There's a big difference between low-impact, low-evidence beliefs like fan death, and easily verifiable, high impact things like "sacrifice a cat person".
The problem isn't that people have momentary false beliefs (fan death can be disproven with a bit of evidence gathering) but that there appears to be no correction mechanism. If you never see a dude turn into a cat, and if sacrificing people doesn't make you rich (worked for Jeff! ... Sorry couldn't help myself) then why do you think it works?
I'm not sure the answer is intellectual. It's quite possible people have some sort of psychological desire to believe things they know deep inside aren't true. Perhaps it's some sort of group belonging that must be satisfied ("yes, he walked on water!") by professing belief in what everyone can see is false.
The problem isn't that people have momentary false beliefs (fan death can be disproven with a bit of evidence gathering) but that there appears to be no correction mechanism. If you never see a dude turn into a cat, and if sacrificing people doesn't make you rich (worked for Jeff! ... Sorry couldn't help myself) then why do you think it works?
I'm not sure the answer is intellectual. It's quite possible people have some sort of psychological desire to believe things they know deep inside aren't true. Perhaps it's some sort of group belonging that must be satisfied ("yes, he walked on water!") by professing belief in what everyone can see is false.