Saudi media continue to cover the phenomenon of ‘red mercury‘. Arab News runs two pieces, one a brief discussion of the phenomenon itself; another about how one man got taken to the cleaners, but still managed to stick most of his financial loss on one even more dim than he.

Source of Singer hoax remains a mystery

JEDDAH: The feverish search for Singer sewing machines driven by a superstitious notion that they possessed mysterious powers to fulfill every human wish has lost its tempo as the common man is slowly realizing that it is another ploy to dupe the naive public, particularly in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Nobody has yet been arrested on the charge of launching the hoax claiming that red mercury inside the machines can capture a wish-granting genii and convert its owner to an Aladdin with the Magic Lamp, a fantasy almost every child in the Middle East knows.
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Man cuts losses in Singer scam

AQIQ: The local press has been in a tizzy of late over an odd scam going on in some Saudi markets involving antique Singer sewing machines and a drummed up story about the existence of a mythical substance called “red mercury” that — depending on which con man you ask, either helps you find gold, wards off evil jinni, or is a key and highly prized ingredient in making nuclear bombs. Al-Madinah daily reported yesterday that a man in Aqiq, near the western city of Baha, lost SR3,000 in his pitch to make a fortune by buying on old sewing machine. According to the report, the man had hoped to re-sell the old stitcher for SR100,000 after buying it for SR5,000. But it as too late — the local media had begun to cover the phenomenon and the number of buyers was dropping off fast. He did manage to find another sucker willing to pay SR2,000 for the machine, so the man managed to cut his losses.
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The story of red mercury link to jinns is unfortunately echoed in a Saudi Gazette story that involves young parents beating their two-year-old to death: Parents kill daughter while exorcising jinn

The fact that the belief in jinns is rooted in the Quran makes it a difficult one to argue against. Clearly, though, many are making diagnoses of jinns and jinn influence when there are far more rational explanations at hand. The Saudi government needs to step up to rid society of its superstitious beliefs in jinns and magic.