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THE MAGAZINE FOR SCIENCE AND REASON SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Vol. 18, No. 5 Fall 1994/$6.25 REINCARNATION EXAMINED Flaws and Failures in 'Most Famous' Case THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, an international organization. Editor Kendrick Frazier. Editorial Board James E. Alcock, Barry Beyerstein, Susan J. Blackmore, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Philip J. Klass, Paul Kurtz, Joe Nickell, Lee Nisbet, Bela Scheiber. Consulting Editors Robert A. Baker, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Assistant Editor Thomas C. Genoni, Jr. Contributing Editor Lys Ann Shore. Cartoonist Rob Pudim. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Assistant Business Manager Sandra Lesniak. Chief Data Officer Richard Seymour. Fulfillment Manager Michael Cione. Production Paul E. Loynes. Art Linda Hays. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian Jonathan Jiras. Staff Diana Picciano, Alfreda Pidgeon, Etienne C. Rios, Ranjit Sandhu, Sharon Sikora, Elizabeth Begley (Albuquerque). The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy. State University of New York at Buffalo. Barry Karr, Executive Director and Public Relations Director. Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock,* psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Robert A. Baker, psychologist, Univ. of Kentucky; Stephen Barrett, M.D., psychiatrist, author, consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Barry Beyerstein,' biopsychologist, Simon Fraser Univ., Vancouver, B.C., Canada; Irving Biederman, psychologist, Univ. of Southern California; Susan Blackmore,* psychologist, Univ. of the West of England, Bristol; Henri Broch, physicist, Univ. of Nice, France; Jan Harold Brunvand, folklorist, professor of English, Univ. of Utah; Vera Bullough, Distinguished Professor, State Univ. of New York; Mario Bunge, philosopher, McGill University; John R. Cole, anthropologist, Inst, for the Study of Human Issues; F. H. C. Crick, biophysicist, Salk Inst, for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif.; Richard Dawkins, zoologist, Oxford Univ.; L. Sprague de Camp, author, engineer; Cornells de Jager, professor of astrophysics, Univ. of Utrecht, the Netherlands; Bernard Dixon, science writer, London, U.K.: Paul Edwards, philosopher, Editor, Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading Univ., U.K.; Andrew Fraknoi, astronomer, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, Calif.; Kendrick Frazier,* science writer, Editor, THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER; Yves Galifret, Exec. Secretary, l'Union Rationaliste; Martin Gardner,* author, critic; Murray Gell- Mann, professor of physics, Santa Fe Institute; Thomas Gilovich, psychologist, Cornell Univ.; Henry Gordon, magician, columnist, Toronto; Stephen Jay Gould, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univ.; C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist, Univ. of Wales; Al Hibbs, scientist. Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human understanding and cognitive science, Indiana Univ.; Gerald Holton, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of History of Science, Harvard Univ. Ray Hyman," psychologist, Univ. of Oregon; Leon Jaroff, sciences editor, Time; Sergei Kapitza, editor, Russian edition, Scientific American; Philip J. Klass,* science writer, engineer; Marvin Kohl, professor of philosophy, SUNY at Fredonia; Edwin C. Krupp, astronomer, director, Griffith Observatory; Paul Kurtz,* chairman, CSICOP; Lawrence Kusche, science writer; Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psychology, Univ. of Washington; Paul MacCready, scientist/engineer, Aero- Vironment, Inc., Monrovia, Calif.; David Marks, psychologist, Middlesex Polytech, England; David Morrison, space scientist, NASA Ames Research Center; Richard A. Muller, professor of physics, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley; H. Narasimhaiah, physicist, president, Bangalore Science Forum, India; Dorothy Nelkin, sociologist. New York Univ. Joe Nickell,* author, technical writing instructor, Univ. of Kentucky; Lee Nisbet,* philosopher, Medaille College; James E. Oberg, science writer; Loren Pankratz, psychologist, Oregon Health Sciences Univ.; John Paulos, mathematician, Temple Univ.; Mark Plummer, lawyer, Australia; W. V. Quine, philosopher, Harvard Univ.; Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, Univ. of Chicago; Carl Sagan, astron omer, Cornell Univ.; Wallace Sampson, M.D., clinical professor of medicine, Stanford Univ.; Evry Schatzman, President, French Physics Association; Eugenie Scott, physical anthropologist, executive director, National Center for Science Education; Glenn T. Seaborg, University Professor of Chemistry, Univ. of California, Berkeley; Thomas A. Sebeok, anthropologist, linguist, Indiana Univ.; Robert Sheaffer, science writer; Dick Smith, film producer, publisher, Terrey Hills, N.S.W., Australia; Robert Steiner, magician, author, El Cerrito, Calif.; Jill Cornell Tarter, SETI Institute; Carol Tavris, psychologist and author, Los Angeles, Calif.; Stephen Toulmin, professor of philosophy, University of Southern California; Marvin Zelen, statistician, Harvard Univ. Lin Zixin, former editor Science and Technology Daily (China). (Affiliations given for identification only.) 'Member, CSICOP Executive Council Manuscripts, letters, books for review, and editorial inquiries should be addressed to Kendrick Frazier, Editor, THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, 944 Deer Drive NE, Albuquerque NM 87122-1306. FAX 505-828-2080. Subscriptions, change of address, and advertising should be addressed to: THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Box 703, Amherst, NY 14226-0703. Old address as well as new are necessary for change of subscriber's address, with six weeks advance notice. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER subscribers may not speak on behalf of CSICOP or THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. Inquiries from the media and the public about the work of the Committee should be made to Paul Kurtz, Chairman, CSICOP, Box 703, Amherst, NY 14226-0703. Tel.: (716) 636-1425. FAX: 716-636-1733. Articles, reports, reviews, and letters published in THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER represent the views and work of individual authors. Their publication does not necessarily constitute an endorsement by CSICOP or its members unless so stated. THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is indexed in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Copyright *1994 by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, 3965 Rensch Road, Amherst, NY 14228. All rights reserved. THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is available on 16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm, and 105mm microfiche from University Microfilms International. THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER (ISSN 0194-6730) is published quarterly, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall, $25.00 a year; by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, 3965 Rensch Rd., Amherst, NY 14228- 2713. Printed in Canada. Second-class postage paid at Amherst, New York, and additional mailing offices. Send changes of address to THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Box 703, Amherst, NY 14226-0703. ^V SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Vol. 18, No. 5, Fall 1994 L" Journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal 1 SPECIAL REPORT Miracles or Mania? Joe Nickell 477 ARTICLES Empirical Evidence for Reincarnation? Examining Stevenson's Most Impressive Case Leonard Angel 481 A Reader's Guide to the Ozone Controversy Boyce Rensberger 486 Reaction to My Ozone Story Boyce Rensberger 496 Bigfoot Evidence: Are These Tracks Real? Michael R. Dennett 498 Why We Are Unmoved as Oceans Ebb and Flow Paul Quincey 509 Scientific Investigation of Anomalous Phenomena in Kazakhstan Sergey Efimov 516 FROM THE EDITOR A Big Change: Join Us in This New Adventure Kendrick Frazier 450 NEWS AND COMMENT 453 "Barney' Media Hoax / Recollections Clash on Roswell 'UFO' Crash / New Agers Go for Third Party Conservatives / In Memoriam: Nick Spanos / Martial Arts Win Lawsuit in China CSICOP NEWS 461 NOTES OF A FRINGE-WATCHER The Tragedies of False Memories: The Accused Are Striking Back, But Grave Injustices Have Been Done Martin Gardner 464 PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS Satanic Paranoia in Texas, Psychics Among the Stars Robert Sheaffer 474 BOOK REVIEWS Curtis Peebles, Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth Robert R. Young 522 Susan Blackmore, Dying to Live Robert A Baker 524 Grover S. Krantz, Big Footprints Robert Boston 528 NEW BOOKS 532 ARTICLES OF NOTE 533 FORUM Deep Ecology or Deep Sanity? Ralph Estling 539 Did Fiction Give Birth to Bigfoot? Hugh H.Trotti 541 Confessions of a Lone Skeptic Elena M. Watson 543 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 546 GUIDE FOR AUTHORS 557 ON THE COVER: Illustration by Bruce Adams. From the Editor A Big Change: Join Us in This New Adventure ith this Fall issue of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, one era W ends and an exciting new one will begin. This is our last quarterly, digest- size issue. The next issue you receive THE ZETETIC will have an enlarged, standard-size {&1/2" x 11") format. It will be rede signed graphically. Most important, from that time on you will receive six issues a year instead of four. We are increasing our frequency to bi monthly. That first bimonthly issue will be January-February 1995. It will be a special issue indeed, in content as well as format, and we are looking forward to it. We hope you will like it, and feel confident you will. One other change. We decided not to wait until the redesigned magazine to implement it. We've added a sub Skeptical title: