About

The Spaghetti Method is a slang term referring to the superstitious folk magic practice of putting menstrual blood in spaghetti sauce to make a man fall in love with you. The practice purportedly originates from the hoodoo ethnoreligion, which combines American botanical knowledge and African spiritual practices, although its exact origins are unclear. The method was first discussed online as early as 2009 and written about in 1990 in Jim Haskins' book Voodoo and Hoodoo. Word of the method spread online over the following years, seeing a resurgence in popularity on TikTok in 2024 and 2025 as a subject of discourse, memes and shock. On TikTok, it is sometimes suggested that men can do the spaghetti method on women by putting their semen in spaghetti sauce, although this does not seem to be a part of the traditional hoodoo magic.

Origin

The earliest known online mention of putting period blood in spaghetti sauce as a type of love spell was posted to ThoughCo^[1] by writer Patti Wigington on November 14th, 2009 as part of an editorial titled, "Body Fluids in Magic." In the piece, Wigington writes about the book Voodoo and Hoodoo by Jim Haskins,^[2] in which he talks to traditional folk magic practitioners to learn more about the subject. In the book, Haskins writes that, "to keep a man crazy about her and uninterested in wandering, a woman simply has to mix some of her menstrual blood into his food or drink."

Wiginton goes on to describe a portion of the book about someone refusing to eat spaghetti growing up over fear that there was blood in it, writing:

A North Carolina folk magic practitioner who asked to be identified as Mechon says that growing up, the men in her family knew not to eat any foods that might have a woman's blood hidden inside it. "My uncle would never eat spaghetti, or anything with tomato sauce," she says. "The only way him and his brothers would eat things like that was if they were at a restaurant. They knew the women could control them with the blood if they ate it."

Spread

Word of the "spaghetti method" continued to spread online over the following years under a variety of names. On January 7th, 2012, the ThoughCo article was posted to /r/todayilearned,^[3] garnering around 13 upvotes in 13 years. On July 29th, 2013, MadameNoir^[4] published an article titled "10 Superstitions Black Folk Can’t Let Go Of" that describes the act of putting menstrual blood in spaghetti.

On December 2nd, 2019, a now-deleted Redditor made a post to /r/confession^[5] in which they confess to putting their period blood in their boyfriend's spaghetti, garnering over 110 upvotes in six years.

In the 2020s, word of the love spell spread to TikTok under the term "spaghetti method," although it is unclear who first shared the method on the site. In some videos, it is suggested that men can put their semen in spaghetti sauce to have the same effect on women, although this does not appear to be part of the traditional magic.

On January 10th, 2025, TikToker^[6] @_kanai4 posted a video captioned, "when you tried to do the spaghetti method on her but she notices," garnering over 171,000 views in two weeks.

On January 20th, TikToker^[7] @whois.malik1 posted a similar video set to the same song about the spaghetti method, garnering over 540,000 views in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References