Reaction has been varied regarding a video seemingly depicting a human sacrifice on the grounds of CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, the location of the Large Hadron Collider and cutting edge […]
Category: Culture
You (didn’t) WIN: Jackpot scams from the car dealer
I’m usually pretty good at spotting the “small print” on gimmick mailers and promotional contests. The latest one from a local car dealership was well-hidden. I looked and looked. Got […]
They must have changed the definition of “true”: The Conjuring 2
So, I just watched the trailer for The Conjuring 2 in which crack self-righteous demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren investigate the Enfield poltergeist case in the U.K. It begins by […]
Trust No One: All news is doubtful
My main project, Doubtful News is on hiatus right now. (Update 22-Jan-2016: We’re back.) Honestly, it’s because I don’t have the motivation to keep up with the onslaught of questionable […]
Cryptozoology and Myth, Part 1: The Illusion of Facticity in Unknown Animal Reports
What can we make of folklore tales that cryptozoologists use to support claims that an unknown animal has been historically reported and remains to be identified? Cryptid researchers say that […]
The 1988 US Army commissioned report on Enhancing Human Performance
It was news to me that back in 1985, the US Army commissioned an analysis of certain techniques that were proposed to enhance human performance. The Army Research Institute asked […]
Rock and roll and the occult – A Book Review
Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll by Peter Berbegal (2014) Saved it from what? I’m not clear. From “sugary teenybopper purgatory”? Meh. I don’t think […]
Warnings of impending danger: Science and Social Factors
Natural disasters happen every day. The people who can help prepare society for them are not psychics or crank pseudoscientists but those who study events inside out and upside down […]
Reality Check: We all need it (Book review)
There are some writers for which you know pretty much exactly what you are going to get. Donald R. Prothero is one of those writers. I expect a well-researched, comprehensive […]
American gypsy psychics: Book review
I was enticed to read this book, American Gypsy, by Oksana Marafioti, after the Rose Marks trial. Marks was from an infamous Romani family who had repeatedly been charged and […]
Arrogant ignorance In the Name of God: Book Review
Christian Science-based faith healing communities in U.S. today are failures of their own self-destructive ideas. At least that’s the conclusion you can’t help but make when a group sacrifices their […]
Count von Count’s arithromania
Count von Count got his counting habit from vampire folklore.
Going off-track: A visit to the paranormal side of Dragon Con
I have finally experienced Dragon Con, the world’s largest sci-fi/fantasy convention, which was held August 31 to Sept 3 in Atlanta, Georgia. Encompassing 5 hotels and including 40,000 or so […]
Your friendly neighborhood mon$ter
In a post on Skeptoid blog, I suggest that paranormal-based tourism, such as ghost tours and monster festivals, which are growing in popularity, border on fraud. “Even if there are […]
Cryptids in music-related logos
I was noticing something… First the Sasquatch music festival, now RockNess. Cool. Besides their use in TV and print advertising, famous cryptids are being associated with not only local fairs […]
Chupacabra gets a necropsy: Ben Radford’s new book does the dirty work
We were given a teaser of the stunning new findings about the chupacabra in Ben Radford’s preceding book Scientific Paranormal Investigation, which I reviewed here. I was excited to dig […]
Paranormal-themed nonfiction TV: A list
I was writing an article when I realized I needed a clear idea about when this whole amateur investigation reality-television thing became popular. So, I started a list. (I’m a […]
It “appears as if” the world is ending
Remember that the year began with mass animal deaths? It continued with revolution in the Middle East. And, poor Australia was hit with the wrath of the gods. (What did […]
Continuing miseducation classes
Where can you learn Photoshop, CPR and Civil War history all in one place at a reasonable price? Continuing education offerings at local community colleges include useful courses in computer and […]