A spurious correlation wrongly implies a cause and effect between two variables. For example, the number of astronauts dying in spacecraft is directly correlated to seatbelt use in cars: Use your seatbelt and save an astronaut life!
Interesting correlations are easy to find, but many will turn out to be spurious. Three examples are the skirt length theory, the Super Bowl indicator, and a suggested correlation between race and college completion rates.
