Sci Fi Investigates, Finds Only Pseudoscience
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SPECIAL REPORT Sci Fi Investigates, Finds Only Pseudoscience BENJAMIN RADFORD ci Fi Investigates is a recent entry investigator of the bunch is a man they examine. Since they don’t have into the paranormal-themed TV named Richard Dolan, who holds years of experience in these subjects, they Slineup. Like others of its ilk such as degrees in history and writes UFO should at least consult those who do. Yet, Ghost Hunters, it is a reality show (albeit books. Archaeologist Bill Doleman is with a few ad hoc exceptions, skeptical notably lacking reality) that features the only one in the group who comes investigators are notably absent in Sci Fi investigations into mysterious phenom- close to being a working scientist; he Investigates. To be fair, this is not really ena. The program, which airs on the is director of New Mexico’s statewide the team’s fault. If the show’s producers Sci Fi (Science Fiction) Channel, tries archaeological archive and database, and had wanted to actually “recruit the fore- to distinguish itself as an investigative his research specialties include environ- most scientists and . skeptics,” they series: “For the first time ever, a series mental analysis, prehistoric hunter-gath- certainly could have done so. Joe Nickell, that doesn’t just ponder the questions, it erers, geological methods in archaeol- an expert on several of the topics includ- hunts for the answers. From cryptozool- ogy, computer database design, and ing Mothman, is nowhere to be found. ogy to government conspiracies, Sci Fi statistical analysis. The token skeptic of David E. Thomas, an expert on the Investigates will launch a new expedition the group is Rob Mariano, a man with Roswell crash, is also absent. And so on. every episode to aggressively investigate no apparent qualifications beyond hav- What’s worse, the team members the unexplained phenomena. We ing appeared on the reality TV shows often seem to approach each mystery will uncover new evidence and sub- Survivor and The Amazing Race. with a clean slate, apparently having ject old evidence to the newest forensic Throughout the series, the team’s done little or no background research on investigative technology for fresh anal- actions bear little resemblance to any sort the subjects they are investigating. This ysis. We will interview eyewitnesses for of real scientific investigation. Accord- may be done to enhance the appearance new insights and recruit the foremost ing to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate of objectivity, but the effect is that they scientists and historians, skeptics and Dictionary, investigate means “to study often don’t know what to look for. believers to uncover new clues and reveal by close examination and systematic In one episode, for no apparent rea- new perspectives of legendary mysteries.” inquiry.” Judging by the episodes that son, the team tries (and fails) to make Despite such breathless claims, the have aired, the examination is not close, a convincing fake Bigfoot film. There series provides little science and few nor is the inquiry systematic. It is instead is no investigative value whatsoever in answers but a lot of unintended skep- a hodgepodge of half-baked, unscientific creating a fake Bigfoot film; even if the tical laughs. The program’s inability to experiments and studies with no clear team was successful in making a hoax find explanations is not so mysterious strategy, purpose, or protocol. It is, in that convinced some people (a difficult given the lack of scientists and investi- short, pseudoscience. and expensive proposition), all it would gators on the show. The team desperately needs the assis- prove is that that particular film was The Sci Fi Investigates team con- tance of an actual, working scientist or faked. It says nothing about the various sists of four principal cast members. A investigator. With all due respect to the extant films; it was a pointless exercise young, attractive blonde named Debbie team members, the show’s producers dreamed up by a TV producer instead Dobrydney is identified as “a techni- can’t just assemble a team with little or of an investigator. cian in the identification bureau (Crime no investigative experience and expect What is perhaps most remarkable Scene/Forensic Unit) of a municipal them to come up with scientifically about Sci Fi Investigates is how little sci- police department.” The paranormal valid answers to such mysteries. entific investigation is actually done. As Benjamin Radford is author or co-author of Their lack of investigation experi- a scientific paranormal investigator with three books and hundreds of articles on skepti- ence is compounded by their overall years of experience looking into just such cism and the paranormal. ignorance of the actual scientific and mysteries, I was amused that the team skeptical investigations into the subjects didn’t seem to know where to begin. 12 Volume 31, Issue 2 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER For example, many of their “investiga- tions” consist of simply listening to sec- ond- or third-hand stories and anecdotes: Yvonne Brazel tells what her grandfather Mac told her about what crashed on his Roswell, New Mexico, ranch in 1947; Gabe Valdez, a former police officer, tells the team about what he says were animal mutilations many years earlier and a con- spiracy to cover them up. Incredibly, the team seems to think that simply listening to Valdez’s story while looking at photographs of the alleged mutilations is “aggressively investigating the phenomenon,” suf- ficient to come to a conclusion about the mystery. Instead of consulting a veterinarian or pathologist to under- stand how cattle may appear to be mutilated when they in fact aren’t, the team decides that the answers may lie The team’s “investigations” are guided not by in a secret military base which may or may not exist nearby. The team never checked for themselves Valdez’s claim any logic, systematic strategy, or investigative that there were no tracks around the carcasses. Nor did they verify assertions acumen but instead by what the TV producers that there were no signs of predation. The investigative team never researched think might look interesting. how the “mutilation” marks Valdez reported and photographed can be explained by natural processes. Despite the show’s premise and contrived. And what does all this have Without doing any actual investi- promise of professionals hunting for to do with the cattle mutilations? Who gation, the team concluded that some- answers, this is amateur armchair inves- knows? The team’s “investigations” are thing unexplained was clearly afoot. In tigation at its worst. The show’s real guided not by any logic, systematic a humorous and bizarre non sequitur danger is that it gives the impression strategy, or investigative acumen but based entirely on imaginative specula- that science and real investigation are instead by what the TV producers think tion, team member Rich Dolan states, being brought to bear on these topics— might look interesting. “What I found most compelling were and failing to explain them. As a final example, the program’s the photographs of the mutilated ani- Some parts of Sci Fi Investigates seem Web site states that “Rob concludes the mals. No tracks around the carcasses, to be tongue-in-cheek satire, such as final group discussion by pointing out no signs of predators; they must have when Rich Dolan and Bill Doleman, that the eyewitness testimony of Bigfoot been dropped from the air. But who searching for the secret military base sightings, something all the team mem- would do such a gruesome thing, and in a mountain, fly overhead in a small bers agree is sincere, can’t be explained.” why? Could it be connected to a secret plane looking for heat signatures. Why The idea that eyewitness testimony military base?” the pair would use a thermal imaging regarding Bigfoot, Mothman, or other But the real skeptical howler comes camera to detect a hidden installation topics can’t be explained is patently a little later when Dolan demonstrates is never explained. Dolan seems baffled false, as I or any number of other experts his understanding of investigative prin- by “quite a lot of hot thermal signal” could have told the Sci Fi Investigates ciples: “Occam’s Razor states that the readings, a genuine mystery except for team. Ultimately, of course, the pro- correct explanation of the phenomenon the fact that he is flying over a hot, gram is about entertainment instead is the least complicated. If I apply that to sunny desert. Of all the ways to find of investigation or answers. Which is a mutilations, the UFO connection makes out whether a military base exists in a shame, because these topics deserve real some sense.” mountain, this must surely be the most skeptical inquiry. ! SKEPTICAL INQUIRER March / April 2007 13.