"It was as if an occult hand had…"

Wiki:

The Order of the Occult Hand is a whimsical secret society of journalists who have used the phrase "It was as if an occult hand had…" in print as a sort of inside joke. Since the introduction of the phrase in 1965, the "Order" has been widely exposed in the media. Paul Greenberg reports that as of 2006, the Order has chosen a new secret phrase and is back in operation.