Category: Skeptics
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NOTE: I used to have several older essays on the paranormal posted on my author site. When I recently updated the site, I removed all this material and decided to post it here. Here's one of the essays. It was written around 2003 or so, and is dated now, involving a TV show that's been…
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NOTE: I used to have several older essays on the paranormal posted on my author site. When I recently updated the site, I removed all this material and decided to post it here. Here's one of the essays. — January 24, 2024 The Two Faces of Margery Her name was Mina Crandon, but…
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NOTE: I used to have several essays on the paranormal posted on my author site. When I recently updated the site, I removed all this material because it wasn't really relevant to my main purpose – selling books. Besides, I didn't think anybody was even reading these old pieces anymore. But since then, I've discovered…
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Multiple news outlets have confirmed that James ("The Amazing") Randi, famed magician, escape artist, and skeptic of the paranormal, has died at the age of 92. Gabe Yuen, one of our faithful commentariat, informed me of this last night. Naturally, given the subject matter of this blog, I was frequently in disagreement with Randi's opinions.…
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Matt Rouge recently reminded me of a study that came out in 2017, purporting to show that split-brain patients retain a single locus of consciousness. Although I put up a brief post about it at the time, I don’t think I fully appreciated the implications. In a corpus callosotomy, the sheaf of neural fibers connecting…
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In the comments thread on the last post, Amos Oliver Doyle includes a link to an issue of Psypioneer Journal that offers an exhaustive look at the puppet-photos controversy. The article, titled "Helen Duncan, Esson Maule and Harry Price," was written by Paul J. Gaunt. I can't add anything to this comprehensive overview, so I'll…
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In some comments recently, I've recommended Leslie Kean's book UFOs: Pilots, Generals and Government Officials Go On the Record. But admittedly I don't know very much about the UFO phenomenon, so it occurred to me that I ought to try to check the book's presentation against the efforts of skeptical debunkers. The case I chose…
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Here's a pretty common exchange in debates over parapsychology. Someone will point to a correlation between a brain state and a mental state, using it as evidence that consciousness originates in brain activity. An opponent will respond that correlation is not causation, and that the brain may be functioning only as a mediator of consciousness,…
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At a used bookstore, I came across the 1995 first edition of An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, by James Randi – or as the title page has it, "exposed by" James Randi. I wasn't sure I would find it of much interest, since I have many qualms about…
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Let’s consider a series of items, and then look at where they may take us. Item: During a near-death experience, a man found himself being tormented by demons. Terrified, he reached back into his childhood to the only faith he had ever been taught and prayed to Jesus for salvation. Instantly he found himself lifted…