Red Mercury in Sewing Machines??
April 20, 2009 by Chloe Findlay-Harder
Filed under Home & Living
Now this is a new one on me…
Apparently someone has started a rumor in Saudi Arabia that old sewing machines contain a “magical” substance known as red mercury.
The general belief is that red mercury has all sorts of amazing abilities, from turning off cellphones, helping the owner to find gold or even build nuclear weapons!
There is of course, no such substance as red mercury and as far I can can tell, mercury of any kind has never been used in sewing machines.
“RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi police are investigating the origins of a hoax that had hundreds of people believing that old sewing machines may bring fortune because they contained an elusive, and probably mythical, substance known as red mercury”
quote: Reuters
image: Stock.xchg
Uhh, what??? This is bizarre.
No kidding Susan! Boy, it’s amazing what people will believe sometimes…
If we’re talking about the same substance, “red mercury” is known as Cinnabar. You may have some in your medicine cabinet if you use a thermometer with the “red mercury” as opposed to the traditional silver mercury, which is difficult to read in small thermometers, hence the use of Cinnabar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar