoraaaaaa — and it can't possibly be true, right?

Wrong.

Red-haired people, who make up only about 2% of the population, may process pain differently from the rest of us and have been shown to often be more tolerant to local anesthetics — they may need up to a 20% stronger dose!

They might also be more sensitive to opioids and less sensitive to shots, needles, and electric shocks.

4. Speaking in a different language can unlock an alternate personality

Where are our personalities stored? In our brains? Our souls?

Despite sounding completely implausible, maybe neither!

If you learn a new language or grow up speaking multiple languages, your personality make be markedly different depending on which language you're speaking.

One study gave people who grew up in Spanish/English bilingual households a personality test in each language and found that their values and personality traits were dramatically different in the respective results.

5. Platypuses exist

a platypus swimming in a body of water Photo by Aaron De Wit on Unsplash

That's it. That's the fact, courtesy of u/Steeze-Schralper6968.

The list of true but baffling facts about platypuses goes on and on.

For starters, they're a mammal with a beak that lays eggs, sweats milk, and shoots poison.

If you read about it in a SciFi novel you'd struggle to suspend your disbelief.

6. Duct tape can cure warts for some reason

Most common warts are harmless, but we still don't like having them. That said, because they're not hurting anyone people are hesitant to try invasive or expensive procedures to remove them.

Enter Duct Tape Occlusion Therapy, which is a real thing. Simply apply duct tape to the wart, remove, clean the area, and repeat every couple of days.

Weirdly duct tape therapy isn't just ripping the warts off. There's some evidence that the adhesive used on the tape may cause an immune response in the skin that causes the warts to clear up.

7. The world is brighter for blue-eyed people — and they see better at night


macro shot photography of person's right eye Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash

It sounds like psuedoscience, for sure, but eye color isn't purely aesthetic.
People with lighter colored eyes — with less melanin in them — are more sensitive to light.
For blue-eyed people, that may mean they're more sensitive to bright daylight and have better vision at night.

I've always wondered why I can barely walk outside on a cloudy day without sunglasses, and now I know!

8. Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

EMDR therapy, nominated in the thread by u/taurussy, sounds like something you'd see a stage hypnotist perform on tipsy audience members.

In reality, it's a powerful therapy for processing trauma.

EMDR involves a patient processing traumatic memories while performing therapist-directed eye movements or otherwise tracking an external stimulus, like a light or an audio track.

The theory is that the process can form new connections between blocked-off and painful memories and more adaptive memories or information, which allows for healing.

9. The placebo effect & open-label placebos

Most of us know about the placebo effect, but it's still almost too unbelievable to be real.

(As a refresher, an example of the placebo effect might be someone with a cold feeling better after taking a "sugar pill" with no medicine in it that they were told would cure them.)

But here's something wild you probably didn't know about placebos:

They can work just as well even when people know they're taking a placebo!

The things our brains can "trick" us into doing are truly incomprehensible.

10. Teratomas

Teratomas sound more like nightmare-fuel than psuedoscience, but they're still worth a mention from u/flugualbinder.

Teratomas are rare kinds of tumors that can grow and contain hair, bones, muscle, and even teeth.

They are real, and you will look up photos of them at your own peril.

11. Pain is all in your head — kind of

Pain is real, and it's valuable information for your body that something is wrong.

But scientists have learned a lot about it, specifically when studying chronic pain. And we know now that our emotions, our beliefs, and other aspects of what happens in our brains plays a big role in how we experience pain.

One study found that Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), basically training the brain to "unlearn" pain, was more effective than a placebo and normal pain management care.

It gives credence to something that sounds completely unbelievable: In some cases, you can "mind over matter" your way to hurting less.

12. Grass screams when you cut it

Thank you to u/arealcabbage for this horrifying image:

"The grass screams distress signals to the next lawn over when you're mowing."

Believe it or not, that's true — in a sense. That freshly-cut grass smell we all like? It's actually a distress signal designed to warn other plant-life in the area of danger.

It's a stretch to say that your lawn feels pain, but it does have some survival instincts. Now if we could only say for sure why humans love the smell so much!

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Heroes

The 'Nobel Prizes' of weirdness were just announced. The winners are hilarious.

You may not have heard of the Ig Nobel Prizes, but they're basically the best thing about science.

They're a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given out once a year. But these awards don't go to the kinds of studies that'll get anyone a meeting with the president or cure space fever. Instead, the prizes are given out to some of the weirdest, strangest, and just plain funniest academic achievements of the past year.

There are prizes in 10 different categories. Here are this year's winners:

1. The effect of polyester pants on rats' sex lives.

Image via iStock.

The reproduction category was won by the late Ahmed Shafik, of Egypt, for two studies looking at whether polyester, cotton, and wool trousers affected the sex lives of rats and humans.

2. Assessing the perceived personalities of rocks.

Image via iStock.

Are your rocks rugged? Sincere? Excited? These winners of the economics prize can tell you!

3. Why dragonflies love tombstones.

Photo by Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images.

Nine scientists won the physics prize together for figuring out why certain dragonflies kept wigging out around polished black tombstones. Turns out the polished grave markers look just like water to the bugs!

The scientists also looked at why white-haired horses were so dang good at shooing away flies.

4. The chemistry prize was given to Volkswagen, for making emissions "disappear."

Photo by Alexander Koerner/Getty Images.

The chemistry prize this year was a little dig at Volkswagen, who cheated automobile emissions testing.

5. What happens if you scratch an itch while looking in a mirror?

Image via iStock.

Five scientists in Germany revealed that if you have an itch on the left side of your body, you can fix it by looking into a mirror and scratching the right side instead! For that they won the medicine prize.

6. Scientists ask lying liars about lying.

Image via iStock.

Scientists asked 1,000 liars about how often and how good they were at lying. Turns out, kids are masters of deception. This won them the psychology prize.

7. "On the Reception of Detection of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit."

Image via iStock.

Turns out some people are just bad at detecting what is and what isn't proactive paradigm-shifting phenomena that'll revolutionize your energy flow. Who knew? This was the winner of the peace category.

8.  For two researchers who learned what it means – what it really means – to be a badger and a goat.

Thomas Thwaites at the prize ceremony. Photo by Michael Dwyer/AP.

The biology category was jointly awarded to two men: Charles Foster, who lived as a badger, otter, deer, fox, and a bird; and Thomas Thwaites, who created an entire prosthetic goat-suit ... to live among the goats.

9. For a three-volume autobiographical work about the pleasure of collecting flies.

Image via iStock.

Specifically both dead flies and "flies that are not yet dead." This was the literature prize.

10. "For investigating whether things look different when you bend over and view them between your legs."

Image via iStock.

The perception prize was given for finding out that doing this might make images appear brighter and more distinct. Wow.

These are hilarious, but it's all in good fun.

Photo by Michael Dwyer/AP.

The winners all have a chance to bow out if they don't want to take part. And if they do want to accept their awards, they're invited to Harvard, where they're greeted with an adoring audience, (real) Nobel laureate emcees, prizes, and even an opera.

Marc Abrahams, who started the prizes, said the prizes are unique because it's not about who's the best or the worst or the most important.

"The only thing that matters is that it makes people laugh and then think," Abrahams said.

And there are a couple things we can take away.

Such as just because something is funny doesn't mean it can't still be helpful (imagine using the itchy mirror trick for a kid with chicken pox or in a burn ward). Or maybe these prizes show that science is still a human endeavor, and humans are, in the end, pretty weird, funny little animals ourselves.

But most of all, Abrahams hopes these can be a kind of inkblot test. People so often get told what's good and bad, but these prizes are so off-the-wall, they kind of defy any pat analysis. Abrahams hopes that each person will end up thinking and deciding for themselves which of these are good, silly, stupid, hilarious, or secretly brilliant.

As for me, I think I'm going to change up my wardrobe and then see what this whole badger thing is about.

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