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MARTIN GARDNER ON JAMES ARTHUR RAY | ON | 16 NEW CSI FELLOWS

THE MAG A ZINE FOR SCI ENCE AND REA SON Vol ume 34, No. 2 • March / April 2010 • INTRODUCTORY PRICE U.S. and Canada $4.95

Climate Wars Science and Its Disputers

Oprah’s Gullibility

How Should Skeptics Deal with Cranks?

Why Persists SI March April 2010 pgs_SI J A 2009 1/22/10 4:19 PM Page 2

Formerly the Committee For the SCientiFiC inveStigation oF ClaimS oF the (CSiCoP) at the Cen ter For in quiry/tranSnational A

Paul Kurtz, Founder and Chairman Emeritus Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Richard Schroeder, Chairman , Research Fellow Ronald A. Lindsay, President and CEO , Research Fellow Bar ry Karr, Ex ec u tive Di rect or , Research Fellow

James E. Al cock, psy chol o gist, York Univ., Tor on to David J. Helfand, professor of astronomy, John Pau los, math e ma ti cian, Tem ple Univ. Mar cia An gell, M.D., former ed i tor-in-chief, New Columbia Univ. Stev en Pink er, cog ni tive sci entist, Harvard Eng land Jour nal of Med icine Doug las R. Hof stad ter, pro fes sor of hu man un der - Mas si mo Pol id oro, sci ence writer, au thor, Steph en Bar rett, M.D., psy chi a trist, au thor, stand ing and cog ni tive sci ence, In di ana Univ. ex ec u tive di rect or CI CAP, It a ly con sum er ad vo cate, Al len town, Pa. Ger ald Hol ton, Mal linc krodt Pro fes sor of Phys ics Mil ton Ro sen berg, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Chic a go Willem Betz, professor of medicine, Univ. of and pro fes sor of his to ry of sci ence, Har vard Univ. Wal la ce Sam pson, M.D., clin i cal pro fes sor of Brussels Ray Hy man, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Or e gon med i cine, Stan ford Univ., ed i tor, Sci en tif ic Ir ving Bie der man, psy chol o gist, Univ. of South ern Le on Jar off, sci en ces ed i tor emer i tus, Time Re view of Al ter na tive Med i cine Cal i for nia Ser gei Ka pit za, former ed i tor, Rus sian edi tion, Sus an Black more, Vis it ing Lec tur er, Univ. of the Sci en tif ic Amer ican Am ar deo Sar ma*, chairman, GWUP, Ger ma ny West of Eng land, Bris tol Law rence M. Krauss, foundation professor, Ev ry Schatz man, former pres i dent, French Phys ics Hen ri Broch, phys i cist, Univ. of Nice, France School of Earth and Space Exploration and As so ci a tion Jan Har old Brun vand, folk lor ist, pro fes sor Physics Dept., director, Origins Initiative, Eu ge nie Scott, phys i cal an thro pol o gist, ex ec u tive emer i tus of Eng lish, Univ. of Utah Arizona State University di rect or, Na tional Cen ter for Sci ence Ed u ca tion Mar io Bunge, phi los o pher, McGill Univer si ty Harry Kroto, professor of chemistry and bio- Rob ert Sheaf fer, sci ence writer Sean B. Carroll, professor of molecular genetics, chemistry, State University; Nobel El ie A. Shne our, bi o chem ist, au thor, president and laureate Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison research director, Bi os ys tems Re search In sti tute, Ed win C. Krupp, as tron o mer, di rect or, Grif fith John R. Cole, an thro pol o gist, ed i tor, Na tion al La Jol la, Ca lif. Ob ser va to ry Cen ter for Sci ence Ed uca tion Dick Smith, film pro duc er, pub lish er, Ter rey Hills, Paul Kurtz,* professor emeritus of philosophy, Fred er ick Crews, lit er ary and cul tur al crit ic, N.S.W., Aus tral ia pro fes sor emer i tus of Eng lish, Univ. of SUNY at Buffalo Rob ert Stein er, ma gi cian, au thor, El Cer ri to, Ca lif. Cal i for nia, Berke ley Law rence Kusche, sci ence writer Rich ard Dawk ins, zo ol o gist, Ox ford Univ. Le on Le der man, emer i tus di rect or, Fer mi lab; Vic tor J. Sten ger, emer i tus pro fes sor of phys ics Ge of frey Dean, tech ni cal ed i tor, Perth, Aus tral ia No bel lau re ate in phys ics and as tron o my, Univ. of Ha waii; ad junct Cor nel is de Ja ger, pro fes sor of as tro phys ics, Univ. Scott Lil i en feld, psy chol o gist, Emory Univ. pro fes sor of phi los o phy, Univ. of Col o ra do of Utrecht, the Neth er lands Lin Zix in, former ed i tor, Sci ence and Tech nol o gy Jill Cor nell Tar ter, as tron o mer, SE TI In sti tute, Dan i el C. Den nett, uni ver si ty pro fes sor and Aus - Dai ly (Chi na) Moun tain View, Ca lif. tin B. Fletch er Pro fes sor of Phi los o phy, di rect or Je re Lipps, Mu se um of Pa le on tol o gy, Univ. of Car ol Tav ris, psy chol o gist and au thor, Los Ange les, Ca lif. of Cen ter for Cog ni tive Stud ies at Tufts Uni v. Cal i for nia, Berke ley Da vid Thom as, phys i cist and math e ma ti cian, Ann Druyan, writer and producer, and CEO, Eliz a beth Loft us, pro fes sor of psy chol o gy, Univ. of Per al ta, New Mex i co Cal i for nia, Ir vine Cosmos Studios, Ithaca, New York Steph en Toul min, pro fes sor of phi los o phy, Univ. of Da vid Marks, psy chol o gist, City Uni ver si ty, Lon don Ken neth Fed er, pro fes sor of an thro pol o gy, South ern Cal i for nia Cen tral Con nec ti cut State Univ. Mar io Men dez-Acos ta, jour nal ist and Neil de Gras se Ty son, as tro phys i cist and di rect or, An to ny Flew, phi los o pher, Reading Univ., U.K. sci ence writer, Mex i co City, Mexi co Hay den Plan e tari um, Barbara Forrest, professor of philosophy, Marv in Min sky, pro fes sor of me dia arts and Ma ri lyn vos Sa vant, Pa rade mag a zine Southeastern Louisiana Univ. sci en ces, M.I.T. con trib ut ing ed i tor An drew Fra knoi, as tron o mer, Foot hill Col lege, Los Da vid Mor ri son, space sci en tist, NA SA Ames Al tos Hills, Ca lif. Re search Cen ter Stev en Wein berg, pro fes sor of phys ics and Kend rick Fra zi er*, sci ence writer, ed i tor, SKEP TI CAL Rich ard A. Mul ler, pro fes sor of phys ics, Univ. of as tron o my, Univ. of Tex as at Aus tin; IN QUIR ER Ca lif., Berke ley No bel lau re ate Yv es Gal i fret, executive secretary, l’Union Joe Nick ell, sen ior re search fel low, CSI E.O. Wil son, uni ver si ty pro fes sor emer i tus, Rationaliste Lee Nis bet, phi los o pher, Med aille Col lege Har vard Uni ver si ty Mar tin Gard ner, au thor, crit ic Bill Nye, sci ence ed u ca tor and tel e vi sion host, Rich ard Wis e man, psy chol o gist, Uni ver si ty of Mur ray Gell-Mann, pro fes sor of phys ics, Santa Fe Nye Labs Hert ford shire In sti tute; No bel lau re ate James E. Oberg, sci ence writer Benjamin Wolozin*, professor, department of phar- Thom as Gi lov ich, psy chol o gist, Cor nell Univ. Irm gard Oe pen, pro fes sor of med i cine (re tired), macology, Boston University School of Medicine Mar burg, Ger ma ny Sus an Haack, Coop er Sen ior Schol ar in Arts Marv in Zel en, stat is ti cian, Har vard Univ. and Sci en ces, professor of phi los o phy and Lor en Pan kratz, psy chol o gist, Ore gon Health professor of Law, Uni ver si ty of Mi ami Sci en ces Univ. * Mem ber, CSI Ex ec u tive Coun cil C.E.M. Hansel, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Wales Robert L. Park, professor of physics, Univ. of Maryland (Af fil i a tions giv en for iden ti fi ca tion on ly.)

The SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER (ISSN 0194-6730) is pub lished bi month ly by the Com mit tee for Skeptical Guide for Au thors for for mat, ref er en ce requirements, and submittal re quire ments. It is on our Web Inquiry, 3965 Rensch Road, Amherst, NY 14228. Print ed in U.S.A. Pe ri od i cals post age paid at Buf - site at www.csi cop.org/publications/guide and on page 56 of the March/April 2008 is sue. Or you may fa lo, NY, and at ad di tion al mail ing of fi ces. Sub scrip tion pri ces: one year (six is sues), $35; two years, send a fax re quest to the ed i tor. $60; three years, $84; sin gle is sue, $4.95. Ca na di an and for eign or ders: Pay ment in U.S. funds drawn Ar ti cles, re ports, re views, and let ters pub lished in the SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER rep re sent the views and on a U.S. bank must ac com pa ny or ders; please add US$10 per year for ship ping. Ca na di an and for - work of in di vid u al au thors. Their pub li ca tion does not nec es sa ri ly con sti tute an en dorse ment by CSI eign cus tom ers are en cour aged to use Vi sa or Mas ter Card. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. or its mem bers un less so stat ed. 41153509. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: IMEX, P.O. Box 4332, Station Rd., Toronto, Cop y right ©2010 by the Com mit tee for Skeptical Inquiry. All rights re served. The SKEP TI CAL IN - ON M5W 3J4. QUIR ER is avail a ble on 16mm mi cro film, 35mm mi cro film, and 105mm mi cro fiche from Uni ver si ty In quir ies from the me dia and the pub lic about the work of the Com mit tee should be made to Barry Mi cro films In ter na tion al and is in dexed in the Read er’s Guide to Pe ri od i cal Lit er a ture. Karr, Executive Director, CSI, P.O. Box 703, Am herst, NY 14226-0703. Tel.: 716-636-1425. Fax: Sub scrip tions and chan ges of ad dress should be ad dressed to: SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER, P.O. Box 703, 716-636-1733. Am herst, NY 14226-0703. Or call toll-free 1-800-634-1610 (out side the U.S. call 716-636-1425). Man u scripts, let ters, books for re view, and ed i to ri al in quir ies should be ad dressed to Kend rick Fra - Old ad dress as well as new are nec es sa ry for change of sub scrib er’s ad dress, with six weeks ad vance no - zi er, Ed i tor, SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER, 944 Deer Drive NE, Al bu querque, NM 87122 E-mail: kendrick- tice. SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER sub scrib ers may not speak on be half of CSI or the SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER. [email protected]. Fax: 505-828-2080. Be fore sub mit ting any man u script, please con sult our Post mas ter: Send chan ges of ad dress to SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER, P.O. Box 703, Am herst, NY 14226-0703. SI March April 2010 pgs_SI J A 2009 1/27/10 10:44 AM Page 3

SPECIAL REPORT Skepti cal Inquir er 12 Entertainment, Fakery, and March / April 2010 • Vol. 34, No. 2 Ambiguity: Examining New York’s ‘Fortune Telling Law‘ ARTICLES RYAN SHAFFER

32 The and the Serial Killer COLUMNS Examining the ‘Best Case’ ED I TOR’S NOTE for Psychic Detectives The Case Against Psychic Detectives ...... 4 An examination of the ‘best case’ of NEWS AND COM MENT abilities offers insight into how extraordinary claims are Sixteen Notable Figures in Science and Elected CSI made, exaggerated, and clung to despite clear discon- Fellows / Study Reveals Gingko Biloba Ineffective for Memory / firming evidence. African Albinos Murdered for Witchcraft / A Friend Remembers Norm Levitt, Mathematician and Foe of / Nig e - BENJAMIN RADFORD rian Witch Hunter Sues CFI Activist to Quell Criticism / The Struggle Against Pseudoscience / Skeptic’s Police Blotter . . . . . 5 38 Psychic Defective IN VES TI GA TIVE FILES ’s History of Failure John Edward: Spirit Huckster The most extensive study of alleged psychic Sylvia JOE NICK ELL...... 17 Browne’s predictions about missing persons and NOTES OF A FRINGE WATCHER murder cases reveals a strange discrepancy: despite her James Arthur Ray: Guru and repeated claim to be more than 85 percent correct, it Culprit seems that Browne has not even been mostly correct ...... 19 about a single case. NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD RYAN SHAFFER The Mystery of the Moving Tombstone AND AGATHA JADWISZCZOK MAS SI MO POLIDORO...... 21 THINK ING ABOUT SCI ENCE 43 Encounters with Aliens Climate Denialism (the Local Kind) MAS SI MO PI GLI UC CI...... 23 A strange army of paranormalists has infested the PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS Internet and mail system.We need an understanding of Famous Socorro ‘UFO Landing’ a Student Prank? the ethics and practicalities of dealing with people whose ...... 25 thinking seems to come from another planet. THE SKEPTICAL INQUIREE MARTIN BRIDGSTOCK BodyTalk: Boon or Bogus? BENJAMIN RADFORD...... 28 48 Disinformation about SCIENCE WATCH Global Warming An Eye for the Ladies Most arguments from global warming disputers don’t KENNETH W. KRAUSE...... 29 make scientific sense or are based on distorted or NEW BOOKS...... 61 obsolete information. Here are short answers to ten of these ‘red-flag’ arguments. LET TERS TO THE ED I TOR...... 62 DAVID MORRISON THE LAST LAUGH ...... 66

51 Faith in the Power of Witchcraft BOOK REVIEWS ANTHONY LAYNG Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free 54 Oprah Winfrey: Bright Charles Pierce (but Gullible) Billionaire KEITH TAYLOR...... 57 MARTIN GARDNER 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Behavior. COMMENTARIES Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry L. Beyerstein PETER LAMAL...... 58 14 Mann Bites Dog Why ‘Climategate’ Was Newsworthy : The Life and Times of a Legend Joshua Blu Buhs BENJAMIN RADFORD...... 59

15 American Physical Society Rejects The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft Climate Anti-Science and Conflict in Early New England JOHN R. MASHEY Emerson W. Baker ...... 60 SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 9:53 AM Page 4

Skep ti cal In quir er™ Editor’s Note THE MAG A ZINE FOR SCI ENCE AND REA SON ED I TOR Kend rick Fra zi er ED I TO RI AL BOARD James E. Al cock Thom as Cas ten Mar tin Gard ner Ray Hy man The Case Against Psychic Detectives Paul Kurtz Joe Nick ell Am ar deo Sar ma any years ago I wrote a four-page guide for newspaper editors on how Benjamin Wolozin to cover and the paranormal. I devoted several paragraphs to CON SULT ING ED I TORS the “rebirth of credulous acceptance” concerning “psychic” body finding Sus an J. Black more M Ken neth L. Fed er and crime solving and how to do a more skeptical job covering such claims. Such Barry Karr E. C. Krupp “psychic detectives” thrive, I pointed out, because, among other things, they make Scott O. Lil i en feld a large number of vague, very ambiguous statements that they subsequently self- Da vid F. Marks Jay M. Pasachoff select (ignoring most of the others) and reinterpret self-servingly in ways that may Eu ge nie Scott seem to fit the facts. Our own minds aid in making these matches. Media pro- Rich ard Wis e man CON TRIB UT ING ED I TORS mulgate the misconceptions further by uncritically reporting only seeming hits Austin Dacey and ignoring (usually not even inquiring about) all the frequent misses. D.J. Grothe Harriet Hall The advice is even more timely today. The modern infotainment industry Kenneth W. Krause loves this stuff even more than newspapers did in the past. Entertainment televi- Chris Moon ey James E. Oberg sion shows shamelessly promote so-called psychics. They never go back to look at Rob ert Sheaf fer the claimants’ abundant misses. I confess I find such psychic detectives (and those Da vid E. Thom as MAN A GING ED I TOR who promote them) especially repugnant. They play on the vulnerabilities and Ben ja min Rad ford emotions of victims’ families and on the natural willingness of police to listen to ART DI RECT OR all who claim to have information. Chri sto pher Fix PRO DUC TION But do they really have any special abilities? That is an empirical matter, and Paul Loynes it’s right up our line. In this issue we present two different types of investigations ASSISTANT EDITORS Julia Lavarnway whose results justify the collective title “The Case Against Psychic Detectives.” Gingle C. Lee In the first, Benjamin Radford conducts an in-depth investigation into one CAR TOON IST particular case, selected not by Radford but by an insistent podcast host who chal- Rob Pu dim WEB DEVELOPER lenged Radford to investigate the “best case” for psychic detectives. The 1982 case C. Alan Zoppa involves the murder of cheerleader Amie Hoffman in Hanover Township, New Jersey, and the work of local psychic Nancy Weber. Weber, asserted many viewers PUB LISH ER’S REP RE SENT A TIVE Bar ry Karr of a TV show about the case, solved the crime and was “100% correct.” Radford COR PO RATE COUN SEL is SI’s managing editor and also has been newly designated a Committee for Bren ton N. Ver Ploeg Skeptical Inquiry research fellow for his investigative prowess. He spent nine BUSI NESS MAN A GER Matthew Cravatta months on the case, interviewing the police and examining written records. What FIS CAL OF FI CER he finds casts a considerably different light on the matter and yields valuable Paul Pau lin insights into the psychological processes by which we are led to believe in—and VICE PRESIDENT OF PLANNING AND DE VEL OP MENT cling to belief in—things that are verifiably untrue. Sherry Rook In the second, “Psychic Defective: Sylvia Browne’s History of Failure,” Ryan DATA OF FI CER Shaffer and Agatha Jadwiszczok systematically examine all the cases of probably the Jacalyn Mohr STAFF most visible (certainly the most promoted and self-promoted) of all psychic detec- Pa tri cia Beau Cheryl Catania tives, Sylvia Browne. (Browne and went on a well-publicized, Roe Giambrone high-priced lecture tour together in late 2009, and she has been a frequent guest on Leah Gordon Sandy Kujawa Live and , appearances we have critically exam- An thony San ta Lu cia ined before.) Shaffer, a doctoral candidate in history at SUNY–Stony Brook, and John Sul li van Vance Vi grass Jadwiszczok, who has been researching Sylvia Browne for the last three years, exam- PUB LIC RE LA TIONS ined all 115 criminal cases for which transcripts of Browne’s readings are available. Nathan Bupp They developed criteria for correct and wrong predictions. Browne contends her Henry Huber IN QUIRY ME DIA PRO DUC TIONS accuracy rate is “somewhere between 87 and 90 percent.” Our authors’ investiga- Thom as Flynn tions reveal something just slightly different: in the 115 cases, Browne was correct DI RECT OR OF LI BRAR IES ... zero times. Tim o thy S. Binga

Could there be a greater gap between assertion and reality? The SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER is the of fi cial jour nal of the Com mit tee for Skeptical Inquiry, an in ter na tion al or gan i za tion. —KENDRICK FRAZIER

COMMITTEE FOR SKEPTICAL INQUIRY “...promotes science and scientific inquiry, , science education, and the use of reason in examining important issues.” SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 9:54 AM Page 5

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Sixteen Notable Figures in Science and Skepticism Elected CSI Fellows

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, publisher of the , “We are ecstatic to be able to count Randi as a CSI fellow once announces the election of fifteen new fellows chosen for “distinguished again,” said CSI Executive Director Barry Karr. achieve ment in science and skepticism.” “We are pleased to add so many distinguished All have made major contributions to science and reason, critical inquiry, scholars, scientists, authors, and science populariz- and public education. They include notable figures in a wide variety of sci- ers to the already stellar list of CSI fellows,” said entific and scholarly fields and prominent writers and investigators. Karr. “They will no doubt prove to be sterling assets CSI promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of to the CSI brain trust as we move forward in the next reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims. Fellows are century defending science, reason, and common elected periodically by CSI’s Executive Council. Can didates are nominated sense against the purveyors of , quack- by other fellows or by members of the Executive Council. ery, and irrationality.” This is the largest number of new fellows elected at one time since The approximately forty original founding fel- the original founding of the committee (then CSICOP, the Committee for lows included CSI founder Paul Kurtz, Martin Gardner, Randi, Carl Sagan, the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) in 1976. Isaac Asimov, Sidney Hook, , and B.F. Skinner. Present CSI fel- In addition to these fifteen new fellows, CSI is very pleased to lows include Susan Blackmore, Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Ann announce that James “The Amazing” Randi has again been named a fel- Druyan, Lawrence M. Krauss, Elizabeth Loftus, Marvin Min sky, Steven Pinker, low of the Com mittee and has accepted. Randi was, of course, one of the Eugenie Scott, Neil de Grasse Tyson, E.O. Wilson, and Nobel laureates original founders of the organization back in 1976. For various legal and Murray Gell-Mann, Sir Harry Kroto, Leon Lederman, and Steven Wein berg. personal reasons, Randi felt obligated to resign from CSICOP during the A full list of fellows ap pears on the inside front cover of this and every SI height of the lawsuits brought against Randi and CSICOP in the early and on CSI’s Web site at http://csicop.org/about/csi_fellows_and_staff. 1990s by Uri Geller and Eldon Byrd. Here are the new fellows:

Kimball Atwood IV, physician, author, Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions was published in 2003 by John Newton, Massachusetts. and Sons and has been translated into several languages. His Atwood is a practicing anesthesiologist. He had textbook Becoming a Critical Thinker was first published in 2000, been interested in pseudoscience for years but with a second edition in 2005. became active only after a conference at his own hospital advocated Thera peutic Touch, Guided K.C. Cole, science writer, author, professor, Imagery, and other implausible practices as effec- University of Southern ’s Annenberg tive treatments for cancer. Shortly thereafter he School of Journalism. became a member of the Massachusetts Special Commission on Com - A longtime writer for the Los Angeles Times and plementary and Altern ative Medical Practi tioners, and in 2002 wrote contributor to publications including The New its Minority Report opposing licensure for naturopaths. He has writ- York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, ten extensively on implausible medical claims, including contributions and Esquire (among many others), Cole has also to the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, and has provided expert opinion to the been an editor at Newsday and Discover maga- Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. Atwood is a contrib- zine. She has taught at UCLA, Yale, and utor to the Science-Based Medicine blog and an associate editor of the Wesleyan. Her books include the best-selling Scientific Review of . He is on the boards of Citizens The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty, First for Responsible Care and Research (CIRCARE) and the Institute for You Build a Cloud . . . and Other Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life, Science in Medicine. He is particularly concerned with implausible The Hole in the Universe, and Mind Over Matter: Conversations with the claims being promoted, tacitly or otherwise, by medical schools and Cosmos. Her most recent book is Something Incredibly Wonderful government and with the ethics of human trials of such claims. Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the World He Made Up—a memoir and biography of the physicist (and skeptic) who created San Francisco’s Robert T. Carroll, writer, emeritus professor Exploratorium and who first stimulated her love of science. of philosophy, Sacramento City College. Carroll taught in his college’s philosophy Christopher C. French, professor, Depart ment department for three decades (1977–2007) of Psychology, and head of the Anomalistic and served several years as chairman. He is cre- Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths College, ator of The Skeptic’s Dictionary Web site, University of London. which has six hundred entries on topics rang- French is editor-in-chief of The Skeptic, the ing from to , as well as U.K.’s quarterly skeptic magazine (published by numerous essays, book reviews, and a blog CSI), and a noted investigator of parapsycho- (Skeptimedia) where he comments on media logical and paranormal claims. He is a fellow of coverage of the paranormal, , and pseudoscience. His the British Psychological Society. He is also a book The Skeptic’s Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing member of the Scientific Ad visory Board of the

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British False Memory Society and the Advisory Board of the Cen ter for The Oprah Magazine titled “The Health In spector.” Her presentation to Inquiry/London. He has published more than one hundred articles and CSI’s The Skeptic’s Toolbox in August 2009 was “Tooth Fairy Science chapters on a wide range of topics in psychology. His main current area and Other Pitfalls: Applying Rigorous Science to Messy Medicine.” She of research is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous expe- received her MD from the University of Washington, did her intern- riences. He is one of London’s most active skeptics, making frequent ship in the Air Force (the second female ever to do so), and was the first appearances on TV and radio and writing a regular column for the female graduate of the Air Force family practice residency at Eglin Air Guardian’s online science pages. Force Base. During a long career as an Air Force physician, she held var- ious positions from flight surgeon to director of Base Medical Services Luigi Garlaschelli, chemist, Università di and did everything from delivering babies to taking the controls of a B- Pavia (Italy), and research fellow of CICAP, 52. She retired with the rank of colonel. She recently published Women the Italian skeptic’s group. Aren’t Sup posed to Fly: The Memoirs of a Female Flight Surgeon. Garlaschelli has done major investigative work on claims of . His duplication Stuart D. Jordan, NASA astrophysicist in the lab of the blood of St. Januarius, pub- emeritus, science advisor to Center for lished in Nature in 1991, made worldwide Inquiry/Office of Public Policy, Washington, DC. news. He has investigated and duplicated Jordan, a Rhodes scholar, received his PhD in weeping Madonnas and has investigated physics and astrophysics from the University other religious relics, including the Shroud of Turin (on which he of Colorado and specialized in solar and stellar wrote a book and in October 2009 revealed a major experiment dur- atmospheres. He joined NASA’s Goddard Space ing CICAP’s 20th Anniversary Congress; see SI, January/February Flight Center in 1968 and served at different 2010). He is also expected to soon publish an investigation on the times as solar branch head, solar program supposed miracles of Lourdes. Apart from miracles, Garlaschelli has office chief (NASA HQ), project scientist, investigated, experimented, and challenged homeopaths and many international astrophysics monograph series coordinator, as well as other pseudoscientific claims. He learned from the late Indian skep- research astrophysicist and senior staff scientist. In recent years he has tic Prema nand how to be a fakir and, during lectures and TV shows, become interested in science and public policy and became science he frequently performs fakir stunts. He has also conducted investiga- advisor to CFI’s Office of Public Policy, advising the organization on tions, many reported in SI, on spook hills, the Italian sword in the science-policy matters. He wrote its position paper “Global Climate stone, petrified bodies, haunted houses, and many psychics, both in Change Triggered by Global Warming,” which became a much-com- the lab and out. mented-upon two-article package in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, and he recently spearheaded its Credibility Project investigation, also re - Maryanne Garry, professor, School of ported on in SI. Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Kenneth R. Miller, professor of biology, Garry has conducted extensive research into Brown University. memory, especially false memories. She is in - Miller has been among the world’s leading terested in how we can come to believe we saw (and arguably most articulate and effective) or did something that we never did and how defenders of Darwinian evolution against the we decide whether our memories are true or attacks of creationism (and its most recent false. She has testified in court on the accuracy incarnation, intelligent design). He is consid- of eyewitness testimony and “recovered” ered a magnificent teacher, public educator, memories of childhood sexual abuse. She is president of the Society for and role model for how to communicate to the Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. Col leagues consider her public about science and pseudoscience. His an innovative experimenter and outstanding teacher. After earning her testimony in the famous 2005 Dover trial is widely credited with doctorate at the University of Connecticut, she worked closely with playing a crucial role in overturning efforts to present intelligent prominent memory expert (and CSI fellow) Elizabeth Loftus. They design theory as a “scientific” alternative to natural selection in class- published many papers together, beginning with a demonstration rooms. In 2008 he received the AAAS “Award for Public showing that imagining a hypothetical childhood experience causes Understanding of Science and Technology” for “his sustained efforts subjects to become more confident the experience was real. Garry and and excellence in communicating evolutionary science.” In 2009 he her students have since advanced our understanding of social influences was presented with the Gregor Mendel Medal by Villanova Uni - on memory, showing that placebos, aggression, and both true and fake versity. His books include Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for photos can produce false memories. America’s Soul and Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution. He is coauthor, with Harriet Hall, retired family physician, Joseph S. Levine, of a series of high school biol- writer, Puyallup, Washington. ogy textbooks used by millions of students Hall (The SkepDoc) writes prolifically about nationwide. pseudoscience and questionable medical prac- tices. Many of her articles have appeared in , mathematician, recent years in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, for Waalre, the . which she is a contributing editor. She also is a Nienhuys is a noted investigator of paranormal weekly contributor to the Science-Based Med - and pseudoscientific claims. A mathematician icine blog and has a new regular column in O, who formerly taught at the Eind hoven Uni -

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versity of Technology, as well as a science writer and translator, he is interactions and for public defense of evolutionary biology from pseu- also secretary of , the Dutch skeptics group; editor of doscientific attack.” He is also editor-in-chief of Philosophy and Theory its publication, ; and Web site editor for the Dutch Association in Biology and associate editor of Biology and Philosophy. Against . He is coauthor, with Marcel Hulspas, of a 488- page Dutch encyclopedia of pseudoscience and wrote a book on the Philip Plait, astronomer, lecturer, and writer. history and culture of China with his wife, Cheng Shan-Hwei. Plait created the Bad Astronomy blog (now at Nienhuys has participated in numerous investigations, often in col- http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/bad laboration with others, and has spoken frequently at skeptic confer- astronomy), clarifying distortions and misun- ences. He was involved in investigations of the “Mars Effect,” e.g., see derstandings of astronomy-related topics. His Benski et al., The Mars Effect: A French Test of over 1,000 Sports books include Death from the Skies: These Are the Champions (Prometheus 1996). Ways the World Will End and Bad Astronomy: Miscon ceptions and Misuses Re vealed from Steven Novella, assistant professor of to the Moon Landing ‘.’ Before neurology, Yale University School of Medicine. becoming an astronomy writer and educator, Novella is president of the New England Skeptical Plait worked ten years on the Hubble Space Telescope. His term as pres- Society and host of its popular weekly science pod- ident of the Educational Foundation ended December 31, cast, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. His Neuro - 2009, and he is now at work on a science-related television project. LogicaBlog covers news and issues in neuroscience, skepticism, and critical thinking. He is also founder Seth Shostak, senior astronomer, SETI Institute, and executive editor of the Science-Based Medicine Mountain View, California. Web site (www.sciencebasedmedicine.org), which For much of his career, Shostak conducted examines in the light of science and skepticism radio astronomy research on galaxies. He has unscientific and pseudoscientific healthcare claims that have infiltrated become one of the most eloquent, effective, and medicine. His article “The Anti-Vaccination Movement” led a three- energetic of pseudoscience. He hosts article cover special on myths and misconceptions about vaccinations the SETI Institute’s hour-long radio program and autism in the November/Decem ber 2007 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. Are We Alone?, featuring the latest scientific research in cosmology, physics, genetics, pale- Jay M. Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor ontology, evolutionary biology, and astrobiol- of Astronomy and director of the Hopkins ogy. Once a month, with “Skeptic Check,” the program takes a critical Observatory, Williams College. look at UFOs, astrology, etc. Shostak received the Klumpke-Roberts Pasachoff, a solar astronomer, has gone on fifty Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 2004 in recognition expeditions to observe solar eclipses. He is of his outstanding contributions to the public understanding and author or coauthor of many books and text- appreciation of astronomy. He has authored three hundred articles, and books in physics and astronomy, including The his books include Confessions of an Alien Hunter (2009), Life in the Cosmos: Astronomy for the New Millennium, A Universe (2001), and Sharing the Universe (1998). Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Contemporary Astronomy, Invita tion to Physics, and Astronomy: From the Earth to the CFI SHARE Program Raises Money for Haiti Universe. He writes frequently for popular periodicals on science and astronomy. In recent years he has been teaching a course titled “Science In response to the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, and Pseudo science” at Williams College examining alternative medicine, the CFI’s Skeptics and Humanists Aid and Relief the misleading use of data, scholar , public portrayals of science, Effort (S.H.A.R.E.) raised $47,000 in the first day; science and , and other related topics. He is a SKEPTICAL donations are still desperately needed. INQUIRER consulting editor. To read this story, visit www.csicop.org/SIExtras. Massimo Pigliucci, professor of philosophy, City University of New York–Lehman College. Pigliucci’s research focuses on the structure of evolutionary theory, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion. He has doctoral degrees in genetics, botany, and philosophy of science. He has published over one hundred technical papers and several books, including Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science and his forthcoming Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. He is well known to SI readers for his column “Thinking About Science.” Pigliucci received the Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution and was elected a fellow of the AAAS “for fundamental studies of genotype by environment

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Study Reveals Gingko this claim has always been thin; Gingko Preliminary, small, or poorly de - Biloba Ineffective for biloba has a mild blood-thinning effect. It signed studies are unreliable, and they was therefore claimed that the herbal drug often result in false positives. Only large Memory would enhance blood flow to the brain definitive trials are reliable. and improve brain function. Finding a potential mechanism for a Published in the December 2009 Jour nal However, this is not a plausible mecha- drug, herbal or otherwise, is not a suffi- of the American Medical Association are the nism. The brain exquisitely regulates its cient basis for a clinical claim; clinical tri- results of the largest and longest trial to own blood flow, and suboptimal perfusion als with actual people are needed to sup- date of Gingko biloba for the improve- results in a widening of the blood vessels to port such claims. Further, if re searchers ment of cognitive function and treat- increase flow. This automatic regulation look for potential mechanisms to explain ment, prevention, or reduction of the would not be enhanced by mild blood a putative action of a drug or supplement, effects of Alzheimer’s disease or other thinning in a healthy individual. it is not surprising when they find some dementia. The results of the study are completely negative. More recent studies have found that since drugs typically have many biochem- The study was a direct comparison of Gingko biloba has some antioxidant ical actions in the body. There is also Gingko biloba at 120 mg twice a day ver- effects. However, antioxidants as a class likely confirmation bias and the file- sus placebo—a double blind, random- have not been found effective for drawer effect at work—favoring the pub- ized, multi-center trial involving 3,019 im proving cognitive function or any lishing of interesting and positive studies. subjects aged seventy-two to ninety-six, other clinical outcome. So this too lacks In the end, all the ancient wisdom, followed for a median of 6.1 years. Sub - plausibility. small studies, and putative mechanisms jects were followed with standardized tests It was also found that Gingko biloba meant nothing. They were all trumped of cognitive function. can reduce amyloid aggregation. Amy - by a large and impeccably designed study The results are easy to report: every loid plaques build up in the neurons of that shows Gingko biloba is of no mea- measure showed no difference between patients with Alzheimer’s disease, so this surable benefit to cognitive function. is a plausible mechanism for slowing the Gingko biloba and placebo. There was no —Steven Novella difference in cognitive function, risk of progression of some forms of dementia. developing dementia, rate of progression However, we now know this does not Steven Novella, MD, is an assistant profes- of dementia, or normal cognitive decline translate into a measurable clinical effect. sor of neurology at Yale University School with aging. We can generalize from what we’ve of Medicine. He is the host of the weekly Gingko biloba has been used for cen- learned about Ginkgo biloba from this science podcast The Skeptics’ Guide to turies as a medical herb, and the most pop - study that historical use of an herbal the Universe, author of the NeuroLogica ular claim made for its use is to enhance drug is not sufficient evidence for its blog, and president of The New England cognitive function. The justification for effectiveness. Skeptical Society.

African Albinos Eyes.” An albino’s arms, fingers, genitals, fields for fear of albino hunters.” Murdered for Witchcraft ears, and blood are highly prized on the The belief and practice of using body black market, believed to bestow magical parts for magical ritual or benefit is called Westerners may think of witchcraft as a powers. In November 2009, four people muti. Muti hunting was featured in the quaint relic of the Middle Ages, but were arrested and sentenced to death in 2009 South African science-fiction film belief in witches is common in many northern Tanzania for killing an albino District 9, in which the hero’s body parts countries, and black is considered man to harvest his body parts. A month were sought by a local warlord who part of everyday life. In , witch earlier, albino hunters beheaded a ten- believed that the limbs would give him doctors are consulted not only to heal year-old boy and hacked off his leg. magical powers. Muti murders are partic- diseases but also to place (or remove) In a continent of dark-skinned Afri - ularly brutal; the perpetrators use knives magic and bring . cans, albinos especially stand out and are and machetes to cut and hack off limbs, In the East African countries of Tan - often the subject of fear, hatred, and breasts, and other body parts from their zania and Burundi, at least fifty albinos ridicule. The lack of skin pigment also living victims. Many of the albinos are (people with a rare genetic disorder that makes them vulnerable to sunburn and beheaded, their heads carefully collected leaves the skin, hair, and eyes without skin cancer. The Red Cross report notes and preserved as gruesome good luck pigment) were murdered for their body that “thousands of albinos across a huge charms or for use in rituals. parts last year, according to a recent Red swathe of countryside . . . are unable to While many suspects have been Cross report titled “Through Albino move freely to trade, study or cultivate arrested for murdering albinos, so far the

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NEWS AND COMMENT

persons who commissioned the killings (or offered huge sums for human body Nigerian Witch Hunter parts) have not been arrested. Some Sues CFI Activist to Quell Criticism believe that police, politicians, and judges are hesitant to pursue the criminals In May 2009, the (CFI) launched an anti-superstition cam- because belief in witchcraft and muti is so paign to highlight and combat attacks against alleged child witches through- widespread. The Red Cross report claims out the African continent. Now witch hunter Helen Ukpabio, head of the that up to 10,000 African albinos live in Liberty Gospel Church in Nigeria and a frequent target of criticism by CFI, hiding, fearful of being attacked for their has filed a lawsuit in Nigerian federal court against Leo Igwe, CFI’s represen- body parts. tative in Nigeria. The events were set into motion on July 29 when a mob of about 150 —Benjamin Radford members from Ukpabio’s Liberty Gospel Church attacked Igwe and others Benjamin Radford wrote about body parts during a “Child Rights and Witchcraft” event in Calabar, Nigeria. Police in the May 1999 issue of the finally broke up the mob and arrested one person. Igwe’s bag, phone, cam- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. era, and a copy of his planned speech were stolen, and his eyeglasses were smashed in the assault. The complaint filed by Ukpabio essentially alleges religious discrimina- tion on the part of Igwe, who has been a tireless vocal critic of Ukpabio’s A Friend Remembers claims that many of Nigeria’s children and women are witches. The suit Norm Levitt, seeks an injunction to prevent Igwe and other humanist groups from hold- Mathematician and ing seminars or workshops aimed at raising awareness about the dangers associated with belief in witchcraft. Foe of Pseudoscience Ukpabio is clearly attempting to erect a legal barrier against humanist groups who might criticize her group for their practices. Norman Levitt, a professor of mathemat- “The persecution of alleged child witches underscores the importance of ics at Rutgers University and, for the last our anti-superstition campaign in Africa,” said Norm R. Allen Jr., executive couple of decades, a major figure in com- director of African Americans for Humanism and CFI’s Transnational Pro - bating pseudoscience and pseudoknowl- grams. “Supersti tion has dire consequences to individuals and societies and edge, died of a heart ailment on October often contributes greatly to gross human rights abuses. Those who continue to 24, 2009, at the age of sixty-six. He was view superstition as benign must think again.” born in the Bronx and attended P.S. 114 For more about CFI’s anti-superstition campaign and Ukpabio’s lawsuit, and the Bronx High School of Science, visit CFI’s Web site: www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom. For an anthro- from which he graduated in 1960. He pologist’s explanation of why witchcraft is so enduring and widespread, then attended Harvard College, graduat- see page 51. ing at the tender age of nineteen in just three years. In the early 1990s, he asked Paul SI Extra Gross to work with him on combating This is a developing story. For updates on Igwe’s case, pseudoscience, and their resulting book, see www.csicop.org/SIExtras. Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science, appeared in 1994. He later wrote many articles relat- the postmodern humanities journal been celebrations and museum exhibits ing to standards of science, what he cur- Social Text, which published the paper in on the hundredth birthday of the Grand mudgeonly thought of as charlatans spite of what Levitt and many others Concourse, during its Golden Age. pushing pseudoscience and metascience, thought were flags that indicated it was a Norm’s mother, Molly, was best friend and public knowledge and understand- joke. The result was (and is) widely inter- and mah-jong buddy of the mother of the ing of science. His later books included preted, especially in scientific circles, as a new boy in my building, Ronnie Saiet, The Flight from Science and Reason (1997) black mark on postmodernism. and Norm and Ronnie’s parents social- and Prometheus Bedeviled: Science and the I first met Norm Levitt around 1951 ized. The Levitts lived just a couple of Contradictions of Con temporary Culture when I was in third grade and he was in blocks away, on Walton Avenue south of (1999). He worked with New York second, and I am honored to have known 167th Street, so Norm spent a lot of time University physicist Alan Sokal on Sokal’s him for well over fifty years. We lived in with Ronnie, Ira Blumenthal, and me, presentation of a gobbledygook paper to the West Bronx, where there have recently playing the role of d’Artagnan to our

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER March / April 2010 9 SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 9:56 AM Page 10

“Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.” – Jacob Bronowski, scientific polymath

For a more rational tomorrow … and the future of Skeptical inquirer please support the new phase of the Center for Inquiry New Future Fund.

Across our world, forward-thinking men and women have recognized the scientific paradigm as their surest guide for sound thinking and living. For them knowledge is the greatest adventure. Today the Center for Inquiry movement strives to keep the adventure of knowledge accessible to all. To defend science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and human values in an ever-changing world, we must adopt new methods … new approaches. To realize tomor- row’s ambitious goals, we must expand our organization. The New Future Fund is an audacious, multiyear $26 million campaign to fund program needs, capital expansion, and endowment for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and the Center for Inquiry. Toni Van Pelt, Paul Kurtz, and Ron Lindsay (standing); Lawrence Krauss, David Helfland, and Nobel Laureate Paul Boyer (seated) introduced the Declaration in Defense of Science and Secularism at the In this new phase the focus turns to: inaugural press conference of the Center for Inquiry/Office of Public Policy in Washington, DC. Outreach and education: publishing, media relations, personal outreach, and more

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NEWS AND COMMENT

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. (Wikipedia, which I consulted to check the spelling of the Musketeers’ names, informs me that the story of d’Artagnan was continued by The Struggle Against Dumas in two more novels, Twenty Years Pseudoscience After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne, to - gether known as the d’Artagnan Romances. I want to return to the really important issue of the struggle against pseudo- D’Artagnan was the main character, which science. Even if the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of makes him a suitable analogy for this Medical Sciences do their duty to protect science in from pseudoscien- memorial comment.) tists, charlatans, and swindlers by shifting this matter to a Commission to In the 1950s in the Bronx, we boys Combat Pseudoscience, the problem as a whole will not be solved. It can only were free and on our own a lot, much less be solved if all scientists and educated lay people are uncompromising toward programmed than today’s young people. obscurantism and fight against it. Those of us intellectually inclined were lucky to attend the Bronx High School of —Vitaly L. Ginzburg, Russian Nobel laureate physicist who died in Science, where our mathematical abilities Moscow November 8, 2009, at the age of ninety-three. From his were especially fostered. Of course, SKEPTICAL INQUIRER article “Demagogues Against Scientific Harvard wasn’t bad in mathematics either. Expertise,” January/February 2005. One of my high school influences was See Ginzburg, Premanand obituaries on page 62. Martin Gardner’s book Fads and in the Name of Science, published by Dover in 1957 when Norm and I were in learned of his early promise and the wall claiming to be the first to successfully high school. In 2003, I started teaching a of report cards that his mother had clone human stem cells. He had an seminar at Williams College on the sub- proudly displayed in their Bronx apart- equally quick fall from grace once the ject, and one of the dozen weekly topics ment. We learned of his wide range of accusations that he fabricated some of was Alan Sokal’s hoax. I was delighted to knowledge and interests, including New that research emerged. find that Norm was an expert on the York art galleries and Civil War battles. topic, and I invited him to lead that The death of Norm Levitt is a loss for * * * week’s seminar. My family and I had the his family, his friends, the world of math- Richard Heene was sentenced to ninety pleasure of his visits on three such occa- ematics, and all those interested in the days in jail by a court in Fort Collins, sions, including one at which we also met standards of science. Colorado, on December 23, 2009, for his wife, Renée. My students certainly —Jay M. Pasachoff carrying out the notorious “balloon benefited from the readings he supplied boy” hoax on October 15 (see News and and the discussions that he led. Jay M. Pasachoff is director of the Hopkins Comment, SI, January/February 2010). I am honored to have been a friend of Observatory at Williams College, Williams - Larimer County District Judge Stephen Norman Levitt, and I am delighted that town, Massachusetts. Schapanski ordered Heene to begin a our friendship was professionally renewed thirty-day jail sentence in January and during the last few years. Condolences serve the remaining sixty days under were passed along to his widow, Renée; work release. Heene’s wife, Mayumi, their children, Steven and Oradee, Skeptic’s Police Blotter was sentenced to twenty days in jail for Heather and Jason; and their grandchil- her role. “This, in simple terms, was an dren. They have asked that any memorial The disgraced South Korean cloning elaborate hoax that was devised by Mr. contributions be made to the National scientist Hwang Woo-suk was found Center for Science Education, 420 40th guilty by a court in Seoul, South Korea, and Mrs. Heene,” the judge said. Heene Street, Suite 2, Oakland, CA 94609. on October 26, 2009, of embezzling declared he was sorry, especially to the A memorial service was held in from his stem cell research fund and ille- rescue workers who responded to the Manhattan on October 31 with a secular gally buying human embryos. The court couple’s false report that the runaway rabbi presiding and, by particular request, also ruled that Hwang had partially fab- balloon was carrying their six-year-old no mention of god; Norm had been cre- ricated the results of his research and son. The stunt was concocted to gain mated. The half dozen speakers, aside gave him a two-year suspended sentence attention for a possible reality TV show. from me and one cousin, were mathe- provided he stay out of trouble with the The court forbade the Heenes from maticians, and the importance of his law for the next three years. Hwang had earning any money from the incident research in mathematics was stressed. We become a national hero in 2004 after for four years.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER March / April 2010 11 SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 9:57 AM Page 12

SPECIAL REPORT

Entertainment, Fakery, and Ambiguity: Examining New York’s ‘Fortune Telling Law‘

RYAN SHAFFER

n October 9, 2009, Tiffany give advice on personal matters or to and . On the other hand, Evans was arrested at the exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits psychics claim to predict the future, Smith Haven Mall in Lake or curses; except that this section does sometimes using the same techniques as O not apply to a person who engages in Grove, New York, for fraudulent accost- the aforedescribed conduct as part of a magicians. Nonetheless, the two are dif- ing, at tempted grand larceny, and three show or exhibition solely for the pur- ferent, as one entertains with mind read- counts of fortune telling. As I read the pose of entertainment or amusement. ing while the other claims to actually story in the newspaper, I was surprised look into the future. Besides that inher- that someone in New York was charged The “fortune telling law” was clearly ent difference, we should compare the with “fortune telling.” After all, psychics written to protect nonskeptical con- fortune telling law with another that are prevalent in New York, with store- sumers from being taken advantage of protects consumers. New York State front businesses and advertisements in by a psychic who charges for a service Penal Law §190.20 concerning “false many newspapers. I wondered how someone could be charged with violat- ing a law while so many businesses offer- ing similar services operate in the open. One who offers a service should not be exempt Interested in finding further details, I contacted the Fourth Precinct Police in from the charge of making false claims by simply Suffolk County, New York, where Evans calling their service “entertainment.” was arrested to find the statute she was charged with violating. I was told that the so-called “fortune telling law” was a “class B misdemeanor” in violation of New York State Penal Law §165.35. The that has never been demonstrated with advertising” does not exempt someone law states: blind tests. Yet the law provides a loop- from being punished for making false hole for scam artists to simply call their claims for the purposes of entertain- A person is guilty of fortune telling readings “entertainment.” The Suffolk ment. The “fortune telling law” should when, for a fee or compensation which County phonebook has twenty-five list- be no different, especially considering he directly or indirectly solicits or receives, he claims or pretends to tell ings for “psychic life readings” operating the lack of for psychic fortunes, or holds himself out as being in the area where Evans was arrested. ability. One who offers a service should able, by claimed or pretended use of While it is necessary to separate self-pro- not be exempt from the charge of making powers, to answer questions or claimed psychics from magicians and false claims by simply calling their service mentalists, it is important to recognize “entertainment.” A psychic who abuses Ryan Shaffer is a PhD candidate in the the inherent difference between telling the trust of his or her clients by offering Department of History at the State Uni - fortunes and . an unproven service may develop a busi- versity of New York, Stony Brook. He has an Mentalism creates the “illusion of ness relationship to take further advantage MA in history and a BA in philosophy. His current academic research ex plores social mind reading” through various magi- of the client. and political movements. cian techniques, including This was true in the Evans case. She

12 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 9:57 AM Page 13

met the victim in the Smith Haven Mall cry as Edward cold reads information, are lives in New York where it is illegal to and offered to read the victim’s fortune not there for “entertainment” but for “fortune tell” or use “occult powers, to for $25. Evans then told the client she answers. Edward explained this to Glenn answer questions or give advice on per- could perform a more detailed reading Beck during his October 27, 2006, sonal matters.” The ambiguity of for $100 more. Subsequently, Evans said appearance on CNN’s Headline News3: Edward’s claims makes it difficult not the client was cursed and the could Beck: You could be a fraud; you could just for his audience to accept his acts as be lifted for $1,250. The victim paid be a worker. I don’t know. But real but for New York authorities to $600 and was given “a small stone and a would you agree with me that, if charge him with violating §165.35. This plastic bag containing an unknown liq- someone were in your position and is not a problem with Edward insomuch uid.” During the next meeting, Evans making money, especially off of those as a problem with laws regarding para- that were grieving, they would be, tried to sell the client $550 candles to you know, for lack of an another [sic] normal claims and consumers. “remove the negative energy.” The un - term, Hell-bound? No state should limit speech. How - proven $25 service turned into a fraudu- ever, the state does need to protect its Edward: If the person was fraudulent? lent accosting case, which cost the victim citizens from people who offer services more than $1,000. This crime does not Beck: Could you sleep at night know- that have never been proven. That is ing that you were not really on the up account for the emotional dependency a and up? Do you think somebody . .. why the government prohibits false psychic’s client may develop with contin- advertising and other forms of fraud. ued meetings even if the psychic does not Edward: If I wasn’t on the up and up? Much like someone who sells a “cancer sell her merchandise. (For more on this, Beck: Yes. cure” that has not been confirmed by see “Phila delphia Psychics Shut Down, Edward: I wouldn’t be doing this. scientific peer-review, the customers of Then Allowed to Reopen,” SI, July/ Beck: No, I know that. But what I’m psychics must be equally protected. August 2007; and “Fortuneteller Allowed saying is, to use this would be horri- When a consumer pays for a good or at Fair Despite Law,” SI, November/ ble. .. service, he or she expects that good or December 2004.) Edward: Absolutely. service to be legitimate. A more carefully Not all psychics clearly sit on the written law would prevent someone Beck: . . . if you were just an entertain- entertainment or self-proclaimed genuine ment—so it’s not like wrestling, where from offering a unless side. John Edward stars in daily broad- they were saying, ‘No, this is entertain- that person had demonstrated he or she casts of John Edward’s Cross Country in ment,’ or at first they were saying, ‘No, has a statistically significant history of which he claims to have divine answers to this is real stuff,’ but then they later predicting the future in controlled con- questions for the audience’s deceased rela- admitted that it was entertainment. ditions. If the “fortune telling law” were You cannot be an entertainer. In your tives. Edward was born, raised, and own mind, you can’t be. .. written in this manner it would actually remains a resident on Long Island. He protect the consumer from unverified currently tours the , giving Edward: I don’t see myself as being claims made by psychics. On the other entertaining at all. I see myself as readings to a paying audience, including being an educator. hand, those who want entertainment three readings booked in the same county can visit a mentalist or magician rather 1 Beck: And it would be wrong of you where Evans was arrested. As the title of to just be an entertainer and cloak it than a psychic. The ambiguity of the law his show implies, filming for his series in. .. allows people like John Edward to give occurs in different locations around the readings without ever demonstrating he Edward: I don’t see it—I couldn’t even United States; the 2006 season was define that in terms, you know, espe- has the power to “cross over” and answer recorded in Long Island, Los Angeles, cially when you’re dealing with grief questions for the desperate. Orlando, and Phoenix.2 In the title and loss like that. It’s just not—but I’m sequence of his WE-TV show, Edward also very clear to say to people on the Notes says, “I talk to the dead, I bridge the flip side of that, I’m not a grief coun- 1. John Edward, “Events,” available online at selor, either. I’m not a therapist. www.johnedward.net/seminars.htm (accessed No - divide between life and the afterlife.” The vember 14, 2009). sequence ends with “How do I know? Edward’s inability to define what he 2. “Filming Locations of John Edward Cross Because I do.” Notably absent is any dis- does as entertainment or a genuine skill Country (2006),” Internet Movie Database, avail - able online at www.imdb.com/title/tt0848540/ claimer that says the show or claims are was a revealing moment demonstrating locations (accessed November 14, 2009). mere “entertainment.” In fact, Edward the cautiousness of his claims. At the 3. Glenn Beck, “John Edward Shares Insights says that his “contact” with the dead is like same time, Edward claimed he was on into His Career,” CNN, October 27, 2006, avail- able online at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANS talking on the phone, which is quite a real the “up-and-up” regarding the truthful- CRIPTS/0610/27/gb.01.html (accessed Novem - experience. The desperate people, who ness of his claims. Like Evans, Edward ber 14, 2009).

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER March / April 2010 13 SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:36 AM Page 14

COMMENTARY

Mann Bites Dog Why ‘Climategate’ Was Newsworthy

MARK BOSLOUGH

When a dog bites a man, that is not stick” paleoclimate paper, de manding that trary, the culture of science welcomes news, because it happens so often. they drop everything to provide him with dissent and encourages contrarians to But if a man bites a dog, that is news. extensive documentation about what he publish their ideas so they can be sub- —John D. Bogart claimed were “meth odological flaws and jected to the same scrutiny that is ap - data errors” in their work. plied to conventional thought. s evidence for human-caused cli- Denialists have attempted to call the Peer review is designed to screen out mate change has mounted, science into question by writing articles material that is demonstrably wrong, A global warming denialists have that include fabricated data. They’ve flawed, illogical, or fabricated. Non- responded by blaming the messengers. improperly graphed data using tricks to special ists are not always able to quickly Climate researchers have endured abuse hide evidence that contradicts their be - spot errors in a highly technical piece of by bloggers, editorial writers, liefs. They chronically misrepresent the work, so experts are recruited to make sure pundits, and radio talk show hosts who careful published work of scientists, dis- any mistakes are corrected and necessary have called them liars and vilified them as torting all logic and meaning in an orga- documentation is provided before the sci- frauds. The attacks had become increas- nized misinformation campaign. To an ence is published. ingly vile as the past decade, the hottest uncritical media and gullible non-scien- The first thing I do when I read an edi- in human history, came to an end. Angry tists, this ongoing conflict has had the torial or blog entry is check to see if the activists have called for firings and crimi- intended effect: it gives the appearance of supposed science has been published in nal investigations, and some prominent a scientific controversy and seems to con- scientific literature. If not, I don’t see why scientists have received physical threats. tradict climate researchers who have stated I should bother to read what nobody Politicians have also gotten into the act. that the scientific debate over the reality of could be bothered to put through scien- In 2005, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) human-caused climate change is over tific peer review. My reasoning is not that referred to global warming as the “greatest (statements that have been distorted by such material is necessarily wrong, but hoax ever perpetrated on the American denialists to imply the ridiculous claim without any scientific review I have no people.” Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) sent a that in all respects “the science is settled”). assurance that anyone has checked to see harassing letter to Michael Mann (now a Science, however, has ground rules. if the equations are right, data sources professor at State Uni versity) Those who don’t follow the rules are correctly cited, figures properly attrib- and his coauthors of the famous “hockey entitled to their opinions but cannot uted, or other workers’ conclusions legitimately claim to be participating in fairly represented. Mark Boslough is a physicist at Sandia a scientific debate. One rule that must The global warming debate contin- National Laboratories and adjunct profes- be followed for scientific results to be ues, at least among the science-chal- sor at the University of . His accepted is that they must be subjected lenged. The calculation of the mass of work on comet and asteroid impacts has to review and published in a scholarly CO2 produced from burning a gallon of been the subject of many recent TV docu- scientific journal. This is a necessary but gasoline was the subject of a recent vig- mentaries and magazine articles. He be - insufficient condition (nobody is com- orous disagreement on the letters page lieves that the impact risk—at its core—is pelled to accept the conclusions of a of our local newspaper. This is a ques- primarily a climate-change risk, and he paper just because it has been refereed). tion that a decent high school chemistry has turned his attention to climate change This rule is not intended to create a student should be able to answer, but as a looming national security threat. The “high priesthood” of scientists or keep the highly opinionated letter writers opinions expressed here are his own. others from participating. On the con- were not able to resolve their differences,

14 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:37 AM Page 15

despite the fact that reaction stoichiom- estimate of the amount of warming (when attempts to force editors not to publish

etry is indisputably settled science. CO2 levels double, which is likely to hap- papers critical of the scientists and sugges- Likewise, a competent high school pen this century) is about 3°C. There are tions to boycott journals were inappropri- physics student understands how the so- scientists who disagree—some think it’s ate and unsuccessful (journal editors called greenhouse effect works and that higher and some lower—and have pub- resisted pressure and published the papers conservation of energy is also settled sci- lished the basis for their disagreement. anyway). They also were not un usual— ence. It has been known for over a hun- Having lost the scientific debate, certainly not beneath those in the oppo-

dred years that adding CO2 to the denialists have now resorted to hacking site camp. And even though the widely atmosphere increases its infrared opac- into a computer system and stealing pri- reported “trick” used to “hide the decline” ity, and when this happens, more energy vate correspondence to distract those was legitimate (using real temperatures from sunlight enters Earth’s atmosphere who prefer controversy to science. To instead of a faulty tree-ring proxy to rep- than escapes. The atmosphere must heat those of us in the scientific community, resent the temperature record), it up on average. There is no scientific it came as no surprise that researchers sounded like something denialists would debate about this fact, and nobody has who had en dured personal attacks had do, so it was assumed to be crooked. ever published a “zero-warming” theory trouble rising above the fray. But the The very fact that Climategate was to explain how it could be otherwise. harsh tone of some messages by Mann newsworthy is evidence that reporters There is, however, a healthy, open, hon- and others caught the attention of the hold scientists to a much higher stan- est, and active scientific debate in the peer- voyeurs who read them precisely because dard than they hold denialists, even if reviewed scientific literature about the they were in sharp contrast to the way they won’t admit it in their quest to degree of climate change. The best scientific scientists usually speak in public. The report a controversy.

American Physical Society Rejects Climate Anti-Science

JOHN R. MASHEY

ike the American Association for stream science. It is a short statement of security and human health are likely the Advancement of Science, the only three succinct paragraphs, ap - to occur. We must reduce emissions of American Geophysical Union, proved in Novem ber 2007. Here is the greenhouse gases beginning now. L Because the complexity of the cli- the American Meteorological Society, full text (see www.aps.org/policy/state- mate makes accurate prediction diffi- and most other science societies, the ments/07_1.cfm): cult, the APS urges an enhanced ef - fort to understand the effects of Amer ican Physical Society (APS) has a Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity on the Earth’s climate, climate change policy based on main- human activities are changing the atmos - and to provide the technological phere in ways that affect the Earth’s cli- options for meeting the climate chal- mate. Greenhouse gases include carbon lenge in the near and longer terms. The John R. Mashey is a half-retired Bell dioxide as well as meth ane, nitrous oxide APS also urges governments, uni - Labs/Silicon Valley computer scientist. He is and other gases. They are emitted from versities, national laboratories and its a member of the Association for Computing fossil fuel combustion and a range of membership to support policies and industrial and agricultural processes. Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and actions that will reduce the emission The evidence is incontrovertible: Electronics Engineers, the American Asso - of greenhouse gases. Global warming is occurring. If no ciation for the Advance ment of Science, the mitigating actions are taken, signifi- American Physical Society, and the cant disruptions in the Earth’s physical At the May 2009 APS Council meet- American Geophysical Union. and ecological systems, social systems, ing, Robert Austin of Princeton asked the

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APS to review that position, and he pro- gases, and even the conservation of optimal, especially sealed, temperature- posed a replacement. The APS Council energy nonexistent. Purposeful effort to controlled greenhouses. Water is often appointed a committee to review the obscure knowledge is called anti-science the main growth limiter. Higher temper- statement and planned to discuss the issue in November 2009 (see www. or agnotology. atures not only increase evaporation, but aps.org/publications/apsnews/200910/ In response, the committee simply Hadley cell expansion will shift rainfall climate.cfm). The following are two key referenced mainstream climate research away from places like the U.S. paragraphs from the proposal petition: summaries—the 2007 IPCC AR4 WG I Southwest. Cali fornia grows half the fruit Greenhouse gas emissions, such as report and the U.S. National Research and vegetables for the U.S., and we carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous Council’s 2006 “Surface Tem perature already have water stress. CO2 is especially oxide, accompany human industrial Reconstructions of the Last 2,000 beneficial to weeds like poison ivy and and agricultural activity. While sub- Years”—compared them straight forward - kudzu, but milder winters also encourage stantial concern has been expressed that emissions may cause significant ly with the Austin proposal, and recom- bark beetles that have already ravaged climate change, measured or recon- mended rejection. The committee did Colorado’s lodgepole pines and now thrive in much of British Colum bia. Some trees may grow slightly faster with

more CO2, but not if they’re already dead. In support of the proposal, an April–November campaign (letter in Nature, ads in newsletters, Internet pub- This proposed new statement licity, and much direct recruiting) had would have declared decades of gathered 206 signers—0.45 percent of the 47,000 APS members. Of these, one climate re search, long-established physics of seemed to be a credible climate scientist. green house gases, and even the A few others had published a few peer- reviewed climate papers, which often conservation of energy nonexistent. failed to stand up under scrutiny or new data. A few had written books that in - cluded outright pseudoscience. This petition might seem like a grass- roots groundswell, but it was actually led by a core group connected with think tanks experienced in anti-science disin- structed temperature records indicate suggest further review of the current ver- formation efforts, starting with tobacco that 20th 21st [sic] century changes are neither exceptional nor persistent, sion for issues of “clarity and tone,” but companies. The proposal seems less an and the historical and geological wrote, “The APS would be well advised attempt to convince the APS than to records show many periods warmer not to retract its support of policies and impress the public with a list of PhDs. than today. In addition, there is an actions that are aimed at reduction in the While a few may have abandoned critical extensive scientific literature that production of greenhouse gasses.” The thought, most APS members have not. examines beneficial effects of in - creased levels of carbon dioxide for APS Council then rejected the Austin For a detailed study of this campaign, both plants and . proposal (see www.physicsfrontline.aps. see my “Science Bypass: Anti-science Studies of a variety of natural org/2009/11/10/aps-council-overwhelm- Peti tion to APS from folks with SEPP, processes, including ocean cycles and ingly-rejects-proposal-to-replace-societys- George C. Marshall Institute, Heart - solar variability, indicate that they can current-climate-change-statement/.) land, and CATO” at www.desmogblog. account for variations in the Earth’s Austin’s proposed plant comment is com/another-silly-climate-petition- climate on the time scale of decades and centuries. Current climate mod- true but misleading at best, and it is exposed. Signer demographics are quite els appear insufficiently reliable to derived from 1990s marketing cam- unrepresentative of the APS in age, gen- properly account for natural and paigns by coal companies. Plant growth is der, politics, geography, organizational anthropogenic contributions to past limited by the least available factor, an concentration, and social networks, climate change, much less project idea first called Liebig’s Law of the indicating extra-science reasons for sign- future climate. Minimum. Competent gardeners know ing. After the first twenty pages, the This proposed new statement would have it. Like many farm kids, I learned it by remainder of the document is mostly

declared decades of climate re search, age ten. CO2 is modestly helpful where detailed backup material, so do not be long-established physics of green house sunlight, water, and other nutrients are daunted by the length.

16 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs_SI J A 2009 1/27/10 10:45 AM Page 17

INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL

John Edward: Spirit Huckster

sychic medium” John Ed ward found, and every lucky guess or shrewd The new “psychic mediums” opt in - is reemerging from relative deduction proof of communication with stead for the simpler, safer mental medi- “Pobscurity after his popular tele- the dead. umship, the supposed production of mes- vision show, Crossing Over with John sages from the Great Beyond. This itself is Edward, ended in 2004. He appears on Old ‘Spirits’ in New Bottles nothing new, but now instead of the flow- another cable show, gives tours, has a Web Edward is part of the new breed of spir- ery language supposedly channeled from site (Infinitequest.com), and generally itualists (like Sylvia Browne and James talkative Vic torians, we get fragmented makes his living claiming to communi- Van Praagh) who avoid the risky physical bits of data from spirits seeming to have cate with those who have “crossed over.” of yore. During the heyday diminished memories and limited speech: I was invited by Central New “I feel like there’s a J- or G-sounding York Skeptics to join them in name at tached to this” is a typical Syracuse, New York, for an evening Edward offering (Nickell 2004). with Edward. (It was held at Mulroy Styles change even in supposedly Civic Center on Sunday, October 11, talking with the dead. Today’s medi- 2009. I was accompanied by CNY ums employ the old fortuneteller’s Skeptics president Lisa Goodlin, technique of “cold reading”—so David Harding, and Brian Madigan, named because the sensitive has no all of whom afterward shared insight- advance information about the sit- ful observations on what we had wit- ter. He artfully fishes for informa- nessed.) The glib Edward—real tion from the person, often asking a name John Edward McGee, Jr.— question which, if the answer is yes, held forth for more than two hours. will be treated as a “hit” but other- He began with a joke to the effect wise will become only part of the that although he is psychic, he neverthe- of , magicians such as lead-up to a statement. less needed a GPS to get to the site. The Houdini and Maskelyne used to catch Not surprisingly, Edward has a back- highly credulous, adoring crowd found mediums at their dark-room séance ground in fortunetelling. His mother, he every gag hilarious, every platitude pro- deceptions, such as slate writing, float- acknowledges, was a “psychic junkie” ing spirit trumpets, and full-bodied who threw fortunetelling “house par- Joe Nickell, CSI’s senior research fellow, is a “materializations.” The investigators ties.” Advised by one visiting clairvoyant former magician and detective. He is author gave public demonstrations of the trick- that he had “wonderful psychic abilities,” of many books, including Entities and ery. “Do Spirits Return?” a Houdini Edward began doing card readings for Adventures in Paranormal Investiga tion. poster asked. “Houdini says No—and family and friends as a teenager. He pro- His Web site is at www.joenickell.com. Proves It” (Gibson 1977, 157). gressed to giving readings at so-called

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psychic fairs. There he soon learned that occasion, when multiple sitters acknowl- Joe Nickell” (2001, 243). Edward also names and other “validating informa- edge a particular offering, the medium referred to Hockenberry’s “big Gotcha! tion” could sometimes be better fitted to can simply narrow the choice to a single moment.” That’s right, John, we the dead than the living. Edward eventu- person and then build on that success—a Gotcha! You were caught cheating. And ally changed his billing from “psychic” to technique definitely employed by John your claimed psychic powers didn’t even “psychic medium” (Edward 1999), set- Edward (Ballard 2001). let you see it coming. ting him on the road to financial success. Getting Burned Fast Talker The Group Approach with ‘Hot’ Reading In his stand-up act, Edward keeps things Edward’s audiences typically find him According to respected journalists, epi - going at such a pace that there is little accurate and convincing. However, a sodes of Crossing Over were edited to time to critically analyze what is occur- study I made of one television tran- make Edward appear more accurate ring. The average person is not much 1 script revealed he was actually wrong than he was (Ballard 2001), even to the better equipped to avoid being fooled by about as often as not (Nickell 1998). In point of apparently splicing in clips of John Edward’s sleight-of-tongue tricks Syracuse, for example, no one seemed to one sitter nodding yes “after statements than the artful illusions of a stage magi- relate to a cat named Smokey. Never - with which he remembers disagreeing” cian. Careful analysis of a recorded ses- theless, in such cases Edward can still (Jaroff 2001). sion by one knowledgeable of the tech- niques employed will prove more effec- tive than the testimonials of someone fooled by the deceptions. And so Edward’s Syracuse audience regarded their belief in otherworldly The onus is on his listeners to somehow communication as fully vindicated. match his offerings to their lives, and if one person There appeared to be only about four skeptics in the audience. Ironically, can’t oblige, someone else will give it a try. Edward seemed not to know they were there—even though one has been a par- ticular thorn in his side. Couldn’t he feel all those bad vibes coming from an area of the orchestra? toss out something he “sees” or “feels,” Rarely, when the opportunity pre- and he may get lucky. Besides, the onus sents itself, Edward may turn from “cold Acknowledgments is on his listeners to somehow match his reading” to the much more accurate In addition to those mentioned in the text, I offerings to their lives, and if one person “hot reading.” Although I have no evi- am also grateful to Barry Karr, CSI executive can’t oblige, someone else will give it a dence of him using that technique in director, for providing finances for my trip to Syracuse and to Timothy Binga, Center for try. Thus, when no one seemed to be Syracuse, he was caught cheating with it Inquiry Libraries director, for research assis- “going to Thailand,” Edward doubled on a Dateline NBC episode for which I tance. his options, suggesting the trip was for was both a behind-the-scenes advisor adoption. Finally, one woman shouted and an on-camera interviewee. Edward Note out that she had adopted a child from was exposed passing off knowledge he 1. This was the June 19, 1998, Korea. When no one had experienced had gained from a Dateline cameraman show on CNN. an Edward-visualized tattoo removal, a during a shoot hours earlier as other- References young lady helpfully supplied her worldly revelation during a reading ses- Ballard, Chris. 2001. Oprah of the other side. The adventure of an excised mole. Edward sion. He feigned surprise that his alleged New York Times Magazine, July 29, 38–41. then looked for validation of an imag- spirit gleanings applied to the camera- Edward, John. 1999. One Last Time. New York: ined spirit named Lily: She soon mor- man. As Dateline’s John Hockenberry Berkeley Books. ———. 2001. Crossing Over: The Stories Behind phed into a cat of that name, still living! subsequently told an evasive Edward, the Stories. , CA: Jodere Group. Edward sometimes joked his way out of “So that’s not some energy coming Gibson, Walter B. 1977. The Original Houdini a dilemma. For instance, when one through, that’s something you knew Scrapbook. New York: Corwin/Sterling. Jaroff, Leon. 2001. Talking to the dead. Time, woman’s late husband had not had the going in” (Nickell 2001). March 5, 52. envisioned “foot surgery,” Edward quipped, In his book, Crossing Over, Edward Nickell, Joe. 1998. Investigating spirit communi- “Do you have any other husbands?” disparaged Hockenberry who, he said, cations. Skeptical Briefs 8:3 (September), 5–6. ———. 2001. John Edward: Hustling the be - Joking aside, this group approach has “came down on the side of the profes- reaved. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 25:6 (November/ been a boon to modern mediums. On sional skeptic they used as my foil . .. December), 19–22.

18 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:39 AM Page 19

NOTES OF A FRINGE WATCHER MARTIN GARDNER

James Arthur Ray: New Age Guru and Sweat Lodge Culprit

n recent years Sedona, Arizona, has become a popular haven for New IAge cults of all shades. Why Sedona? Partly because of its superb scenery and sunlight, and partly because of the belief that it swarms with invisible “vortexes” from which one can draw cosmic or spiritual energy. There are also nearby Indian tribes with herbal remedies and powerful witch doctors. On October 8, 2009, at a New Age retreat in Valley, Arizona, near Sedona, another of Oprah Winfrey’s and Larry King’s guests ran into deep trouble. More than sixty followers of James Arthur Ray were crammed into a small tent Ray brought to an unbearable tem- perature with heated rocks. At the end of the first session of what Ray calls a “sweat lodge” meeting, guests were throwing up and passing out while Ray stood guard at the tent’s flap entrance to prevent guests from leaving. By the meeting’s end, some twenty followers were taken to hospitals where three died: Kirby Brown, thirty- eight; Liz Newman, forty-eight; and James Shore, forty. Who the devil is James Ray? He was

Martin Gardner is author of more than sev- enty books, most recently The Jinn from Hyperspace (Prometheus Books, 2008) and When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish, and Other Specula tions About This and That (Hill and Wang, 2009).

James Arthur Ray

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born and raised in my hometown of The Secret.” The Secret is a film based on die under Ray’s care. His Beverly Hills Tulsa, , where his father was a best-selling (thanks to Oprah) book mansion cost $4 million. pastor of the Red Fork Church of God, with the same title. Ray appears in the Before entering one of Ray’s sweat a Pentecostal congregation, for ten years. film, helping explain how to obtain any- lodge programs, everyone must sign a After graduating from Tulsa’s Webster thing you strongly desire (see “Secrets waiver. It reads: “I am fully aware that I College High School, James worked at and Lies,” SI, May/June 2007). may suffer physical, emotional, finan- several Tulsa jobs before entering a I once saw a sign in a Tulsa bar that cial, and other injury during any of the junior college, where he failed to gradu- said, “It is better to be rich and healthy activities.” This, of course, is intended to ate. For a short time he was a sales man- than to be poor and sick.” Millions of get Ray off the hook if bad things hap- ager for AT&T. Americans want to be healthy and rich. pen to a follower. However, the waiver In his 2008 book Harmonic Wealth, This yearning has spawned a variety of says nothing about suddenly dying, so it Ray says he wandered for ten days in the self-help scoundrels who have become may not be so easy for Ray to tap dance Sinai Desert, ending up at a mountain millionaires from their books, lectures, out of lawsuits and criminal charges of cave where it is said Moses was handed and classes. negligent homicide. In addition to the the Ten Commandments. “This is In a lengthy article in The Arizona three who died in Sedona, at least seven where it all came together for me,” Ray Republic, Ray’s views are described as a other needless deaths have occurred in writes, “where the final pieces of har- “cobbling of , ancient mysticism, sweat lodges in England and Australia. monic wealth, and the quantum physics modern science, and far-flung philoso- I should add that Ray heads some- I had studied for a decade, took form.” phies.” Steve Salarno, author of SHAM: thing he calls the World Wealth Society. Quantum physics? Did Ray study How the Self-Help Movement Made Amer - This is an inner circle of a few dozen quantum theory at the junior college he icans Helpless, recently de scribed Ray’s foolish followers who pay nonrefund- attended or just read books about it? Did opinions as a “psychological bouillabaisse able deposits of $20,000. And what is he take a course in quantum mechanics at drawing on random elements of the New this gullible group’s goal? It is nothing Tulsa’s great center of learning, Oral Age and other facets of harmonic psy- less than to transform the world into a Roberts University? In his book, Ray chobabble.” A far cry from the primitive utopia where everyone is healthy, happy, claims he interviewed Peruvian Andes fundamentalism of Ray’s father. and, above all, rich! shamans and Amazon witch doctors. Like so many self-help charlatans, Does Ray actually believe the piffle Maybe they taught him quantum theory? Ray has quickly become a millionaire he preaches? Who knows? On his travels he wandered through the several times over. In 2008 his company, catacombs, the Egyptian pyramids, Paris James Ray International, raked in $9.4 Notes museums, and a huge castle in Portugal. million. The Harmonic Wealth week- 1. Doughtery, James. 2009. In quest of spiri- tual rebirth a witness sees a grim ending. The New Ray sells a DVD titled Quantum end offered by his company costs York Times, October 22. Crea tions. He describes it as providing a $1,297 for those willing to pay it. Of 2. Harris, Craig, and Dennis Wagner. 2009. “specific plan to achieve exactly what course, such weekends lead to even Cracks form in motivational mogul’s empire. The Arizona Republic, October 12. you want out of life, using quantum more expensive tutoring. The event that 3. Books by Ray: The Science of Success (2003), physics strategies as discussed in the resulted in three deaths cost $9,695 per Practical Spirituality (2005), Harmonic Wealth movies What the Bleep Do We Know? and person—almost ten thousand dollars to (2008), The Seven Laws of Wealth (2009).

Announcing New Online SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Newsletter

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Features include photos, guest-authored articles from key magazine have created one more way for readers to keep up figures in today’s , introductions and suc- with news and events. The inaugural edition of the electroni- cesses of skeptics’ groups, reports from events and conven- cally delivered Skeptical Inquirer News (yes, SIN) launched tions, news of investigations, updates on developing stories, December 17, 2009. With this free monthly e-news publica- matters of concern to the skeptical community, legislation tion, CSI will keep readers updated on new material, activi- and policies to keep an eye on, links to media stories featur- ties, and events of interest to the skeptical community. ing CSI members, and more.

To receive the free Skeptical Inquirer News, enter your address in the “E-Mail Updates” box in the left-hand column of the CSI homepage (www.csicop.org).

20 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:40 AM Page 21

NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD MASSIMO POLIDORO

The Mystery of the Moving Tombstone

utch police experts gather the Netherlands’ group of skeptics. Jan rlands Forensic Institute told Gert Jan, around a TV screen. They are Willem Nienhuys, secretary of the group, contrary to what newspapers had D watching footage from a hid- told me that no one in Aaslum was really reported, that they did not conduct any den camera that was positioned to moni- afraid or concerned about what had hap- investigation into the tombstone or the tor a supposed case of vandalism at the pened, not even the priest of the church tape made on the graveyard. The Dutch graveyard of Aaslum, a little village of 160 where the graveyard was located. “CSI-investigators” therefore could not people in the Dutch province of Fryslân. Since I was going to be in the provide any insight or information on In February 2009 the family of a Netherlands soon, I was hoping to wit- the case. Gert Jan was also able to ascer- recently buried man found his tomb- ness the sliding of the stone firsthand, tain that Paul Andriessen, a Dutch geol- stone moved aside. After this occurred but Jan Willem explained to me that the ogy professor incorrectly cited in the three more times, they called the police to find out who was disturbing their rel- ative’s resting place. The police decided In the video you can clearly see that the to place a hidden camera in front of the tombstone is standing still then unexpectedly, burial spot, and the resulting footage amazed onlookers. in the blink of an eye, it slides aside over a distance A Chilling Mystery of about a yard. I have never seen anything “[It’s] Absurd, [and] it really gave me the like this in my whole career. creeps,” Anna Van der Meer, spokesper- son for the Fryslân police, told the — Police spokesperson media. “When I saw the video I was flabbergasted. You can see the stone slide aside, almost falling to the floor. Then it stonecutter had taken the lid back in national newspapers as having studied comes to a halt against another grave- order to roughen the bottom part. He the videotape, never saw the recording stone of an adjacent grave, leaving the later secured it in place with pegs and of the moving tombstone. He had only tomb open. How is that possible? I don’t cement, preventing any further move- received a telephone call from a journal- know, the lid weighs around 400 kilos. ment. From that moment, the phenom- ist who was interested in his opinion Furthermore, in the video you can enon stopped. about the case. clearly see that the stone is standing still I was then able to count on the help then unexpectedly, in the blink of an of another good friend from the A Freezing Solution eye, it slides aside over a distance of Stitching Skepsis, Gert Jan van’t Land, What is the most likely explanation for about a yard. I have never seen anything who got in touch with the police inves- this unusual phenomenon? Some ghoul like this in my whole career. We have no tigators. Unfortunately, the police or ? According to the police offi- possible explanation.” refused to make available their files or This poses quite a challenge for a mys- any other formal information about the Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the para- tery detective. Since I was planning a lec- investigation because of the Dutch Law normal, lecturer, and co-founder and head of ture tour of northern Europe, I called on on the Protection of Police Information. CICAP, the Italian skeptics group. His Web site my good friends at the Stitching Skepsis, However, Inge Oevering of the Nethe - is at www.massimopolidoro.com.

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cers who watched the video, the tape of gravity. The very smooth surface of porting pieces of granite keeping the shows only a straight downward move- both tombstone and supporting stone tombstone in place. The afternoon ment of the tombstone along the longi- was the second ingredient in making the sun probably heated the black tomb- stone, and the ice in the crevice tudinal axis of the grave and no upward slide possible. melted. As more and more ice melted, But the final solution lies in the fact movement of the tombstone, as had the friction between the stones been reported in some media. Also, the that, as church sexton Tjerk Smits became less and less until the force of movement occurred in the afternoon, explained, every time the tombstone gravity won and the tombstone and the tape shows sunny conditions moved, the meteorological conditions started to move. After [the tombstone] and some melting snow or ice on the were always the same: a cold night with started to move (it “yielded”), down- tombstone. temperatures below freezing, a bit of ward movement continued until it If the police officers in Fryslân gave a snow or ice on the tombstone, and was halted by an adjacent gravestone. sunny weather in the afternoon. Continuing movement after a sudden correct account of what was on the tape, start is a normal phenomenon. It is the opinion of Gert Jan, who is prepar- This all leads to the following sce- nario, as explained by Gert Jan: well known in mechanics that friction ing a detailed report on this event, is that between moving parts is less than fric- the most likely explanation is unusual Water from rain or melting snow tion between parts that are not mov- but not unlikely. The movement was entered the crevice between the tomb- ing. It can be seen in avalanches: after stone and the supporting piece of movement starts, it continues. almost certainly caused by water, under granite; low temperatures formed a the right meteorological circumstances, small layer of ice in the crevice. Since The tombstone had been con- entering into the crevice between the ice needs more space than water, the structed in October 2008. Since then, it tombstone and the rectangular stone contact between the tombstone and the supporting pieces of granite prob- appears it was just waiting for the right framework supporting the tombstone. ably diminished, [and] more and circumstances that would make move- Several ingredients were needed to more the tombstone came to rest on a ment possible. make the tombstone move in a straight small layer of ice. The power of slide along its longitudinal axis. The fact expansion of freezing water is consid- Acknowledgment that the tombstone did not lie com- erable—in fact it was used in ancient quarries to split stones. The ice could Thanks to Gert Jan van’t Land, Jan Willem pletely flat but at a slight angle was a very well have formed a bridge Nienhuys, and all my friends at the Stitching prerequisite for movement by the force between the tombstone and the sup- Skepsis for their kind help and assistance.

There’s much more SKEPTICAL INQUIRER content available on our Web site! Here’s a sample of what you’ll find at www.csicop.org:

The Carl Sagan Collection: CSI presents eighteen of our favorite articles by and about Carl Sagan.

Film review of Flatland: The Movie Hemant Mehta, blogger and high school science teacher, examines life in a two-dimensional world.

For more online columns, features, and special content, visit www.csicop.org/whatsnew.

22 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:43 AM Page 23

THINKING ABOUT SCIENCE MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI

Climate Denialism

s I’m sure most SKEPTICAL IN- integrity of said scientists. evidence can be found in the record of QUIRER readers are aware, Nov - Second, Monbiot pointed out that it temperatures from 1850 on, the docu- A ember 2009 was “global warm- is patently obvious that “the other side” mented responses of plants and animals ing denialism month.” This is not an offi- does not have any real interest in the over the past several decades to ongoing cial United Nations designation but truth about global climate change; they climate change, and the thinning of sea rather the consequence of a media storm are simply out to score public relations ice and melting of glaciers, not to men- occasioned by the teapot of a number of (and possibly political) points for their tion the fact that Earth temperatures have e-mail messages stolen from the preconceived notions about the issue. been out of sync with the solar cycle for University of East Anglia’s Climate Re - search Unit. Perhaps the most insightful Regardless of the content of the stolen e-mails... press coverage of the incident was pub- lished by George Monbiot in The the evidence for human-caused global warming is Guardian. Monbiot pointed out the three so obvious and overwhelming that it is just as silly obvious lessons to be drawn from the e- mail messages themselves and their subse- to deny it as it is to deny evolution, to deny that quent controversy. First, scientists really ought to take HIV causes AIDS, or to deny that vaccines don’t their critics—and their relationship with have anything to do with autism. the public—more seriously. Considering the nature of academic culture, this has always been a problem. But to deny This is plainly visible to anyone who more than forty years (and no, the requests for raw data, even when made by gives even a superficial reading to the Milankovic cycle doesn’t explain that, just third parties with no real interest in the many declarations of “gotcha!” and in case you were wondering). data themselves, is bizarre and unethical. “conspiracy!” that have been thrown The third conclusion drawn by Mon - Indeed, all raw data gathered by any scien- around. Regardless of the content of the biot, however, is perhaps the most dis- tist or scientific organization working with stolen e-mails, and even of the possibly turbing. Monbiot concludes that while public funding, anywhere in the world, questionable ethics of some of the scien- much of the media and several politicians ought to be made immediately available tists involved, the evidence for human- online after acceptance for publication of caused global warming is so obvious and Massimo Pigliucci is professor of philosophy the relevant technical papers. It’s the ethi- overwhelming that it is just as silly to at the City University of New York–Lehman cal thing to do, and it is simply indecent deny it as it is to deny evolution, to deny College, a fellow of the American Association that some of the scientists involved in this that HIV causes AIDS, or to deny that for the Advance ment of Science, and author case focused instead on the fact that the e- vaccines don’t have anything to do with of the forthcoming Nonsense on Stilts: mails were obtained illegally—it’s a red autism (to mention just a few of the cur- How to Tell Science from Bunk. His essays herring that does not reflect well on the rently available flavors of denialism). This can be found at www.rationallyspeaking.org.

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have made a huge deal out of a minor such as CO2 on climate is well-estab- is the conspiracy? Demonstrably, it’s on incident, they just don’t seem to be inter- lished and cannot be denied.” The the side of the industry, despite some ested in seriously addressing the real Coalition’s response was to hide the callous and borderline unprofessional story, which is the systematic spending of report while spending millions to con- behavior on the part of a few scientists. millions of dollars by large energy com- vince the public that the exact opposite Who, therefore, should we be upset panies to keep the public thinking that is true. Also consider the Heartland with? A large section of the media for there is in fact a scientific controversy. Institute (again, co-sponsored by Exxon blowing the e-mail controversy out of The jury, they say, is still out (and there- Mobil, as pointed out by Monbiot), proportion while giving little if any fore it is premature to call for any action, which put together one of those lists of attention to the real story. The whole especially action that is likely going to “scientists who disagree with X” (where X episode, and indeed the global warming impact those companies’ bottom lines). was human-made global warming but in “controversy,” shows the crucial impor- The following are two examples of a different context just as easily could have tance of a point made by Noam the sort of real conspiracies the public been evolution). Yet many of said scien- Chomsky (cited in A Short Course in ought to get angry about. The Global tists angrily demanded to be taken off the Intellectual Self-Defense by Normand Climate Coalition is a group represent- list as soon as they found out what the Baillargeon): “My personal feeling is ing the American Petroleum Institute, Heartland Institute was saying in their that citizens of the democratic societies BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, and a number of names. The Institute—in a flabbergasting should undertake a course of intellectual large car makers. In 1995 their own sci- breach of protocol—declined to take the self-defense to protect themselves from entists put together a report that in part names of said scientists off their mislead- manipulation and control, and to lay read, “The scientific basis for the green- ing list. Talk about unethical behavior and the basis for more meaningful democ- house effect and the potential impact of at tempts to cover up the truth. racy.” Clearly, we have a long way to go human emissions of greenhouse gases Given all of the above, where exactly to achieve a meaningful democracy.

Where can you hear the leading voices of skepticism and science on a weekly basis? On Point of Inquiry, the Center for Inquiry’s podcast and radio show, which is now one of the most popular science programs online. Listen for free at www.pointofinquiry.org today!

Each week, Point of Inquiry brings you incisive interviews, features, and commentary, focusing on the three research areas of the Center for Inquiry: pseudoscience and the paranormal; alternative medicine; and religion, ethics, and society.

In addition to new shows every Friday, the entire archive of past episodes can be accessed online at www.pointofinquiry.org. Previous popular guests include: RICHARD DAWKINS | SAM HARRIS NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON | ANN DRUYAN www.PointofInquiry.org and many more!

24 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:44 AM Page 25

PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS ROBERT SHEAFFER

Famous Socorro ‘UFO Landing’ a Student Prank?

he famous Socorro “UFO landing” case of April 24, 1964, has been T proclaimed by leading UFO l o gists, such as Jacques Vallee and the late J. Allen Hynek, as among the best ever recorded. Policeman Lonnie Zamora allegedly wit- nessed two huma noids standing outside a landed craft, which then flew away with a loud roar. The object’s landing pads allegedly left behind four indentations in the ground, and nearby vegetation was scorched and burning. Could this classic UFO incident have been a hoax perpe- trated by students at the New Mexico Institute of Technology? That’s exactly what UFOlo gist Anthony Bragalia, who usually argues the pro side of UFO dis- Tech. The 1968 letter recently discov- UFOlogists of all stripes and is no cussions, claims. ered in Pauling’s papers has Pauling ask- longer saying anything to anyone about Recently, Bragalia has been promoting ing Colgate, purely as an aside from it. Researchers, including Dave Thomas the idea that the development of nitinol, other matters, about the famous UFO of New Mexicans for Science and Rea - the so-called “memory metal,” was reverse incident that occurred in Socorro, just a son (NMSR), are pursuing the claim of engineered from alien material found at short distance from his campus. Col - a possible student hoax through the the supposed Roswell crash. How ever, gate’s brief and enigmatic reply was, “I New Mexico Tech alumni community. skeptics point out the inconclusive nature have a good indication of the student How such a hoax might be pulled off of the links he cites as evidence and the who engineered the hoax. Student has has, unfortunately, never been fully fact that the military was contracting sim- left. Cheers, Stirling” (Bragalia 2009). explained. Frank T. Etscorn, a former ilar metallurgical re search well before the Surely, it seems, if anyone would be psychology professor at New Mexico Roswell events in 1947. (For more about in a position to know for certain about a Tech, told Bragalia that one of his stu- this, see Tim Printy’s SunLite #3 at supposed student hoax at New Mexico dents during the 1980s researched the http://home.comcast.net/~tprinty/UFOS Tech, it would be this science professor alleged hoax and located one of the par- UNlite.htm.) and university president. Pauling died in ticipants, who acknowledged his role In a September 23, 2009, blog, Bra - 1994, but Colgate is not only still living but would neither elaborate on the hoax galia wrote, “The Socorro UFO Hoax but also enjoying a very active retire- Exposed! (Famous 1964 sighting was a ment at New Mexico Tech, still carrying Robert Sheaffer’s “Psychic Vibrations” col- college prank).” The principal support out research programs in physics. In a umn has appeared in the SKEPTICAL for this conclusion was found in a scrib- brief reply to Bragalia, Colgate acknowl- INQUIRER for the past thirty years, and he bled reply to a letter by Nobel Prize- edged that he still “knows” the incident is author of UFO Sightings: The Evi - winning chemist Linus Pauling to was a hoax but said little else. Unfor - dence (Prometheus 1998). His Web site is Stirling Colgate, a noted physicist who tunately, Colgate seems annoyed by all at www..com. also served as president of New Mexico the attention he has received from

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nor allow his name to be used. It was explain to Klass that the town was seek- test flights were being launched from a also discovered that a rear-projection ing to attract tourists to strengthen its site on the banks of the Rio Grande, device was stolen from the college on economy. Klass also noted the curious north of Albuquerque—the ‘Albuquerque the day of the Zamora UFO incident. lack of symmetry in the “pad prints” sup- Flights.’” These flights involved Raven How ever, it is not likely that a rear-pro- posedly left behind, illustrating how Industries of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. jection device would have been of any unsuitable such an unstable design would Easton further wrote that, amazingly, his use in creating an illusion in the desert be for any craft. Klass concluded that the 2003 Freedom of Information request for in full sunlight. Dave Collis, who incident was a hoax to put Socorro on the more information about these balloon entered New Mexico Tech as a freshman map, a collusion probably involving flights was denied by the CIA on the in 1965, told Bragalia that he was told Zamora, the mayor, and a few others grounds that the information was still in confidence by an unnamed professor (Klass 1968). If that is the case, Socorro classified (Easton 2003). that “the UFO sighting by the town cop has not been nearly as successful at milk- The assumption that the incident was was a hoax done by Techie students.” ing UFO notoriety as another New a student hoax instead of one perpetrated There is a rich and long tradition of Mexico town named Roswell. by publicity-seeking town leaders changes Zamora from an “active participant” to “victim of the hoax,” which frankly seems more plausible. However, while we might The assumption that the incident was a student suppose that two students wearing white overalls may have made some marks in hoax instead of one perpetrated by publicity-seeking the ground and released a helium balloon town leaders changes Zamora from an when Zamora arrived, it is difficult to see how they removed themselves from the “active participant” to “victim of the hoax,” scene before Officer Chavez arrived min- utes later. If any reader has first-hand which frankly seems more plausible. knowledge concerning this incident, I’d very much like to hear about it. A splendid example of a major student elaborate hoaxes pulled off by clever col- Claims have been made about other hoax of more recent vintage was the video lege students, and some of them remain witnesses who allegedly saw the UFO at of a supposed glowing-hot “meteorite” unsolved after many years. (For a look at the same time as Zamora, but an unpub- crashing in Latvia in October 2009, belch- some of the classics, see If at All Possible, lished paper by Klass shows why these ing flame and smoke (search for “mete- Involve a Cow: The Book of College claims are not plausible. (I have placed orite in Latvia” on YouTube). While initial Pranks by Neil Steinberg and Night work: this and several others of Klass’s previ- news reports were supportive of the claim, A History of Hacks and Pranks at MIT by ously unavailable UFO “White Papers” experts soon began noticing problems. T.F. Peterson.) The suggestion has plausi- on my Web site; see www.debunker.com/ The supposed “crater” was discovered to bility, especially in light of information historical/historical.html.) For decades, have been dug by shovels, and meteorites that Lonnie Zamora had worked in the Zamora had been unwilling to discuss are no longer hot enough to glow by the machine shop at New Mexico Tech before the incident any further. Lonnie Zamora time they land. The bad acting in the becoming a policeman and that there was died November 2, 2009, and had not video as the students “discovered” the antagonism between Zamora and at least given any interviews in many years. meteorite did not help anything. Still, the some students, as often occurs between Undoubtedly he had already said every- hoax kept people guessing for a short time high-spirited college students and conser- thing he had to say about the incident. (see http://tinyurl.com/yjev5hd). vative local law enforcement. Over the years, other theories have The late Philip J. Klass, a noted UFO been put forth to explain the Zamora * * * skeptic, visited Socorro in 1966 and UFO incident. Apparently there was a “Mystery As Spiral Blue Light Display interviewed Zamora and others who had flight test of the Lunar Surveyor using a Hovers above Norway,” proclaimed the first-hand knowledge of the incident. helicopter near Socorro that day, raising Drudge Report. “A MYSTERIOUS Klass was puzzled by how little interest the possibility that Zamora witnessed giant spiral of light that dominated the there was among the scientists at New this test and misperceived it (Thomas sky over Norway this morning has Mexico Tech in what might be the first n.d.). Engineer Larry Robinson sug- stunned experts—who believe the space genuine alien encounter in recorded his- gested that Zamora saw an early propane- spectacle is an entirely new astral phe- tory, occurring literally in their backyard. powered hot air balloon, at that time a rel- nomenon,” exclaimed the British tabloid Klass wrote, “When I pressed one mem- atively new technology unfamiliar to newspaper The Sun. Dozens of other ber of the community to explain this most people (Robinson n.d.). British news publications and Web sites ran sim- apparent indifference, he suggested that I UFOlogist James Easton wrote, “during ilarly breathtaking stories. All across ‘nose around a bit,’” and he went on to this period, classified CIA hot-air balloon Norway on the morning of December 9,

26 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:46 AM Page 27

people heading to work saw a bright e-mail to report a sighting. The Ministry terminated its government UFO investi- “star” rising in the sky, spiraling out an received 135 reports during 2008. By gations in 2004, and the U.S. Air Force amazing pinwheel of white light. A blue closing the hotline, the Ministry expects closed down its Project Bluebook in tail seemed to point back to Earth. The to save the equivalent of about $73,000 1969. Several independent private well-known British UFOlogist Nick each year, a trifling sum in the context efforts in the U.S and Mexico have been Pope told The Sun, “A meteor or a fireball of military budgets. There was only one launched over the years with high expec- would simply travel in a straight line but man working in the department that tations and fanfare, but none of them for something to spiral in this way looked into UFOs, and he worked only has ever resulted in getting any solid, appears to go against the laws of part time. Nick Pope had previously convincing evidence of UFOs. The peo- physics. ... It’s ironic that something like held that position. ple of the U.K. need not be concerned this should happen the very week after the MoD [British Ministry of Defence] terminated its UFO project. It just goes to show how wrong that decision was.” For about a day, the media flogged it as a great mystery. While the mystery-mongers were busy spreading their uninformed speculations, serious observers immediately suspected it was a Russian rocket launch. At first the Russians denied any launch, but Russia had just posted a warning for ships to stay out of that area because of a scheduled missile launch. Also, similar (albeit much less spectacular, as the rocket is not in sun- light) launch spirals had been observed

before in a 2007 video of a Russian rocket OLSEN AFP PHOTO/SCANPIX/ANITA spiraling out of control (see www. This picture taken on December 9, 2009, shows an unusual light phenomenon above the Norwegian city of Skjeroy. A failed Russian test launch of its Bulava ICBM was later acknowledged as the cause. .com/watch?v=cTImevaNz0g). About a day later, the Russian Defense Ministry that valuable UFO information might acknowledged the failed test launch of its A spokesman for the Ministry stated, be lost by this decision, as no group in troubled new Bulava series intercontinen- “Our resources are focused on the prior- any country has succeeded, despite a tal ballistic missile (ICBM). ity—the front line in Afghanistan. Any number of attempts, in catching any The recent incident over Norway legitimate threat to the U.K. air space UFO in flagrante delicto, even when occurred sometime after 8 AM local will be spotted by our 24/7 radar checks there was a hotline for people to call at time, when the sky was still dark. Photos and will be dealt with by RAF fighter the very moment they believed they saw show twilight beginning (the sun doesn’t aircraft.” Pope told the Associated Press, an alien spaceship in the sky. rise until after 9 AM in Norway during “It’s a great shame. This is the end of the winter). As the rocket rose higher over 50 years of research and investiga- References above the ground, it entered sunlight tion into one of the biggest mysteries of Bragalia, Anthony. 2009. The Socorro UFO hoax our time.” However, the MoD stated, exposed! (Famous 1964 sighting was a college while ground observers were still in prank). The UFO Iconoclast(s) blog, Sep - darkness. The rocket began venting pro- “In over 50 years, no UFO report has tember 23. Available online at http://ufo- pellant while spinning, creating a spec- revealed any evidence of a potential con.blogspot.com/2009/09/socorro-hoax- tacularly bright sunlit spiral unwinding threat to the United Kingdom. ... The exposed-famous-1964.html. MoD has no specific capability for iden- Easton, James. 2003. The UFO Research List against a dark sky. I can truly say that forum, July 11. Available online at http:// this is the most spectacular “UFO” that tifying the nature of such sightings. tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/UFORL/mes- has ever been captured on photo or There is no defence benefit in such sage/1820. video, and our knowledge of what it is investigation and it would be an inap- Klass, P.J. 1968. UFOs—Identified. New York: propriate use of defence resources.” Random House. does not diminish its awesomeness. Robinson, Larry. n.d. Solving the 1964 Socorro In a recent column I described some * * * NM UFO case. MidiMagic. Available online other attempts to develop “rapid re - at http://midimagic.sgc-hosting.com/how- As Pope noted above, on December 1 sponse” investigations of UFO sightings isoco.htm. the British Ministry of Defence con- utilizing a hotline and other tools (see Thomas, David E. n.d. A different angle on the Socorro UFO of 1964. New Mexicans for firmed the closing of its so-called “UFO “Bigelow’s Aerospace and Saucer Em - Science and Reason. Available online at hotline,” where individuals could call or porium,” SI, July/August 2009). France www.nmsr.org/socorro.htm.

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SKEPTICAL INQUIREE BENJAMIN RADFORD

BodyTalk: Boon or Bogus?

questions. The questions work best ered only in the past few years? Have Q: I work for a national corpora- when framed not as an arrogant assault doctors around the world been wrong tion and recently noticed pamphlets on the practitioner (who, after all, prob- about the cause of disease for hun- advertising “BodyTalk” therapy distrib- ably believes in the therapy) but as sim- dreds of years? Can BodyTalk therapy 1 uted around the workplace. Now a ple and sincere “I’m trying to make sure cure almost any problem? BodyTalk practitioner is scheduled to I understand what you’re saying” type 5) Is BodyTalk therapy used in main- hold an introductory seminar—spon- queries. A few questions you might ask stream hospitals around the country? sored by our registered nurse. What the BodyTalk advocate: If so, which ones? If not, why not? If questions should I ask the practitioner 1) Has this therapy been subjected to it’s an important, valuable therapy about this therapy? any scientific or medical testing to with proven efficacy, why isn’t it —I. Kappler make sure it is safe and effective? Are widely used and recognized? there any references to studies pub- The questions could go on, of course, lished in peer-reviewed medical jour- but you get the idea. If these queries are A: BodyTalk sounds kind of New nals involving BodyTalk therapy? If made politely but firmly and in public, Agey. When I did some digging, I found not, why not? the advocate’s inability to answer these this description: “BodyTalk is a simple 2) The BodyTalk therapy seems based questions will raise doubts in the room. and effective holistic therapy that allows on manipulating “energy systems.” It’s also helpful to appeal to the bottom your body’s energy systems to be re-syn- What “energy systems” is this refer- line: “Well, if we don’t really have good chronized so they can operate as nature ring to? Is that the same as the “life answers to these questions, maybe we intended” (www.bodytalksystem.com). energy” or chi that doctors and scien- should hold off until we do.” If someone Can’t you feel the woo already? tists have never been able to find or expects you to spend your time (and the Wait, it gets better: “Each system, measure? company’s money) on this therapy, you cell, and atom is in constant communi- 3) When you talk about the systems deserve straightforward answers about cation with each other at all times. being “re-synchronized,” what exactly what it is and if it’s valid. The real ques- Through exposure to the stresses of day- does that mean? What sort of medical tion you should ask (“As a registered to-day life, these lines of communica- tests or measurements determine nurse, shouldn’t you know better than to tion can become disconnected, [result- whether or not the systems are syn- sponsor this worthless therapy?”) may be ing] in a decline in physical, emotional chronized? Other than subjective better left implied. and/or mental well-being.” That’s right, feelings or self-reports, is there any according to BodyTalk creator “Dr.” way to know if a body has been “re- Note John Veltheim (who is not a medical synchronized” or not? 1. For an excellent background on this, see Harriett Hall’s article “The One True Cause of All doctor), if you are not feeling well, it’s 4) What evidence is there that the Disease” in the January/February 2010 issue of the because the cells in your body aren’t premise of BodyTalk (that problems SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. communicating. This is an interesting with “physical, emotional, and/or idea that has absolutely no basis in real- mental well-being” are caused by ity, medicine, or scientific fact. poor “communication” among cells Benjamin Radford is managing editor of How to expose this? Sometimes the and atoms) is true? If diseases are the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER and is surprised best way to combat pseudoscience is really caused by some sort of lack of at how many questions relate to pseudo- with a series of simple, basic, innocent communication, why was this discov- science in the corporate workplace.

28 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 11:47 AM Page 29

SCIENCE WATCH KENNETH W. KRAUSE

An Eye for the Ladies

volutionary scientists made 2009 a Carnegie Museum of Natural History in megacanina. Ganlea possessed a distinc- remarkable year for the fairer sex. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, declared, “Ida’s tive feeding adaptation characteristic of ELet’s start with masil - a fine fossil, but she’s not the missing modern saki monkeys from the Amazon lae—remember “Ida”? On May 19 the link.” Arguing that she “fails miserably” Basin of South America: an extremely world was introduced to the purported to display any anthropoid features that large canine tooth used to pry open tough “missing link” between primitive pri- evolved after that group’s split from tropical fruits to access their seeds. mates and —an exceptionally well-preserved, forty-seven-million-year- old cat-sized fossil belonging to an extinct branch of early called adapi- forms. As an international team led by Jo/rn Hurum of the University of Oslo, Norway, released the PLoS One paper, Ida was ceremoniously unveiled to an enthu- siastic audience that included New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the American Museum of Natural History. A book and documentary film, both dub - bed The Link, quickly followed. Hurum claimed that although Ida plainly resembled some prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers, and their extinct ances-

tors), her fossil also revealed anthropoid- Newscom Photo: like (and thus human-like) features, The Ida fossil. This was thought to be at the root of anthropoid evolution, when primates were first devel- including a partially fused lower mandible oping the features that would evolve into our own. and a foot bone called a talus. She also other primates, Beard bluntly character- Compared to adapiforms like Ida, Beard lacked the “toothcomb” and “grooming ized the Ida unveiling as “unbridled concluded, Asian amphipithecids like claw” more typical of lemurs. Because she hoopla” and warned his fellow scientists Ganlea were much stronger candidates for was recovered from an oil shale pit in against having their work “evaluated on the coveted title of ancestors to the Messel, Germany, Hurum’s team argued the same basis as the advertising cam- anthropoids. that Ida also challenged the more conven- paign for the next world tour of the tional wisdom that anthropoids had orig- Rolling Stones.” Kenneth W. Krause is a contributing edi- inated in Africa. On July 1 Beard published an article tor and science news columnist for the But criticism rained fast and furiously in the online Proceedings of the Royal SKEP TICAL INQUIRER, and a contributing on Ida’s well-publicized parade. In the Society B that introduced a thirty-eight- editor and books editor/columnist for the May 30 New Scientist, Chris Beard, cura- million-year-old fossil from My - Hu manist. He may be contacted at tor of vertebrate paleontology at the anmar (formerly Burma) called Gan lea [email protected].

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In “Weak Link,” Kate Wong’s short brightly upon two much younger ladies— eclipse the ever-brightening limelight piece in the August issue of Scientific one from Aramis, Ethi opia, and the other cast upon the little lady of Flores, Indo - American, Robert Martin from the Field from the Indonesian island of Flores. nesia, known as LB1. About a meter tall Museum in Chicago and Richard Kay Clocking in at about 4.4 million with a chimp-sized brain, LB1 and her from the paleontology department at years old, Ardipithecus ramidus may rev- fellow “hobbits” were recovered late in Duke University piled on to the now- olutionize our long-held assumptions 2003 from Liang Bua cave sediments crowded anti-Ida bandwagon. Martin about the evolution of bipedality and dating from 95,000 to 15,000 years ago pointed out that fused lower jaws had the physiology of the six million year old (see my article, “Pathology or Paradigm evolved independently in several other last common ancestor between humans Shift?” SI, July/August 2009). From the , including lemurs, but were and chimpanzees. “Ardi,” a fairly com- beginning, a small minority of scientists not present in the earliest anthropoids. plete skeleton found among thirty-six or have disputed the majority’s conclusion Like Beard, Kay judged that fossil evi- more individual African specimens, did- that LB1 represents Homo floresiensis, a dence of primitive Asian primates n’t knuckle-walk or swing through the species entirely separate from our own. proved that the lady from Messel was trees like an ape. Instead, she probably These detractors have hypothesized that not a direct ancestor of monkeys, apes, walked upright on the ground but also the hobbits are merely pygmoid or or humans. used her opposable big toes to negotiate pathological H. sapiens, and what re - Finally, in the October 22 Nature, a intermediate tree limbs on all fours. mains of the debate has, unfortunately, team led by Erik Seiffert at Stony Brook Ardi is one of just six skeletons dated grown somewhat venomous. University in New York compared the to more than a million years old and the Even so, the new-species proponents fossil traits of two adapiforms, Ida and the only one older than Lucy (Australo - have recently fortified their position. Indeed, the Journal of Human Evolution devoted an entire edition to more evi- dence and arguments in favor of H. flo- resiensis. Guest-edited by Michael Mor - wood, LB1’s Australian co-discoverer, The gods of paleoanthropology appear to be and William Jungers, a prominent an - smiling brightly upon two much younger ladies atomist at Stony Brook University, the November 2009 issue featured peer- —one from Aramis, Ethiopia, and the other reviewed articles analyzing much of the from the Indonesian island of Flores. hobbits’ tiny bodies, including their brains, teeth, mandibles, and limbs, along with their stone-flaking technol- ogy and environmental milieu. Doubtless, the evolutionary stakes over the Flores hominins are extremely high. thirty-seven-million-year-old Afra dapis pithecus afarensis) to be published. Tim Conventional wisdom has long held, first, longicristatus, to those of more than one White and others from the Middle that the Neanderthals were the last group hundred other living and extinct pri- Awash research group discovered these of hominins to cohabit the earth with H. mates. After evaluating 360 morphologi- wonderful fossils beginning in Decem - sapiens and, second, that no human cal features, Seiffert concluded that ber 1992. But only recently were eleven species had ventured from the confines although the adapiforms shared certain papers and author summaries dissecting of Africa prior to H. erectus. The hobbits traits with anthropoids—the loss of a the amazing details of Ardi’s anantomy, effectively challenge both paradigms, third upper and lower premolar, for diet, habitat, and evolutionary signifi- according to Jungers and his co-worker example—those characteristics had arisen cance finally released in the October 2, Karen Baab. In the December 2009 issue more than once among primates and were 2009, Science. An “unpredicted and odd of Significance, they discuss evidence “most parsimoniously interpreted as evo- mosaic,” writes White’s team, Ar. ramidus suggesting that LB1 may have descended lutionary convergences.” Ida was not a “is so rife with anatomical surprises that from a species much smaller and more haplorhine anthropoid, in other words, no one could have imagined it without ancient than H. erectus. but rather a strepsirrhine (a group includ- direct fossil evidence.” Ardi’s discovery Statistical analyses of skull shapes, for ing lemurs and lorises) that “left no was named Breakthrough of the Year in example, “find modern humans in one known descendants.” the December 18 Science. Deserving far grouping,” the authors say, “micro- Hurum’s team continues to defend more attention than I can deliver here, cephalic humans in another, and the Ida’s status as the so-called “missing link,” Ardi and her captivating cohorts will be hobbit, together with ancient hominins, but her claim to fame appears to be falling featured more prominently in an upcom- in a third.” They found that hobbit bod- on increasingly deaf ears. Even so, the gods ing issue of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. ies were unique too. The Flores speci- of paleoanthropology appear to be smiling But no fossil hominin’s gleam can mens were “far stockier” than any mod-

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ern human, including pygmies, and which are associated with fertility and But we shouldn’t be too surprised if although their arms were about the same intelligence. By comparison, the tiny Y over the next few centuries or so we notice length as those of pygmies, their legs chromosome stores just eighty-nine that the ladies sitting at those tables have were much shorter. To Jungers and genes and the average autosome only begun to change. In an attempt to show Baab, this peculiar ratio implies an evo- about eight hundred genes. Second, that natural selection continues to mold lutionary retention rather than a reversal because of how the X is passed down the human species despite modern medi- because selective forces would probably between generations, some grandmas are cine’s benign and insulating influences, not reverse more economical features biologically closer to some grandkids and that we can predict changes to spe- like long limbs. Finding no special than to others. While MGMs are 25 per- cific traits in the short term, Yale Uni - resemblances between H. erectus and the cent X-related to both boys and girls, versity biologist Stephen Stearns pored hobbits, the authors emphasize the pos- PGMs are 50 percent X-related to grand- over results from the Framingham, sibility of a pre-erectus out-of-Africa trek daughters but 0 percent to grandsons. Massa chusetts, Heart Study, which, initi- by “Homo habilis or some as yet un - According to Knapp’s conclusions, ated in 1948, is the longest-running known ancient species.” these genetic inequities produce very multigenerational analysis in medical his- And now everyone’s grandma is in the serious real-world effects. The team ana- tory. In October 2009, Stearns’ team evolutionary spotlight too, though some lyzed sex-specific grandchild survival reported their results in the Proceedings of grandkids will surely be more impressed rates among seven modern and histori- the National Academy of Sciences. with the news than others. Natural selec- cal societies across the globe (in , The original heart study included tion, of course, continues to pose tough Germany, England, Ethiopia, Gambia, thousands of Framingham residents— questions for all scientists. How altruism and homosexuality evolved are usually mentioned first. But what about post- menopausal longevity; why do women— unlike other primates and most mam- mals—live long past their child-bearing After comparing certain medically significant years? A team led by University of traits between generations, and controlling for Cambridge anthropologist Leslie Knapp has offered the “X-linked grandmother about fifty environmental factors, Stearn’s team hypothesis”—an exceptionally interest- ing, if for some quite troubling, explana- claimed the ability to forecast the rate of tion recently published in a Proceedings of evolutionary change ten generations forward. the Royal Society B article titled “Grand ma Plays Favourites.” Scientists had previously proposed that grandmothers perpetuate their genetic material by generally caring for their grandchildren. But according to Malawai, and Canada). Amazingly, they most of Northern European descent— Knapp, because those earlier studies failed discovered that regardless of cultural cir- and more than nine hundred family to distinguish between maternal and cumstances, the effect of grandmother trees. Stearns considered only the paternal grandmothers (MGMs and presence on grandchild mortality closely women for lack of paternity informa- PGMs), they “found no correlation” corresponds to the degree of X-related- tion. After comparing certain medically between grandmother presence and ness—a PGM, in other words, will actu- significant traits between generations, grandchild survivorship. Moreover, only ally increase a girl’s (yet decrease a boy’s) and controlling for about fifty environ- two prior studies distinguished between chance of survivorship. mental factors, his team claimed the male and female grandchildren. Sug - This, of course, is not to imply that ability to forecast the rate of evolution- gesting cultural mechanisms for their grandmas intentionally discriminate ary change ten generations forward. results, those studies revealed that MGM against some of their grandkids. Al - Framingham women of the future, presence had a positive effect on both though the mechanism is surely an un - they predicted, will be slightly “shorter sexes, but that PGM presence had a posi- conscious one, Knapp could only guess and stouter” with lower total cholesterol tive effect on girls and a negative effect on how it really works—perhaps through a levels and systolic blood pressures, and boys. Query: if the causes were merely child’s pheromones or physical resem- they will give birth to their first child cultural, why the difference? blance, for example. Nevertheless, her sooner and reach menopause later. In For two important reasons, Knapp team’s results were impressive, to say the other words, the ladies will be healthier looked to the X chromosome for clues. least, and just might provoke some inter- and enjoy longer periods of reproduc- First, the copious X contains 1,529, or 8 esting conversations across holiday din- tive viability. I wonder—will Barbie get percent, of all human genes, many of ner tables this year. a makeover too?

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The Psychic and the Serial Killer Examining the ‘Best Case’ for Psychic Detectives

An examination of the ‘best case’ of psychic detective abilities offers insight into how extraordinary claims are made, exaggerated, and clung to despite clear disconfirming evidence. BENJAMIN RADFORD

mie Hoffman, an eighteen-year-old cheerleader at Parsippany Hills High School in Hanover Township, A New Jersey, left her part-time job at a local mall on the evening of November 23, 1982. She had worked a dou- ble shift and was heading home for the Thanksgiving holi- day with her adoptive parents. Unfortunately, she never arrived. After several worried hours, Hoffman’s mother went to the mall, where she found Amie’s car in the parking lot. The keys were in the ignition, and her purse and sweater were in the front seat. There was no evidence of a struggle; it seemed Amie had simply vanished. She was found floating face down in four feet of water in a concrete water tank at the Mendham Borough Reservoir

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on November 25 by a couple walking their dog. Hoffman had of the Hoffman and O’Brien suspect’s car and arrested him on been stabbed several times with a sharp knife. The killing set the spot. The tread on his right rear tire matched a track left at the community on edge. A $5,000 reward was offered for any the scene of O’Brien’s murder, and fibers found in his car information about Hoffman’s killer, and within a week the FBI matched those from the clothing of one of his victims. The was involved in the investigation. Several eyewitnesses came reign of terror that had gripped Morris County since Thanks - forward with a description of a man and his vehicle last seen giving finally eased. with Hoffman, though the case seemed stalled. Police identified the suspect as James Koedatich, a thirty- Finally one detective working on the periphery of the case, year-old man of Polish descent who lived nearby in Morris - Capt. Jim Moore, contacted local psychic Nancy Weber, with town. He had served ten years in a Dade County, Florida, whom he was acquainted. Moore soon brought in a second prison for robbery and second-degree murder and had been detective, Bill Hughes. Weber told both police officers details released on August 18, 1982. about Hoffman’s death that allegedly even the police did not As presented by Nancy Weber, a 2006 episode of the know, convincing them of her credibility.1 Biography Channel TV show Psychic Investigators, the Skeptiko After a few initial meetings, the three of them drove together podcast, and elsewhere, Weber’s psychic information about to the crime scene, and Weber gave the police information about Hoffman’s killer turned out to be amazingly accurate in nearly Hoffman’s killer, telling them: “The man who did this, his first every detail. Her credibility was dramatically bolstered by name is James, his last name is Polish, multiple syllables, begin- detectives Moore and Hughes, who publicly professed belief in ning with a ‘K’ and ending in an ‘ish.’ He came up from Florida her abilities. Little wonder that it is touted as one of the best where he had been imprisoned for murder. He lived in the area” cases of psychic detective abilities. (Weber 2008). Moore and Hughes took down her information but were The Skeptiko Psychic Detective Challenge unable to locate the killer. He murdered a second woman, I first heard about the case in mid-2008, when I was a guest Dierdre O’Brien, two weeks later on December 5. Like Hoff - on a podcast called Skeptiko (whose tagline is “Science at the man, she had been abducted and repeatedly stabbed. She was res- tipping point”). During an interview about testing psychics, cued by a driver at a truck stop and briefly described her attacker host Alex Tsakiris repeatedly accused skeptical investigators of to him, but she bled to death in his arms. On December 10, purposely choosing the weakest cases. According to Tsakiris, Morris County police released a sketch of the suspected mur- skeptics steer away from the “best cases” and instead choose derer; three of Hoffman’s coworkers had seen the man and his the most dubious ones, the equivalent of a professional boxer Chevrolet at the mall. This turned up no new leads, and the intentionally choosing unworthy opponents (“tomato cans”), to investigation continued.2 The serial killer was not arrested until six weeks later, in the Benjamin Radford, managing editor of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, early morning hours of January 17, 1983. He had called the is a longtime investigator of psychic detective claims and all man- Morristown police from his home to report that he had been ner of other extraordinary claims. He is author of Media attacked by an unknown assailant. It turned out to be a false Mythmakers and co-author of Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias report, but while at his home an observant police officer (with Robert F. Bartholomew) and Mysteries noticed that his turquoise Chevrolet matched the description (with Joe Nickell). Email: [email protected].

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inflate their apparent success rate. Tsakiris (2008a) asked me, “the notion that somehow the burden of proof is greater on me “Why don’t you ever investigate very good cases? than it is on you, I do not accept that at all.” That wasn’t true of me or any other skeptics I knew—as an And what evidence was produced to support this extraordi- investigator, I don’t want to waste my time on poor evidence. So nary claim? Virtually none, except for statements by Weber I challenged Tsakiris to find his best case for psychic detectives: and the police. As I researched the case, I kept expecting “You find the best case you can. Look through all the psychics Tsakiris to present me with some hard evidence that supported you want; pick the one case you think is airtight.” He could Weber’s claims. The burden of proof in this case lies squarely choose any case from any time, anywhere in the world, that pre- with Weber (and by extension Tsakiris), and by any reasonable sented the gold standard for evidence of psychic detectives. He measure they failed to meet that standard from the outset. would then present it to me, and I would investigate it. This Three people’s quarter-century-old memories are simply not challenge turned into one of the most in-depth and thorough adequate to establish proof of psychic powers. examinations ever conducted of one psychic detective’s claims. Despite the weak evidence offered, was Weber’s informa- A few weeks later, Tsakiris contacted me with the Amie tion really as inexplicable as it seemed? Did the police really Hoffman murder case. I had never heard of either it or Nancy support her claims? I wanted this “best case” to end up with Weber. Here, finally, I was being offered the rock-solid proof— something conclusive, coming as close as possible to either one of the best cases, if not the best, in the world, according to proving or disproving Weber’s psychic claims. Tsakiris. If I could solve this “best case” mystery, not only could Tsakiris no longer claim that skeptics avoid the best cases, but Examining the Psychic Detective Claims all other psychic detective cases—which according to Tsakiris Because this case was complex and multifaceted, Tsakiris and I are not as strong—would therefore be even more dubious. agreed to limit our investigation specifically to the information Tsakiris referred to Weber’s information in this case as “amaz- Nancy Weber gave regarding Hoffman’s murder. Tsakiris ing” and “off-the-charts extraordinary.” People who posted on (2008) noted, “I want to focus on and verify whether Nancy Skeptiko’s Web site were also impressed. “Appears to be a slam provided the investigators the first name of the perpetrator, dunk,” wrote a man named Rod McKenzie; another wrote, when that name was not known to them; whether she pro- “That was a lot of very specific information she gave.” A New vided information regarding the last name, that it had three Zealand blogger named John Baylis (2007) wrote, “We watched syllables; was of Polish descent, ended in an ‘itch’ sound. I on a recent TV documentary how brilliant psychic Nancy Weber want to verify whether she provided information about him solved a crime for the New Jersey State Police. ... It cannot be being a convicted murderer who had left Florida and returned explained in any other way. All of her clues were 100% correct!” to New Jersey, that he was originally from New Jersey.” Interestingly, everyone involved—including Weber— Tsakiris interviewed all three principals and watched the admits that her information did not solve the case. According TV show, concluding that “all three [Weber, Moore, and to New Jersey reporter Abbot Koloff (2006), “Law enforcement Hughes] agree that Weber provided information on the most authorities who were in charge of the Koedatich case say Weber important aspects of the incident. All three agree she provided: had no role in the investigation. ... They say Koedatich was the first name, James; the last name, begins with a hard K; caught by old fashioned police work, a combination of his own Polish/Eastern European descent, with an ‘itch’ sound on the mistakes, and an examination of the evidence.” Still, Weber and end; [he was] from New Jersey; and was serving time in a her supporters believe that the information she gave regarding Florida jail for murder.” Indeed, the TV show suggests that Koedatich was so amazingly accurate and specific that psychic Moore and Hughes support all of Weber’s claims. ability is the only plausible explanation. A Closer Look Psychic Detective Methods Both police officers do generally endorse Weber’s claim that she Psychic detectives impress people by creating the illusion of contributed accurate, seemingly psychic information about Amie accuracy and specificity. They make predictions that appear to Hoffman’s killer. To Weber and Tsakiris, that is proof enough: be amazingly accurate, when instead they are general and two detectives back up her story. Case closed; it’s a slam-dunk. vague. For example, psychic detectives will often say that a Yet, as in most investigations into supposedly paranormal body will be found “near water.” This seems very impressive phenomena, the devil is in the details. Claims that seem amaz- until you realize that the bodies of most missing persons are ing and unexplainable at first glance are often far less impres- found near some sort of water—a pond, a river, a reservoir, a sive upon closer inspection. Because this case rests entirely on ditch, a lake, an ocean, a swamp, a drainage or water pipe, and the memories of the three participants (any contemporaneous so on. (Of course, “near” is a relative term and could be inter- notes are long gone), in order to judge the validity of the infor- preted to mean any distance from inches to miles.) mation we need to look closely at what each says. The burden of proof is not on me as a skeptical investiga- I consulted transcripts from both the Psychic Investigators tor to prove that Weber did not provide the “amazingly accu- TV show and the Skeptiko podcasts and interviewed all the rate” psychic information she claims; it is on Weber to prove principals at least once. As I reviewed the information from she did. Tsakiris repeatedly failed to grasp or accept this fun- Sgt. Bill Hughes and Capt. Jim Moore, it became clear that— damental principle, stating at the conclusion of the case that despite repeated claims to the contrary—their accounts differ

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dramatically from those of psychic Nancy Weber. I will exam- name at all.” Which is it? Did Weber provide the first name ine each claim in turn.3 “James” or didn’t she? Is it likely that Hughes would have for- gotten such a specific, complete name? Or did Weber give that 1) Weber claims she specified that Hoffman’s killer had information only to Moore, who inexplicably failed to tell his served prison time in Florida: “He came up from Florida partner that the man they were looking for was named James? where he had been imprisoned for murder.” It seems that the two police officers—despite proclaiming Moore agrees with Weber on this account, but Sgt. Hughes their general belief in Nancy Weber’s psychic abilities—con- disputes it, telling me that Weber merely stated the killer “had tradict virtually every specific claim she made. Remarkably, served prison time in the south.... I don’t recall her specifi- Tsakiris, even after being presented with direct quotes, tran- cally saying that he’d done time in Florida, just that he’d done scripts, and live interviews, refused to admit that the three eye- time in the south.” In a later interview Hughes changed his witnesses’ stories were anything but rock solid: “This is silly,” mind and stated that Weber had in fact specified Florida.4 he told me. “None of these things are inconsistent. They do not refute what she was saying. . ..This is just meaningless 2) Weber claims that she specified of Hoffman’s killer that minutia that gets in the way of really looking at the big pic- “his last name begins with a K.” ture.” It is the psychic’s word against the police, and since we Unfortunately for Nancy Weber, Moore and Hughes dispute have no record of what Weber told them, there is no way to be her story. Sgt. Hughes said, “I don’t specifically recall her com- certain who is accurate (though of course the police are far ing up with the ‘K.’” Capt. Moore remembers Weber telling more credible than the psychic).5 him that the killer had “a hard ‘K’ in his name”—not that the killer’s name begins with a K but instead that there’s a “hard K” Catching the Killer somewhere in the name. A final nail in the coffin for this “best case” comes from an Three different people provided three different recollec- even stronger piece of evidence proving that the information tions. Which do we believe? Did Weber specify that the killer’s Nancy Weber gave police in 1982 was not as specific as she last name began with a K, as she claims? Or did she not tell the now claims. Weber said she told Moore and Hughes that police that detail, as Hughes remembers it? Or did she tell only Hoffman’s killer lived nearby in the Morris area, that his first Moore that there was a “hard K” somewhere in the name, as name was James, that his last name began with a K and ended Moore recollects? with the suffix –ich, and that he had served prison time in Florida for murder, and so on. If Weber is telling the truth, 3) Weber claims that she specified that Hoffman’s killer’s and the police had so many specific, accurate, identifying “last name . . . ends in an ‘ish.’” details about the killer, it is baffling that they weren’t able to Neither Hughes nor Moore can confirm that Weber gave them find and arrest Koedatich before he killed again. that information. According to Sgt. Hughes, “I don’t specifi- I know this because I tracked down the serial killer using cally recall her coming up with the ‘ich’ [in the name].” Moore Weber’s information. With the help of Joyce Leuchten, an agrees: “To be honest with you, I don’t remember [Weber say- assistant living in the area, I obtained a copy of the New Jersey ing the killer’s last name] ends with ‘ich.’” Bell phone book for the Morris area from July 1982. I went through all the last names that began with K and ended in –ich 4) Weber claims that she specified that Hoffman’s killer was and whose first initial was J. It took about twenty minutes, and of Polish decent and that “his last name is Polish.” I found a grand total of four names (from two families) that fit Both Moore and Hughes dispute Weber’s claim that she told the criteria. On page 252, in the middle of the second column, them the serial killer was Polish. Instead, Hughes (2009) says, are listings for Koedatich—the serial killer’s brother Joseph Weber said the killer “was of Eastern European descent.” and their father (see Figure 1). Weber also claimed that she Moore corroborates Hughes’s recollection: “Eastern European. told police that the killer’s brother worked at (or owned) a gas That is exactly what she said to me.” Interestingly, Hughes’s station. If that is true, then the detective could have confirmed account changed over time: in Weber’s 1995 book he stated, the validity of this lead with one question. Weber’s informa- “She . . . said he was Czech or Polish” (166). tion would have led Moore and Hughes directly to Koedatich’s Hughes told me that Weber’s information was far too vague door (or at least to his family’s door). to be of use: “Eastern European descent—maybe Slovak, or Even if all the police knew was that the killer was a parolee Russian, or Romanian. Again, you’re talking about thousands of who had done time in a Florida prison for murder, one phone names. Where do you begin? . . . [She] narrowed it down from call to the local parole board could have solved the case. One 275 million people in the United States to maybe 30 million.” wonders why Nancy Weber herself—if she was so concerned about stopping the killer, knew he would kill again, and was 5) Weber claims that she specified that “the man who did so confident in her psychic information—didn’t spend a few this, his first name is James.” minutes looking in the phone book to save an innocent young In this case, Moore’s memory agrees with Weber. But Weber and woman’s life. Moore are contradicted by Sgt. Hughes, who stated, “She didn’t The principle of Occam’s razor prompts us to ask: Is it more have complete names for us. ... I do not remember the first likely that the police detectives had the “amazingly specific”

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information Weber claims (but both somehow forgot most of it I went out to my driveway to pick up my newspaper, and read, and were not competent enough to use it to find the serial killer) ‘Body of Amy [sic] Hoffman found in a water tank in a wooded or that Weber is wrong about what she told police in1982? area of Randolph.’ As I read the account it went on to say the body was fully clothed and there was no indication of rape or Fuzzy Memories any marks on the body.” In an interview on the Skeptiko pod- Alex Tsakiris, like many proponents of paranormal phenom- cast, Weber told Alex Tsakiris (2008b), “I knew the newspa- ena from Bigfoot to UFOs to , places a high value on the pers reported Amie’s body was found clothed and they could- accuracy of eyewitness testimony and memory—especially n’t determine death. That’s the truth.” that of police officers. Both Moore and Hughes were very sin- Actually, that’s not the truth. A search of newspaper archives cere and forthcoming, freely admitting when they could not reveals that the day after Hoffman’s body was found, Nov ember remember. In our final interview, Hughes (2009c) discussed 26, the press did indeed report that she had obvious wounds that the difficulty in accurately remembering the specific details caused her death: quoted a Detective Lieut. upon which the case hinges: “We have discussed this so many James McLagan as saying “she was stabbed to death,” adding that times and have done so many shows over and over a period of Hoffman had several wounds (“Missing” 1982), and the front time. I have heard Jimmy Moore say, well, he remembers this, page of the Daily Record (a newspaper Weber read and which she

Figure 1. The author located the serial killer in a phone book using infor- mation Nancy Weber claims she told police in 1982; yet the police were unable to use her information to find him. and Nancy says I remember that, and sometimes it’s hard to separate what I specifically remember of the incident when we Figure 2. Information about Amie Hoffman's murder published in the were there, and what I just remember hearing from all of the Daily Record, which Nancy Weber claimed she knew using her psychic powers. interviews that we have done.” Hughes’s admission provides keen psychological insight reprints in her book, see Figure 2) stated that Hoffman had into the problem. When people remember events, they actu- “been stabbed several times in the chest and other parts of the ally reconstruct them each time. Decades of psychology stud- body” (Orlandi 1982). Weber claims to have had psychic details ies show that human memory is remarkably fallible. The brain about Amie Hoffman’s murder that were unknown and not is not, as many suppose, a sort of tape recorder that accurately reported in the press, when in fact those details had been widely preserves what we experience. Instead, memories change over reported on the front page of the local newspaper and in The time—especially if, as in this case, the three have repeated the New York Times. Passing off details about the murder she read in stories and heard each other tell their versions. If anything, it’s the newspaper as “psychic information” only further damages her remarkable that their accounts are not more similar. credibility.

Weber Caught in a Lie Psychology Solves the Case One reason Moore and Hughes said they initially put stock in Weber’s claim is typical of how psychic detectives use a tech- Weber was that she claimed to know details of Hoffman’s mur- nique called retrofitting to make their predictions appear der that had not been made public (such as that Hoffman had amazingly accurate. Once the answer or the specifics of the been stabbed to death). For example, in her book Psychic case are known, the psychic retroactively refines the original Detective (1995), Weber states, “The next day [after the murder] predictions. Once Hoffman’s killer was arrested, pieces of his

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biography and past were picked through in a search for any at the time. In fact, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office was dealing with a information that matched Weber’s predictions. It turns out half-dozen other unsolved murders (Sperling 1982). If Weber’s information was as amazingly accurate as she now claims, it seems odd that she was not Koedatich had spent time in a Florida prison, so Weber asked to help in those other investigations. remembers that she told the police that fact earlier, when 3. Readers can listen to audio excerpts of the interviews prepared by Blake instead one of the officers remembers her telling them only Smith and myself. The audio files are available online at www.radford books.com/psychicdetectiveinterviews.html and at www.csicop.org/SIExtras. that he had done time in “the south.” 4. Of course, “the south” can be interpreted in several different ways. It I doubt that Nancy Weber consciously changed her story to might mean the part of the United States thought of as “the South,” includ- make her psychic information seem more accurate than it was. ing Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Instead, it is more likely that she and the police were so con- Maryland. Or the psychic might say, “No, I meant south of here”; in that case, vinced of her powers that they simply fell prey to a common south of New Jersey would include about forty-five states, the vast majority of psychological mistake called confirmation bias. We all do it: the country. The psychic, of course, benefits from as broad an interpretation as possible. we seek out information that confirms our beliefs, and we tend 5. Interestingly, Weber (2009) acknowledged that Hughes did not recall to remember the hits (the things we get right) and ignore the her specifying that the killer’s first name was James, that he came from Florida misses (the things we get wrong). (“Yes, he does not recall it but. ... If he said he does not recall, it does not mean I did not say it; it means he does not recall it”), that neither Hughes nor The police officers’ notes are long gone, Moore having Moore remember her specifying that the killer’s last name ended with –ich or thrown his away around 2002. The Amie Hoffman case file is that he was Polish. So on at least four of the five main issues, Weber herself not available, and there are no other records of Nancy Weber’s admits that one or both of the police officers contradict her story. information, as she inexplicably refuses to keep notes about References her information. This investigation began with my specific Authorities arrest suspect in one of three slayings. 1983. AP story in the Daily request for the “best case” for psychic detectives, a phrase Intelligencer, January 19. which became a sore point for Tsakiris. Bayliss, John. 2007. Brilliant psychic detective converts hard core skeptics. November 16. Blog post available online at www.victorzammit.com/ This was a fascinating case for me on many levels and took archives/June2006.html. about nine months of research and investigation. It was an Granville, Kevin. 1982. Disappearance stuns cheerleader’s friends. Daily Record, November 25. interesting intellectual challenge to tackle the “best case” for Hambling, David. 2008. Re-making memories. 243, Decem ber, psychic detectives (and one which, at first glance anyway, was p.14. Harpster, Richard. 1982. Suitor theory pursued. Daily Record, November 27, p. 3. corroborated by police officers). Seeing Tsakiris’s obstinate ———. 1982. Cops sketch Amie suspect. Daily Record, December 10. refusal to acknowledge the gaping holes in his evidence and Hughes, Bill. 2008a. Quoted in Tsakiris 2008a. ———. 2009b. Interview with Benjamin Radford, February 18. arguments was very instructive. Skeptics and believers can look ———. 2009c. Quoted in Tsakiris 2009. at the exact same evidence and testimony yet approach the Koloff, Abbott. 2006. A killer, a psychic, and conflicted memories. Daily Record, June 3. topic from very different points of view. Moore, James. 2008a. Quoted in Tsakiris 2008a. Hopefully this case can stand as an example of what can be ———. 2008b. Interview with Benjamin Radford, February 17. discovered through thorough investigation and detailed analy- ———. 2009. Quoted in Tsakiris 2009. Missing Jersey cheerleader is found stabbed to death. 1982. The New York Times, sis. In fact, as I concluded this investigation I was contacted by November 26. a professor at Western Washington University, John Farquhar, New Jersey Bell. 1982. Morris Area telephone book, July. Norman, Michael. 1982. Suitor clue is reported in Jersey slaying. The New York who had been following my research on the Skeptiko podcast. Times, November 27. He teaches a course on skepticism and critical thinking and is Orlandi, Lorraine. 1982. Missing cheerleader found dead. Daily Record, November 26, A-1. using this investigation as a case study for his students on how Posner, Gary. 2005. Police chief misleads viewers on Psychic Detectives. to analyze unusual claims. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, November/December 29(6). Biography Channel. 2006. Psychic Investigators television show. Season 1, episode Tsakiris stated that “sometimes the claims that skeptics make 2, air date March 17. can really test the limits of common sense and reason.” In this Radford, Benjamin. 2008. The . Fortean Times 239, case—the “best case” for psychic detectives—it seems that com- September. ———. 2009. Ghosts, doughnuts, and A Christmas Carol. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, mon sense and reason are on the side of the skeptics. May/June 33(3): 45. Sperling, Ed. 1982. Unsolved crimes plague prosecutor. Daily Record, Novem ber 28, B-1. Acknowledgments Tsakiris, Alex. 2008a. Skeptiko transcript 58: Psychics and police, November 23. My research into this case was aided by Joyce Leuchten, who provided ———. 2008b. Skeptiko transcript 77: Nancy Weber, February 17. important library research, and Blake Smith, who offered suggestions ———. 2009. Interview with Benjamin Radford, Nancy Weber, Jimmy Moore, and Bill Hughes. Skeptiko transcript 69: Psychic Detective Smack - and organized audio segments and transcripts. down, Ben Radford. March 18. Available online at www.skeptiko.com/ transcript-69-psychic-detective/#more-133\. Notes Weber, Nancy O. 1995. Psychic Detective: The True Story of Psychic Detective Nancy 1. Weber’s credibility was called into question when I read the following Orlen Weber. Self-published, Denville, NJ: Unlimited Mind Publications. ———. 2008. Quoted in Tsakiris 2008b. statement on the back cover of her book: “In 1972 she studied psychotherapy ———. 2009. Quoted in Tsakiris 2009. at the Center for Feelings and Creativity.” An Internet search turned up only one reference to a “Center for Feelings and Creativity,” a workshop given in 1978. If Weber “studied psychotherapy” there in 1972, it seems odd that the More Online! only reference to it doesn’t appear until 1978, six years later. If the Center is Listen to Nancy Weber, Alex Tsakiris, and police detectives (or was) a legitimate school, college, or learning institution, it seems that no Jim Moore and Bill Hughes discuss this case in their own one else attended, studied, worked, taught, or graduated. I suspect that the words! Read transcript excerpts and hear the original inter- Center is either a diploma mill or some friend’s made-up “college.” views at www.csicop.org/SIExtras. 2. Amie Hoffman was only one of many unsolved homicides in the area

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Psychic Defective Sylvia Browne’s History of Failure

The most extensive study of alleged psychic Sylvia Browne’s predictions about missing persons and murder cases reveals a strange discrepancy: despite her repeated claim to be more than 85 percent correct, it seems that Browne has not even been mostly correct about a single case. RYAN SHAFFER and AGATHA JADWISZCZOK

ne difficulty in judging the accuracy of psychics is the vagueness of their readings, which are often so Ogeneral that they are worthless. Psychics who offer readings about missing persons and murder cases, however, allow researchers to examine their accuracy with indepen- dent information. When Sylvia Browne was a weekly guest on The Montel Williams Show, she performed supposed feats ranging from ghost detecting to offering details about miss- ing persons and murder cases. Among the things Browne failed to predict was the availability of those transcripts on the Internet through databases such as LexisNexis. The authors, as well as several members of the James Randi Educational Foundation forum and StopSylvia.com, closely

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examined each transcript to track Browne’s accuracy. According to Browne, “my accuracy rate is somewhere between 87 and 90 Cases Sylvia Browne Was Wrong About percent, if I’m recalling correctly.” This article disputes that sta- List of cases Sylvia Browne made predictions about. The names are tistic by examining the criminal cases for which Browne has per- given in alphabetical order with brief descriptions of Browne’s pre- dictions and the facts of the case. formed readings. The research demonstrates that in 115 cases 1) Erica Baker. November 19, 2003, on Montel. Browne told Erica’s (all of the available readings), Browne’s confirmable accuracy mother “she’s not dead” but in Michigan. Furthermore, Browne was 0 percent. claimed someone “sold her for drugs,” and “there was a black woman” who helped “throw” her in an “old truck.” In 2005, This article is structured in terms of known and unknown Chris tian John Gabriel was convicted of moving and concealing outcomes. The criteria for a correct prediction is that it mostly Erica’s body in Kettering, Ohio. Her body was not found, but Gabriel claimed to have buried it after hitting her with his matches a case referenced in a newspaper, and the criteria for “van.”1 a wrong prediction is that Browne’s claim is the opposite of 2) Jamie Barker. In February 2001 on Montel. Two months after what actually occurred. The metric for the final accuracy Barker fell from a bridge while working, Browne told his widow he died “quick” and his body is “on the site, there’s no doubt count is based on what is correct compared to the unknown or about it,” but they won’t find it “unless they dig and I don’t think wrong claims. As this article shows, in the 115 available cases they will.”2 Two months later Barker’s body was discovered down- stream in LaSalle. An autopsy discovered he “suffered no broken Browne was correct zero times and wrong twenty-five times. bones or head injuries in the 15-storey fall,” but instead Ninety out of the 115 cases have unknown outcomes. A pre- drowned.3 3) Eve Brown. September 30, 1999, on Montel. Browne told the family “that Eve Brown is well and living in Florida.”4 This was not true, as Eve’s body was found a year later at a Brooklyn, New York, construction site thirteen miles from where she was last seen.5 The murder remains unsolved. 4) Terrence Farrell. Browne told a woman that Farrell, a firefighter involved in 9/11, was alive.6 She was wrong. His body was found in the rubble one month later.7 5) Erica Fraysure. September 24, 1998, on Montel. Erica went miss- ing in 1997. Browne did a reading for her mother, saying she was in water and someone named “Chris” killed her. The fol- lowing day, Erica’s ex-boyfriend, Chris Mineer, killed himself. Police said Chris’s alibi checked out, and he was not a suspect. Chris’s mother sued Montel Williams, his producers, Paramount Pictures, and Viacom Inc., but the case was eventually dismissed. After the broadcast, the police searched the nearby lakes and found nothing. Police say Erica is still a “missing person” and continue to investigate.8 6) Robert Hayes. April 26, 2006, on Montel. (See description in this article.) 7) Shawn Hornbeck. February 26, 2003, on Montel. Browne told Shawn’s parents he was dead, but he was found alive in 2007.9 8) Sharon James’s son. Discussed January 19, 2007, on CNN’s 360. Browne claimed she located James’s son, but James was not so positive and would not have used Browne’s service in hindsight. Photo Wisner © Photography Chris E. 9) Opal Jo Jennings. April 29, 1999, on Montel. (See description in this article.) vious examination of thirty-five cases Browne made predic- 10) Ryan Katcher. February 11, 2004, on Montel. Katcher went miss- tions about was published in Brill’s Content. The magazine ing and Browne told his mother “two boys got terribly fright- ened” then “dropped him” in “a metal shaft of some kind.” concluded: “In twenty-one, the details were too vague to be Browne further said he is “still in the shaft” “close to twenty- verified. Of the remaining fourteen, law-enforcement officials five, twenty-six, maybe twenty-seven miles from where you or family members involved in the investigations say that would be.” On July 25, 2006, police found Ryan in his truck under water in a pond, and an autopsy showed he was under Browne had played no useful role.” This article greatly expands the influence. According to a discussion with Ryan’s mother on the scope of the Brill’s Content article by looking at Browne’s StopSylvia.com, Browne got more details wrong, but those parts were edited before the broadcast. comments to the press and on television about missing persons 11) Richard Kneebone. According to Teresa Kneebone, Browne and criminal cases. No case was excluded. We have listed each “said she feels he’s not dead and that he could be traveling in Canada . . . and have partial amnesia.”10 His “badly decomposed case Browne made predictions about as well as provided a ref- body” was found July 7 a “few blocks” from the tavern where erence or broadcast date. When we began to research this, we he was last seen in San Jose, California.11 expected Browne to have been correct at least a few times, but 12) Holly Krewson. November 27, 2002, on Montel. (See description in this article.) as the list demonstrates, she was not. The references show that 13) Angie Lee. March 28, 2007, on Montel. Browne told Angie’s the only cases in which Browne was not proven wrong are mother, “It’s a serial killer” who killed a college girl that was responsible for Angie’s stabbing death and “there’s a knife those that remain unsolved. somewhere in that immediate location that may have DNA, may have some sort of evidence on it.” In 2008, Anthony Ashby pleaded guilty to her murder, and the motive for the crime was Ryan Shaffer is a PhD candidate in the Department of History, “home invasion and residential burglary.” Furthermore, a knife State University of New York, Stony Brook. He has an MA in his- was not part of the evidence. DNA evidence from Ashby’s gun and witnesses caused him to plead guilty.12 The law enforce- tory and a BA in philosophy. Agatha Jadwiszczok is a senior at ment involved remarked, “The psychics did not provide any sub- Hunter College. She has been researching Sylvia Browne for the stantive leads.”13 past three years, including for the Web site StopSylvia.com.

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Of the 115 cases reviewed with LexisNexis and newspaper 14) Chandra Levy. July 17, 2001, on Fox News. Browne said Levy’s body sources, Browne was wrong in twenty-five, and the remaining was in “some trees down in a marshy area.” She made this pre- ninety either have no available details outside of the transcript diction when it was public knowledge that police were searching Rock Creek Park since someone used Chandra Levy's computer to or the crime is unsolved, leaving no way to confirm Browne’s find directions to that park.14 Benjamin Radford noted, “The claims. The following data is organized as a list to allow the remains were found across a steep incline in a heavily wooded reader to conduct independent research. One should keep in area—perhaps near some trees but clearly not ‘in a marshy area,’ since a marsh located on an incline is geographically impossible.”15 mind that Browne claims to be at the top of her game. In June 15) Lynda McClelland. March 13, 2002, on Montel. Browne said 2009, Browne told Seattle Weekly about her psychic ability: “I McClelland “is not dead” but in Orlando, Florida, taken by a man with the initials “MJ,” and her family would find her soon. One think you get better, like anything else you get better with year later, in March 2003, McClelland’s body was discovered near time.” The authors welcome Browne to supply independent her home in Pennsylvania. David Repasky was convicted of the mur- der after witnesses testified Repasky strangled her.16 proof of even one case about which she was correct. 16) Ashley Ouellette. In February 2000 on Montel. According to the Browne’s predictions have a history of being wrong or Associated Press, “Browne said Ouellette’s killing will be solved unhelpful. In the course of this research, we examined a variety within a year and two months.”17 According to the Scar borough Police Department, the crime is still unsolved.18 of sources to study Browne’s involvement with law enforcement. 17) Lori Pleasants. September 10, 2003, on Montel. Browne said Browne was sometimes paid by families of the victims, charged Pleasants was “killed by a stalker” who got “kicks out of that,” but there was “not necessarily DNA” at the scene and “he was at least one police department $400, and received money as well wearing gloves.” In 2006, William Gutersloh, Pleasants’s friend, as publicity from her appearances on television. She is a mem- admitted to killing Pleasants after the police found DNA that linked to him.19 While on the stand, he told jurors he wiped the ber of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists knife clean to avoid leaving fingerprints.20 and, as reported in 2004, earned a minimum of $847 for each 18) Scott Renquin, Dan , and Roger DesVergnes. March 1999 on talk show appearance. Yet in all these cases, Browne has never Montel. According to the Associated Press, Browne “told the fam- ilies their loved ones had died in a boating accident near the supplied independent proof that she has ever helped law Everglades in a hovercraft. She gave them the name of a man who enforcement. More than that, she is repeatedly wrong. During allegedly owned the boat.”21 Police followed Browne’s leads and found nothing. Later, their bodies were discovered in their SUV in the Sago Mining Disaster, she claimed the miners were alive a drainage retention pond. Authorities believe they missed a sharp when they were actually dead. She also said Richard Kneebone turn at the unlighted corner and their car flipped into the water.22 19) Weyman Robbins. May 7, 2003, on Montel. On Robbins’s murder was alive in Canada, but his decomposed body was discovered a Browne said, “This was other kids. They were playing this stupid few days later in California. More recently, she predicted that a game.” She further claimed, “There were two or three other kids 9/11 firefighter was alive, but his body was found in the World that did it,” but “I don’t think the kids meant to” and “one of the— the kids is named Danny.” Weyman’s uncle strangled him in front Trade Center rubble two weeks later. of his sisters and was convicted of murder. Sometimes Browne is not only wrong but also tells suffering 20) Sago Mining Disaster. Browne first said she knew the miners would be found alive. During the live radio broadcast she families horrible things. In 1999, Browne did a reading for Opal appeared on it was announced all except one were dead.23,24 After Jo Jennings’ grandmother, who wanted to know what happened the announcement, she later said, “I don’t think there’s anybody alive, maybe one.” to Jennings, a six-year-old abducted from her front yard in Texas. 21) Dana Satterfield. February 1997 on Montel. Browne said the mur- Browne told the grandmother, “She’s . . . not . . . dead. But what derer was an out-of-state construction worker that “has no con- bothers me—now I’ve never heard of this before, but for some nection to Satterfield, choosing her on a whim.”25 Nine years later, Jonothan Vick was convicted of the murder following witness and reason, she was taken and put into some kind of a slavery thing DNA evidence. Vick was a local high school student who and taken into Japan. The place is Kukouro. Or Kukoura.” attempted to go on dates with Satterfield, but she rejected his advances.26 Browne was wrong. Child molester Richard Lee Franks was 22) Shannon Sherrill. November 19, 2003, on Montel. Browne claims charged with the kidnapping that same year and convicted the Sherrill, who went missing in 1986, was “brainwashed and raised in a different family” but “is alive,” and the case will “break following year. Jennings’ remains were discovered in 2003. open” soon. As of 2009, Sherrill’s whereabouts are unknown and Medical examiners concluded that “Opal was killed by trauma to the case is unsolved. the head with[in] several hours of her abduction.” 23) John Slayton. May 14, 2003, on Montel. Browne said “indigents” killed Slayton, and his body was disposed in water and would not Missing person Holly Krewson was a similar case, one in be found. In June 2003, Slayton’s body was found in shallow which Browne needlessly tainted the memories of a family’s grave. In 2006, his killers, a pawnbroker and his son, were found guilty of the murder.27 loved one on national television. In 2002, Browne told Holly’s 24) Richard Torres. October 20, 2004, on Montel. Browne told Torres’s mother, “She is in Los Angeles, and when she was calling you, widow that she would have a healthy baby boy. The June 28, 2005, update on Montel reported the baby was a girl and died she was on drugs. But she’s still alive.” Browne also said that the five months premature. However, the segment omitted Browne girl was a dancer in an “adult entertainment nightclub,” and making any prediction about the pregnancy. “you might get a Christmas card postmarked Los Angeles.” 25) Terry Webb. October 20, 1997, on Montel. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “His daughters said Browne told them she Holly’s family made regular visits to the Los Angeles area, scan- believes he was killed six months after he disappeared and that his ning the clubs for their missing loved one, but to no avail. body is buried somewhere at Fort Bragg.”28 At the time of the read- ing, Webb had been listed as AWOL and was missing since 1991. In Holly’s mother, Gwendolyn Krewson, died of an aneurysm in 2004, his body was eventually found buried “under a shed in 2003. Three years later, Holly’s body was identified. As it Fayetteville.”29 In 2006, the suspect pled guilty, saying “he shot Webb in self-defense when he sexually assaulted him” and was turned out, Holly was murdered, and her body was discovered given three years in prison.30 After the arrest, Montel did a follow- in 1996. The remains were only identified as Holly in 2006, up on September 15, 2004, but the segment omitted Browne giving after sitting in the medical examiners office for ten years. any specifics, including the location of Webb’s body. Needless to say, Browne was completely wrong in every aspect

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of the case and hurt an already devastated family. In a 2006 appearance on Montel, Browne did a reading about Cases Sylvia Browne Made Predictions Robert Hayes, who was serving in the Army National Guard About That Have Non-confirmed Outcomes when he was killed at an ATM. Browne told Hayes’s crying 1) Manuel Archambault. May 5, 2004, on Montel. fiancée that he met a man at a casino who “took Hayes,” then 2) Crystal Arensdorf. April 2002 on Montel. robbed him to get the casino winnings. The police later found 3) John Baglier. January 10, 1997, on Montel. that although Hayes told his fiancée he was going to a casino, he 4) Michael Berrios. September 14, 2005, on Montel. 5) Amanda Berry. November 17, 2004, on Montel. actually went to meet another woman, and there are no reports 6) Johnia Berry. May 21, 2008, on Montel. in the press about him being at a casino. In fact, Hayes was the 7) Molly Bish. September 17, 2003, on Montel. victim of a conspiracy by four people, including a local beauty 8) Acacia Bishop. February 11, 2004, on Montel. 31 queen, who lured Hayes to meet her so they could rob him. 9) Jackie Blair. On Montel. 10) Lori Bova. On Montel.32 Browne said Hayes was shot three times “in the head, chest, and 11) Kevin Brown. November 20, 2002, on Montel. 12) Charles Rhodes Campbell. February 19, 2003, on Montel. 13) Jose Concepcion. November 19, 2003, on Montel. 14) Rachel Cooke. February 26, 2003, on Montel. Among the many harmful things 15) Nicholle Marie Coppler. November 27, 2002, on Montel. that Browne does is convince the loved 16) Joshua Wayne Crawford. September 14, 2006, on Montel. 17) Jerry Cushey Jr. On Montel.33 ones of victims of untimely deaths that 18) Alexandra Ducsay. October 11, 2006, on Montel. 19) Michael Emert. February 18, 2004, on Montel. foul play was involved and, conversely, 20) Jill Lyn Euto. In July 2002 on Montel. 21) Miranda Fenner. Feburary 22, 2006, on Montel. convince the loved ones of murder 22) Anwa Abb Ford. May 4, 2005, on Montel. 23) Frank Forte Jr. September 6, 2006, on Montel. victims that no foul play was involved. 24) Ashley Freeman and Laura Bible. November 5, 2002, on Montel. 25) Cecilia Garcia.34 26) Joshua Guimond. February 11, 2004, on Montel. over to the side,” to which the fiancée replied, “I didn’t know he 27) James Harris. In September 2003 on Montel. was shot in the head. The police never said that.” The fiancée 28) Sherri Hassett. May 14, 2003, on Montel. 29) Jason Henderson. September 17, 2003, on Montel. then added, “The police said he got shot in the hand.” When 30) Adrienne Heredia. In September 2006 on Montel. asked if the case would be solved, Browne said, “Yeah, but it’s 31) Audrey May Herron. September 17, 2003, on Montel. gonna take them at least a good two years.” However, the police 32) John Valentine Hope. May 30, 2007, on Montel. announced they arrested four people in connection with the 33) Hunter Horgan. Browne was paid $400 by police for a half- hour reading about Horgan’s murder.35 murder on April 11, 2006. The first airing of Browne’s predic- 34) Girly Chew Hossencofft. Browne said her body was in mineshaft.36 tions occurred on April 26, 2006. Browne was wrong about who 35) Patrick and Katelynn Hubbard. May 12, 2004, on Montel. did it, the conspiracy, where he was shot, who was involved, and 36) Wendy Hudakoc. May 8, 2002, on Montel. when the case would be solved. By October 2007, three of the 37) Dustin Ivey. February 16, 2005, on Montel. 38) George Erik James. October 19, 2006, on Montel. suspects pled guilty and were sentenced for Hayes’s murder. The 39) Sharon Jones. February 26, 2003, on Montel. Montel Williams Show and other media outlets have been silent 40) Douglas Jones. February 28, 2007, on Montel. about this and other cases. In fact, a full transcript of this show 41) Steven Kraft. November 5, 2002, on Montel. no longer exists on LexisNexis; instead, there is only a brief sum- 42) Donnie Kilby. October 29, 2003, on Montel. 43) Kristine Kupka. On Montel. Her sister discussed her appear- mary that excludes the aforementioned details. The authors had ance with Browne on ABC’s 20/20, hosted by John Stossel, on to seek the transcript and video by other means to include the March 22, 2004. details in this article. 44) The Langstons. October 21, 2002, on Montel. 45) Amanda Lankey. February 8, 2006, on Montel. Browne’s failures are too extensive to explore in detail here, 46) Kristin Laurite. November 20, 2001, on Montel. and more famous ones, such as the Shawn Hornbeck case, 47) Taurean Lewis, Terry Canty Jr., and Anthony Collins. October have been explored in this magazine before. For the sake of 20, 2004, on Montel. brevity, we have compiled a list of names of people Browne has 48) Brookley Louks September 27, 2002, on Montel. 49) Nancy MacDuckston. November 19, 2003, on Montel. performed readings about. Some of the cases marked 50) Christopher Mader. November 30, 2005, on Montel. “unknown” were already de facto solved by law enforcement. 51) Gail Matthews and Tamara Berkheiser. November 9, 2005, They know who most likely committed the crimes, but the on Montel. suspects were never brought to justice and the cases went 52) Marin assault case. I spoke with the police who said Browne worked on the case and it remains unsolved.37 “cold,” so they are still officially unsolved and open. In other 53) Frank Mazzella. October 2, 2002, on Montel. cases, Browne was consulted to confirm the families’ suspi- 54) Louise Melgoza Macias.38 cions, determine how to bring the likely perpetrator to justice, 55) Tristan Meyers. February 11, 2004, on Montel. or provide more information. This makes her predictions even 56) Dena McCluskey. February 26, 2003, on Montel. 57) Niqui McCown. November 5, 2002, on Montel. less impressive, as she is “solving” exhausted cases that the 58) Salvatore Minichiello. May 25, 2005, on Montel. police have already in large part solved and about which she 59) Anitra Mulwee. April 30, 2003, on Montel. can say almost anything, since any new developments are

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2. Donald McArthur, “Barker’s body embedded in riverbed, psychic says,” 60) Michael Negrete. February 26, 2005, on Montel. Windsor Star, February 22, 2001. 61) Jacqueline Elaine Nix. February 9, 2005, on Montel. 3. Sarah Sacheli, “Safety rope failed,” Windsor Star, June 15, 2004. 62) Michelle O’Keefe. November 2, 2000, on Montel. 4. Zachary Dowdy, “When all else fails, try a sixth sense,” Newsday, Octo ber 63) Janice Powers. Browne had an interview with the sheriff’s 6, 1999. department.39 5. Al Baker, “Remains unearthed in Brooklyn are those of a missing woman,” 64) Shamika Riley. July 6, 2005, on Montel. New York Times, November 25, 2000. 65) Rochelle Robinson and Michael Johnston. July 13, 1994, 6. “Terrorist attacks: Marrow donor ‘moved mountains,’” Newsday, Sep tember on Montel.40 16, 2001. 66) Christopher Scarbell and C.J. Scarbell. September 10, 2003, on 7. “Firefighter survives in girl who received bone marrow,” Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2002. Montel. 8. Wendy Mitchell, “Erica Fraysure: Questions remain unanswered,” The 67) Jan Scharf. September 17, 2003, on Montel. Ledge-Independent, October 20, 2005. 68) Tina Sinclair. November 19, 2003, on Montel. 9. Benjamin Radford, “Sylvia Browne’s biggest blunder,” SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, 69) Jonathan Skaggs. July 6, 2005, on Montel. May/June 2007. 41 70) Bryan Keith Smith. 10. Jack Foley, “No clues in Hollister man’s disappearance,” San Jose Mercury 71) Erica Heather Smith. November 24, 2004, on Montel. News, July 6, 1990. 72) Tammie Smith. October 20, 2004, on Montel. 11. Jack Foley, “Body found in Hollister is identified; coroner says man died 73) John South. November 27, 2002, on Montel. of broken neck, injuries to head,” San Jose Mercury News, July 11, 1990. 74) Leah Tagliaferri. November 26, 2003, on Montel. 12. Maggie Borman, “Man pleads guilty, sentenced in Angela Lee murder,” 75) Ryan Thompson. March 13, 2002, on Montel. The Telegraph, November 12, 2008. 76) Yvonne Torch. November 30, 2005, on Montel. 13. Maggie Borman, “Man faces charges in Angela Lee slaying,” The Telegraph, 77) Tabitha Tuders. February 18, 2004, on Montel. April 27, 2007. 78) Max Uffelman. October 21, 2002, on Montel. 14. Joe Nickell, “Levy case a psychic failure,” Center for Inquiry, March 11, 2009. 79) Anthony Urciuoli. January 31, 2002, on Montel. 15. Benjamin Radford, “Psychics wrong about Chandra Levy,” SKEPTICAL 80) Terressa Lynn Vanegas. March 21, 2007, on Montel. INQUIRER, November/December 2002. 81) Pat Viola. February 11, 2004, on Montel. 16. Michael Fuoco, “N. Braddock man held in mother-in-law’s killing,” Post- , March 18, 2003. 82) Leanna Warner. November 19, 2003, on Montel. Gazette 17. “A year later, police call slaying ‘very solvable,’” Associated Press, February 83) Elizabeth and Nicole Watkins. September 24, 2003, on Montel. 7, 2000. 84) Lindsay Wells. February 26, 2003, on Montel. 42 18. Susan Kimball, “Ashley Ouellette murder investigation ongoing,” WCSH- 85) Amber Wilde. In July 2000 on Montel. TV, February 9, 2009. 86) Carrie Ann Williams. November 9, 2005, on Montel. 19. Owen Moritz, “DNA links cop’s son to old slay,” Daily News, October 10, 87) Gina Williams. November 5, 2002, on Montel. 2006. 88) Sherita Williams. September 15, 2004, on Montel. 20. Shawna Morrison, “Trial in ’00 death begins in Radford,” The Roanoke 89) Wayma White. April 30, 2003, on Montel. Times, February 27, 2007. 90) Carol Wood. April 11, 1997, on The Sally Jesse Raphael Show. 21. Alison Fitzgerald, “Six months later, still no trace of missing Attleboro men,” Associated Press, April 10, 1999. 22. Paul Edward and Elisa Crouch, “A missed turn led to tragedy in Fla.,” highly unlikely. On the other hand, some are official accidents Providence Journal-Bulletin, June 23, 1999. and suicides that the families feared were actually murders. 23. Benjamin Radford, “Art Bell’s show broadcasts Sylvia Browne failure about mine tragedy,” SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, March/April 2006. Among the many harmful things that Browne does is con- 24. “TV psychic misses mark on miners,” Fox News, January 5, 2006. vince the loved ones of victims of untimely deaths that foul play 25. Chase Squires, “Psychic predicts leads in murder; victim’s spouse seeks help was involved and, conversely, convince the loved ones of mur- on TV talk show,” Herald-Journal, February 15, 1997. 26. Rachael Leonard, “Vick gets life in prison,” Herald-Journal, December 1, 2006. der victims that no foul play was involved. However, if the fam- 27. “Jefferson County pawnbroker gets life plus 20 years in murder of jeweler ilies are correct in their suspicions and these are actual murders, John Slayton,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 25, 2006. 28. Monica Haynes, “Psychic, local women appear on ‘Montel,’” Pittsburgh the last thing they need is a psychic involved in the case. Post-Gazette, October 20, 1997. 29. “Schofield soldier charged in murder,” Star Bulletin, April 29, 2004. Conclusion 30. “Former soldier gets three years for ’91 NC killing,” WIS News, April 25, 2006. 31. Steve Hensley, “Mountain cold case—Jackie Blair—2000,” WKYT-TV, These 115 cases prove devastating to Browne’s claims of helping June 15, 2008. police and families. It is hard to understand how someone with 32. “News at Five 5:00 PM NBC,” Global Broadcast Database, June 7, 2006. such a dismal record continually tops bestseller lists and main- 33. “Still missing, 4 years later,” Valley Independent, October 15, 2005. 34. Eric Louie, “Police seek new leads in 2002 killing of Livermore woman,” tains a following. In a 2000 interview, Browne explained it best: Contra Costa Times, January 8, 2005. The paper reported: “family members are still “I’ve always said to so many people you’re only as good as your hoping for some type of closure. They continue to pass out fliers. They had also last reading. If you’re not good, if you’re not accurate, if you don’t ... paid psychic Sylvia Browne $700 for help.” 35. John McMillan, “Psychic gives police clues into priest’s 1992 slaying,” The find missing people and you don’t work with doctors and do Advocate, September 14, 1997. health diagnosis with them then you’re, you know, you’re not 36. “You’ll find Girly’s body in mineshaft, psychic says,” Albuquerque good.” Indeed, we agree on that point. Judging from Browne’s Tribune, December 19, 2002. 37. Erik Ingram, “Psychic helps Marin cops in assault case,” San Francisco lack of accuracy, it seems safe to conclude that, in her own words, Chronicle, December 20, 1986. she is “not good.” If she could really help police, then one would 38. Stacey Wiebe, “Killer still at large,” Merced Sun-Star, December 21, expect a statistically significant number of cases to be solved 2002. According to the article, the daughter paid for “expensive phone call” with Browne and later appeared on Crossing Over with John Edward. using Browne’s “predictions.” The only question that remains is 39. “Psychic asked to help solve woman’s murder,” The Daily Oklahoman, why people continually support and seek her advice. February 27, 1998. 40. John Hubbell, “Families offer $15,000 reward in double slaying,” The Notes News Tribune, July 14, 1994. 41. “Mom asks sheriff to listen to psychic,” Star-News, January 28, 1998. 1. Rob Modic, “Conviction doesn’t settle much in Erica Baker case,” Dayton 42. “Family of missing woman turns to psychic for help,” Star Tribune, Daily News, October 9, 2005. July 18, 2000.

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Encounters with Aliens (the Local Kind)

A strange army of paranormalists has infested the Internet. We need an understanding of the ethics and practicalities of dealing with people whose thinking seems to come from another planet. MARTIN BRIDGSTOCK

undreds of science-fiction stories have dealt with the moment at which humanity encounters aliens. It’s a Hfascinating concept. What, we wonder, will the aliens look like? How will they communicate? Will we grasp their thought processes, or will they be incomprehensible? As any active skeptic knows, however, aliens have already been encountered. They look human, but their thought processes are from beyond Alpha Centauri. They are the end- less army of people with oddball ideas who seem to zero in on anyone supporting skepticism. Their missives are often strangely phrased, sprinkled with capitals and multiple excla- mation marks. And, usually, they strongly disagree with your viewpoint. Skeptics have many names for these people,1 but I will simply term them “dissenters.”

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Let’s take a few examples from my own experience. As we mentary errors of reasoning and understanding, known as shall see, although dissenters are quite varied, there are a few clear howlers. My tealeaf reader is a good example. She probably identifying signals. Once we’ve established what characterizes dis- meant well, but she couldn’t see that evolution is an accepted senters, we can work out what ethical obligations you have scientific theory because of a vast mass of evidence. Science toward them and what practical methods exist for dealing with seeks to explain the natural world in natural terms. To adduce them. Here are my examples, culled from a longer list. paranormal “evidence” for a scientific theory is to undermine 1) An Australian man noticed that I had written a paper the basic nature of science. on what scientists think is misconduct and what isn’t The Apollo hoax theorist produced a whole complex of (Bridgstock 1993). So he sent me a bale of material howlers. For example, he claimed that the only justification I arguing that he had been denied proper recognition could possibly produce for my statement was to prove that the on some research into frogs. He wanted me to obtain Apollo astronauts had been to the Moon. Nonsense. My state- for him the recognition that, in his view, he deserved. ment was simply that Plait had “resoundingly refuted” the 2) An American noticed in a recent article of mine that Apollo hoaxers’ claims. And he did. I heard him.2 I’d said that science wasn’t always right (Bridgstock Now, skepticism often involves tough, clear thinking. If dis- 2008, 38). He wanted to divert this into a discussion senters show that they cannot handle elementary logic or if they of the origins of life. When I wouldn’t cooperate, he display profound ignorance of evidence, it would seem clear that erupted into abuse. they cannot handle skepticism. Therefore, the existence of 3) After I’d appeared on television arguing against cre- howlers in your dissenter’s messages is a clear sign that dialogue ationism, a woman phoned me. She’d done a tealeaf is likely to be fruitless (see Harriet Hall, “Playing by the Rules,” reading, which showed an ape changing into a man, SI, May/June 2009). How can you use reason or evidence with and thought I should rush round and see it—er, I did someone who has no grasp of either? know about psychic vibrations, didn’t I? Second, there is hijacking. This has nothing to do with air- 4) A man was angered by my recent statement that Phil craft or terrorism. A hijacker in this sense is a person who takes Plait “resoundingly refuted” claims that the Apollo mis- any topic under discussion and whisks it away to talk about what sions were hoaxes (Bridgstock 2008, 37). Apparently interests them. Normal conversation, in the sense of talking and the only thing I could do now was to produce proof listening, does not occur. It’s unpleasant, and I usually find I that the Apollo astronauts went to the moon or else want to terminate the non-conversation as soon as possible. apologize. And proof, he said, was impossible. Many dissenters practice hijacking. They do not take any 5) A fundamentalist who wrote to some prominent notice of your thinking but use your words as a “hook” upon Austral ian skeptics began his missive with “What fools which to hang their own ideas. Your contribution is simply a you are!” and went on to produce some fairly standard means to their end. Indeed, they often seem to be unaware of creationist arguments. The skeptics replied to his tirade, what you are actually saying. whereupon the fundamentalist consulted prominent Dissenter 2 is a good example. In a recent article in SI creationists, regurgitated their arguments, and fiercely (Bridgstock 2008, 38), I made a passing remark about science denounced the skeptics for their alleged ignorance. not always being correct. Dissenter 2 seized on this and This is a pretty varied bunch of people. Do they have any- wanted me to discuss the origins of life on earth.3 The obvious thing in common? I think they do. The first task is to point point is that my paper had nothing to do with the origins of out some danger signs that can help us to recognize the dis- life, and I was under no obligation to be dragged into a dia- senter. Then I want to address how we should respond to dis- logue on that topic. The hijacker failed, and he didn’t like it. senters’ messages—what our ethical obligations are—and what The frog gentleman in example 1 is similar. My article the best practical ways of doing so are. reported on some research I’d done in which I found that sci- entists disagree—sometimes strongly—about what constitutes The Three H’s of Dissent: misconduct. This man, it turned out, hadn’t read the article but Howlers, Hijacking, and Hurtfulness decided from the title that I might serve his purpose. All of these dissenters show at least one of three danger signs, all Finally, there is hurtfulness, by which I mean readiness to beginning with the letter H: howlers, hijacking, and hurtfulness. abuse or denigrate. Many dissenters do not hesitate to insult. It is amazing how many dissenters commit the most ele- Indeed, my suspicion is that many of them gain some kind of pleasure from it. After all, if their ideas have been so com- Martin Bridgstock is a senior lecturer in the School of pletely rejected that nobody takes them seriously, why not Biomolecular and Physical Sciences at Griffith University, strike at those who are so stupid as not to accept their wisdom? Queensland, Australia. He is a scientific and technical consultant I’ve already described how dissenter 2 lashed out at me to CSI and in 2006 was awarded the Australian Skeptics’ prize for when I wouldn’t discuss his topic of choice. Number 4 also critical thinking. His latest book, Beyond Belief: Skepticism, became angry when I would not produce the apology he Science and the Paranormal was published by Cambridge wanted. His line of abuse was to describe me as one of the 4 University Press in October 2009. “DELUSIONAL robotic acquiescent Toadies.”

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Number 5 combined two of these signals together. He actu- ally began his first letter with an insult, then hijacked the discus- sion to make it a debate between professional creationists and skeptics with himself as referee and scorekeeper. Needless to say, the skeptics lost—at least in the estimation of dissident 5!

Other Skeptics’ Views keptics have been aware of these danger signals for a long time. James Randi’s description of claimants for his mil- Slion-dollar prize, for instance, is essentially a catalog of howlers (Randi 2005). One of the rules for Randi’s prize is that the claimant must state, in two paragraphs, what paranormal activity they can perform. Randi has found that “. . . a good 80 percent of the people who apply can’t make that statement” (Randi 2005, 46). Clearly, there is a deep-seated logical inca- pacity in people who believe they have an important psychic talent but cannot explain what it is.

She’d done a tealeaf reading, which showed an ape changing into a man, and thought I should rush round and see it—er, I did know about psychic vibrations, didn’t I?

Veteran skeptic Ralph Estling described the oddball National Philosophical Association in terms that clearly show the mindset that leads to hijacking: “. . . all their energy is engrossed in preaching their various notions, declaiming their idees fixes to each other and to any other listeners, willing or otherwise. This is the mark of the obsessive, the dead giveaway of the crank and the crackpot. . . . They have too many points that need too much scoring, too many axes that require too much grinding. They have no sense of humor and therefore no sense of perspective” (Estling 2000, 57). Finally Martin Gardner, a half-century ago, described the dissenter’s willingness to hurt: “Frequently he insults his oppo- nents by accusing them of stupidity, dishonesty, or other base motives. If they ignore him, he takes this to mean his arguments are unanswerable. If they retaliate in kind, this strengthens his delusion that he is battling scoundrels” (Gardner 1957, 12). These three characteristics—or any one of them—should set danger signals flashing in our minds. After all, is there

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much point in entering into a dialogue on logical or evidential accept an ethical imperative to focus our efforts as effectively matters with someone who has no grasp of basic principles, as possible to develop and extend skeptical thought. We know who disregards your side of the issue, or who esteems you so that we are a tiny minority and we need our message to reach little that they will hurl abuse at you? Clearly, the chances are as many people as possible. So if we want to make the most of not good. But what should you do? Is there an ethical dimen- our limited time, probably the worst thing we could do is sion to the issue? engage in lengthy one-on-one dialogues with dissenters. As we have already seen, the chances of success are pretty minimal. What Should You Do? What could you do instead, with the time saved from argu- Ethically, what are your obligations when approached by dis- ing with a dissenter? Any item from the list compiled by senters? You might have published an article in a skeptical jour- Andrew Mayne (2004) would suffice. Far better to write an nal or appeared on television or radio defending the skeptical article for a college or high school magazine. Give a talk some- viewpoint. Your reward is an approach from a dissenter or even where. Develop a piece of research on some new piece of nut- several. He or she plainly wants a reply. What should you do? tiness. Write a skeptical blog. Anything that enables you to It is tempting to regard dialogue with the dissenter as an improve the position of skepticism in the world. extension of your skeptical work. After all, if a lost traveller But, you may argue, don’t I owe the dissenter a reply? asked you for directions, you’d be polite and helpful, right? Didn’t I publicly state my position and wouldn’t it be rude not Doesn’t this poor confused dissenter need your help more than to offer counterarguments to criticism? It is normal and nat- most people? ural to reply to anyone who approaches us—especially when we have something of value to say—but where skepticism is concerned, our priority should be to propagate the message as widely as we can. I hope two points are clear now. First, the presence of any of the three H’s—howlers, hijacking or hurtfulness—in a dis- senter’s message should alert skeptics to the likelihood that It is normal and natural to reply to engagement in discussion will be a waste of time. If more than anyone who approaches us—especially one appears, my strong advice is not to engage; you have bet- ter things to do. Second, there is no ethical obligation upon a when we have something of value skeptic to engage in debate with a dissenter. From a conse- to say—but where skepticism is quentialist viewpoint, it is likely that far more can be accom- plished by concentrating on other skeptical activities. concerned, our priority should be There are some obvious limitations to this argument. Some to propagate the message skeptics pursue dialogue with dissenters simply because they enjoy it. They do not expect to win the argument but gain as widely as we can. amusement from the logical contortions into which they can force their opponent. This is a perfectly legitimate approach, though personally I find much of the dissenters’ behavior dis- tressing. They seem to be prisoners locked in their own irra- tional little worlds.

What Can You Do? Let’s begin with a key point. Remember that there are lit- Now let us move to practicalities. You have received a message erally hundreds or thousands of paranormal believers for every from a dissenter. It contains one or more of the H’s, and you do skeptic. As Paul Kurtz put it, “There are literally thousands of not wish to become involved. What should you do? I know of sev- [paranormal] claims pouring forth each year. One cannot pos- eral stratagems and invite other skeptics to contribute their ideas. sibly deal with them all. We receive a goodly number of calls First, you can simply decline to reply. It doesn’t matter and letters every week at the offices of CSICOP from people how much the dissenter abuses you or peppers you with who claim that they have prophetic powers, are reincarnated, aggravating messages. If you don’t reply, you have declined to or have been abducted aboard UFOs” (Kurtz 1984, 242). waste your time, and you are ahead. As you work on skepti- Presumably you believe—as I do—that the world would be cal research or prepare a magazine article, you can think, a better place if more people thought skeptically, that is, if the “This is time that could have been wasted!” general response to strange and outlandish claims were to ask Still, silence is not a very satisfying tactic. It is not pleas- for evidence and to see if the evidence was sufficient to justify ant to sit quietly while someone heaps abuse and denigration the claim. From a consequentialist viewpoint,5 you owe it to upon you. As Gardner pointed out, it leaves the dissenter free the world to use your time in the most beneficial way possible. to conclude that you cannot address the arguments. What It follows that if we are believers in skepticism, we should alternatives are there?

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Physicist and science-fiction writer Gregory Benford de - ing them to your key points and may send them looking for scribed a useful method of choking off dissidents in his award- replies. Why not publish your arguments in a magazine or winning 1982 novel Timescape. Benford’s protagonist, Gordon journal or reserve them for a public event, when you can put Bernstein, has made a sensational discovery and is plagued with them to uncommitted people? assorted cranks and oddballs. Finally, he hits upon a solution for I often find that pointing out elementary errors of fact and the strange letters he is receiving: “He wrote a note saying that logic disconcerts dissenters—they tend not to be much good at while the person’s ideas were ‘interesting’ (a suitably non-judg- that kind of thing—and pointing out errors of grammar and mental term) they were beyond his competence, so he was spelling seems to cause considerable distress. It can, of course, be unable to comment on them.” Benford notes, “This worked; done gently. One can use Benford’s stratagem and then list the they never replied.” Einstein used a similar approach, stating his errors, asking gently whether they expect anyone to take seriously incompetence in the area of (Gardner such poorly expressed ideas. I suspect you will hear little more. 1978, 83). Why would such a modest tactic be successful? It I have argued here that merely because you are a skeptic, you seems to relate to a characteristic of the dissenter’s mind. As are under no obligation to engage with the aggressive army of dis- Gardner (1957, 13) has pointed out, the dissenter “. . . has senters who infest the Internet and the mail system. You can strong compulsions to focus his attacks on the greatest scientists identify most of them with the three-H strategy,7 and your skep- and the best-established theories.” Therefore, Benford’s strata- tical activity will probably be more effective if you focus on gem provides an excellent escape mechanism. The skeptic dis- appears from the dissenter’s radar and can get back to work. larger-scale activities, especially those that communicate with A veteran teacher I knew had a third method. He would people who are uncommitted. In this way, you are likely to do far refer the inquirer to a forbidding equation and explain that more good than becoming tied down by a few unproductive dia- once this was understood, it would be possible to discuss the logues. You have limited time; don’t waste it. matter in appropriate detail. Even more, referring to a fear- Notes some mass of equations in a research paper would deter most 1. Weirdos, nut-cases, cranks, and oddballs are among the milder terms. dissenters—it is too much like hard work, and they are likely 2. My own assessment is that the evidence for authenticity is extremely to abandon the effort. strong and the case for the hoax appallingly weak. However, if there were seri- Closely related to this is recommending a couple of text- ous evidence to support the idea of an Apollo Moon hoax I would be bound books—fat ones are the best—and implying that only if the by my skepticism to consider it and to acknowledge its force. So far I haven’t seen such evidence. dissenter can master the works listed, a useful dialogue could 3. Presumably he thought that science was wrong on this matter. I didn’t take place (don’t promise that it will, just imply that it might). let the discussion get that far. Since most dissenters regard themselves already as supreme 4. Exactly how he can describe someone he has never met, or heard from, authorities, this is likely to be too much work. With both these in these terms I don’t know. 5. Consequentialism is an approach to ethics that assesses actions on the methods, I would add a note of ethical caution. The recom- basis of the desirability or otherwise of their consequences. It is not the only mended works must actually be relevant to the dissenter’s approach, but I find it consistently valuable in my thinking. claims. In my view, it would be wrong to send anyone off on 6. The alternatives were: a false assumption about me or my viewpoint; a wild goose chase that has nothing to do with the topic. abuse; a false assumption about facts; an elementary logical error; incompre- hensibility; and an unreasonable demand. Of course, the list can be adapted A fourth method is most useful in mail correspondence but to circumstances. could probably be adapted to e-mail without too much trouble. 7. Some dissenters try to be subtle and only reveal their true nature later. At one stage in the 1980s battle against creationists in Australia, One woman wrote a friendly letter to me about creationism. I replied, and it was only on the third exchange that she began ranting about “God’s word” and I I was being inundated with silly mail from fundamentalists. I stopped replying. I am not too concerned about dissenters learning to write con- developed a form letter that listed four or five of the most com- sistently rational letters. If they could learn that, they would not be dissenters! mon fundamentalist howlers—plus abusiveness—and this enabled me to explain with a tick in a box why I was not pre- References pared to reply to them.6 A form e-mail—using cut and paste— Bridgstock, Martin. 1993. What is scientific misconduct? Search 24(3): 75–78. would probably have similar effects. I found that my form letter ———. 2008. Skeptical ethics—What should we investigate? SKEPTICAL almost always stopped the attacks dead, and in one case it gained INQUIRER. 32(3): 35–39. Estling, Ralph. 2000. Knowing the place. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 24(2): 57. me an apology! Gardner, Martin. 1957. Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. New York: If you cannot resist the temptation to engage with the dis- Dover Publications. senter, then a few tips may be useful. Resist the temptation to ———. 1978. A second Einstein ESP letter. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 2(2): 82–83. Kurtz, Paul. 1984. Debunking, neutrality and skepticism in science. SKEPTICAL fire off a mass of your best arguments larded with denuncia- INQUIRER 8(3): 239–246. tions. Denigration is language that dissenters understand, and ———. 2001. A quarter century of skeptical inquiry: My personal involvement. they have had much more practice at it than you. As Paul SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 25(4): 42–47. Kurtz (2001, 45) put it, the “unsinkable rubber duck” will not Mayne, Andrew. 2004. 50 things you can do to encourage critical thinking. Skeptic (California) 11(1): 26. be submerged by your message. Further, why waste good argu- Randi, James. 2005. Fakers and innocents: The one million dollar challenge and ments on a single committed opponent? You are simply alert- those who try for it. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 29(4):45–50.

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Disinformation about Global Warming

Most arguments from global warming disputers don’t make scientific sense or are based on distorted or obsolete information. Here are short answers to ten of these ‘red-flag’ arguments. DAVID MORRISON

or the past decade I have followed the growing evidence for climate change and global warming, talking to col- Fleagues who are atmospheric scientists and at tend ing presentations by leading scientists at professional meetings such as the American Association for the Advance ment of Science (AAAS) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Rarely in that time did I meet anyone who seriously disagreed with the growing consensus about global warming and the threats it imposes. This past October, however, I found these ideas disputed by both fellow skeptics and some in the audi- ence we were speaking to. This was a shock, and it made me look again at the claims of the warming dissenters. I would like to share some of what I learned.

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There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation about 3) The apparent increase in temperature is an artifact global warming on the Internet, driven in part by political and caused by the fact that much of the data are from cities, economic issues. These political and economic aspects are which are warmer than their surroundings. This is also complex, and relatively few scientists understand them in wrong; the “heat island” effect has been corrected in plots of detail. It is important to remember that climate is long term global temperatures. A great deal of scientific effort is going by definition; trends in climate require at least a decade to into understanding and combining the various measurements reveal themselves. Thus we can understand the climate trends of temperature to produce a consistent data set, combining in the 1990s pretty well but not yet in the 2000s. direct measurements on the ground and from space with indi- One of the goals of the deniers seems to be to sow confusion rect “proxy” information, for example from isotopic measure- and give the impression that the science behind global warming ments that track temperature very closely. Also, of course, is weak. This disinformation campaign is at least partly success- there are large-scale effects of rising temperature that are easily ful; polls (for example, the 2009 Pew/AAAS poll, SI, November/ seen, such as retreat of glaciers, melting on the Greenland and December 2009) show that about half the people in the United Antarctic icecaps, and loss of sea ice in the Arctic. States think there is substantial disagreement among scientists, when actually there has been a consensus on this topic for about 4) While temperatures seem to have been rising in the lower a decade. The scientific case becomes stronger all the time, but atmosphere (the troposphere), they are dropping in the public acceptance is lagging. Most of the counterarguments stratosphere. People who say this don’t realize that this is the don’t make scientific sense, or else they are based on information expected signature of greenhouse warming (because greenhouse that is obsolete. It is fine to be skeptical, but we need to be con- gases in the troposphere impede the flow of radiant heat from cerned when skepticism drifts into denial. Earth’s surface to the stratosphere). If there were an external This is not the place to make the case for global warming; cause, such as increased energy from the Sun, both troposphere that is done very well in the reports of the Intergovernmental and stratosphere would be heating. Today’s computational mod- Panel on Climate Change. See especially the IPCC Summary els allow greenhouse warming to be distinguished from other for Policymakers and Frequently Asked Questions posted at causes and reveal the primacy of greenhouse warming over the www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.htm. Instead, I list below past several decades. (in bold) some “red-flag” arguments from global warming deniers that can help you spot disinformation. 5) Human activity and volcanic eruptions both add to the cloud cover and cause more sunlight to be reflected from the 1) We should not worry about carbon dioxide since the atmosphere. This largely counteracts any heating from the main greenhouse gas is water vapor. This statement misrep- greenhouse effect. Atmospheric pollution, both natural (from resents the heating process. It is the carbon dioxide (and volcanoes) and human-caused (from smoke and other methane) that controls the thermal structure of the atmos- aerosols), does influence temperature, reflecting sunlight and phere. Water vapor content is highly variable and essentially reducing the warming we would have from increased green- follows the carbon dioxide, providing a positive feedback that house effect alone. Without these contributions to cooling, the amplifies the effects of carbon dioxide. added greenhouse heating would be significantly greater than what we measure. There are also temperature increases caused 2) What we are seeing are “natural variations” caused pri- by darkening of the surface, because more sunlight is absorbed. marily by variations in solar output. This is false; we have As the ice melts in the Arctic Ocean, the dark water absorbs a been monitoring solar energy for a quarter century, and the great deal more sunlight, an effect that will accelerate future variations are taken into account in all the climate models. global warming. Most of the temperature variations up to the beginning of the twentieth century can be traced to small changes in solar out- put, plus long-term cyclical changes in Earth’s orbit and short-term cooling associated with large volcanic eruptions. There are also heating and cooling events associated with El Nino and other shifts in the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. Since mid-century, however, the rapid heating from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is overwhelming these “natural” cycles.

David Morrison is a planetary scientist and director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute. He is a Committee for Skeptical Inquiry fellow and a recipient of the American Astronomical Society’s Carl

Sagan Medal for science popularization. E-mail: david.morrison IPCC-2007 @nasa.gov.

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6) The warming trend during the 1990s is no big deal; tem- have endorsed the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on peratures are actually lower than they were in the medieval Climate Change (IPCC), which represents a strong scientific warm period. This is wrong; over at least the past few thousand agreement on both the reality of global warming and the chal- years, temperatures have never been as high as they are today. By lenges it implies. the middle of the twentieth century the temperature passed the record highs from about a thousand years ago, and they have 10) How can we trust climate scientists when numerous e- been rising ever since, taking us into unknown climate territory. mails from the U.K. climate scientists show that they have dis- torted their data and actively suppressed dissenting opinions? These stolen e-mails from a British climate center reveal how real scientists work, warts and all. People write things in personal e- mails that they would never want published. There is no evidence, however, of fudging or suppressing the climate data. There appear to have been efforts to influence editors of scientific journals not to publish papers by global-warming deniers. At one level this is exactly what scientists normally do: vet papers through the peer- review process to weed out poor science. If the actions go further and represent impropriety, that will be revealed by the current investigation. But there is nothing in this controversy that under- cuts the overwhelming scientific consensus about human-caused global warming.

IPCC-2007 Finally, let me comment on the role of the skeptic. (See also Year Stuart Jordan, “The Global Warming Debate: Science and Scientists in a Democracy,” SI, November/December 2007, and 7) While there was warming in the 1990s, this has stopped Jordan’s response to several global warming disputers in and the world is now beginning what may be a long-term “Response to ‘Assessing the Credibility of CFI’s Credibility cooling cycle. This is a misinterpretation of the temperature Project,’” SI, January/February 2010.) Note that I have said measurements. There are always short-term fluctuations in nothing about future warming trends, rises in sea level, or global temperature superimposed on the the overall warming warming-induced increases in the severity of storms. As the say- trend. Those who say the temperature has plateaued or is cool- ing goes, it is difficult to make predictions, especially about the ing over the past decade start with the anomalously high tem- future. It is certain that warming will continue since tempera- perature in 1998, reflecting a major El Nino event that year. If tures are dominated by the increasing carbon dioxide in the you adopt such a high temperature excursion as your baseline, atmosphere. In spite of promises, there has been no reduction in of course the values tend to be lower for the next several years the rate of CO2 production, and even if governments take dras- (called the regression to the mean). But putting aside the tem- tic action we will continue to pump out lots of greenhouse gases perature spike in 1998, temperatures during the past decade at least through the middle of this century. In addition, the cli-

have continued the warming trend of the 1990s. mate system itself has inertia, and the warming lags the CO2 concentration by ten to fifteen years. There are also major 8) More carbon dioxide is good, since it makes plants grow uncertainties about feedback effects, especially from warming in better. This might be true if we could increase carbon dioxide the polar regions, which might accelerate melting ice and con-

without greenhouse heating, but high temperatures are not tribute to release of CO2 and methane from the tundra. good for most plants. In addition, the increase in carbon diox- Scientists have tried to model these processes, and their simula- ide acidifies the oceans, which can destroy coral reefs or have tions agree for the next ten to twenty years. Beyond that, the deleterious effects on zooplankton, on which much ocean life models diverge, however, due both to uncertainties in the com- depends. Over much of the Earth, localized long-term putations and to differences in the assumptions made. It is rea- droughts caused by global warming will have a major negative sonable to be skeptical about specific predictions, especially after effect on plants. 2030, but that should not blind us to what is happening to our planet now. 9) There is no consensus; many scientists disagree about global warming. This is not true at all. Dissenters have pub- References lished hardly any peer-reviewed scientific papers in the past The IPCC reports and the peer-reviewed articles they reference are the basic decade. The dissenters are mostly not climate scientists, and they resources for this article. In addition to the IPCC materials, I recommend two reliable Web sites: RealClimate—Climate Science from Climate Scientists, have offered no alternative models to explain the data. The available at www.realclimate.org, and SkepticalScience—Examining the Sci - national academies of science in all of the industrialized countries ence of Global Warm ing Skepticism, available at www.skepticalscience.com.

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Faith in the Power of Witchcraft

Believing that there are witches with malevolent power can have numerous social and psychological benefits for a community. This helps explain why witchcraft traditions are so enduring and widespread. ANTHONY LAYNG

elief in traditional witchcraft is highly conservative and moralistic. This became evident to me only after Bspending a year conducting ethnographic research among the Caribs on the West Indian island of Dominica. This impoverished reservation population of approximately 3,000 survives mainly by growing bananas and subsistence crops. As an anthropologist, I had read about witches in numerous societies but had not previously lived in a com- munity where faith in witchcraft was the norm. Early on in my fieldwork, I attended a gathering in a home where a young girl had been unable to leave her bed for some time, and there was much speculation about who “the witch” responsible was. It was agreed that magic should

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some presumed that I had some sort of immunity, but others were alarmed to learn that I slept with all my windows open at night, when witches assume the form of fireflies and enter homes to cause mischief. Always the objective social scientist, I found not the slightest evidence that anyone there ever attempted to use witchcraft against me or others. It seems that faith in witchcraft can survive quite well even where there are no witches. Unlike fairy tale witches and New Agers who identify them- selves as such, Carib faith in witchcraft is an ancient tradition that has been maintained in many tribal and peasant commu- nities all over the world. Typically, these witches are believed to be antisocial or in other ways different from “good” people. In communities where witches are presumed to live, there is much talk about how to protect one’s self against their evil power and how to identify those who possess such power. Although suspi- cions and accusations may be numerous and heartfelt, there is often agreement that “you can never be sure who is a witch.” Witches, we are told, possess supernatural ability to harm others, consciously or not. Steps may be taken to ward off witchcraft, and there are always magical remedies to try to counteract the harm caused by a witch. Attempts are made to identify the evil individual responsible for any serious misfor- tune, and the accused may be shunned, killed outright, or sub- jected to magical punishment. One hears less about such witches once a certain level of economic development has been achieved, but when hard times return, accusations of witchcraft may become common again. For example, there has been a resurgence of this belief in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. (See this issue’s News and Comment section for timely examples.) Believing that there are witches inclined to harm others with their malevolent power can have numerous social and psychological consequences for a community. These come not be used to both cure the girl and punish the witch, whoever it from witches, of course, but from the belief that witches exist might be. To this end, a local healer, an older woman knowl- and are a real threat to one’s health and wellbeing. Such faith edgeable about curative herbs and rituals, was consulted. In may be unsophisticated but can nevertheless have very practi- spite of this woman’s evident expertise and efforts, the girl died cal benefits, including the following. a few days later. Maintaining mental health (gaining sympathy and com- When I asked the older woman about this case, she replied, pensation for low status, displacing antagonism and jealousy, “The witchcraft was too strong.” She went on to tell me about achieving a sense of control). Victims of witchcraft, often per- a former patient who suffered from a persistent foot infection. sons who otherwise attract little attention, receive intense sym- Convinced that he was a victim of witchcraft, he came to the pathetic concern from their neighbors. Those accused of using woman for help and, as she described it, she used her magic to witchcraft are frequently very unpopular and, therefore, are remove a hairy caterpillar from the infected area and send it ideal scapegoats. Blaming misfortune on gods, demons, or bad back to the unknown witch who put it there. Later, her story luck gives the believer very little sense of control; witches, goes, a man came to her for treatment and she discovered the being here among the living, may be identified and dealt with. very same caterpillar in him, thus confirming to her satisfac- Providing explanations (explaining death, illness, misfor- tion that he was the culpable witch. She went on to tell me tune, and why magical cures sometimes fail). Where witchcraft that he failed to pay for her services (which seemed to confirm is presumed, bad luck, accident, or infection are not considered for her that he was truly evil). satisfactory explanations. When misfortune is especially persis- Not infrequently, I was warned to avoid certain neighbors tent, witchcraft is readily assumed to be the cause. When magi- who were suspected of having used witchcraft. As an outsider, cal cures fail, witchcraft may be blamed for the failure, thus pre- serving faith in such good magic. Anthony Layng is emeritus professor of anthropology at Elmira Encouraging proper conduct (reinforcing and clarifying College. E-mail: [email protected]. correct behavior and providing negative role models to dis-

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courage bad behavior). Nonconformists are the most likely to be accused of practicing witchcraft; their strange behavior pro- A Sampling of Traditional vides “evidence” of their evil nature. Nonconformity is gener- ally offensive to neighbors, one of whom might be a witch. Witchcraft Beliefs Therefore, it is safest to treat everyone in a normative fashion. Navajo (Southwestern U.S.) That way, you avoid being suspected of being a witch, and you Witches can transform themselves into -like avoid attracting retribution from a witch. animals that eat corpses and make poisons from dried and Encouraging generosity and sharing (ensuring an equi- ground human flesh, especially that of children. These table distribution of material resources). In egalitarian societies lethal poisons are thrown into houses, buried in cornfields, or placed on individuals. Some witches become wealthy by and communities plagued by persistent poverty, individuals and robbing graves. households adapt by sharing with others. Those who refuse to be generous are highly suspect when misfortune strikes a neighbor. Apache (Arizona) These same individuals run the risk of provoking a witch who can Witches have the power to cause illness and death in both people and livestock. They can also induce serious acci- cause them grievous harm. An economic surplus in the form of dents. containing turquoise beads and corn pollen savings is avoided for fear that it would evoke jealousy and invite protect the wearer from witchcraft. Healing rituals con- the suspicion of being a witch—and possibly offending a witch. ducted by medicine men can cause a witch to sicken and die. Conserving tradition (defending the social order and com- Cherokee (North Carolina) munity cohesion). Those who openly challenge accepted norms Witches attack people randomly out of pure malevo- are especially likely to be accused of witchcraft. Where only out- lence. Anyone, man or woman, can become a witch, but siders are suspected of being witches, the morality of one’s own most are twins. They hang around old or ill people to steal community is viewed as superior. Similarly, directing accusations their breath to add to their own power. They can also cause a strong person to become ill. Relatives must watch all of witchcraft to nonrelatives can express and reinforce loyalty to night long to protect a child from witchcraft. one’s own lineage. Providing entertainment (creating drama and stimulating Azande (Sudan) Witches possess an inherited substance that gives them imagination). Dramatic folktales about witches and gossip their evil power. They hold meetings at night and have sex concerning an unpopular neighbor suspected of inflicting ill- with demons. They make themselves invisible and send spirits ness or bad luck on a household are listened to with great to eat the souls of their victims. Nearly every misfortune (sui- interest, especially by children. Consequently, lessons to be cide, accident, a wife’s frigidity, etc.) is caused by witchcraft. learned from these accounts fall on fertile ground and help Ibibio (Nigeria) perpetuate the beliefs. Witches are despicable people. To cause illness, a witch Coping with rapid social change (attempting to reinstate will remove an enemy’s soul and put it into an . Such social order). Under conditions of rapid cultural change and a victim will die if the witch eats that animal. To torture someone for a long time, the witch will place the victim’s prolonged stress, witchcraft accusations may increase dramati- soul over a fire or submerge it in water. cally. Tolerance for deviant behavior decreases under these conditions, inviting witch hunts and creating incentive to Ulithi (Micronesia) abide by traditional cultural norms. Witches use contagious magic to bury an object associ- ated with the intended victim, over which incantations are These conservative functions of faith in witchcraft help to uttered, near the house of that individual. A concoction explain why this tradition has been so enduring and wide- may be placed on a comb to cause ringworm or on clothing spread. Fear of witchcraft can have very valuable conse- to attract sharks. Those who suspect such sorcery must wear quences, and societies are disinclined to abandon customs that protective amulets. are practical. Even where it is common to kill those judged to Catholic Priests (15th Century Europe) be witches, the community at large enjoys these advantages Most witches are ambitious women, many of whom are that make its culture so well adapted to underdevelopment. concubines of the Devil. All witchcraft comes from carnal lust. Witches incline the minds of men to inordinate passion, change The psychological and sociological coping mechanisms, and men into beasts, destroy the generative forces in women by the positive influence on the sharing of limited material procuring abortions, and offer children to the Devil. resources, help to ensure the survivability of these populations. Ironically, American missionaries among the Caribs have tried very hard to undermine their faith in witchcraft. Not sur- prisingly, given the fact that this belief system so effectively Note reinforces Carib morality and cleverly encourages them to Some might question the use of “faith” in reference to witchcraft. Admittedly, share their meager resources as an effective way to deal with most writers would substitute “belief,” since Americans usually prefer “faith” persistent poverty, it will continue to be an important part of when referring to generally accepted beliefs (“faith in God” and “faith in their culture until economic development provides enough prayer,” for example). For such concepts as magic, ghosts, and demons, the customary term is “belief.” Since witches and God are both representations of material and psychological security to supersede their present supernatural power, I have attempted to avoid such ethnocentrism here by faith in witchcraft. selecting “Faith in the Power of Witchcraft” as my title.

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Oprah Winfrey: Bright (but Gullible) Billionaire

MARTIN GARDNER

here are two Oprah Winfreys. One is the African- American woman who struggled against incredible Todds in abject poverty to become the wealthiest, most admired woman in America. No one has summarized this Winfrey better than Ken Frazier in a letter to me that I quote with permission: She has done some enormous good, it seems to me. She has, among other things, strongly empowered women, instilled a love of reading books through her book club program, taken on a number of very difficult issues with a seriousness and directness not usually associated with daytime TV, funded and built schools in South Africa, and otherwise served as a successful role model for millions of women worldwide.

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The other Oprah Winfrey is an attractive, intelligent Sommers claims to use only “natural products” and criticizes all woman with a heart of gold, but who has only a pale under- the big drug companies that make billions, she is convinced, by standing of modern science. On her daily television show hawking dangerous products. (which, she announced in November to stunned viewers, will Winfrey’s enthusiasm for Sommers’s wild medical opinions is end after its twenty-fifth season, 2010–11) she promotes, as boundless. She urges her viewers to buy the actress’s treat-your- frequent guests, men and women who preach views and opin- self books. After following Sommers’s advice about taking estro- ions that are medically worthless and in a few cases can even lead gen, Winfrey wrote in O, “I felt the veil lift. After three days the to death. This naïve Winfrey is the topic of this article. skies were bluer, my brain no longer fuzzy, my memory was You may have noticed that in every photograph you see of sharper. I was literally singing and had a skip in my step.” Win frey, either on the cover of her magazine O (and she’s on Mainstream doctors hold contrary views. They scoff at the every cover) or elsewhere, she looks young and gorgeous. Not so notion that Som mers needs all this medication. Exces sive use of on the cover of the June 8, 2009, issue of Newsweek. In large white letters across her hair are the words “Crazy Talk. Oprah, Wacky Cures & You.” The cover story by Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert is a bombshell. For the first time in a mass-circulation magazine, the Queen of Television is pummeled for her constant praise of dubious medical opinions and other forms of bogus science. But before covering Newsweek’s hatchet job, let’s take a quick look at Winfrey’s amazing life. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in Kos ciusko, Mississippi, in 1954 to two unmarried teenagers who separated soon after. Winfrey was raised by a grandmother in such poverty that her dresses were literally made of potato sacks. She was raped at age nine and molested by an uncle, a cousin, and a family friend. She became pregnant at fourteen and gave birth to a son, her only child, who died in infancy. Winfrey was an honor student at a Nashville high school, obtaining a scholarship to Tennessee State University. After two years of college, she began working in radio and television, which eventually led to a career on the highest rated daytime TV show in the world. Today Winfrey is said to be the most powerful woman in America. She is a billionaire two times over. Although her show is based in Chicago, her main home (she owns several here and there) is on a huge estate in Montecito, California. In addition to O (circulation two million), she publishes a magazine called O at Home. Winfrey also owns a corporation called Harpo (Oprah backwards), which handles a variety of products, and created Oprah’s Book Club, which can propel a book into an instant best seller. Her power even stretches to the political realm: her support of Barack Obama is said to hormones, they say, can increase the risk of heart attacks and have won him a million votes. strokes and even cause cancer. Now for a look at the explosive Newsweek article. “It completely blew me away,” said Cynthia Parsons, execu- The piece opens with lurid accounts of actress Suzanne tive director of the nonprofit National Women’s Health Net - Sommers’s many appearances on Winfrey’s show. Every morning, work, “that Oprah would go to [Som mers] for advice. I have to Sommers rubs estrogen cream on one arm and injects estrogen say it diminishes my respect [for her].” into her vagina; two weeks a month, she smears progesterone on Another frequent guest on Winfrey’s show is Jenny her other arm. She also swallows a bewildering variety of vitamin McCarthy, actress and star of numerous films and TV shows. supplements, gives herself injections of growth hormones, and She first became famous for modeling in Playboy and later wears a nanotechnology patch to lose weight and promote sleep. became better known for her outrageous humor. McCarthy is in the Newsweek article because of her vigorous Martin Gardner is author of more than seventy books, most efforts to convince the world that autism is caused by vaccina- recently When You Were a Tadpole and I was a Fish, and tions. She has an autistic son, Evan, who she insists became autis- Other Speculations About This and That, published by Hill tic after he was vaccinated for measles and other diseases. In her and Wang in October 2009. book Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing, she

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claims that chelation therapy has helped her son. This therapy, effect and can even cause scarring. considered quackery by almost all doctors, blames autism on Winfrey is still touting alternatives to plastic surgery. The mercury that was once used in vaccines. latest craze, called thermage, uses radio waves to tighten the The notion that vaccinations cause autism has been thor- skin. The machine that produces the waves sells for $30,000. oughly discredited by dozens of studies, yet it continues to flour- Sales soared after Winfrey’s endorsement, but she had little to ish among ignorant parents. Win frey buys the myth hook, line, say about the therapy’s dangers and its risks of scarring, which and sinker. She has promoted McCarthy’s absurd views on angered even the firms selling the machines. numerous shows. In May 2009, Winfrey announced that her One frequent guest who offers good advice on how to lose production company had signed McCarthy for her own talk weight and stay healthy is Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Turkish-Amer ican show. Like the healing myths of Christian Science, McCarthy’s surgeon at Columbia Uni versity. However, Oz, who now has crusade is likely to result in needless deaths of children who suc- his own spin-off show, promotes a variety of high-priced food cumb to diseases that could have been prevented by vaccinations. supplements, such as acai berry, MonaVie, and Roserv atol, Dr. Christine Northrop, a physician who opposes vaccina- which have no more benefit than a well-balanced diet. He also tions, is also a frequent guest on Winfrey’s show. Her medical promotes alternative medicines, notably acu punc ture, which he views are closely linked to New Age mysticism that treats the has praised on Win frey’s show, ignoring the fact that the vast soul as well as the body. Northrop uses tarot cards to help diag- nose illnesses and even sells a set of her own called Women’s majority of doctors consider it worthless beyond its placebo Wisdom Health Cards. effect. He can be faulted further for sitting silently while Winfrey spouts what he must know is balderdash. Oz is said to be a disciple of the Swed ish mystic . Swe d en borg wrote at length about his out-of- body visits to other planets whose inhabitants and cultures he describes in his writing. Oz’s best-known book is Healing From the Heart. He is the “It completely blew me away,” said coauthor of YOU: Being Beautiful, which is the last of five Cynthia Parsons, executive director of YOU volumes. Winfrey’s enthusiasm for New Age books reached its apex the nonprofit National Women’s Health when she promoted the monumental idiocy of The Secret. It can Net work, “that Oprah would go to be described as a hilarious parody of books by Norman Vincent Peale. Instead of God working miracles, the universe itself does [Som mers] for advice. I have to say it it. The Secret teaches that the universe consists of a vibrating diminishes my respect [for her].” energy that can be tapped into with positive thoughts, allowing you to obtain anything you desire—happiness, love, and of course fabulous wealth. Want to lose weight? Then stop having fat thoughts and think thin! Want to become wealthy? Stop thinking poor thoughts. Think rich! “I’ve been talking about this for years,” Winfrey said. “I just never called it the secret.” The Secret was first a film produced in Australia in 2006 by New Age author . Two years later, the book ver- Northrop’s advice to women with thyroid problems is to take sion was issued in the U.S. by Astria, an imprint of Simon and iodine supplements. According to David Cooper, professor of Schuster. The editors at Simon and Schuster can smell a best endocrinology at Johns Hop kins, taking iodine will make the thyroid condition worse. Cooper calls the notion that iodine seller as soon as they read a manuscript’s first page. Move over will help “utter hogwash.” Mary Baker Eddy! Thanks to Winfrey, The Secret has sold over In 2004, Winfrey praised a new type of plastic surgery called seven million copies in the U.S. alone. Time published a recent thread lift. In the procedure, a threaded needle is punched issue featuring one hundred of the world’s most influential through the skin and used to tighten it. Winfrey played a video people. In a fit of poor judgment, they included Byrne on the showing the procedure, followed by before-and-after pho- list. She now lives in California not far from Winfrey’s estate. tographs. According to Newsweek, the before picture showed the Her newfound wealth, of course, is proof the secret works (for woman without makeup and in an unflattering light. The after more, see “Secrets and Lies,” SI, May/June 2007). photo showed her face covered with pancake makeup. Winfrey Let Dr. David Gorski, a surgeon at Wayne State University then called the woman to come up from the audience, her face School of Medicine, have the last word: “The bottom line is plastered with makeup. The audience burst into applause. The that, when it comes to medicine and science, [Winfrey] is a thread-lift fad has since waned, mainly because it has no lasting force for ill.”

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BOOK REVIEWS

Our Deliberate Slide into Ignorance KEITH TAYLOR

Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free. By Charles Pierce, Doubleday, New York, 2009. ISBN: 987-0-7679-2614-0. 293 pp. Hardcover, $26.

“We are the greatest country on the daring with her perkies discreetly cov- face of the earth!” ered by her long hair. Folks pay a ton to be completely hat phrase has been shouted so sheltered from scientific theories, and often and so loudly that we rise the Creation Science Museum does a T and cheer en masse every time a wonderful job of denying things even politician makes the jingoistic procla- when they are accompanied by an abun- mation. God, how we love to lie to our- dance of proof. You won’t see any pic- selves! At least most of us do, but not tures of light that has been traveling 13 Charles Pierce. He tells us we are delib- billion years to get here. erately ignorant, and he makes me won- Elsewhere Pierce lists loony ideas that der if other countries might not have the have come about as Athena did from the edge on us sometimes. head of Zeus. Six years ago the country Pierce’s Idiot America: How Stupidity was sent into a tizzy when Texas was said Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free is to be planning a $200 billion highway Watching our homeland excoriated a polemic that won’t let go. It reminds us that would stretch clean across the coun- isn’t pretty, but neither is a deliberate of the deliberate ignorance foisted on us try, all the way from the Mexican border slide into ignorance. Sadly, we are doing every time we watch the news, read a to Canada. And that wasn’t all. The it to ourselves, and too many of us are paper, or open yet another e-mail telling Mexican government would have a cheering as it happens. The media help us how we must put God back in our checkpoint in Kansas City and would be gullibility along by adhering to what schools. Pierce is a regular on National Pierce calls the three great premises of able to control traffic right here in the Public Radio’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me idiot America. good old U.S. of A! Our sovereignty and a writer who has been published in • First premise: “Any theory is valid if would be supplanted by something that Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, it sells books, soaks up ratings, or other- might be called Mexicania. As a rational- The Nation, and many others. wise moves units.” ist might guess, the road existed only Pierce takes on his bugaboo, stupid- • Second premise: “Anything can be because lots of people said it did, Pierce’s ity, mano a mano and kicks the hell out true if somebody says it loudly enough.” third premise. of it. What’s more, he does it with a dev- • Third premise: “Fact is that which He gives example after example. He astating sense of humor. To those of us enough people believe.” is also gracious in giving credit to the who are shunted aside in our own coun- The first example he gives of idiocy many skeptics who provided him with try because we will not subscribe to being taken for fact is the Creation tales and verification. myths and , there is just Science Museum in Hebron, Kentucky. In the end we may blame preachers something delicious in watching those It certainly is a sad commentary on our and charlatans, but it is the media that myths and superstitions stripped as gullibility that folks choose a myth over carry the message. Pierce doesn’t simply naked as Adam in Eden. science, but it would take a determined blame the media, however. He tells us pessimist not to laugh with Pierce as he that the media “acted with the tacit Keith Taylor is a retired Navy officer. He fre- describes how folks justify idiotic approval of its audience. We leave our- quently writes for Military Times, a Gannett weekly. He is also former president actions. He describes a naked Adam selves on automatic pilot and realize, too and current program chair for the San whose nakedness doesn’t include a penis. late, what happens when we do.” Diego Association for Rational Inquiry. A flesh-colored (Caucasian of course) That is worth remembering. I belong to You can reach him by e-mail at KRTaylor - body stocking discreetly covers the a group with the slogan “Dare to Think.” [email protected]. offensive part. Eve appears a bit more We ought to do that more often.

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with the truth are listed. For example, Things We Know That the myth is that “most psychotherapists Are Not So use empirically supported theories,” but the fact is that “surveys suggest that only PETER LAMAL a marked minority of therapists use empirically supported therapies for anx- 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread iety disorders, mood disorders, eating Misconceptions about Human Behavior. By Scott O. disorders, and other conditions.” Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry L. A postscript describes “Ten Psycho - Beyerstein. Wiley-Blackwell: Malden, Massachusetts, 2010. logical Findings that Are Difficult to ISBN: 978-1-4051-3112-4. 332 pp. Paperback, $22.45. Believe, but True.” One example: “Pa - tients who’ve experienced strokes in their brain’s left frontal lobes, which result in onversations with people of nity cost, for example by ignoring effec- varying backgrounds often pro- tive treatments in favor of ineffective C vide many examples of the wide- ones. Lastly, acceptance of psychological spread and strongly held misunderstand- myths can seriously hinder our critical ings regarding psychology. For example, thinking in other areas, such as genetic most people know that: engineering, global warming, and crime What “most people prevention due to a “spill over” effect. 1. Students learn best when teaching The authors describe ten causes of know” is false, as methods are matched to their learn- psychological myths after noting that all ing styles. of us, including scientists, are prone to Lilienfeld and colleagues 2. Persons diagnosed as schizophrenic these sources of error. But scientists have demonstrate for these have multiple personalities. also adopted a set of rules and proce- 3. Clinicians’ expert judgment and intu- dures—the —designed three myths and the ition constitute the best method for to minimize their likelihood of commit- forty-seven others they making clinical psychology decisions. ting conceptual errors that cause belief in myths. The ten causes of myths, aware- address in 50 Great But what “most people know” is false, as ness of which constitutes a “mythbusting Myths of Popular Lilienfeld and colleagues demonstrate kit,” are: for these three myths and the forty- Psychology. seven others they address in 50 Great 1. Word-of-mouth Myths of Popular Psychology. 2. Desire for easy answers and quick fixes Why should we care, however, if 3. Selective perception and memory there is widespread belief in myths 4. Inferring causation from correlation about our behavior? The authors pro- 5. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc reasoning vide three reasons why we should care: 6. Exposure to a biased sample severe language loss, are better at detect- Psychological myths can be harmful. For ing lies than are people without brain 7. Reasoning by representativeness example, jurors may erroneously convict damage.” An appendix lists two pages of a defendant on the basis of confidently 8. Misleading film and media portrayals Web sites dealing with psychomythology, presented (but inaccurate) eyewitness 9. Exaggeration of a kernel of truth followed by sixty-three pages listing the testimony because the jurors believe 10. Terminological confusion articles and books the authors have cited. mistakenly that memory operates like a 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology is These causes are not listed in order of videotape. Psychological myths can also written in an engaging style and is valu- cause indirect damage due to opportu- importance. They are all brought to life in the following eleven chapters that able for both professionals and the general Peter Lamal is an emeritus professor of illustrate and discuss the various topics public. I highly recommend it. Readers psychology at the University of North (e.g., consciousness, personality, emo- may also be interested in what might be Carolina–Charlotte and a fellow of the tion, and motivation) about which there considered a companion volume, Lili - Division of Behavior Analysis of the are myriad myths. At the end of each enfeld, Lynn, and Lohr’s Science and American Psychological Association. chapter many more myths contrasted Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology.

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133, and even then he makes only pass- Bigfoot Beliefs in ing mention of the many unexplained Cultural Context problems, logical flaws, and factual errors in the myriad stories told about BENJAMIN RADFORD the film’s creation. Perhaps Buhs did not want to get bogged down in what he felt Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend. By Joshua Blu was insider minutiae or wade into the Buhs, University of Chicago Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0- morass of conflicting arguments. What - 226-07979-0. 304 pp. Hardcover, $29. ever the reason, the Bigfoot film had a far greater effect on Bigfoot re search—and the public’s image of the beast—than Buhs recognizes. hose who research things never effort has been made to find them. In proven to exist—such as Big - fact, Buhs catalogs many searches (of As Bigfoot makes clear, T foot—sooner or later find them- varying quality and scientific integrity, selves experts not on the subject itself some of them funded by Texas million- the history of Bigfoot (lacking a physical corpus to examine) but aire Tom Slick) for these cryptozoologi- instead on the phenomena surrounding cal mysteries. is a history of almost- the subject: the evidence, claims, counter- Several years ago, a book by Greg hads and near-misses, claims, folklore, and so on. Often the cul- Long titled The Making of Bigfoot drew a tural context of a monster is critical in very unsavory (and by all accounts quite tall stories, hoaxes, understanding why it exists in the form accurate) portrait of Roger Patterson, and more than a few it does and what role it plays in the soci- who supposedly filmed the famous 1967 ety that accepts or doubts it. Bigfoot. Buhs reinforces Patterson’s repu- fervent and sincere Therein lies the value in Joshua Blu tation as an untrustworthy character. Buhs’s new book, Bigfoot: The Life and The picture Buhs paints of cryptozool- true believers. Times of a Legend. Buhs examines the ogy’s founding fathers is only slightly more topic as an anthropologist and cultural flattering. Ivan Sanderson, for example, Buhs stumbles in a few places, espe- historian, providing insight into how the who is often touted as a model of pioneer- cially when discussing skeptics. For ex - world came to know Bigfoot. This ing investigation into unknown animals, ample, on page 63 he repeats a basic and approach, however, occasionally veers was perfectly willing to sensationalize and common error by suggesting that skeptics into slightly dubious analysis. (Was the exaggerate stories to help sell his articles dismiss all Bigfoot evidence as the result Yeti really seen as a symbol of post-colo- and books. Indeed, Buhs mentions of lies, pranks, or hallucinations. In fact, nial British character? Is Bigfoot really a Sanderson’s “low standards of truth and there is a fourth option (accounting for metaphor of “simultaneously other and consistency” and quotes a review in the the majority of Bigfoot evidence) of self, black and white, woman and man”?) San Francisco Chronicle: “No story seems which Buhs seems unaware: common Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a too wild or improbable for Mr. San - perceptual and cognitive errors. The bulk guy in an ape costume is just a guy in an derson” (Sanderson was once fooled by a of Bigfoot “evidence” comes in the form ape costume. crude hoax and came to believe that fif- of eyewitness accounts, and most of those As Bigfoot makes clear, the history of teen-foot-tall penguins existed in Florida). Bigfoot is a history of almost-hads and He also (like ) had a deep- near-misses, tall stories, hoaxes, and rooted antipathy for science, an influence Benjamin Radford wrote “Bigfoot at 50: more than a few fervent and sincere true sadly evident in modern . Evaluating a Half-Century of Bigfoot believers. Buhs is at his best when pro- Says longtime Bigfoot researcher Rene Evidence” in the March/April 2002 viding a context with the various color- Dahinden, “I don’t give a damn about sci- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER and is coauthor of ful characters and events dotting the sto- ence. I could care less about science.” Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating ried history of the Yeti and Bigfoot. He Oddly, despite being offered as the the World’s Most Elusive Creatures with also gives lie to a claim often heard from gold standard for Bigfoot evidence for Joe Nickell. His book on the Bigfoot proponents about why the crea- over forty years, Buhs does not discuss will be published tures remain elusive: that no serious the Patterson/Gimlim film until page later this year.

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are misunderstandings and mistakes, not Buhs admits, treated the subject with im ploding with little help from the prevarications or hallucinations. respect and the claimants without a hint skeptics. Poisoned by exposed hoaxes, Buhs also falters when he describes of ridicule. (Readers of this magazine are arrogant and premature proclamations the skeptical response to Bigfoot, stating invited to review past articles on Bigfoot of conclusive evidence, and vindictive that skeptics routinely ridicule the sub- to see if they find the pattern of ridicule infighting—not to mention a glaring ject of Bigfoot and its researchers instead that Buhs finds so evident; the book lack of scientific rigor and hard evi- of actively engaging their claims. Buhs might have been better informed about dence—Bigfooters were becoming frus- believes that Bigfoot is not taken seri- skeptics had Buhs actually interviewed trated, and the search began coming ously by skeptics who are “tailors, stitch- any skeptics instead of relying largely on apart at the seams. Overall, Bigfoot: The ing together a laughter curtain.” Yet the commentary by anti-CSI critics.) Life and Times of a Legend does a good most prominent skeptical Bigfoot re - Buhs himself is skeptical of Bigfoot’s job of explaining the cultural and his- searcher, the late Michael Dennett, was existence and makes it pretty clear that torical context of the world’s most an unfailingly fair investigator who, even by the mid-1970s, Bigfoot research was famous monster.

the Waltons, who were Quak ers, and the Solving a Mysterious other island residents, who were largely Puritan. In addition to these differences, Event from Long Ago there was a long history of legal dis- TERENCE HINES putes, mostly involving land claims, between the Waltons and others on the The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early island. Because of the great difficulty of New England. By Emerson W. Baker, Palgrave, Macmillan, establishing land claims in the late sev- New York, 2007. ISBN: 13-978-1-4039-7207-1. 244 pp. enteenth century, with the vague specifi- Hardcover, $24.95. cations of boundaries (i.e., “from the large oak stump go until you reach the big rock by the stream”) and the chang- observed the stones, some as big as his he Devil of Great Island was not ing validity of land grants as political written as a skeptical or debunk- fist, flying onto the porch. The control changed, land disputes could, ing effort. Emerson Baker in - onslaught soon forced everyone to T retreat to a more protected part of the and did, drag on for dec ades and create tended to tell the story of a seemingly iso- tavern. Still they could not escape the serious animosity between the parties. lated incident of witchcraft on a tiny fury. Flying rocks appeared inside the Baker makes it clear that the real cul- island off the New Hampshire coast in tavern and struck two boys in the legs, prits behind the stone throwing, termed 1682, which he does admirably. But the and Chamberlain was nearly hit in “lapidary salutations” in the charming story has great relevance for a skeptical the head. Outside, the rocks contin- ued to batter the Walton tavern, vernacular of the time, were people approach to historical poltergeist cases. breaking windows and causing con- opposed to the Waltons either because of The story starts on Great Island on siderable damage. (Baker 7) their endless court proceedings or their the Piscataqua River just off the coast of religious affiliation. There was nothing Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in June The “attack continued for over four paranormal about it. But to late seven- 1682. The residents of the home and hours.” Stones even “came down the teenth-century New Hampshire folk tavern of George Walton were suddenly chim ney,” and “several rocks seemed to raised and immersed in a world in which under attack fall out of the ceiling.” In the absence of any logical explanation for what they almost anything out of the ordinary was when invisible assailants furiously observed, the household believed it was due to supernatural influences, such a assaulted them with a barrage of fly- ing stones. As they ran into the tav- a supernatural attack “perpetuated by ern, the stones slammed repeatedly the devil himself” (8). Terence Hines is a professor of psychology into the building. The noise woke The attacks continued for the next at Pace University, an adjunct professor of Walton’s sleeping family and guests, several months, and witchcraft was the neurology at New York Medical College, and soon a terrified household had obvious explanation. and author of Pseudoscience and the gathered at the entry of the enclosed Paranormal. He is a Committee for porch. Boarder and attorney Richard Or was it? Baker masterfully traces the Chamberlain was one of those who political and religious differences be tween Skeptical Inquiry scientific consultant.

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prosaic explanation likely would have been Waltons and others. I must admit, how- modern poltergeist cases like Tina Resch. disregarded. Baker ties the events on ever, that at times this convoluted trail For the skeptical reader, one of the most Great Island to earlier lapidary saluta- gets a bit tedious. Baker does provide important lessons from this excellent book tions and to the later infamous Salem, a listing of “who’s who” at the start of is that with serious scholarship and Massa chusetts, witch trials. His histori- the book, without which I would have research, it is sometimes possible to pro- cal scholarship is first rate, delving into been lost. vide rational explanations for long-ago primary sources, such as contemporary As I said at the beginning of this events that were considered paranormal at court records, to trace the convoluted review, Baker did not set out to debunk, the time. As an added bonus, it is a great history of legal battles between the and he never mentions anything about story of a mystery solved.

N E W B O O K S

Listing does not preclude future review. THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH: The Evidence for up in the wake of Lincoln’s assassination. In dissecting Evolution. Richard Dawkins. Free Press, New York, 2009. the myths he examines the motives of both historic and DEFINING DARWIN: Essays on the History and 470 pp. Hardcover, $30. Following his best-selling The current figures for misleading the public and demon- Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology. Michael Ruse. God Delusion, zoologist and evolutionary biologist strates how long-perpetuated myths can be easily over- Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 2009. 271 pp. Dawkins returns to his scientific roots. As he says, the turned by examining the original source. —K.F. Hardcover, $26.98. These es says—some previously pub- evidence for evolution grows lished, some not—have all been day by day and has never been THE MATH BOOK: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimen - tried out in lecture halls by a stronger. Yet ill-informed oppo- sion, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics. noted philosopher of science. sition has also never been Clifford A. Pickover. Sterling Books, New York, 2009. 528 They concern the nature of sci- stronger. This is his personal pp. Hardcover, $29.95. In The Math Book, prolific poly- ence, objectivity versus subjec- summary of the evidence that math Pickover provides plenty of tivity, and the social and moral the “theory” of evolution is puzzles, problems, and para- connotations of evolution’s roles actually a fact—“as incontro- doxes for the public. The book in philosophy, literature, reli- vertible a fact as any in science.” describes 250 important events gion, and more. Ruse says Dar - Here he attempts explicitly to set in the history of mathematics. win’s thinking made evolution- out the evidence for evolution, Most people would probably ary ideas worth considering, and he does so in his usual ele- rather read the phone book and Darwin’s own thought and gant and thorough way. Several core chapters convey than a 530-page tome about the what people make of it motivate Ruse in his inquiries. —K.F. fresh information: “Before Our Very Eyes” (about recent history of math, but Pickover’s evidence of evolution occurring right now), “Missing book is fascinating and accessible to both the innumer- EXUBERANT SKEPTICISM. Paul Kurtz. Edited by John R. Link? What Do You Mean, Missing?” (fairly self-explana- ate and the numerophobic. Each two-page entry con- Shook. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 2010. tory), “Missing Persons: Missing No Longer” (on direct tains a few paragraphs about the topic and full-page art 250 pp. Softcover, $19. Philosopher Paul Kurtz is the human ancestors), and “The Tree of Cousinship” (with that illustrates the text. The entries are listed chrono- founding father of the modern skeptical movement, its extensive section on molecular evolution). Another logically, providing historical and social context to the and Exuberant Skepticism brings together in one valu- welcome chapter, on biogeographic distribution and mathematical ideas and discoveries. This helps readers able volume his most important writings charting the plate tectonics, points out that this “solidly established understand how mathematics, like any science, builds movement’s philosophical and scientific course. Through - theory” accounts for “numerous facts about the distrib- on itself. Entries include ancient numbering systems, out, he counsels a positive and affirmative (and, yes, exu- ution of life on earth” and also provides “yet more evi- paradoxes and puzzles, great mathematicians, topology, berant) skepticism, with a con structive agenda based on dence for the extreme antiquity of Earth.” Yet creation- algebra, probability, prime numbers, and so on. A casual critical inquiry, reason, and empir- ists, for some reason, give it a pass. Dawkins reaffirms read reveals many fascinating mathematical facts, from ical science. These influential that all the “endless forms most beautiful” (Darwin’s the drill bit that cuts square holes (p. 267) to Benjamin essays range over his concerns of words) that we see are direct consequences of evolution Franklin’s magic squares (p. 190). The book contains a skepticism and rationality; skepti- by non-random natural selection, “the greatest show on dozen pages of references for those who wish to delve cism and the new enlightenment; Earth.” It is a fine complement to Jerry A. Coyne’s new more deeply into the topics. Pickover’s real achievement the growth of anti-science; skepti- book, Why Evolution is True (Viking 2009), which is revealing the beauty, logic, and elegance of mathe- cism and religion; skepticism, sci- Dawkins generously praises several times. —K.F. matics in a clear and understandable way. Pickover, ence, and the paranormal; skepti- Martin Gardner, and others do for mathematics and cism and ethics; the New LINCOLN LEGENDS: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations logic what Carl Sagan did for astronomy. —B.R. Skepticism; the worldwide move- Associated with Our Greatest President. Edward Steers ment of skepticism; thirty years of Jr. University Press of Kentucky, OUTBREAK! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER; and his own personal involvement Lexington, Kentucky, 2009. 288 Behaviors. Hilary Evans and Robert Bartholomew. with skepticism. Kurtz, a very pragmatic philosopher, has pp. Softcover, $17.95. No presi- Anomalist Books, New York, elevated skeptical inquiry’s philosophical and moral signif- dent has been the subject of more 2010. 784 pp. Softcover, $39.95. icance. He has likewise steadfastly advocated the appreci- myths than Abraham Lincoln. Hilary Evans, a British historian, ation of science and the application of science’s methods Here a Lincoln expert examines and Robert Bar tholomew, a soci- to important questions. Every skeptic should own this fourteen longstanding beliefs sur- ologist in the field of collective book for reflective guidance. Scientists, scholars, and all rounding Lin coln and, using his- behavior and social deviance, thoughtful people can gain useful insight from Kurtz’s tory and primary re sources, have compiled this eight-hun- uniquely optimistic outlook melding open-minded debunks them. He also tackles the dred-page tome containing inquiry and scientific rigor. —K.F. conspiracy theories that sprang nearly 350 entries on bizarre col-

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lective behavior spanning the globe and several millen- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of can be used in evaluating a wide variety of claims in nia. A wide variety of phenomena are explored, includ- Crowds. —B.R. other areas as well. His overall goal is to “consider and ing alien abduction panics, India’s Monkey Man hyste- apply a systematic approach for performing reality ria, Satanism, dancing manias, school panics, phantom PSEUDOSCIENCE AND EXTRAORDINARY CLAIMS OF THE checks on paranormal claims.” The toolkit begins by slashers, UFO flaps, terrorism scares, and many more. PARANORMAL: A Critical Thinker’s Toolkit. Jona than C. considering three basic questions to ask about any The authors write, “While some of the behaviors pre- Smith. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, Massachusetts, 2010. claim: “Is it from a credible source? Is it based on clear sented here may represent chronic forms of psychologi- 410 pp. Softcover, $39.95. Seldom does a new book logic? Is it the product of good scientific observations?” cal disturbance, we believe it is essential to set each one appear so centrally relevant to He offers a useful five-chapter section on considering in its own context, with regard to the unique events and the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER’s core his- circumstances of each one, which point to a particular toric mission, with such a com- alternative explanations (randomness issues and numer- interpretation of reality for the participants.” That is, prehensive and thorough ical misconceptions, perceptual error, memory error, whether or not a particular behavior represents a social treatment. Jonathan Smith, a placebo effect, etc.). He goes on to provide guidance delusion or mass hysteria depends largely on the con- professor of psychology at and in sights in examining what he calls “claims of con- text and beliefs of the affected people. As the authors Roosevelt Uni versity, has had sequence, phenomena with historical, individual, social, readily admit, the entries are only as reliable as their an enduring interest in critical philosophical, and political significance.” These include sources. While some of the cases were personally inves- thinking and examination of astrology (as a “grandfather” of all manner of psychic tigated by one or both authors, many of the accounts the paranormal for more than beliefs involving prophecy and psychic readings), spiri- were drawn from newspaper and journal reports (favor- half a century. He founded the tualism and survival, , energy treatments, ing, of course, original sources). The book is accessible Roo sevelt Uni versity Stress Ins titute largely to combat the healing power of prayer, and creationism and evolu- and interesting enough for the casual reader yet schol- pseudoscience and quackery. He be lieves claims of the tion. Throughout, he counsels all to “question fearlessly arly enough for the serious researcher. The encyclopedia paranormal should be taken very seriously, not because is alphabetized, and each section concludes with dozens they may be true or false but because he believes extra- and honestly.” All skeptical inquirers will find this book (or hundreds) of sources and references. Most entries ordinary claims have—or would have, if true—extraor- valuable in their own quests to organize their thinking are cross-referenced as well. Outbreak! is the most com- dinary consequences. He considers this book appropri- and critically examine the latest manifestations of para- prehensive book of its kind, invaluable to any skeptics ate core reading for three types of college courses: crit- normality. —K.F. interested in mass hysteria and collective delusions. The ical thinking, research methods, and pseudoscience and book makes a fine successor to Charles Mackay’s classic the paranormal. But the critical thinking tools he offers —Kendrick Frazier and Benjamin Radford

Ginzburg, Premanand Kurtz, founder of the Committee for Skeptical matic feats enlivened his demonstrations. Inquiry and the Center for Inquiry, told SI. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Editor Kendrick Frazier “He was a strong supporter of CFI/Russia We report the loss of two extraordinary skep- fondly recalls a time when Premanand, on a and indeed donated part of his Nobel Prize tics who made their mark internationally. speaking tour through the U.S., stayed several money to the organization. He was a member nights at his home in Albuquerque. “It was of Russia’s prestigious Academy of Science, Vitaly L. Ginzburg, a Russian Nobel laureate Thanks giving, and toward the end of the and got them to support Common Sense, physicist with the P.N. Lebedev Physical Thanksgiving dinner, Premanand got up and published by CFI/Russia. He also helped Institute, died in Moscow November 9, 2009, amazed us all with his demonstrations. It is a at the age of ninety-three. establish the anti-pseudoscience efforts of Thanksgiving our family will never forget.” Early in his career he the Academy and CFI/Russia. He will be Massimo Polidoro’s “Notes on a Strange worked with Andrei Sak - sorely missed.” harov to help de velop the * * * World” column “Don’t Try This at Home” (SI, January/Febru ary 2003) recounted hours he first Soviet hydrogen Basava Premanand (usually just called and colleague Luigi Garlaschelli spent talking bomb. He eventually be - Premanand), the famed Indian skeptic and came one of the world’s scourge of India’s “god men,” died October 4, with Premanand during one of his trips to most re nowned physi- 2009, in Podanur, India, at the age of sev- Italy. “Have you ever seen a miracle?” they cists, sharing the Nobel enty-nine. A magician, leader of the India asked. His response: “I’ve seen a lot, but Prize in 1993 for a theory that explained in skeptics, editor of the monthly Indian Skep - unfortunately not one of them was authentic; detail important questions about supercon- tic, and author of thirty- they were all accomplished by trickery.” ductivity. In recent years he spoke out in sup- five books, Pre manand On his deathbed, dying of stomach can- port and defense of science, warning of the de voted his life to the cer, Premanand reaffirmed his commitment increasing degradation of science in Russia, investigation of super- to rationalism. In a written and signed state- “the in creased clericalization of Russian soci- natural claims in India ment, he noted that “it is common for the ety,” and the advance of pseudoscience. He and exposing tricksters purveyors of superstitions and such anti- published two articles in the January/February wherever he found them. rational forces to start spreading rumors” at 2005 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER about the dangers of Indian fakirs and gurus pseudoscience in Russia, “Demagogues were his special target, the end of a rationalist’s life. “I continue to be Against Sci en tific Expertise” and “Brave and Premanand delighted in showing how a rationalist of full conviction. I do not believe Thoughts Are Still Not the Truth.” their supposed feats could be duplicated in supernatural powers. All the powers that we “I knew Vitaly Ginzburg well and saw him using known (not supernatural) methods. encounter are in the realm of nature,” he said on six of my last seven trips to Russia,” Paul Fire-eating, tongue piercing, and other dra- in the statement.

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could hardly be enthralled by the prospect of the worth of items. receiving a text message that read, “OMG!!! U The other day my wife came across a pro- RASKEPTIC!!! AWESOME!!!” Since I don’t even gram on the A&E channel called Extreme have a cell phone, let alone a Blackberry, this Paranormal. Perhaps we need to counter that won’t happen. I fully realize that serious with a program called Extreme Skeptic! devices such as computers, mine included, David W. Briggs are often used for frivolous purposes. Still it [email protected] is difficult for me to envision serious scien- tific investigations being bandied about on cell phones and YouTube. Heidi Anderson’s article “Skeptical Parent - I am also concerned about quality. There is no law that states that the product of ing: Raising Young Critical Thinkers” should quantity and quality is a constant, but it raise a red flag for skeptics. In discussing the often works that way, alas. I thus can only be decision to have children, she quotes a skep- concerned that so-called skeptical investiga- tic who “admits that choosing to have a child tions will be half-baked and injurious to the was a ‘bit of a leap of faith,’ an approach for- health of the skeptical movement. Scientific eign to many skeptics.” She goes on to list investigations are able to dispel rumor and reasons for remaining childless. hoax because they are conducted with an eye She’s not wrong. Here are two testable to discover fact and (an important and) they assumptions: the number of children a fam- are done by people who possess the necessary ily has is inversely proportionate to the com- Skepticism 2.0: qualifications. Anything less than this stan- bined education of the parents; and the more A Special Issue dard will result in a weakening of the entire education, the higher probability of rational skeptical movement. thinking. If these two assumptions are true, Congratulations on a bold, brilliant issue of SI: it is not the meek but the ignorant who will Jerry F. O’Donnell “Skepticism 2.0: What’s Next?” (November/ inherit the earth. Artesia, New Mexico December 2009). It was great to see people Why is it that skeptics don’t get the con- from different organizations coming together nection? Religions that tend to be anti-evo- to give the clearest possible view of what is lution are very strong on procreation. The I have read with considerable interest the happening to skepticism. All skeptics should resulting baby boom is dominated by chil- November/December SI, devoted primarily read through these articles and consider where dren of believers and people with less educa- to finding new ways of spreading critical they belong in the new movement. tion. It appears that Dawkins’s “selfish gene” thinking and the skeptical viewpoint to the is surely right to say that has attached itself to whatever it is in the younger generation—Skepticism 2.0. As a the prospects for the new version of skepti- human psyche that wants to believe. And cism are far greater than the problems. Still, “senior citizen,” I have acquired some skill in those who manage the business of religion two questions concern me about the future. the use of e-mail and the Internet, but some have been quick to recognize and embrace First, if skepticism is becoming a decentral- of the newer “networking” methods are a bit this symbiosis. ized network movement, how do we ensure beyond me. However, I am sending a copy of The evolutionary bottom line is that win- that all paranormal claims receive due inves- this issue to my daughter, who is profession- ners are chosen by natural selection and the tigation? Could “black holes” of paranormal ally trained in higher education planning selection mechanism is procreation. Skeptics claims develop that are harming people’s and is familiar with the use of the newer need to take their libido out of the deep lives yet are overlooked by the new move- communications technologies. freeze and get busy growing the base. ment? Second, how do we ensure that skep- The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER started out with Robert D. Veitch ticism retains its essential meaning in a large, the “scientific investigation of the paranor- Minneapolis, Minnesota diffused network of this kind? mal” but has expanded its field to include var- Still, the future looks positive, and I thank ious , cryptozoology, UFOs, SI and the team of writers for a terrific issue. and creationism, and more recently it has ven- tured into more boldly questioning religious D.J. Grothe rightly acknowledges that his Martin Bridgstock beliefs. Although many of these are interesting roundup of skeptical podcasts is “hardly Griffith University examples of unnatural and unscientific think- comprehensive,” as no such article could be. Queensland, Australia ing, there are other areas affecting our lives I was disappointed, however, to discover that and pocketbooks that need to be examined the piece contained listings for podcasts that with critical thinking. Some that come to ceased production years ago, while failing to Having just read the November/December mind are the marketplace, the Internet, TV, include the current, popular, and outstand- issue of SI, I must say that I look forward to advertising, newspapers, law, and politics. In ing Reasonable Doubts. Skepticism 2.0 about as much as I did to dis- addition to outright scams, such as the Billing itself as “Your Skeptical Guide to covering the differences between Windows Nigerian scam and phishing in e-mail, there Religion” and produced by professors Jeremy 3.0 and Windows 3.1. I recognize that I am are many subtle deceptions in merchandising: Beahan, Luke Galen, and David Fletcher out speaking from the perspective of a person the placement of items in grocery stores, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, this polished who has lived more than three-quarters of a slack-filled containers, and sales pricing that and wildly entertaining one-hour podcast century on this planet, but all the same I leaves a buyer with an unclear perception of features news, clever banter, analysis and dis-

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section of religious topics, and interviews still actively covering up their involvement in The ‘Walking Tree’ with leading lights of the skeptic and atheist faking live television broadcasts from the movements. Moon, will a bunch of easily Photoshopped Regarding Benjamin Radford’s “Skeptical My first thought was, as improbable as it pictures of the alleged landing sites from a Inquiree” column “The Myth of the Walking seemed, that Mr. Grothe must not be aware satellite be at all convincing? Tree” (SI, November/December 2009): The of the existence of this podcast, which could I predict that the doubters will follow quotation from “no less an authoritative be seen as a competitor to his own excellent James Randi’s argument against Uri Geller source than Wikipedia” is true but dated. Point of Inquiry. Imagine my surprise, then, by saying something like, “We were able to The quoted text was removed from the when I discovered who the featured speaker make an image that looks just like the LRO Wikipedia article (“Socratea exorrhiza”) on is on this week’s episode of Reasonable image in five minutes through trickery, August 2 by an editor who was expanding Doubts: none other than D.J. Grothe! so why should we believe that NASA did it the article. And on October 23, another edi- for real?” Glenn Davis tor added (and cited) information from Personally, I think the LRO images of the Lewis Center, Ohio Radford’s article about the myth to that Apollo landing sites are wonderful, but the Wikipedia article. idea that they will convince even a single doubter in this age of easy, at-home photo John Broughton Though I am one of the faithful—I’ve been manipulation seems to be the result of an Alexandria, VA subscribing since 1978—I worry that idealism that’s been proven wildly unrealistic Skepticism 2.0 will follow 1.0 down the by claims that the hoax believers have been tubes. Your November/December 2009 issue making for decades already. ignores the following: Moral Duty of the Skeptic? 1. Superstition in the West has mush- Dave Weiblen roomed on your watch, relative to skepti- Centreville, Virginia Massimo Pigliucci’s column “The Moral Duty cism. Your optimistic tone denies our abject of a Skeptic” (SI, November/December 2009) failure, so far. David Morrison responds: briefly touches on the notion that it can be dif- 2. You cannot gain authority by proving ficult to talk about moral duty without engag- your point—supported by the market, the The point is well taken, and perhaps I am ing in a discussion regarding the existence (or hordes of unreason simply ignore logic. naïve. Following the argument to the extreme, nonexistence) of moral facts. However, he 3. Disciplined thought is at the heart of even if we sent a new group of astronauts to merely makes mention of this idea and then skepticism, yet the Internet encourages the re - take photos and collect artifacts at one of the moves on. I think this is a tremendously verse: anonymous comment free of conse- Apollo sites, the hardcore conspiracy theorists worthwhile exercise that he dismisses or at quences, however unqualified, insincere, or would claim that expedition was also faked, least glosses over (perhaps due to space con- lying it may be. An uncensored Internet allows and so on ad infinitum. A more realistic target straints?). But skeptics, being empiricists, are unreason to bury skepticism even further. are the millions of young people from outside often quite interested in whether or not things really exist. Like ghosts or gods, I maintain Duncan M. Butlin the U.S., like many Indian college students I that moral facts or imperatives do not exist Chichester, West Sussex have met, who have been told their whole lives outside of human thought (though I am open United Kingdom that Apollo was faked and have never heard the counterarguments. I still have faith that they to empirical evidence that they do). To claim might respond to these Lunar Reconnaissance that skeptics have a moral duty to do anything (his words, “the morally right thing to do”) is Thank you for citing The Panda’s Thumb in Orbiter photos. no more founded in reality than saying people Blake Smith’s article “Surfing for Skeptics.” PT is an independent blog that is devoted have a moral duty to not work on Sundays. It primarily to evolution and is not connected The Prevalence of is a declaration that something is true, yet with Science Blogs. You may read Panda’s Pseudoscience where is the basis in reality that skeptics are so Thumb at www.pandasthumb.org. fond of? What evidence is there that some- thing is right to do? How is it measured or Matt Young I’ve renewed my subscription to your won- observed? Skeptics wouldn’t accept on its face Boulder, Colorado derful SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. the claim that ghosts exist. They would ask, I am truly disheartened by the proliferation “What is the evidence that supports that and overwhelming amount of pseudoscience claim?” So why accept the claim that some- The Lunar Landing Deniers in all media, particularly the Dis covery Chan - thing is the right thing to do? I say it is an nel. It amazes me that, despite your efforts, the unsubstantiated claim. American people are still so misinformed on David Morrison (“Moon Hoax Resolved: Further, I say it is useful to pay attention matters of science. There seems to be no cred- New Lunar Orbiter Images Show Moon to this because the world is filled with claims ible “news” organization attempting to correct Landers, Astronauts’ Tracks,” News and Com - of what the right thing to do is. One group the situation, which to me seems to be wors- ment, November/December 2009) seems to says x is the right thing to do, and another ening not only regarding science but all fields be stunningly naïve about what will “convince says x is the wrong thing to do. Both make of learning and public issues. most remaining doubters” about the Apollo claims, but who offers empirical evidence of Moon landings. If the doubters are willing to Willard Whitmon rightness? How does one even demonstrate entertain the idea that thousands of people are Bourbonnais, Illinois that something is the right thing to do? We

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may offer anticipated consequences as evi- Moral reasoning is based on certain assump- known as utilitarianism—as the basis of his dence, which is essentially what Dr. Pigliucci tions about what is good for human beings request for weighing the evidence before making does, but those consequences are judged sub- (and other relevantly similar sentient species), moral choices. Since I subscribe to a virtue jectively as to their desirability by the just like mathematical theorems are based on ethics view of the world instead, I think that observer, which varies according to the par- axioms from which they get started. And since living an irrational life and believing in false- ticular needs or tastes of any observer. in mathematics or logic one cannot actually hoods hampers human flourishing. The debate Also, creating a collection of stories in prove the axioms from within the system then would turn toward the relative merits of which credulity harms the believer is a recipe (Godel’s incompleteness theorem), we should utilitarianism and virtue ethics, yet that debate for confirmation bias (something skeptics not be unduly bothered by the fact that ethicists would not be empirical but rather philosophi- like to avoid). It may support the call to also have to get started with certain assump- cal in nature. action of a moral duty or provide evidence of tions about what it means to be human. claimed harm, but if one were to approach Indeed, some of these assumptions can be the question scientifically, one would exam- checked empirically by way of what biology and Write to ine all instances of belief and consider all social science tell us about the sort of animal outcomes. It may very well be that belief in that Homo sapiens is. In addition, evolution- the supernatural results in consequences that ary biology and game theory, respectively, are observers (including skeptics) deem to be beginning to tell us why a moral sense evolved positive when taken in totality. Still, the in primates (can’t have a social group of large- observer is judging subjectively based upon brained animals that behave entirely selfishly) what he or she finds desirable. ... We don’t and which moral rules may or may not reach a The letters column is a forum for tolerate collections of examples as impressive stable equilibrium within a population of indi- views on matters raised in previous evidence when it is an anti-vaccination viduals characterized by certain physical and issues. Letters should be no longer activist offering stories of alleged harm. Nor social constraints. These two disciplines there- than 225 words. Due to the volume are we impressed when anti-vaccination fore ground the basics (though not the more of letters we receive, not all can be activists concentrate almost exclusively on sophisticated forms) of moral reasoning in published. Send letters as e-mail text adverse events, while downplaying or ignor- empirical evidence and theoretical formalism, (not as attachments) to letters@csi- ing altogether the benefits. Scientists and thus going some of the way toward satisfying cop. org. In the subject line, provide skeptics know a way that is more valid. Kessler’s request for evidence. an informative identi fication, e.g.: Moreover, it is simply very difficult for me “Letter on Jones evolution art icle.” David Kessler, PhD to believe that moral skeptics like Dr. Kessler In clude your name and address at Deerfield Beach, Florida actually believe what they say because if they the end of the letter. You may also really thought morality is entirely arbitrary, Massimo Pigliucci responds: they themselves would have no guidance in mail your letter to the editor to 944 their dealings with other human beings. While Deer Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM Dr. Kessler raises important points that could I do not know Kessler personally, I am 87122, or fax it to 505-828-2080. not have been addressed in my column for the acquainted with a number of self-professed simple reason that I had to take ethics as a dis- moral skeptics who nonetheless seem to live their cipline to be a background condition for my lives according to a remarkably commonplace discussion of what I see as the moral duty of set of ethical rules. This reminds me of a quip skeptics. Indeed, fully addressing Kessler’s points by Bertrand Russell, who wished that all those would require nothing less than a full immer- people who do not believe in physical reality sion into ethical theory, a large philosophical (another category of ultra-skeptics) would get literature that has developed over centuries. into a car and drive straight into a wall at a Nevertheless, let me briefly comment on some speed proportional to their disbelief in the phys- pertinent issues. ical existence of said wall. Kessler wishes to engage in a discussion over Finally, about the value of anecdotal evi- the existence or nonexistence of “moral facts,” dence concerning the harm of superstition: suggesting a parallel with the skeptical/empiri- While social studies of such harm are surely cist demand for facts about, say, ghosts or gods. needed (and they will become available due to Check us out on This betrays a misunderstanding of what moral the newfound interest by social scientists in reli- “facts” are about. If most philosophers are cor- gion and superstition as empirical phenomena), rect in deeming morality a nonarbitrary disci- I think it is fair to ask what sort of benefits can pline, it is certainly not because there is empir- possibly outweigh the sort of lies that have ical evidence for moral facts. In this sense, demonstrably caused psychological damage, We have a Cause and Fan Page: moral rules may be more akin to logical propo- killed individuals, and in some cases provided Cause: Committee for Skeptical Inquiry / sitions or mathematical theorems. Last time I an excuse for mass violence (think of the perse- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER magazine checked nobody asked for “empirical” evidence cution of “witches” in modern parts of Africa, Fan Page: SKEPTICAL INQUIRER of the existence of numbers or logical operators. for instance). More important, Kessler himself Moral judgments are arrived at—in ethical is (I assume unwittingly) adopting a particular philosophy—by reason, not by observation. ethical theory—consequentialism, otherwise

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER March / April 2010 65 SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 12:08 PM Page 66

THE LAST LAUGH BENJAMIN RADFORD, Editor Ask The Outlaw Skeptic ONLINE EXTRA! To see more skeptical humor from The Last Laugh, visit www.csicop.org/SIExtras. Hey Outlaw, My dear, old mother spends her hard-earned retirement money on the state lottery every week. Not only that, but she wastes additional HIDDEN MESSAGES by Dave Thomas money each week by going to a psychic, who The following letters are a simple substitution cipher. If R stands for L, it will do picks the numbers for her. Can psychics pick so everywhere. Solution is by trial and error. Hint: Look for patterns in words; for example, the scrambled phrase “JRXJ JRQ” might represent “THAT THE.” winning lottery numbers or is Mom wasting our dough? PUZZLE —Losing My Inheritance Dear Losing, “EBCDI CZ KCR OBC XIFGIUI GM EIFIHGMIDGD, You might find this strange coming from a skeptic, even an “outlaw” skeptic, but I’m a TQGDI PK BQML.” firm believer that psychics can pick winning state lottery numbers, even though their —QPITGVQM OTGEIT HRTE UCMMIARE odds of picking the winning numbers are 18 million to one. Good luck, Loser . . . I mean CLUE: X = B Losing.

ANSWER KEY As you decipher letters, keep track of them with the handy answer key below. If you've decided that R stands for L, simply write down an “L” above or below the “R” in the alphabetized row below, just as you would for the cipher itself. This Announcing the builds a handy, easy-to-use reference guide for you and will also reveal the "Super Secret Word,” a puzzle within a puzzle! SKEPTICAL INQUIRER puzzle contest! A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

PREVIOUS PUZZLE SOLUTION: “AND WHAT GREATER MIGHT DO WE POSSESS AS HUMAN BEINGS THAN OUR CAPACITY TO QUESTION AND TO LEARN?” The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER proudly — ANN DRUYAN announces a puzzle contest, for those SUPER-SECRET WORD: TRIUMPHAL smart enough to solve CSI Fellow Dave Thomas's Hidden Messages puzzles in “The Last Laugh” section of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. The winner will be chosen randomly from the first three correct submissions received. Photocopied entries of the correct solution should be sent by postal mail to:

Benjamin Radford, The Last Laugh, P.O. Box 3016, Corrales NM 87048. CSI is not responsible for late or misdirected mail, etc.

This issue's prize is an autographed copy of skeptic musician George Hrab's CD “Coelacanth.” For more on Geo's music, visit www.geologicrecords.net.

66 Volume 34, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI March April 2010 pgs:SI J A 2009 1/22/10 12:57 PM Page 67

Gary Bauslaugh, editor, Humanist Perspectives, Victoria, B.C., Canada Alan Hale, astronomer, Southwest Institute for Space Research, American University Richard E. Berendzen, astronomer, Washington, D.C. Alamogordo, New Mexico John W. Patterson, professor of materials science and en - Martin Bridgstock, Senior Lecturer, School of Science, Griffith Clyde F. Herreid, professor of biology, SUNY, Buffalo gineering, Iowa State University University, Brisbane, Australia Terence M. Hines, professor of psychology, Pace University, Massimo Pigliucci, biologist, philosopher, chairman, department Richard Busch, magician/mentalist, Pittsburgh, Penn. Pleasantville, N.Y. of philosophy, Lehman College of City University of New York Shawn Carlson, Society for Amateur Scientists, East Greenwich, RI Michael Hutchinson, author; SKEPTICAL INQUIRER representative, James R. Pomerantz, professor of psychology, Rice University Roger B. Culver, professor of astronomy, Colorado State Univ. Europe Gary P. Posner, M.D., Tampa, Fla. Felix Ares de Blas, professor of computer science, University of Philip A. Ianna, assoc. professor of astronomy, Univ. of Virginia Basque, San Sebastian, Spain William Jarvis, professor of health promotion and public health, Daisie Radner, professor of philosophy, SUNY, Buffalo Sid Deutsch, engineering consultant, Sarasota, Fla. Loma Linda Uni versity, School of Public Health Robert H. Romer, professor of physics, Amherst College J. Dommanget, astronomer, Royale Observatory, Brussels, Belgium I.W. Kelly, professor of psychology, University of Saskatch ewan Karl Sabbagh, journalist, Richmond, Surrey, England Nahum J. Duker, assistant professor of pathology, Temple Richard H. Lange, M.D., Mohawk Valley Physician Health Plan, Robert J. Samp, assistant professor of education and medicine, University Schenectady, N.Y. University of Wisconsin-Madison Taner Edis, Division of Science/Physics Truman State Univ ersity Gerald A. Larue, professor of biblical history and archaeology, Steven D. Schafersman, asst. professor of geology, Miami Univ., Ohio Barbara Eisenstadt, psychologist, educator, clinician, East University of So. California Chris Scott, statistician, London, England Greenbush, N.Y. William M. London, California State University, Los Angeles Stuart D. Scott, Jr., associate professor of anthropology, SUNY, William Evans, professor of communication, Center for Creative Media Rebecca Long, nuclear engineer, president of Geor gia Council Buffalo Bryan Farha, professor of behavioral studies in education, Against Health Fraud, Atlanta, Ga. Erwin M. Segal, professor of psychology, SUNY, Buffalo Oklahoma City Univ. Thomas R. McDonough, lecturer in engineering, Caltech, and SETI Carla Selby, anthropologist/archaeologist John F. Fischer, forensic analyst, Orlando, Fla. Coordinator of the Planetary Society Steven N. Shore, professor and chair, Dept. of Physics Eileen Gambrill, professor of social welfare, University of James E. McGaha, astronomer, USAF pilot (ret.) and Astronomy, Indiana Univ. South Bend California at Berkeley Chris Mooney, journalist, author, Washington correspondent, Luis Alfonso Gámez, science journalist, Bilbao, Spain SEED Magazine Waclaw Szybalski, professor, McArdle Laboratory, Univ ersity of Sylvio Garattini, director, Mario Negri Pharma cology Institute, Joel A. Moskowitz, director of medical psychiatry, Calabasas Wisconsin–Madison Milan, Italy Mental Health Services, Los Angeles Sarah G. Thomason, professor of linguistics, University of Pittsburgh Laurie Godfrey, anthropologist, University of Massachusetts Jan Willem Nienhuys, mathematician, Univ. of Eindhoven, the Tim Trachet, journalist and science writer, honorary chairman of Gerald Goldin, mathematician, Rutgers University, New Jersey Netherlands SKEPP, Belgium Donald Goldsmith, astronomer; president, Interstellar Media Matthew C. Nisbet, assistant professor, School of Communication, David Willey, physics instructor, University of Pittsburgh

3475; e-mail: [email protected]. PO Box 20302, www.southshoreskeptics.org/. Association for Rational Springfield, IL 62708 US. www.reall.org. Thought (ART) Cincinnati. Roy Auerbach, president. Tel: ALABAMA. Alabama Skeptics, Alabama. Emory Kimbrough. KENTUCKY. Kentucky Assn. of Science Educators and Skep - Tel.: 205-759-2624. 3550 Water melon Road, Apt. 28A, tics (KASES) Kentucky. 880 Albany Road, Lexing ton, KY 513-731-2774, e-mail: [email protected]. PO Box 12896, Northport, AL 35476 US. 40502. Contact Fred Bach at e-mail: fredwbach@ya Cin cinnati, OH 45212 US. www.cincinnati skeptics.org. ARIZONA. Tucson Skeptics Inc. Tucson, AZ. James Mc Gaha. E- hoo.com; Web site www.kases.org; or (859) 276-3343. OREGON. Oregonians for Science and Reason (O4SR) mail: [email protected]. 5100 N. Sabino Foot - LOUISIANA. Baton Rouge Proponents of Rational Inquiry and hills Dr., Tucson, AZ 85715 US. Phoenix Skeptics, Phoenix, AZ. Scientific Methods (BR-PRISM) Louisiana. Marge Schroth. Oregon. 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North Texas Skeptics NTS Dallas/Ft Worth area, John Suite 206, Sacramento CA 95841. Tel.: 916 489-1774. E- 56301 US. Blanton, Secretary. Tel.: 972-306-3187; e-mail: skeptic@nt mail: [email protected]. San Diego Asso ciation for Rational . Skeptical Society of St. Louis (SSSL) St. Louis, skeptics.org. PO Box 111794, Carrollton, TX 75011-1794 US. Inquiry (SDARI) President: Paul Wenger. Tel.: 858-292-5635. Missouri. Michael Blanford, President. E-mail: info@skep Program/general information 619-421-5844. Web site: www. ticalstl.org. 2729 Ann Ave., St. Louis, MO 63104 US. www. www.ntskeptics.org. sdari.org. Postal address: PO Box 623, La Jolla, CA 92038-0623. skepticalstl.org. VIRGINIA. Science & Reason, Hampton Rds., Virginia. COLORADO. The Denver Skeptics Meetup Group. Elaine NEVADA. Skeptics of Las Vegas, (SOLV) PO Box 531323, Lawrence Weinstein, Old Dominion Univ.-Physics Dept., Gilman, President. Skype address: elaine.gilman. 965 S. Henderson, NV 89053-1323. E-mail: rbanderson@skeptics Miller Street, 302, Lakewood, CO 80226. Web site: http:// lv.org. Web site: www.skepticslv.org./. Norfolk, VA 23529 US. skeptics.meetup.com/131/. NEW MEXICO. New Mexicans for Science and Reason WASHINGTON. Society for Sensible Explan ations, Western CONNECTICUT. New England Skeptical Society (NESS) New (NMSR) New Mexico. David E. Thomas, President. Tel.: Washington. Tad Cook, Secre tary. E-mail: K7RA@ England. Steven Novella M.D., President. Tel.: 203-281- 505-869-9250; e-mail: nmsrdave @swcp.com. PO Box 1017, 6277; e-mail: [email protected]. 64 Cobblestone Dr., Peralta, NM 87042 US. www.nmsr.org. arrl.net. PO Box 45792, Seattle, WA 98145-0792 US. Hamden, CT 06518 US. www.theness.com. NEW YORK. New York Area Skeptics (NYASk) metropolitan NY http://seattleskeptics.org. D.C./MARYLAND. National Capital Area Skeptics NCAS, area. Jeff Corey, President. 18 Woodland Street, Hunting - PUERTO RICO. Sociedad De Escépticos de Puerto Rico, Luis R. Maryland, D.C., Virginia. D.W. “Chip” Denman. Tel.: 301- ton, NY 11743, Tel: (631) 427-7262 e-mail: [email protected], 587-3827. e-mail: [email protected]. PO Box 8428, Silver Spring, Web site: www.nyask.com. Inquiring Skeptics of Upper Ramos, President. 2505 Parque Terra Linda, Trujillo Alto, MD 20907-8428 US. http://www.ncas.org. New York (ISUNY) Upper New York. Michael Sofka, 8 Puerto Rico 00976. Tel: 787-396-2395; e-mail: Lramos@ FLORIDA. Tampa Bay Skeptics (TBS) Tampa Bay, Florida. Gary Providence St., Albany, NY 12203 US. Central New York escepticospr.com; Web site www.escepticor.com. Posner, Executive Director. Tel.: 813-849-7571; e-mail: Skeptics (CNY Skeptics) Syracuse. Lisa Goodlin, President. [email protected]; 5201 W. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 124, Tel: (315) 446-3068; e-mail: [email protected], Web site: Tampa, FL 33609 US. www.tampabayskeptics.org. The cnyskeptics.org 201 Milnor Ave., Syracuse, NY 13224 US. The organizations listed above have aims similar to those of James Randi Educational Foun dation. James Randi, OHIO. Central Ohioans for Rational Inquiry (CORI) Central Director. Tel: (954)467-1112; e-mail [email protected]. 201 Ohio. Charlie Hazlett, President. Tel.: 614-878-2742; e- the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry but are independent S.E. 12th St. (E. Davie Blvd.), Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316- mail: [email protected]. PO Box 282069, Columbus OH and autonomous. Representatives of these organizations 1815. Web site: www.randi.org. 43228 US. South Shore Skeptics (SSS) Cleveland and ILLINOIS. Rational Examination Association of Lincoln Land counties. Jim Kutz. Tel.: 440 942-5543; e-mail: jimkutz@ cannot speak on behalf of CSI. Please send updates to Barry (REALL) Illinois. Bob Ladendorf, Chairman. Tel.: 217-546- earthlink.net. PO Box 5083, Cleveland, OH 44101 US. Karr, P.O. Box 703 Amherst NY 14226-0703.

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