[ NEWS AND COMMENT

The Great and Powerful Dr. Oz Humbled in Senate Hearing

DAVID H. GORSKI

In June, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Safety, and Insurance, chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), held a hear- ing on “Protecting Consumers from False and Deceptive Advertising of Weight-Loss Products.” Likely few had heard of most of the witnesses giving testimony, which included rep- resentatives from the Federal Trade Commission, supplement manufac- turers, and online advertising groups. However, one witness, Dr. Mehmet Oz, stood out for his fame and influ- ence. Host of the popular daytime program The Dr. Oz Show and dubbed “America’s Doctor” by his patron Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Oz regularly pro- motes dubious weight loss advice and Mehmet Oz, host of the Dr. Oz Show, testifies at a Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcom- supplements with the enthusiastically mittee hearing in Russell Building titled “Protecting Consumers from False and Deceptive Advertising of Weight- hyperbolic language of an old-time Loss Products,” June 17, 2014. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) snake oil salesman. As if that weren’t bad enough, in- loss scammers using his name to sell regularly makes on his show. Unused ter mixed with more conventional their products, a complaint Dr. Oz to not being surrounded by an adoring medical topics Dr. Oz has also fea- has made on his show. Alarmed, they audience, Dr. Oz faltered and became tured such as faith healing, flooded Sen. McCaskill’s office with visibly flustered at points. “cleanses,” “detoxification,” and home- emails containing links to sources As is usual for such a hearing, each opathy; In ter net quacks such as Joseph documenting Dr. Oz’s tenuous rela- witness was allowed to read a prepared Mercola and Mike Adams; and psy- tionship with science-based medicine. statement. Dr. Oz’s statement was, chics such as John Edward and “Long It will likely never be known whether as expected, self-serving, touting his Island Medium” Theresa Caputo. It’s McCaskill had planned a trap all commitment to educating his viewers not for nothing that, upon learning of along or whether skeptics persuaded about supplements and diet. How- Dr. Oz’s impending testimony, one her to shift emphasis, but she did at ever, he must have had an inkling of blogger quipped, “That’s like asking one point use the term “science-based what might be coming, because his Al Capone to testify about U.S. tax medicine,” a term that is not com- statement also justified his show’s ap- policy.” monly used outside of skeptical cir- proach as being necessary to “engage Congressional hearings tend to re- cles. This suggests that maybe—just the viewer” and defended his having semble a Japanese Kabuki play: highly maybe—she had read material from characterized green coffee bean ex- stylized and constrained. Indeed, the the Science-Based Medicine blog about tract as a “miracle,” while grudgingly term “Kabuki dance” is sometimes Dr. Oz. acknowledging that his characteriza- used in politics to describe an event Whatever the case, unfortunately tion had resulted in “an explosion of designed to create the appearance of for Dr. Oz, the ending of this Ka- ads and marketing.” Then, completely uncertain outcome when in fact the buki dance was not pleasant for him. missing the point, he discussed epi- “actors” know how it is likely to end. Although his star power did result sodes of his show in which he went The question at the time of the an- in extensive news coverage for the after supplement manufacturers using nouncement was what the end of this hearing, it certainly wasn’t the sort of his name to advertise the two main particular Kabuki dance was intended coverage Oz wanted. Unexpectedly, diet supplements he had promoted, to be. Skeptics had reason to be con- Oz found himself the main target of green coffee bean extract and garcinia cerned that the hearing could become the senators’ wrath, particularly Sen. cambogia. a forum in which Dr. Oz was allowed McCaskill’s, over the inflated claims When it came time to question Dr. to paint himself the victim of weight- about weight-loss supplements he Oz, Sen. McCaskill would have none

Skeptical Inquirer | September/October 2014 5 of it. She quoted from his show: himself, admitting that he uses “flowery” In the end, unexpectedly this hearing language to express his enthusiasm for became a big win for science-based medi- • On green coffee extract: “You may the products he discusses on his show but cine. Unfortunately, it was only one battle. think is make-believe, but justifying it by characterizing himself as Whether any legislation or policy changes this little bean has scientists saying a cheerleader for weight loss and health, with respect to weight-loss supplement they found the magic weight-loss for even though he was forced to admit that scams will come out of it remains to be every body type.” none of his recommendations besides diet seen, as does the issue of whether Oz will • On raspberry ketone: “I’ve got the and exercise have actually been proven make any substantive changes to his show number one miracle in a bottle to to work. He also kept saying that those next season. Seeing Dr. Oz humbled by burn your fat.” shows from which McCaskill quoted a Senate committee is satisfying, but it is • On garcinia cambogia: “It may be the were two years old and that he “doesn’t not enough. simple solution you’ve been looking use that kind of language any more.” Un- for to bust your body fat for good.” fortunately for Dr. Oz, McCaskill had For Further Information Sen. McCaskill said, “I don’t get why done her homework about this as well Gavura, Scott. 2013. Dr. Oz doubles down on you need to say this stuff, because you and immediately rattled off examples of green coffee bean with a made-for-TV clinical trial. Online at http://www.science- know it’s not true. So why, when you have language just as “flowery” from recent Dr. basedmedicine.org/dr-oz-doubles-down- this amazing megaphone and this amaz- Oz Show episodes. Oz also kept repeating on-green-coffee-bean-with-a-made-for-tv- clinical-trial. ing ability to communicate, why would that he himself doesn’t sell any supple- Gorski, D.H. 2014. Another irony meter blown: you cheapen your show by saying things ments, which is true but irrelevant. He’s Dr. Oz to testify in front of the Senate’s Con- sumer Protection Panel about weight loss like that?” featured many people on his show who scams. Online at http://scienceblogs.com/ Dr. Oz was clearly taken off guard, do sell supplements and allowed them to insolence/2014/06/11/another- and it showed in his body language. He turn their appearances on his show into irony-meter-blown-dr-oz-to-testify-in-front- of-the-senates-consumer-protection- started out by disagreeing that green infomercials for their products. panel-about-weight-loss-scams. coffee beans don’t work and tried to cite At one point, Dr. Oz tried a nonsen- Gorski, David H. 2013. The great and powerful Oz versus science and research ethics. Online multiple studies, but McCaskill had done sical defense in which he confessed that at http://www.sciencebased her homework and knew that the study he now thinks he’s done his audience a medicine.org/the-great-and-powerful-oz- Oz had relied on was small and funded by “disservice” by not giving them a list of versus-science-and-research-ethics. Hearing: Protecting Consumers from False and the manufacturer. Oz then retreated into “reputable” companies that sell the prod- Deceptive Advertising of Weight-Loss Prod- a highly disingenuous false equivalence by ucts featured on his show, while again ucts. 2014. Online at http://www.commerce. senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hear- saying that many of the things we recom- complaining about the misuse of his ings&ContentRecord_id=c1698871-3625- mend with respect to diet are controver- name by scammers. Sen. McCaskill saw 4f67-b0e5-a06d3 sial and arguing that medicine advances right through that ploy as well, retorting, bab6ca1&ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5- 407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&Group_id=b- by embracing new ideas and challenging “I know you feel that you’re a victim, but 06c39af-e033-4cba-9221-de668ca1978a. old ideas. sometimes conduct invites being a victim. Oz, Mehmet. 2014. Protecting Consumers from False and Deceptive Advertising of It was deceptive nonsense, of course, I think that if you would be more careful, Weight-Loss Products. Online at http://www. because the controversies over these sorts maybe you wouldn’t be victimized quite commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files. Serve&File_id=eb6d07ff-1307-4220-9 of issues tend to be based in far better evi- as frequently.” bae-381ec3220b30. dence on both sides than the evidence Oz At the end of the hearing, McCaskill Science-Based Medicine. 2014. Online at http:// was able to muster to defend his green gave Oz a chance at redemption, saying, www.sciencebasedmedicine.org. coffee bean extract show. Unwittingly, “We didn’t call this hearing to beat up on he also basically admitted that the “clin- you but we did call this hearing to talk ical trial” he himself did with green coffee about a real crisis in consumer protection, David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, is in the bean extract wasn’t a real clinical trial at and you can be part of the problem or you Departments of Surgery and Oncology at all, that it wouldn’t pass scientific mus- can be part of the police.” Dr. Oz, chas- Wayne State University School of Med- ter, and that it wasn’t carried out under tened, promised in essence to be a good icine and is a surgical oncologist at the “appropriate IRB guidance.” Although it boy from now on and affirmed that he Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. is unlikely that anyone realized it at the wanted to be part of the police. In ad- He blogs regularly about medical-related time, in other words, Dr. Oz admitted in dition to promising to tell his audience . He is managing editor of front of a Senate committee that he had which supplements meet his exacting the Science-Based Medicine website and performed research on human subjects standards, Oz promised to use less “flow- a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical without proper ethical approval, as had ery” language in the future, although the Inquiry. He wrote our recent cover arti- been pointed out by skeptics. way he phrased it left considerable doubt cle on Stanislaw Burzynski (March/April And so it went. Oz tried to defend over whether he meant it. 2014).

6 Volume 38 Issue 5 | [ NEWS AND COMMENT

HAARP Conspiracy Theory ‘Weather Keeping Pseudoscience Super-Weapon’ Program Shuts Down and Religion Out of Health Care

BENJAMIN RADFORD Being secular implies a commitment to using science, not supernatural revelation, as a means of determining the most effective therapies. In the context of health care, sound science implies evidence-based medicine. Sadly, despite the tremen- dous success of evidence-based medicine, too many individ- uals rely on pseudoscientific remedies. Here we see another threat to health care, one not derived expressly from religion but one traceable to a similarly dogmatic mindset. Pseudoscientific remedies have flooded the health care system, whether it’s , homeopathic drugs, naturopathy, or any other sham ther-

“It’s scandalous that these quack therapies Overhead photo of the HAARP Gakona Facility. can be peddled A scientific research program based in Alaska is with impunity.” shutting down later this year, much to the relief of many conspiracy theorists who believe it has been used as a global super-weapon. According to an arti- apy pulled from medicine’s back room of mysticism and magic. cle in the Anchorage Daily News, “The U.S. Air Force It’s scandalous that these quack therapies can be peddled gave official notice to Congress Wednesday [May 14, with impunity. The Food and Drug Administration largely takes 2014] that it intends to dismantle the $300 million a hands-off approach, declining to test homeopathic drugs for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program efficacy, and major universities and medical centers push “com- [ HAARP ] in Gakona this summer. The shutdown of plementary and ” on patients at their clin- HAARP , a project created by the late Sen. Ted Stevens ics. It’s a lot easier to make a profit from “alternative medicine” when he wielded great control over the U.S. defense than real medicine. budget, will start after a final research experiment takes We need to take control of our health care. No church, place in mid-June, the Air Force said in a letter to no religious doctrine should be allowed to interfere with our Congress Tuesday [May 13, 2014]. . . . Built at a cost of heath care choices. Likewise, we need to insist that all therapies offered to the public be rigorously tested for safety and efficacy. more than $290 million, the site has 180 antennas on We need to keep health care both safe and secular. 30 acres that are used to direct energy into the iono- sphere, which is 55 miles to 370 miles above the Earth, and monitor changes in the flow of charged particles.” —Ronald A. Lindsay, “Secularism and Health Care,” The program has become a favorite subject of con- commenting on the Center for Inquiry’s new cam- spiracy theorists, who suggest that it had some sinister paign “Keep Health Care Safe and Secular,” an- purpose. Nick Redfern, in his book Keep Out! High Se- nounced June 3, 2014. On the CFI website at www. curity Facilities, Underground Bases, and Other Off-Lim- centerforinquiry.net/news/safe_and_secular its Areas , asks rhetorically, “Is such technology already being secretly utilized on a planet-wide scale, in order Ronald A. Lindsay is president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry to instill fear in, and exert control over, the world’s pop- and its affiliate, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. ulation, and also exert military control and influence over areas of strategic interest? Many conspiracy the- orists say yes. . . . Those who see HAARP as having a distinctly covert agenda point to what they consider the project’s darkest of all secrets: The earthquake in Haiti.” A Center for Inquiry Campaign safeandsecular.org Redfern suggests that the January 2010 7.0 magni- tude earthquake—which leveled much of Haiti’s urban

Skeptical Inquirer | September/October 2014 7 areas and killed at least 100,000 Of course it’s not just the Haiti people—“was a deliberate HAARP - earthquake. Conspiracy theorists also Urban Legend induced event, designed to provide suspect HAARP of causing the 2011 the United States government with a earthquake and the resulting tsunami Character reason to make its presence strongly that led to the Fukushima nuclear Slenderman Cited felt in an area in which it had spe- meltdown. Why would the U.S. gov- cial interests.” In classic follow-the- ernment want to cause an earthquake in Girl’s Stabbing money-not-the-facts conspiracist in, and irradiate part of, a close ally’s thinking, the specific “special in- country? Oil, of course. BENJAMIN RADFORD terests” in this case is oil. Redfern As for HAARP itself, Brian Dun- Police in Waukesha, Wisconsin, arrested writes that “ HAARP can be secretly ning, writing for his Skeptoid pod- two twelve-year-old girls in the grisly utilized to find underground and un- cast, notes that “there’s nothing re- May 31, 2014, stabbing of another girl, dersea oil reserves.” How, exactly, motely secret or even classified about allegedly to prove their devotion to a fic- a technology designed for studying HAARP . No security clearance is tional character they learned about online. the ionosphere—which extends high needed to visit and tour the site, and The girls, Morgan E. Geyser and Anissa E. above Earth’s surface—is also used HAARP usually holds an open house Weier, are accused of attempting a murder for detecting underground oil reserves every summer during which anyone they had been planning for several months. or causing earthquakes is never ex- can see everything there. During They lured their friend, also twelve, into a plained. the rest of the year, research is con- wooded area, where one girl allegedly held ducted. . . . There are several other the victim down while the other stabbed her similar research stations around the nineteen times. According to an article in the Mil waukee world. . . . Sadly for the conspiracy Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, In classic follow-the- theorists, HAARP has no potential to money-not-the-facts affect weather. The frequency of en- When confronted by police, Weier ergy that HAARP transmits cannot immediately began explaining about conspiracist thinking, the Web site Creepypasta. Weier said the specific “special be absorbed by the troposphere or the she introduced Morgan Geyser to the stratosphere, only by the ionosphere, site back in December. A character interests” in this many kilometers higher than the named “Slenderman” is the leader of case is oil. highest atmospheric weather systems.” Creepypasta, and below Slenderman is the killer and below the killer is a proxy. The program is being shut down Weier explained that in order to be a because its research is done and proxy you needed to kill a person in order its funding is spent. The fact that to show your dedication to Slenderman. the HAARP project is over will, of Weier said that many people don’t believe Slenderman is real and she wanted to course, not deter conspiracy theorists. Crass desire for oil as a reason to prove the skeptics wrong. Weier said Some will claim that the shutdown is kill hundreds of thousands of people that Geyser told her they should become only of the “official” work but that “proxies” of Slenderman, and in order and devastate an already poor country “black ops” projects will continue to do so, they needed to kill their friend, might be more plausible if the United the victim, to prove themselves worthy of States wasn’t already one of the there in even greater secrecy. Those Slenderman. . . . The suspects believed world’s top oil producers (getting most who accept that the project truly has that “Slender,” as Weier called him, lived of the balance from Canada and South ended will likely proudly take credit in a mansion in the Nicolet National for having helped force the govern- Forest in Wisconsin. The plan was to kill America), if devastating a country’s the victim and walk to Slender’s mansion infra structure could somehow help ment to shutter it by getting the truth and become one of his proxies, according (instead of greatly impede) the abil- out there. to the criminal complaint. ity to access oil underneath it, and if Benjamin Radford, MEd, is deputy The victim was hospitalized in serious but America hadn’t donated over $1.4 bil- editor of the S KEPTICAL INQUIRER and stable condition while the two girls accused lion in earthquake recovery aid. Four- author or coauthor of seven books, in- of trying to kill her face charges of attempted and-a-half years later, there seems to first-degree intentional homicide. be little or no evidence of the urgent cluding Mysterious New Mexico: Mira- Folklorist Gail de Vos, in her book What oil exploration that was presumably cles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of the whole point of the ruthless top- Enchantment , available now from the secret HAARP conspiracy project. University of New Mexico Press.

8 Volume 38 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer [ NEWS AND COMMENT

Happens Next? Contemporary Urban Leg- archetype. He is indeed death personified If an adult—the leader of a ends and Popular Culture, ex plains Slen- who from countless ages past has hunted church, no less—can give derman’s origin: “Recog nized as a fictional down humanity with a relentless determi- nation. If you see him as a child he will credence to Slender man contemporary urban legend, created by ‘Vic- forever haunt your dreams and your wak- tor Surge’ on the Something Awful forums ing nightmares. . . . There is nothing you stories as if they were on June 8, 2009, Slenderman has gained can do about it, it is inevitable. Begging eyewitness accounts, prominence beyond the confines of the on- and screaming are useless; Slenderman it’s no wonder that some line forums. He is most often portrayed as a makes no bargains and takes no bribes. Slenderman is coming for you. malevolent entity abducting and psychologi- children may as well. cally traumatizing people after stalking them According to Rev. Swope, Christian faith for a long while.” The character is wildly pop- and prayer are the only defenses against ular among online fans, as Sharon Hill of Slenderman. Doubtful News noted in an article in the Feb- If an adult—the leader of a church, According to police and news re ports, ruary 2013 Fortean Times magazine: Slen- no less—can give credence to Slenderman the reason for the Wisconsin stabbing was derman “currently stars in an array of videos, stories as if they were eyewitness accounts, very similar: In this case the girls were trying Youtube series, alternate reality games, fan it’s no wonder that some children may as to prove (to Slenderman and to each other) art, online horror stories and parodies. . . . well. Acting out a scene or scenario from a that they had the courage to stab the victim Slenderman is an evolving meme.” story or an urban legend is actually fairly and kill her. Once the act was done, the The two Wisconsin girls are not alone in common. Folklorists call this sort of behav-

girls believed Slenderman would appear in believing in the literal existence of Slender- ior ostension or legend tripping, and it is front of them and lead them to his mansion, man. Though most people recognize that an activity shared by ghost hunters who this boogeyman is fictional and no more (sincerely or jokingly) walk around reput- rumored to be hidden in nearby woods. It’s real than Freddy Krueger or Captain Hook, edly haunted locations, as well as people a classic example of ostension. There’s not everyone is convinced. Rev. Robin who go into a dark bathroom, stand in front nothing unusual or inherently pathological Swope, a pastor at St. Paul’s United Church of a mirror, and call out for Bloody Mary. about acting out fictional stories and leg- of Christ in Erie, Pennsylvania, believes the In many urban legends there’s an element ends. It’s similar to the cosplay (“costumed Internet-generated monster is real. In his of what’s sometimes referred to as proof: play”) found among fans of science fiction book Slenderman: From Fiction to Fact, proving you have the nerve to do something and fantasy, where people dress up and Swope states that, after years of reviewing daring. In the case of Bloody Mary legends, act out scenes from films and TV series stories sent to him by people who claim to for example, it’s usually girls proving to such as Star Wars, Star Trek , Harry Potter, have encountered the elusive monster, he themselves and their friends that they’re and so on. Of course with tens (in some has concluded that Slenderman is a literal not afraid to go through with a test of cour- cases hundreds) of thousands of fans, a demonic entity: age: Calling Bloody Mary’s name three (or small percentage of them may, because of seven, or thirteen) times while standing in mental illness, the influence of drugs, or for We can come to the conclusion that Slenderman is real. The archetype of front of a mirror in a bathroom. If you do some other reason, take this fantasy world death that Slenderman embodies is not it right, or if you have enough faith, she is too far and have difficulty separating fact an archetype at all. Slenderman is the said to materialize in the mirror. from fiction.

Skeptical Inquirer | September/October 2014 9 [ NEWS AND COMMENT IN MEMORIAM: , Skeptic Leader and Editor

JAN WILLEM NIENHUYS

On May 30, 2014, skeptic Rob Nanninga, founding member of the skeptic group Skepsis and editor-in-chief of its periodical , died at age fif- ty-eight. No one else had so much influ- ence on Skepsis, both by setting an exam- ple and by his method of work. Rob Nanninga (his official name was Roelof Hendrik Nanninga, but from childhood on everybody called him Rob) was born August 6, 1955, in Groningen in the north of the Nether- lands. After finishing high school, he attended a teacher training college, and obtained a diploma as a high school teacher of Dutch and English. At the time CSICOP was founded in the USA, in 1976, Rob got involved was silly. A spokesman from the magazine Skepter, but it also in what one might call a skeptic discus- of an association of lay homeopaths contains an extensive library about cults sion club. Actually, it was some sort of challenged him. If the minister would and new religions. Rob’s idea was that school project of the college. This was be so kind as to just try out the effect the information provided by the mag- at the time that attracted of Sulphur 200C, namely severe itch azine should be available for the lowest attention with his spoon-bending act. and hot flushes, he would change his possible price, both for the subscribers Rob used to tell the other club mem- opinion. Rob and I objected to an un- and for the general public. The site at- bers that he knew exactly how Geller blinded uncontrolled trial with one test tracts about 3,000 views a day, and the did it, but—in style with magic tradi- person (who would become subject of magazine has 2,300 paying subscribers. tions—he kept the method secret. public speculation about his state of The financial situation of Skepsis is The Groningen skeptic club re- mind whatever the outcome), and pro- healthy, but Rob shortchanged himself mained active for a long time. Rob often posed a serious test, properly blinded by allowing himself to be grossly under- took the initiative. One club member and randomized with eighty test per- paid. Actually, he hardly thought about (who contributed the following story) sons, to be jointly performed by Skepsis money except when his bank account said that Rob was very good at making and the homeopaths. Rob entered into was empty. He was working on Skepter others enthusiastic. Rob took the initia- discussions with the spokesman, who day and night. It’s ironic that the ene- tive in many Skepsis investigations and at first thought it a good idea but then mies of Skepsis claim that we are hand- experiments, such as the pendulum ex- backed out. The homeopaths had at somely rewarded by Big Pharma. periment (1992, candidates had to de- first suggested that a single test person Rob was, in a sense, the skeptic’s tect the presence of a precious object in would suffice, but later they claimed it skeptic. Many skeptics and rationalists closed boxes) and the astrotest (1995, was impossible to estimate the success have a tendency to preach for the con- http://www.skepsis.nl/astrot.html), rate in the verum group. Another prob- verted, but that wasn’t Rob’s style. He where about forty-four experienced lem was that supposedly the test sub- was strict in his views but mild in his astrologers had to match seven exten- jects would know what symptoms to statements, as urban legend researcher sive life and personality descriptions to expect—something that didn’t matter Peter Burger wrote to me. He was typi- the corresponding birth dates, and two when they challenged the minister. cally a reasonable and cooperative man. muscle tests (2005, 2006) where the Many people have testified that Rob Rob saw Skepsis as an organization candidates claimed that they could di- always remained polite and respectful for giving neutral information about agnose the contents of small bottles by in his contact with people he dis- dubious pretenses of knowledge. He the so-called O-ring test. agreed with. When Rob started editing sympathized with serious parapsychol- In 2004 the Dutch minister of health Skepter, he also put up a Skepsis web- ogists, but when they started behaving publicly announced that he thought site, which he filled mainly with articles like charlatans, he got angry. A typical

Skeptical Inquirer | September/October 2014 11 example was the Therapeutic Touch entific reputation. After all, Skepsis has of this side of his character you can see practitioners. Therapeutic Touch is re- a committee of recommendation con- in the endlessly patient way he inter- vamped mesmerism or healing. sisting of prominent scientists. acted with, for example, an astrologer. He proposed that they test their explicit On the morning of May 30, he was He had other sides as well. He was very claims with a simple test. When they found—seemingly asleep—sitting in fond of a certain kind of folk music. refused, he henceforth considered them front of his computer. The diagnosis The Incredible String Band was his to be commercial frauds. was cardiac arrest. I informed the read- favorite, but he liked German neo-folk Rob sometimes explained that when ers of Skepter at once. Many have mailed too. And if you look at our website, he started on a subject, he often didn’t me about how they enjoyed his clear, with its austere style without frills, then know anything about it, but then he thoroughly researched articles. The you see something of Rob’s personal- studied it until he knew it thoroughly. last subject he was working on was the ity: a desire to make the plain objective You can imagine this was hard work, Salvation Army, a Christian sect that truth stand out as clearly as possible in with sometimes surprising results. For rakes in an enormous amount of Dutch an otherwise messy world. example, he discovered that modern government subsidies and strongly dis- Let us try to work in his spirit. yoga was a result of the introduction criminates against non-Christians. of Western body culture and gymnas- The readers of Skepter didn’t know , a retired mathe- tics in India, starting around 1920. He the sweet and caring side of his char- matician, is secretary of Skepsis. He is always worried that he would make a acter. He was the caretaker to his aged a Fellow of the Committee for Skepti- mistake that would cost Skepsis its sci- mother, who lived upstairs. Something cal Inquiry.

Origin of Mysterious Windsor Hum Identified BENJAMIN RADFORD

Since 2011, a mysterious hum has plagued residents of dozen pieces of machinery that are suspected of contributing Windsor, Ontario. It’s only one of several mystery hums around to the hum, turning one or more of them off at a time may stem the world, including New Mexico’s famous Taos Hum. No one the sound, but those machines may only be part of the answer was sure of its origin—or even if it really existed. People living and the hum may return even if steps are taken to muffle those nearby complain of hearing an intermittent hum that has been machines. described as a refrigerator motor, a truck engine, or an idling Canadian officials have handed the new report to their locomotive. It has driven many to distraction and is said to American counterparts and requested that the investigation induce headaches, insomnia, and other health effects. continue until the precise origin of the Windsor hum is identified Several investigations have been undertaken. The first report and the sound is stopped. As a practical matter that may be a was inconclusive, but part of the mystery has now been solved. In very difficult task, and of course companies with manufactur- May 2014, a Canadian study confirmed for the first time that the ing plants on Zug Island are unlikely to voluntarily shut down hum is real (and not, for example, an auditory illusion) and iden- operations for weeks (thus costing millions of dollars) simply tified the source: Michigan’s Zug Island, across the Detroit River, to locate a hum. When and if a definitive origin of the sound is the site of heavy manufacturing, including a U.S. steel plant. located, it may take months or years to figure out how to stop No one knows where on the island the sound is coming it. It might be as simple as placing some industrial machinery from. Why is it so hard to find the hum? For one thing, the on a specialized vibration-dampening platform, or it may be as sound is not constant but instead comes and goes, which complex as overhauling an entire factory or assembly line at the makes tracking it difficult. Identifying the source of a sound cost of tens of millions of dollars. can be problematic in urban areas where concrete, glass, In the end, it may not matter where exactly the sound is and buildings can reflect, change, and amplify sound waves. coming from, since identifying the hum’s origin may not solve Sources of outdoor sounds are nearly endless, including traffic, the problem. Part of the reason the Windsor community hears trains, power plants, and factories. the hum is that sound carries well over water, so one possi- It’s also possible that no specific source of the hum will ble and relatively inexpensive way to stem the infernal Windsor be found for the simple reason that there is no single iden- hum might be to simply build a sound-muffling wall around the tifiable source—instead it may be that the vibrations are the one-square-mile area of Zug Island to confine the vibrations to result of several factors (mechanical, geological, acoustic, etc.), the island. In the end, stopping the hum is more important to which don’t create the hum individually but only collectively local communities than spending more taxpayer dollars identi- and under certain conditions. Thus, for example, if you have a fying which specific machine or machines created it.

12 Volume 38 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer [ NEWS AND COMMENT

Chupacabra ‘Designer’ H.R. Giger Dies

BENJAMIN RADFORD

Influential Swiss artist H.R. Giger died May 12, 2014, at seventy-four, injured in a fall at his home in Zurich. Giger, influenced by Surrealist artists includ- ing Salvador Dali, is best known for imagery that is often sexual and gro- tesque, organic yet alien and mechan- ical. He was most famous for creat- ing the extraterrestrial creature in the 1979 horror film Alien, for which he received an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. His work has been exhibited throughout the world, and just last year he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. But Giger was also influential in a bizarre and little-known way: he un- knowingly helped create the Hispanic SICHOV/SIPA/Newscom vampire beast el chupacabra, one of the world’s best-known “real” monsters, monster named Sil, designed by Giger. Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, which has been reportedly seen through- Sil and the chupacabra creature that Fiction, and Folklore, both Sil and the out Latin America attacking and suck- Tolentino described are remarkably chupacabra are not only very similar in ing the blood out of goats and chickens. similar. Giger’s book about his work morphology but also share identical or- Though many people mistakenly believe designing Sil for Species, Species De- igin stories. that the chupacabra has been reported sign, contains dozens of his sketches Thus the original and most influ- for many decades, it was first sighted in and designs showing what would later ential chupacabra eyewitness in his- Puerto Rico in 1995. become the chupacabra. From the tory described a monster she’d seen in A woman named Madelyne Tolen- creature’s distinctive feather-textured a movie as a mysterious beast she en- tino claimed she saw the creature near spine spikes, to the bipedal stance, to countered in real life. Over time the ch- her house in Canovanas, Puerto Rico, the earless and oblong head, to the oval during the second week of August in upacabra has changed form, and most wraparound eyes and long, thin fingers modern reports are not of the original 1995. She said the creature had large and limbs. Despite some differences in chupacabra that Giger designed (and eyes that went up the temples and spread details, overall the resemblance is clear. Tolentino described) but instead re- around the sides, was about three or four I interviewed Tolentino at her home semble mangy dogs, coyotes, and even feet high, walked on two legs, and had in Puerto Rico, and she confirmed that raccoons. thin arms and legs. It had no ears or she’d seen the film Species. In fact, in It’s unlikely that Tolentino inten- nose but had a row of distinctive spikes a 1996 interview that appears in Scott on the spine. This original eyewitness Corrales’s book Chupacabras and Other tionally created a hoax that spawned description became the basis for many Mysteries, Tolentino stated that shortly a famous monster. Instead, she sim- early images of the chupacabra. before her chupacabra sighting she saw ply confused a real-life memory with For many years, this original and in- “a movie called Species. It would be a something she experienced in a film—a fluential chupacabra report remained a very good idea if you saw it. The movie common (and harmless) phenomenon mystery. What, if anything, did Tolen- begins here in Puerto Rico. . . . [The known in psychology as confabulation. tino see? No known animal matched her movie monster] made my hair stand We all do it, usually unknowingly, but detailed description. It does, however, on end. It was a creature that looked most of us don’t spawn monster mys- look almost exactly like a creature seen like the chupacabra, with spines on its teries. In a case of truth being stranger by hundreds of thousands of other peo- back and all. . . . The resemblance to than fiction, H.R. Giger helped create ple right around the same time, in the the chupacabra was really impressive.” a legend that is among the world’s best- 1995 science-fiction film Species: a movie As I discuss in my book Tracking the known monster mysteries.

Skeptical Inquirer | September/October 2014 13