The Enf Ield 'Poltergeist' This Morning's Revisit of the Classic Case Provokes Further Thoughts
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CFI-Annual-Report-2018.Pdf
Message from the President and CEO Last year was another banner year for the Center the interests of people who embrace reason, for Inquiry. We worked our secular magic in a science, and humanism—the principles of the vast variety of ways: from saving lives of secular Enlightenment. activists around the world who are threatened It is no secret that these powerful ideas like with violence and persecution to taking the no others have advanced humankind by nation’s largest drugstore chain, CVS, to court unlocking human potential, promoting goodness, for marketing homeopathic snake oil as if it’s real and exposing the true nature of reality. If you medicine. are looking for humanity’s true salvation, CFI stands up for reason and science in a way no look no further. other organization in the country does, because This past year we sought to export those ideas to we promote secular and humanist values as well places where they have yet to penetrate. as scientific skepticism and critical thinking. The Translations Project has taken the influential But you likely already know that if you are reading evolutionary biology and atheism books of this report, as it is designed with our supporters in Richard Dawkins and translated them into four mind. We want you not only to be informed about languages dominant in the Muslim world: Arabic, where your investment is going; we want you to Urdu, Indonesian, and Farsi. They are available for take pride in what we have achieved together. free download on a special website. It is just one When I meet people who are not familiar with CFI, of many such projects aimed at educating people they often ask what it is we do. -
WILDLIFE APOCALYPSE How Myths and Superstitions Drive Animal Extinction
CBS Paranormal Segment | Changelings | UFO Conspiracies | Balles Award | ‘Flying Friar’ | Fake News Vol. 42 No. 4 | July/August 2018 the Magazine for Science and Reason WILDLIFE APOCALYPSE How Myths and Superstitions Drive Animal Extinction Skepticism Reloaded Cell Phones, Cancer, and Chance Lotus Birth Fad Speed Reading: Fact or Fiction? Skepticism and Literature Published by the Center for Inquiry with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Response to Flood Creationists Committee for Skeptical Inquiry www.csicop.orgwww.csicop.org Robyn E. Blumner, President and CEO Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Benjamin Radford, Research Fellow Bar ry Karr, Ex ec u tive Di rect or Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow Fellows James E. Al cock,* psy chol o gist, York Univ., Kevin Folta, molecular biologist, professor and Law rence Kusche, sci ence writer Mas si mo Pol id oro, sci ence writer; au thor; Tor on to chair of Horticultural Sciences Department, Le on Le der man, emer i tus di rect or, Fer mi lab; ex ec u tive di rect or of CI CAP, It a ly Mar cia An gell, MD, former ed i tor-in-chief, University of Florida. No bel lau re ate in phys ics James L. Powell, geochemist, author, ex- New Eng land Jour nal of Med i cine Barbara Forrest, professor of philosophy, SE Stephan Lewandowsky, psychologist, School ecutive director, National Physical Science Kimball Atwood IV, MD, physician; author; Louisiana Univ. of Experimental Psychology and Cabot Insti- Consortium Newton, MA An drew Fra knoi, astronomer, University of tute, Univ. of Bristol, UK Anthony R. -
Between Static and Slime in Poltergeist
Page 3 The Fall of the House of Meaning: Between Static and Slime in Poltergeist Murray Leeder A good portion of the writing on Poltergeist (1982) has been devoted to trying to untangle the issues of its authorship. Though the film bears a directorial credit from Tobe Hooper, there has been a persistent claim that Steven Spielberg (credited as writer and producer) informally dismissed Hooper early in the process and directed the film himself. Dennis Giles says plainly, “Tobe Hooper is the director of record, but Poltergeist is clearly controlled by Steven Spielberg,” (1) though his only evidence is the motif of white light. The most concerted analysis of the film’s authorship has been by Warren Buckland, who does a staggeringly precise formal analysis of the film against two other Spielberg films and two other Hooper films, ultimately concluding that the official story bears out: Hooper directed the film, and Spielberg took over in postproduction. (2) Andrew M. Gordon, however, argues that Poltergeist deserves a place within Spielberg’s canon because so many of his trademarks are present, and because Spielberg himself has talked about it as a complementary piece for E .T.: The ExtraTerrestrial (1982). (3) A similar argument can be made on behalf of Hooper, however, with respect to certain narrative devices and even visual motifs like the perverse clown from The Funhouse (1981). Other scholars have envisioned the film as more of a contested space, caught between different authorial impulses. Tony Williams, for examples, speaks of Spielberg “oppressing any of the differences Tobe Hooper intended,” (4) which is pure speculation, though perhaps one could be forgiven to expect a different view of family life from the director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) than that of E.T. -
Spreading Skepticism
Spreading Skepticism WENDY GROSSMAN ecently, the science writer John Horgan took skeptics consider probabilities. to task in Scientific American (http://blogs.scientifi- Some people are born to skep- R camerican.com/cross-check/dear-skeptics-bash-ho- ticism, some achieve it, and some have it thrust upon them. I think meopathy-and-bigfoot-less-mammograms-and-war- I was born this way. (“Everything more/) and at the Northeast Conference on Science and I say, there’s always an argument,” Skepticism for focusing too much on weak problems at the my mother used to say.) As a Cor- expense of strong ones. As examples of soft targets he listed nell student from 1971–1975, I ESP, heaven, homeopathy, Bigfoot, and disbelief in vaccines watched friends experiment with and climate change; among hard ones, multiverses, the transcendental meditation (TM) Singularity, overtreatment and overtesting for cancer (nota- and Erhard Seminars Training (est). I became a professional bly, mammograms), overmedication for mental illness, and folksinger and spent the rest of the deep-roots theory of war. He contended that tribalism is the 1970s encountering adher- served by our self-indulgence with “weak” targets. ents of “old knowledge”—witch- Horgan was quickly advised tic about skepticism.” In 2013, a craft, palmistry, and other beliefs how varied skepticism really is. Cochrane survey noted that the that would shortly be reframed as Outside the United States, wide- most reliable studies indicate that “New Age.” Particularly memo- spread belief in homeopathy mat- screening does not overall reduce rably, someone once told me he ters much more if governments breast cancer mortality but does investigated a reincarnation claim decide to include it in publicly cause much unnecessary treat- and found the true explanation funded, cash-strapped national ment (http://www.cochrane.org/ was genetic memory. -
Hellish Love: an Exhibition of Objects from the Swedenborg Collection
FROM THE SWEDENBORG COLLECTION Hellish Love: an exhibition of objects from the swedenborg collection STEPHANIE BROWN | LOUISE CAMU MOLLY COLDICOTT | GREER DALE-FOULKES | MENGYANG FAN GERTRUDE GIBBONS | LYDIA GRANGER | MALVINA JANASIK SARAH KHAN | WESLEY KNOWLER | CHENYUAN LIANG BINYAO LIU | YUZU ONO | SICILY SCARLET MAXIMILIAN SCHUCH | HARALD SMART | JOHN VAUGHAN 19-23 OCTOBER 2020 Swedenborg House | Free Admission The Swedenborg Society Swedenborg House 20-21 Bloomsbury Way London WC1A 2TH in association with the Royal College of Art School of Arts & Humanities, Writing MA programme 2019/20 2020 1 HELLISH LOVE: AN EXHIBITION OF OBJECTS 2 FROM THE SWEDENBORG COLLECTION Table of Contents Introduction Sally O’Reilly..........................................................................................5 FRAGMENT OF BARK 1 A Piece of Swedenborg’s Poplar Tree Bark Gertrude Gibbons...............................9 2 Ward and Ballast Wesley Knowler..........................................................................12 3 Found Harald Smart........................................................................................15 SPIRIT PHOTOS 4 A Little Imagination Louise Camu.........................................................................17 5 Spirit Cards Molly Coldicott.................................................................................20 6 Lady Divinity Sarah Roselle Khan........................................................................22 7 When the Veil is Lifted, No One Shall Giggle in Front of the Spirit -
LEASK-DISSERTATION-2020.Pdf (1.565Mb)
WRAITHS AND WHITE MEN: THE IMPACT OF PRIVILEGE ON PARANORMAL REALITY TELEVISION by ANTARES RUSSELL LEASK DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Arlington August, 2020 Arlington, Texas Supervising Committee: Timothy Morris, Supervising Professor Neill Matheson Timothy Richardson Copyright by Antares Russell Leask 2020 Leask iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • I thank my Supervising Committee for being patient on this journey which took much more time than expected. • I thank Dr. Tim Morris, my Supervising Professor, for always answering my emails, no matter how many years apart, with kindness and understanding. I would also like to thank his demon kitten for providing the proper haunted atmosphere at my defense. • I thank Dr. Neill Matheson for the ghostly inspiration of his Gothic Literature class and for helping me return to the program. • I thank Dr. Tim Richardson for using his class to teach us how to write a conference proposal and deliver a conference paper – knowledge I have put to good use! • I thank my high school senior English teacher, Dr. Nancy Myers. It’s probably an urban legend of my own creating that you told us “when you have a Ph.D. in English you can talk to me,” but it has been a lifetime motivating force. • I thank Dr. Susan Hekman, who told me my talent was being able to use pop culture to explain philosophy. It continues to be my superpower. • I thank Rebecca Stone Gordon for the many motivating and inspiring conversations and collaborations. • I thank Tiffany A. -
The Third Secret of Fatima
Fatima Apparitional Experiences Dr James Paul Pandarakalam An apparition may provide evidence of the authenticity of its manifestation at a physical site by offering predictions that are to be fulfilled at a later date. One of the distinctive features of the events at Fatima in Portugal in 1917 is the fulfilment in our own time of the predictions made. Ever since the occurrence of these famous visionary experiences, among observers and believers there has been an exponential interest in the third secret. Voice phenomena observed during Marian apparitions such as those at Fatima have analogies with externally controlled recurrent spontaneous psychokinetic (RSPK) activity, and visionary experiences involving RSPK or RSPK-like activity may be instances of apparitions at a physical site. The voice extinction and sensory disconnection demonstrated in the Fatima percipients could be explained as psychokinetic-like activity on the part of the apparition. True apparitional experiences prove the existence of psi-like phenomena and discarnate survival. In general, paranormal phenomena involve non-physical, physical and social events. Only physical events are accessible to scientific study. Marian apparitional experiences may be subjected to scientific analysis, but Marian apparition is beyond the scientific realm. The Fatima apparitional events inform research into post-mortem existence and offer a complementary insight into our current knowledge of the discarnate realm. Marian apparitions may be regarded as an antidote to the afflictions of the present century. Introduction Several hundreds of apparitional experiences have been claimed to have occurred in the twentieth century. Marian apparitional experiences have been reported in nearly all the continents of the world in the later half of that century. -
For a Tolerant World Where Rational Thinking and Kindness Prevail Welcome
Northumbria Students Union 2 Sandyford Ford, Newcastle NE1 8SB 22-24 June 2018 Newcastle FOR A TOLERANT WORLD WHERE RATIONAL THINKING AND KINDNESS PREVAIL WELCOME Welcome to Humanists UK probed some of the bigger Convention 2018, in the questions about human nature stunning city of Newcastle. We and morality. hope, over this weekend, to be inspired and entertained as One of the most striking we bring together hundreds features of Northumbrian of like-minded people to think, humanism has been its laugh, eat, and discuss ideas outward-looking nature, under one roof. We’re all here exemplifying Harold because we are humanists: Blackham’s maxim that people who shape their own ‘Humanism is about the lives in the here and now. And world, not about humanism.’ as the national organisation The North East Humanists, a for humanists in the UK, it’s partner group of Humanists Humanists UK’s mission to UK originally founded in 1957, in. And you’ll have a chance champion ideas for the one is a great example of this. to ask questions of some of life we have. This weekend The group has been a great the foremost activists working we’ll dive deep into some of supporter of the Isaac Newton to build a fairer, more rational those ideas – and we hope High School in Uganda for society in the UK and around you’ll find the talks, debates, many years now, helping the the world. and entertainment we’ve Ugandan humanists ensure put on both stimulating and that a broad-based, liberal Whether this is your first ever rewarding. -
Guy Lyon Playfair HIS LIFE and WORK REMEMBERED
THE MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH THE MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH Paranormawwlw.sprR.ac.uk eIssuev87 Siummeer 201 8w£5.00 Guy Lyon Playfair HIS LIFE AND WORK REMEMBERED ALSO IN THIS ISSUE PROF. CHRIS ROE H.H. PRICE THE TRINITY TABLE BYZANTINE MAGICAL DR ALEJANDRO PARRA THE WASHINGTON STATE AMULETS POLTERGEIST Summer 201 8 | Issue 87 | 1 ParanormalReview PR87 Publisher The Society for Psychical Research 1 Vernon Mews London W1 4 0RL 020 7937 8984 www.spr.ac.uk Editor Leo Ruickbie [email protected] Proof Reader David Ellis Subscriptions Paranormal Review is sent free to members of the Society for Psychical Research. It is also available to non-members for a yearly subscription of £20.00, including post and packing in the UK. Contact [email protected] Back Issues Members have access to previous editions of the Psi Researcher and Paranormal Review via the online library. Some back issues are also available for purchase at £5.00 per copy, including post and packing within the UK (outside the UK additional postage costs apply). Contact [email protected] Submissions Features, articles, letters, experiences, notices, 8 reports and reviews should be sent by email to Dr Leo Ruickbie at [email protected]. Material can also be posted to the Editor at 1 Vernon Mews, London W1 4 0RL. Please mark envelopes ‘Paranormal Review’. Full submission guidelines can be found on the SPR website at www.spr.ac.uk under ‘publications’. Note The Editor reserves the right to edit or otherwise alter any material intended for publication. -
A Travel Writer in Brazil
Striving for Honesty: A Travel Writer in Brazil Frances Bryson Department of English and Creative Writing University of Adelaide Thesis submitted as a Major Work (Volume One) and Exegesis (Volume Two) for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English and Creative Writing, School of Humanities, University of Adelaide, December 2016. Table of Contents: Striving for Honesty: A Travel Writer in Brazil (PhD Thesis in two volumes) Volume One Table of Contents (overall thesis) ii Table of Contents (volume one) iv Abstract vi Candidate Statement viii Acknowledgements ix Major Work: ‘In Good Faith’ Prologue 1 The North and the Northeast 15 The Central West 89 The Southeast 145 Back to the North and the Northeast 187 ii Epilogue 251 References 258 Volume Two Table of Contents (volume two) ii Abstract iv Candidate Statement vi Acknowledgements vii Exegesis: Playing God: The Travel Book and its Potential to (Re)design the World Introduction 1 Chapter One: Categories and Clues: Sending the (Right) Message 7 Chapter Two: Fictions, Fabrications and Lies: Exceptions to the Promise 23 Chapter Three: Flying the Flag: Sending (mixed) Messages 39 Chapter Four: Bruce Chatwin: Legitimate Creativity or (Re)designing the 53 World? In Conclusion 71 Works Cited 73 iii Table of Contents Volume One: Major Work In Good Faith Table of Contents: Striving for Honesty: A Travel Writer in Brazil ........................................ ii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... -
Religion and the Paranormal Spring 2021 REL 3938 (Writing Rule 4) Prof
Religion and the Paranormal Spring 2021 REL 3938 (Writing Rule 4) Prof. Erin Prophet • [email protected] Class Time: MWF. 7 (1:55-2:45 p.m.) Class location: MAT 103 and online via Zoom Office Hours: Mon: 12:30 pm -1:30 pm; Wed: 12:30-1:30 pm. Fri. 12:30-1:30 p.m. Location: Anderson Hall 130 or online The supernatural seems to force us toward religion, while the paranormal merely forces us to say, “I don’t know.” —Steve Volk1 Pseudoscience speaks to powerful emotional needs that science often leaves unfulfilled….Pseudoscience is embraced, it might be argued, in exact proportion as real science is misunderstood…Religions are often the state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience. —Carl Sagan2 Psi, the paranormal, and the supernatural are fundamentally linked to destructuring, change, transition, disorder, marginality, the ephemeral, fluidity, ambiguity, and blurring of boundaries. —George P. Hansen3 1 Fringe-ology 2011, p. 4 2 The Demon-Haunted World 1996, pp. 14-15. 3 The Trickster and the Paranormal 2001, 22. Syllabus: Religion and the Paranormal 2 Prof. Erin Prophet Course Overview As many as three-quarters of Americans hold at least one paranormal belief. What does this tell us about the future of religion? We will examine the paranormal as an “other” category for both religion and science. Organized religion uses it to distinguish the miraculous from unsanctioned activities like witchcraft and the occult. Science frames itself as the opposite of superstition. And yet in a “disenchanted” world, it’s important to ask why we continue to be fascinated with the paranormal, as seen in the explosion of the topic in film (horror, superheroes), television, gaming and manga. -
“Haunted” Room by Manipulating Complex Electromagnetic Fields
The “Haunt” Project: An attempt to build a “haunted” room by manipulating complex electromagnetic fields and infrasound Christopher C. French1, Usman Haque2, Rosie Bunton-Stasyshyn1 & Rob Davis1 1Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit Department of Psychology Goldsmiths College 2Haque Design + Research Running title: The “Haunt” Project Corresponding author: Professor Christopher C. French, Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London, New Cross, London SE14 6NW. Email: [email protected]. Tel: 020 7919 7882. Fax: 020 7919 7873. 1 Abstract: Recent research has suggested that a number of environmental factors may be associated with a tendency for susceptible individuals to report mildly anomalous sensations typically associated with “haunted” locations, including a sense of presence, feeling dizzy, inexplicable smells, and so on. Factors that may be associated with such sensations include fluctuations in the electromagnetic field and the presence of infrasound. A review of such work is presented, followed by the results of the “Haunt” project in which an attempt was made to construct an artificial “haunted” room by systematically varying such environmental factors. Participants (N = 79) were required to spend 50 minutes in a specially constructed chamber, within which they were exposed to infrasound, complex electromagnetic fields, both or neither. They were informed in advance that during this period they might experience anomalous sensations and asked to record on a floor-plan their location at the time occurrence of any such sensations, along with a note of the time of occurrence and a brief description of the sensation. Upon completing the session in the experimental chamber, they were asked to complete three questionnaires.