The Questionable Relationship Between Homicides and the Lunar Cycle
ALEX D. POKORNY M.D.1, and
JOSEPH JACHIMCZYK M.D.2
1 Professor of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, 1200 Moursund, Houston, Tex. 77025 and Consultant in Psychiatry, Veterans Administration Hospital, Houston, Tex.
2 Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1200 Moursund, Houston, Tex. 77025 and Chief Medical Examiner, Harris County, Tex.
The authors studied 2,494 homicides that occurred in Harris County, Tex. (Houston), over a 14-year period in an effort to confirm a recent study suggesting that homicides are significantly related to phases of the moon. They found no significant relationship, although homicides did show strong day-of-week and hour-of-day cycles.
