Witchcraft and Fortune Telling Was Illegal in a Delaware Town Until 2024—But They Remain Regulated in Other Parts of the U.S.

Prohibitions on witchcraft and supernatural activity did not end with the Salem witch trials, and to a much lesser extent, were limited in the small town of Millsboro, Del., until just last year.

Millsboro leadership revised the town’s governing code in November 2024, but it previously prohibited “pretend” use of conjuration, fortune telling, palm reading or “dealing with spirits.” Violators of the code could be fined $50 to $100 and imprisoned for 10 to 30 days.

The rule, which had been in effect since 1998 according to the town code, further prohibited "witchcraft" and divination, otherwise known as seeking knowledge about the future by deploying alleged supernatural forces. The Millsboro town manager previously told local outlet Delmarva Now that he wasn’t actually aware of the rules, and he doubts they were enforced. 

Millsboro’s prohibition on these activities may have ended last year, but there are a number of other states and towns that similarly limit witchcraft and other supernatural practices for cash—especially when it comes to fortune telling. While governments have long tried to restrict or regulate supernatural practices, public fascination with them has only grown. Witchcraft and fortune telling are thriving in modern culture, from tarot card readings at local festivals to psychic services offered on TikTok’s booming “WitchTok” community.

While regulations on witchcraft may seem outlandish and unnecessary, Millsboro isn’t the only town that implemented such rules in recent decades—and some are still in effect.

These modern regulations tend to focus on the buying and selling of fortune telling. In Massachusetts, fortune tellers must be registered to sell their wares—or risk being fined up to $100. Licenses are inexpensive, ranging from $2 to $50. 

Under New York’s Penal Code, licensed or not, it’s illegal to sell fortune telling services. The law has been on the books for decades, but it’s rarely enforced.

Anyone who “claims or pretends to tell fortunes, or holds himself out as being able, by claimed or pretended use of occult powers, to answer questions or give advice on personal matters or to exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits or curses,” can be charged with a class B misdemeanor in New York State, punishable by 90 days in jail. 

The law carves out an exception for fortune telling conducted as part of a show or exhibit, but it must be clear that it’s for entertainment’s sake alone to avoid punishment.

While local and state laws around fortune telling vary, their goals appear similar: Preventing vulnerable people, who may go to a fortune teller for advice with a major life challenge or setback, from being scammed by undeliverable promises like seeing into the future. 

Although people are rarely brought up on charges related to fortune telling, cases do occasionally emerge. In July 2025, a woman was arrested for violating New York’s fortune telling law by charging almost $90,000 to a 43-year-old woman in 2023 to free her son of a “generational” curse. Pamela Ufie, 29, said the money went toward "specialty materials necessary to conduct rituals that would help the [family] defeat the curse.”

Complaints against fortune tellers in New York remain rare, with 11 complaints filed in the past 15 years, according to Gothamist. Police only made four arrests in that time. 

Bob Nygaard, a former Nassau County police officer turned private investigator, specializes in hunting down fortune tellers. He assisted in Ufie’s arrest, later telling Gothamist that people incorrectly assume fortune telling scams are a civil matter, not a criminal one punishable by law.

A criminal case hinges on the lies that a psychic tells a customer, like their purported ability to lift a curse, Nygaard told ABC News Australia. It’s not about proving whether someone is psychic, it’s about proving that they lied and it constituted theft, he said.

“Arresting and prosecuting self-proclaimed psychics who commit fortune telling fraud is a perfect example of ‘broken windows policing,’ whereby routine enforcement of small problems (e.g., violation of misdemeanor fortunetelling statutes and/or fortunetelling ordinances) incontrovertibly helps to prevent big problems (e.g., felony grand theft/grand larceny),” Nygaard told A&E Crime + Investigation in an email.

Ufie was ultimately arraigned on larceny and accosting charges, not fortune telling charges. Bans on charging customers for fortune telling have faced legal blowback over an alleged violation of free speech rights, with fortune tellers claiming that the bans criminalize a spiritual practice, according to the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review.

When local and state officials have tried to ban fortune telling entirely, they often run up against these free speech concerns. Regulating the practice through official licensing or permitting has some proven viability, as remains the case under Massachusetts law. One thing’s for certain, though: Residents in the small town of Millsboro, Del., won’t need to worry about any limitations on witchcraft or other supernatural activities anymore.

In the end, Millsboro’s quiet repeal is just one chapter in America’s centuries-long tug-of-war with the supernatural and a reminder that even when laws try to ban or control it, belief in the mystical always seems to find a way back.