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CSI’s Balles Prize Goes to Physicist/Author Leonard Mlodinow

BARRY KARR 2007: Natalie Angier, New York Times science writer and author of the The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry book The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the has awarded its Robert P. Balles Annual Beautiful Basics of Science Prize in Critical Thinking to Leonard 2006: Ben Goldacre for his weekly Mlodinow for his book The Drunkard’s column, “Bad Science,” published in Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives, The Guardian newspaper (U.K.) published in 2008 by Pantheon. 2005: Shared by Andrew Skolnick, Leonard Mlodinow received his doc- , and Joe Nickell for their torate in physics from the University of series of articles in the SKEPTICAL IN- California, Berkeley, was an Alexander QUIRER on “Testing ‘The Girl with X- von Humboldt fellow at the Max Plank Ray Eyes’” Institute, and now teaches about ran- domness to future scientists at Caltech. Nominations are now being accepted He has written for the television series for 2009. Please send submissions to: MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next , Executive Director, CSI Generation. His previous books include P.O. Box 703 Euclid’s Window: The Story of Geometry Amherst, NY from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace, Feyn- 14226-0703 man’s Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in E-mail: [email protected]. Physics and in Life, and, with Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time. According to Mlodinow, “The Drunk- CSI Solves New Jersey ard’s Walk comes from a mathematical UFO Mystery term describing random motion, such as the paths molecules follow as they fly Strange, bright red lights appeared over through space, incessantly bumping and Morris County, New Jersey, on January 5, being bumped by, their sister molecules. 2009. They were first noticed in the night ... The surprise is that the tools used to sky by an eleven-year-old girl, who point- describe the drunkard’s walk can also be ed out three lights grouped together and another pair some distance away. The employed to help understand the events of Photo © Marcio Fernandes everyday life. The goal of this book is to Leonard Mlodinow, 2008 recipient of the Com- lights moved silently and slowly overhead, illustrate the role of chance in the world mittee for Skeptical Inquiry’s Balles Prize. then disappeared one by one. around us and to show how we may rec- important scientific issues. The girl’s mother, Cindy Hurley, said ognize it at work in human affairs.” CSI established the criteria for the it was “unsettling . . . something you’ve Mlodinow was to be presented the prize, including use of the most parsi- never seen before, and a very strange award at a ceremony June 7, 2009, at monious theory to fit data or to explain pattern.” Paul Hurley, a pilot, said he the Center for Inquiry/Los Angeles. apparently preternatural phenomena. was baffled: “I’ve been in aviation for The Robert P. Balles Annual Prize in This prize has been established twenty years and never seen anything Critical Thinking is a $1,300 award given through the generosity of Robert P. like it.” Police and the media fielded to the author of the published work that Balles, an associate member of CSI, and calls from alarmed residents; police best exemplifies healthy skepticism, logi- the Robert P. Balles Endowed Memorial eventually suggested that the lights were cal analysis, or empirical science. Each Fund, a permanent endowment fund a hoax, but others dismissed that expla- year, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry for the benefit of CSI. nation as a weak cover-up. selects the paper, article, book, or other This is the fourth year the Robert P. I was asked by LiveScience.com to publication that has the greatest potential Balles prize has been presented. Previous investigate the bizarre UFO lights. I to create positive reader awareness of winners of this award are: consulted news sources, eyewitness ac-

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counts, and video tapes of the lights. Some UFO buffs ridiculed the con- gators of UFOs.” On the UFO Hunters One day after the sightings I offered my clusion that this was a hoax, claiming show, investigator Birnes and his team analysis in a column posted at Live- that the movements of the lights ruled had concluded that “these lights are Science.com, concluding that clues out the possibility of flares. One ill- moving without any independent move- about the identity of the New Jersey informed writer stated that “thousands of ment . . . you can almost make out a UFO could be found in a case of identi- eyewitnesses said they saw a giant, solid, frame.” Yet we know this analysis was cal lights seen over Phoenix, Arizona, triangular object fly over their heads.” completely wrong: the lights were in fact the previous year. The case was even profiled on the moving independently, and there was no On April 21, 2008, hundreds of popular History Channel show UFO frame at all, triangular or otherwise. As Phoenix residents called police and local Hunters. Bill Birnes, the lead investiga- Russo and Rudy note, “If a respected news media to report bright red lights tor (and publisher of UFO Magazine), UFO investigator can be easily manipu- hovering silently over the city. They also dismissed the flare explanation. lated and dead wrong on one UFO case, changed shape after a while, moving According to the show, skeptics (includ- is it possible he’s wrong on most (or all) from a triangular to rectangular config- ing myself and the police) “say the of them?” uration, and then disappeared one by unidentified flying object was nothing The incident inspired a spirited one. As in the New Jersey case, the local but flares—a theory UFO Hunters has debate on the CFI blogs about whether airport reported that nothing appeared already tested and proven implausible.” skeptics should pull hoaxes to prove a on radar scans of the area. The show was very influential, with skeptical point. Rudy and Russo pled The fact that the two cases are iden- many viewers accepting their conclu- guilty to creating a disturbance and in tical in virtually every way suggested sions without question. April were each fined $250 and each to me that the same type of UFO ap- A definitive solution to the mystery sentenced to perform fifty hours of peared. (Of course since UFOs don’t remained elusive until April Fool’s day, community service. From red lights in have registration numbers painted on when two college students, Chris Russo the sky to red faces at the History the fuselage, it was impossible to be cer- and Joe Rudy, admitted to the hoax. My Channel, this solved UFO case proves tain, but eyewitness accounts were iden- skeptical explanation, dismissed by that you can’t always believe what you tical.) In the Phoenix case, the UFO many UFO buffs and the UFO Hunters see, either in the skies or on TV. became an IFO, an Identified Flying team, turned out to be correct in every —Benjamin Radford Object. It was a hoax created by road detail. “We set out into the woods . . . flares tied to helium balloons. The carrying one helium tank, five balloons, Benjamin Radford is an investigator and hoaxer admitted it, and eyewitnesses five flares, fishing line, duct tape, and a SI’s “Skeptical Inquiree” columnist. reported seeing him do it. video camera,” the pair explained in an In both cases, all the evidence pointed entry on the eSkeptic Web site. “After to a hoax: the lights moved independently filling up one three-foot balloon with Nonreligious Portion of like floating objects, not fixed lights on an helium, we tied about five feet of fishing U.S. Population aircraft; they moved together in the same line to the balloon, secured the line with Growing, Survey Finds direction as the wind; they did not show tape, then tied and taped the flare to the up on radar; and the lights extinguished other end of the line. Once all five bal- What many secularists have long been in exactly the pattern we would expect loons were ready, we struck the . . . flares contending—that their numbers in from flares, going out one by one. It’s not and released them into the sky.” American society are growing and have surprising that eyewitnesses, including a Realizing that in the conspiracy- consistently been underestimated in the pilot, could not identify the objects, since minded UFO community hoax admis- public awareness—has been confirmed most people have not seen road flares tied sions are suspect, they carefully docu- by a new survey of religious belief in to balloons in the night sky. There’s no mented their prank in a series of videos. America. The survey shows that secular- reason a pilot, or anyone else, would rec- For all but the outer fringe of UFO ism continues to grow in strength in all ognize it: the lights literally were nothing buffs who claim that those videos them- regions of the country. they had ever seen before—but not neces- selves were faked, their explanation is The third in a series of American sarily anything extraterrestrial. iron-clad and proven, case closed. Religious Identification Surveys (ARIS), Though I had laid out a detailed, The pair said the hoax was a “social carried out by the Program on Public point-by-point analysis showing that the experiment on how to create your own Values at Trinity College in Connecti- New Jersey lights were almost certainly a media event surrounding UFO sightings cut, contained results that might sur- copycat hoax, many were skeptical of the ...to show everyone how unreliable eye- prise those who maintain that the skeptics. witness accounts are, along with investi- United States has become an increas-

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ingly religious society. population? Much of it has to do with would identify only as “Christian,” The 2008 ARIS survey, reported in the words and categories used in describ- “Evangelical/Born Again,” or “non- March 2009, found a consolidation and ing those who hold various nonreligious denominational Christian.” Thirty-four strengthening of shifts reported in the viewpoints. The labels “atheist” and percent of American adults considered 2001 survey. Specifically, the percentage “agnostic” may still be shunned, includ- themselves “Born Again or Evangelical of Americans claiming no religion, which ing by those who adhere to them, but Christians” in 2008. The “non-denomi- jumped from 8.2 in 1990 to 14.2 in the beliefs they represent are growing. national Christian” category, associated 2001, has now increased to 15 percent. For instance, the new survey found with the growth of mega-churches, has In fact, given the estimated growth of that only 1.6 percent of Americans call increased from less than 200,000 the American adult population since the themselves atheist or agnostic. But it in 1990 to 2,500,000 in 2001 to over last census from 207 million to 228 mil- found, based on Americans’ stated 8,000,000 today. These groups grew lion, that reflects an additional 4.7 mil- beliefs, that 12 percent are atheist (no from 5 percent of the population in lion “Nones,” say survey authors Barry God) or agnostic (unsure), while 12 per- 1990 to 8.5 percent in 2001 to 11.8 Kosmin and Ariela Keysar. They are cent are deistic (believe in a higher power percent in 2008. Significantly, the sur- director and associate director, respec- but not a personal God). Thus the per- vey found, 38.6 percent of mainline tively, of Trinity’s Institute for the Study centage of the population that believes in Protestants now also identify themselves of Secularism in Society and Culture. no god or at least no personal god has as evangelical or born again. “The most significant influence on reached 24 percent, nearly a quarter of “It looks like the two-party system of American religious geography over time the population. And the number of out- American Protestantism—mainline ver- has been the increase in the Nones, or right atheists has nearly doubled since sus evangelical—is collapsing,” said No Religion bloc,” the authors say. 2001, from 900,000 to 1,600,000. Mark Silk, director of the Public Values “Nationally the Nones more than dou- One sign of the lack of attachment of Program. “A generic form of evangelical- bled in numbers from 1990 to 2008 and Americans to religion, say the survey ism is emerging as the normative form almost doubled their share of the adult authors, is that 27 percent of Americans of non-Catholic Christianity in the population, from 8 percent in 1990 to do not expect a religious funeral upon United States.” 15 percent in 2008.” Moreover, they re- their death. A few other key findings: port, “The Nones increased in numbers What seems to be happening is a and proportion in every state, census polarization, with nonbelief growing on •The center of Catholicism in the division, and region of the country— one end of the spectrum and Christian United States has shifted from the from 1990 to 2008. No other religious evangelicalism growing on the other Northeast to western and south- bloc has kept such a pace in every state.” end, with mainstream Protestant Chris- western states strongly affected by Northern New England has now tian denominations in the middle con- immigration of Hispanics. Between taken over from the Pacific Northwest as tinuing to shrink. Yet Christian belief 1990 and 2008, the Catholic popula- the least religious section of the country, overall, while still held by the majority, tion proportion of New England states with Vermont, at 34 percent “Nones,” also continues to decline. fell from 50 to 36 percent and in New leading all other states by a full five The survey found that the percentage York it fell from 44 percent to 37 per- points. Other leading “None” states: of Christians in America, which declined cent, while it rose in California from New Hampshire (29 percent), Wyom- in the 1990s from 86.2 percent to 76.7 29 percent to 37 percent and in Texas ing (28 percent), and Maine (25 per- percent, has now edged down to 76 per- from 23 percent to 32 percent. cent). Washington State is also at 25 cent. Ninety percent of the decline •Baptists, who constitute the largest non- percent, with Oregon and Nevada at 24 comes from the non-Catholic segment Catholic Christian tradition, have percent. Idaho and Delaware are at 23 of the Christian population, largely from increased their numbers by two million percent, and Colorado is at 21 percent. the mainline denominations, including since 2001 but continue to decline as a The leading “None” state in the South is Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, proportion of the population. Kentucky, at 13 percent. All these repre- Episcopalians/Anglicans, and the United •Those who identify religiously as Jews sented marked increases since 1990. Church of Christ. These groups, whose continue to decline numerically, from “Many people thought our 2001 proportion of the American population 3.1 million in 1990 to 2.8 million in finding was an anomaly,” Keysar said. shrank from 18.7 percent in 1990 to 2001 to 2.7 million in 2008—1.2 per- “We now know it wasn’t. The ‘Nones’ 17.2 percent in 2001, all experienced cent of the population. Defined to are the only group to have grown in sharp numerical declines this decade and include those who identify as Jews by every state of the Union.” now constitute just 12.9 percent. ethnicity alone, the American Jewish Why the public perception that the Most of the growth in the Christian population has remained stable over nonreligious are a tiny fraction of the population occurred among those who the past two decades.

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The survey was conducted between mote breakthroughs in energy and med- hensive legislation to place a market- February and November 2008. ARIS icine, and improve education in math based cap on carbon emissions. We will used the same research methodology for and science. This represents the largest make renewable energy the profitable its 1990 and 2001 surveys. It questioned commitment to scientific research and kind of energy in America. And I am 54,461 adults in English or Spanish. innovation in American history.... confident that we will find a wellspring ARIS says the survey has a margin of The pursuit of discovery half a century of creativity just waiting to be tapped by error of less than 0.5 percent, and “it ago fueled our prosperity and our success researchers in this room and entrepre- provides the only complete portrait of as a nation in the half century that fol- neurs across our country. how contemporary Americans identify lowed. The commitment I am making themselves religiously, and how that self- today will fuel our success for another * * * identification has changed over the past fifty years. That is how we will ensure that We are restoring science to its rightful generation.” For further details: www. our children and their children will look place. On March 9th, I signed an execu- americanreligionsurvey-airs.org. back on this generation’s work as that tive memorandum with a clear message: which defined the progress and delivered Under my administration, the days of —Kendrick Frazier the prosperity of the 21st century. science taking a back seat to ideology are Kendrick Frazier is the editor of the over. Our progress as a nation—and our SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. * * * values as a nation—are rooted in free ... My administration is already provid- and open inquiry. To undermine scien- ing the largest single boost to investment tific integrity is to undermine our Obama on Science, in basic research in American history.... democracy. That is why I have charged Discovery, and Open We double the budget of key agen- the White House Office of Science and Inquiry cies, including the National Science Technology Policy with leading a new Foundation, a primary source of funding effort to ensure that federal policies are Here are excerpts from a talk by President for academic research, and the National based on the best and most unbiased sci- Barack Obama to the National Academy Institute of Standards and Technology, entific information. I want to be sure of Sciences, Washington, D.C., April 27, which supports a wide range of pursuits. that facts are driving scientific deci- 2009: And my budget doubles funding for the sions—and not the other way around. Department of Energy’s Office of Sci- A half century ago, this nation made a ence, which builds and operates acceler- * * * commitment to lead the world in scien- ators, colliders, supercomputers, high- And so today I want to challenge you to tific and technological innovation; to energy light sources, and facilities for use your love and knowledge of science to invest in education, in research, in engi- making nano materials. . . . spark the same sense of wonder and neering; to set a goal of reaching space excitement in a new generation. America’s and engaging every citizen in that historic * * * young people will rise to the challenge if mission. That was the high water mark of And today, I am also announcing that for given the opportunity—if called upon to America’s investment in research and the first time, we are funding an initia- join a cause larger than themselves. And development. Since then our investments tive—recommended by this organiza- we’ve got evidence. The average age have steadily declined as a share of our tion—called the Advanced Research in NASA’s mission control during national income—our GDP. As a result, Projects Agency for Energy, or ARPA-E. the Apollo 17 mission was just twenty-six. other countries are now beginning to pull This is based on the Defense Advanced I know that young people today are ahead in the pursuit of this generation’s Research Projects Agency, known as ready to tackle the grand challenges of this great discoveries. DARPA, which was created during the century. . . . I believe it is not in our American Eisenhower administration in response to So I want to persuade you to spend character to follow—but to lead. And it Sputnik. It has been charged throughout time in the classroom, talking—and is time for us to lead once again. I am its history with conducting high-risk, showing young people what it is that here today to set this goal: we will high-reward research. The precursor to your work can mean, and what it means devote more than three percent of our the Internet, known as ARPANET, to you. Encourage your university to GDP to research and development. We stealth technology, and the Global participate in programs to allow stu- will not just meet, but we will exceed the Positioning System all owe a debt to the dents to get a degree in scientific fields level achieved at the height of the Space work of DARPA. and a teaching certificate at the same Race, through policies that invest in ARPA-E seeks to do this same kind time. Think about new and creative basic and applied research, create new of high-risk, high-reward research. My ways to engage young people in science incentives for private innovation, pro- administration will also pursue compre- and engineering, like science festivals,

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robotics competitions, and fairs that We are reminded that with each new (now CSI) fellow, and he participated in encourage young people to create, build, discovery and the new power it brings CSICOP world congresses in Seattle in and invent—to be makers of things. comes new responsibility; that the 1994 and Amherst in 1996. In Seattle And I want you to know that I’m fragility and the sheer specialness of life he received CSICOP’s Public Education going to be working alongside you. I’m requires us to move past our differences, in Science Award. going to participate in a public awareness to address our common problems, to Maddox was born in Wales and and outreach campaign to encourage endure and continue humanity’s striv- trained in physics at King’s College, students to consider careers in science, ings for a better world. London. He taught theoretical physics mathematics, and engineering—because As President Kennedy said when he at the University of Manchester from our future depends on it. And the addressed the National Academy of Sci- 1949 to 1955 before becoming the sci- Department of Energy and the National ences more than forty-five years ago: “The ence correspondent for the Manchester Science Foundation will be launching a challenge, in short, may be our salvation.” Guardian (now The Guardian). He joint initiative to inspire tens of thou- came to Nature in 1966, where he found sands of American students to pursue the venerable, nearly century-old weekly careers in science, engineering, and John Maddox, journal (founded in 1869) with a tiny entrepreneurship related to clean energy. Longtime Nature Editor staff and in much need of revitalization. and CSI Fellow, Dies That’s what he did. He waded through a * * * backlog of more than two thousand arti- At root, science forces us to reckon with John Maddox, a pivotal figure in the cles he found in fourteen monthly piles. the truth as best as we can ascertain it. world scientific community as twice edi- Within two weeks he instituted a refer- Some truths fill us with awe. Others force tor of the esteemed scientific journal eeing system and began refusing manu- us to question long held views. Science Nature, died April 12 at the age of scripts “on the strength of negative opin- cannot answer every question; indeed, it eighty-three. He was a steadfast de- ions or their sheer length.” seems at times the more we plumb the fender of good science and clear scien- He determined to make Nature mysteries of the physical world, the more tific communication and an equally newsier and more topical and so began humble we must be. Science cannot sup- strong opponent of scientific miscon- writing leading articles (editorials and plant our ethics, our values, our princi- duct and pseudoscience. news), often just as the weekly deadline ples, or our faith, but science can inform “I am most sorry to learn of Sir John’s loomed. He hired the first of a team of those things and help put these values, death,” says Committee for Skeptical science news correspondents. He actively these moral sentiments, that faith, to Inquiry founder and chairman Paul sought out important papers. Over the work—to feed a child, to heal the sick, to Kurtz. “He was a strong supporter of years, Nature became the place to publish be good stewards of this earth. our efforts.” Maddox was a CSICOP cutting-edge scientific discoveries. “He took command of Nature in a big way,” says evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. “He had a tremen- dous grasp of science in the full range, from physics to biology, to public affairs as they affected the world of science.” Maddox actually served two stints as editor of Nature, 1966–1973 and 1980–1995. Upon his retirement in 1995, he wrote a typically lively and candid “Valediction from an Old Hand” (378:52, December 7, 1995) about his experiences and the state of science pub- lication. Among other things, he con- demned the rise of scientific miscon- duct. Yet he found “the extreme cases of fraud” less alarming than pressures to publish. “If we agree that successful peo- ple publish a great deal because they have a lot to say, does it follow that peo-

Photo:Rex Features ple who publish a great deal are success- John Maddox

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ful? Of course not. . . . It is hard to avoid tinually frustrated him. “It used to seem ing, January 18, 1918, and moved with the conclusion that most of what is pub- that Nature’s contributors wrote clearly, his family to Oregon when he was seven lished need not be published urgently, but no longer,” he complained in his years old. For almost eighty years he or where it appears, or even at all.” valedictory article. Yes, science has lived in the house that he aptly called He also revealed that “for different become more intricate “but not so “The Castle of Chaos.” During World reasons,” he exempted two noted scien- much as to justify the obscurity of sci- War II, he served four years in the Army, tists from having their papers sent to ref- entific texts. . . . The obscurity of the lit- some of that time in France and erees. One was Louis Leakey, whom erature now is so marked that one can Germany. When he returned to civilian Maddox found provoked “otherwise rea- only believe it to be deliberate. Do peo- life he earned his living as a power line- sonable colleagues” from wrongly declar- ple hide their meaning from insecurity, man. He left that career when he was ing his papers not to be publishable and for fear of being found out, or, in the around fifty years old, unable to tolerate contending “that he should spend the belief that what they have to say is what he considered hypocrisy in both next three years working systematically important, to hide the meaning from the union and management. through the fossils already stored in his other people?” The preceding account fails to explain many tea-chests; we would have missed He thanked “a host of readers and how Jerry became one of the world’s most much excellent paleoanthropology if we contributors for correspondence that innovative magicians—one who could had listened to them.” The other was has always been illuminating and often consistently fool the best magicians. He Fred Hoyle, “who during the 1950s and entertaining.” also invented optical illusions that today 1960s entertained and instructed readers are displayed in science museums around —Kendrick Frazier of Nature on matters as different as the the world. He was a prolific writer of structure of Stonehenge and the nature poetry, a philosopher, and a gadfly. He of the Universe. Most referees found him was a polymath. We probably cannot ‘unsound,’ often without saying why.... A Tribute to Jerry explain how a man growing up in the log- There remains a place for the occasional Andrus—Magician, ging town of Albany, Oregon, with only a unrefereed article.” Creator of Master high school education could have success- In 1988 Maddox published an article fully innovated so many fields as well as by French researcher Jacques Benveniste Illusions been invited to lecture at Harvard, the that seemed to show that a histamine Jerry Andrus—master magician and cre- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reaction could take place even after the ator of innovative illusions—died peace- and many other intellectual powerhouses. solution had been diluted many billions fully August 26, 2007. He was a Perhaps a key to Jerry’s remarkable of times, a claim of water’s ability to Committee for Skeptical Inquiry fellow. personality can be found in a revelation “remember” an antibody’s presence even Jerry was born in Sheridan, Wyom- he had when he was twelve. While Jerry though it could no longer be there. But was walking home from school, he sud- publication was granted only on an denly asked himself, “How come when unprecedented condition—that a team our school wins a sporting competition, of investigators, including magician/ we cheer and bask in the reflected glory? investigator James (“The Amazing”) However, when the other school wins, Randi and Maddox himself, could soon we accuse them of cheating. What if I thereafter visit Benveniste’s lab and were going to the other school? What observe how the experiments were done. would I think?” This incident began The work didn’t stand up, and Maddox Jerry’s lifelong quest to unmask human then published a blistering condemna- foibles and to promote reason as the way tion of the research. to achieve a world in which humans Upon his retirement, Maddox was respect one another. knighted and named an honorary fellow As a result of questioning and the per- of the Royal Society. Maddox’s 1998 sistent application of reason, Jerry became book What Remains to Be Discovered was an atheist. He delighted in debating with an informed exposition on what we those who differed with him in their fun- don’t yet know across the physical, bio- damental beliefs. At the same time, Jerry logical, and neurological sciences. always respected other people and was Maddox was a lifetime advocate of careful not to belittle or otherwise put clear and pungent scientific exposition, them down. Jerry had many lifelong and the lack of which among scientists con- Jerry Andrus close friends who loved and admired him

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even though they disagreed with him on Michael Dennett, graduate of Norwich University and a almost every important issue. Skeptic and Bigfoot former Army Captain, paratrooper, and I first encountered Jerry at a Ranger. Though his day job was selling convention in Hartford, Connecticut, in Investigator, Dies municipal water systems, his academic 1956. The other magicians in atten- loves were history, skepticism, and writ- Michael Dennett, who headed the dance, including me, had recently heard ing alternative-history science fiction. Seattle area skeptics group Society for of Jerry because he had marketed his He is survived by his wife, Lois. His final Sensible Explanations for over two magic routine The Linking Pins in 1954 article, “Science and Footprints” (about decades, died May 2, 2009; he was fifty- contradictions in accounts of the 1967 and had just published his now-classic nine years old. He had been diagnosed Andrus Deals You In. Because Jerry per- Patterson/Gimlim film, the “best evi- formed and published only magic that he dence” for Bigfoot), was published in the had invented without the input of other November/December 2008 SKEPTICAL magicians, his sleights and methods were INQUIRER. so unusual that the major magicians had already dismissed them as unrealistic and Borneo’s River Monster unworkable. So when Jerry performed his magic for the magicians at the con- Photo: Living Legend vention, they were completely baffled. or Hoax? He fooled every one of us—and he In February, two photographs of a huge fooled us badly. From that day Jerry snake-like creature allegedly taken in became a legend among magicians. Borneo made international news. On Jerry and I became very close friends February 19, The Daily Mail (U.K.) after I moved to Eugene, Oregon, in published a story that began: 1961. Our mutual friend Martin According to legend, the Nabau was a Gardner phoned Jerry and told him I terrifying snake more than 100ft in had moved into his neighborhood. He length and with a dragon’s head and Photo: Michael Dennett seven nostrils. But now local villagers Michael Dennett urged Jerry to contact me. Jerry did. living along the Baleh river in Borneo Thanks to Martin, I had the very good believe the mythical creature has fortune to share almost half a century with leukemia and hospitalized for sev- returned after a photo of a gigantic with one of the most remarkable indi- eral months. snake swimming along the remote viduals who ever lived. Mike was an investigative writer per- waterways has emerged. The picture, taken by a member of a disaster team Jerry Andrus is too complex to capture haps best known to SKEPTICAL INQUIRER readers for his research into Bigfoot, on monitoring flood regions by heli- in words, let alone a short tribute such as copter, has sparked a huge debate which his first feature-length article was this. You can find out more about him at about whether the photos are genuine published in 1981. He was one of the the Web site www.jerryandrus.org. Two or merely the work of photo-editing first skeptical investigators to challenge software.... Villagers who claim to excellent documentaries, each in a differ- Bigfoot claims, doing research into have seen the snake say they have given ent way, capture some of the essence of claims of dermal ridges (“Bigfoot finger- it the name of Nabau, after an ancient sea serpent which can transform itself Jerry. You can obtain DVDs of each of prints”) and hoaxed tracks. He was a into the shapes of different animals. these at the following Web sites: meticulous researcher, a careful investi- www.archmotion.com and www.skepti- gator, and a true skeptic who called out I was asked by editors at LiveScience calmedia.com. Finally, for those magi- fakery and pseudoscience when he saw it .com to examine the photos and the story cians who are reading this, Meir Yedid but was careful not to belittle or criticize behind them. One of the first things that (www.mymagic.com) markets a set of people for their beliefs. struck me was how the photographs were DVDs that feature Jerry performing and Dennett’s research went far beyond given credence by references to local leg- explaining his best magic. Bigfoot, and he wrote about topics as var- ends and folklore. Linking modern pho- tographs and eyewitness reports to native —Ray Hyman ied as firewalking, the Bermuda Triangle, UFOs, the Salem witch trials, and psy- stories and legends is a common mistake Ray Hyman is emeritus professor of psy- chics. He also contributed to Psychic among those who search for mysterious chology at the University of Oregon and is Sleuths, The Encyclopedia of the Para- creatures such as Bigfoot or lake monsters himself a magician and expert in the psy- normal, The Outer Edge, and other books. (for example, native Indian stories in Brit- chology of deception. Born June 20, 1949, Mike was a 1971 ish Columbia, Canada, tell of a fearsome

12 Volume 33, Issue 4 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI J-A 2009 pgs 5/28/09 10:07 AM Page 13

NEWS AND COMMENT

water spirit named Naitaka said to dwell Then there’s the question of whether the difficult period and ended up being in Lake Okanagan, which gave rise to photo was even taken at the Baleh River, billed for $3,000 during her first visit reports of a monster there called Ogo- since most photographs of its waters for prayers for her husband and two pogo; see “Ogopogo the Chameleon,” SI show it to be a cloudy river, not the children. Over the next few months the January/February 2006). clear, dark-blue river seen in the aerial victim gave Adams about $1,000, for The photos themselves were suspi- photo. If the photo was actually taken which the she received special candles, cious for several reasons, not the least of by a disaster team member checking on crystals, and some prayers. Four of which was that they were taken by an flooded regions, the flooding runoff Adams’s victims testified against her unnamed “member of a disaster team” at would increase the suspended particu- during her trial. an unknown location and date. Two lates in the water (silt, debris, etc.), cre- This isn’t the first trip to jail for photos were released; one was taken ating even cloudier water than usual. Adams, who sold crystals and visions from a helicopter, the second one wasn’t, Based on these analyses and others, I out of her store in a local shopping cen- suggesting that the creature was sighted reported back to LiveScience that the ter. She was convicted of perpetrating on two separate occasions. That raises photos were most likely fakes and that the fraud on a nineteen-year-old woman for the question as to why there are only world would have to wait for conclusive $15,000 at a pumpkin fair in Half two photos; one might expect that a per- evidence of lake or river monsters. The Moon Bay in 2003. She never paid the son seeing such an extraordinary crea- photo was soon discovered to have been $20,000 in restitution ordered by the ture might snap more than one picture created for the photo-manipulation Web court. Her most recent victims aren’t each time. site Worth1000.com (www.worth1000 likely to see one red cent either. .com/stories/stats.asp?uid=2361&display In December of 2008, police re- =photoshop). ported that Gina Marie Marks, also known as Regina Milbourne, allegedly —Benjamin Radford scammed five people out of $65,000. She is nowhere to be found. Given the Crystal Balls in Chains number of empty storefronts in eco- nomically strapped shopping malls and Fortune teller Janet Adams preyed on the relative ease of renting such a space, the fears of an elderly San Mateo, Cali- Marks/Milbourne is sure to materialize fornia, woman to the tune of more than out of thin air with a new identity and $80,000. Adams’s tarot cards neglected new victims. to tell her she might get caught. In Also last year, the IRS charged a March, she was sentenced to six years in Chicago tarot card reader with tax eva- prison after pleading no contest in a deal sion. This particular schemer received with prosecutors to a felony count of fis- cash and jewelry because she made her This photo supposedly depicts the Borneo monster. cal elder abuse. clients think they were cursed. Appar- To stave off her husband’s predicted ently, the fortune teller didn’t sense the There’s also the interesting composi- fatal heart attack, the elderly woman ini- long arm of the IRS reaching “through tion of the photos: the snake-like crea- tially forked over $13,000 to Adams for the veil” for her. ture seems to be posing full-length for “special prayers” to avert disaster. Over Gina Reed, an Arlington Heights, the camera. In the aerial photo, it is the next ten months, the psychic wran- Illinois, woman, was charged with theft nicely centered in the middle of the gled more money from the victim, lying in December 2008 when several vic- river, and in the other photo it is just about her allegedly sick son and claim- tims alleged she stole $10,000 for dri- high enough above the rooftops in the ing her own husband was in the hospital ving away evil spirits, which Reed foreground to see its full length. If the dying. Adams even asked the woman to promised to return to her clients when huge beast spends its time in such high- cover her husband’s funeral expenses. the evil spirits departed. Instead, Reed visibility areas, why is this the first time Adams’s apology to her victims didn’t departed with the cash after she blessed it’s been reported or photographed? stop the judge from calling her despica- the house. She now faces two to five Furthermore, the reported size of the ble or requiring her to pay over years in prison. creature cannot be correct. The original $300,000 in restitution. She didn’t just —Donna Danford estimate given was that the creature was prey on the elderly. Adams liked vulner- 100 feet long, though the scale of the able recovering alcoholics too—a relaps- Donna Danford is an assistant editor for photos suggest it must be far larger. ing woman went to the psychic during a the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER.

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