[ the Last Laugh Benjamin Radford

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Nov Dec**_SI new design masters 9/27/12 10:57 AM Page 66 [ THE LAST LAUGH BENJAMIN RADFORD SKEPTIC TRUMP CARDS SKEPTICAL ANNIVERSARIES by Tim Farley November 3, 1957: Wilhelm reich, creator of the pseudo science “orgonomy,” died in prison after being convicted of violating fDa rules. November 16, 1977: the ufo film Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released in the united states. November 27, 2002: the animated program South Park took on tV medium John edward in an episode titled “the Biggest Douche in the universe.” November 29, 1922: king tutankhamen’s tomb was of- ficially opened in egypt. Claims of a curse arose when lord Carnarvon died in Cairo four months later. December 4, 1872: a brigantine merchant ship named Mary Celeste was discovered abandoned by her crew off Portugal. the mysterious case is sometimes labeled as a Bermuda triangle case by some sloppy re- searchers. December 16, 1997: In a widely reported incident, 12,000 Japanese children reported various symptoms allegedly brought on watching the tV show Pokémon. December 18, 1912: hominid fossil Piltdown Man was first publicly discussed at a meeting of the Geological society of london. Decades later it was proven to be a hoax. December 27, 2002: the company Clonaid (affiliated with the raëlians) announced that it had successfully cloned a human named “Baby eve.” this was generally regarded to be a hoax. December 30, 1947: Project sign, the u.s. Government’s first official ufo investigation, was authorized by the u.s. air force. September/October 2012 Hidden Messages Puzzle Contest Winner: Izzy Williams Tim Farley is a research fellow with the James Randi Educational Foundation and created the website whatstheharm.net. GET FUZZY BY DARBY CONLEY ©2009 Darby Conley. Reprinted with permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK for UFS. All rights reserved. 66 Volume 36 Issue 6 | Skeptical Inquirer.

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Chupacabra Mystery
SI May June 11 CUT_SI new design masters 3/25/11 11:29 AM Page 45 Slaying the Vampire Solving the Chupacabra Mystery The mysterious vampire beast el chupacabra is said to have terrorized people around the world since at least 1995. A five-year skeptical investigation reveals the surprising origin of this monster, finding that there’s more to this vampire than meets the eye. BENJAMIN RADFORD approximately four-feet tall that had igfoot, the mysterious creature said to roam the thin arms and legs with three fingers or North American wilderness, is named after what it toes at the end of each (Corrales 1997). leaves behind: big footprints. Bigfoot’s Hispanic It had no ears or nose but instead two B small airholes and long spikes down its cousin, el chupacabra, is also known for what it leaves behind: back (see figure 1). When the beast was dead animals mysteriously drained of blood. Goats are said later reported in other countries, it took to be its favorite prey (chupacabra means goat sucker in Span- on a very different form (see figure 2). A few were found dead (for example, in ish), and it is the world’s third best-known mystery creature Nicaragua and Texas), and the carcasses (after Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster). turned out to be small four-legged an- imals from the Canidae family (such as El chupacabra first appeared in 1995 mense confusion and contradiction” dogs and coyotes). after Madelyne Tolentino, an eyewit- surrounding el chupacabra, making it The next step was identifying and ness in Puerto Rico, provided a detailed “almost impossible to distinguish fact analyzing the central claims about el description of the bloodsucker.
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Bigfoot at 50 Evaluating a Half-Century of Bigfoot Evidence
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Mistaken Memories of Vampires: Pseudohistories of the Chupacabra As Well-Known Monsters Go, the Chupacabra Is of Very Recent Vintage, First Appearing in 1995
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