The earthquakes in New Jersey were unexpected and frightening. The events added to the general nervousness from the population prone to catastrophe thinking.
Category: Pseudoscience
Eclipse Anxiety 2024
Amidst misinformation surrounding the April 8 solar eclipse, many in the US succumb to unfounded fears. While eclipses are natural, predictable phenomena, rumors of catastrophes, like earthquakes and power outages, persist. Authorities prepare for human, not celestial, issues as crowds gather to view the event. Though there isn’t a connection between such natural events and disasters, superstitions and doomsday predictions thrive, exploiting public misunderstanding and religious sentiments.
The coelacanth as a red herring
This post is updated from its original publication in 2009.– SH In researching three areas of what I concluded were mostly “scientifical” fields of inquiry for my book – cryptozoology, […]
Ghost Studies and Lightforms: A review of two paranormal research books
Long ago, my interest in paranormal topics became jaded because popular books were repetitive, full of the same information and stories as the last one. For decades, books written on […]
Believers are the majority: Paranormal acceptance in America is rising
The results of the 2018 Chapman University survey of American Fears have been released and they suggest that America (that is, even well-educated America) is even more accepting of the […]
Sometimes, an alien artifact is just a rock
Paranormal investigators often lament the lack of scientific interest in anomalous or paranormal claims. Many have stated they want to contribute to a shift in thinking about these anomalies, to […]
Why the Darwin Awards Should Die
The Darwin Awards are a commodification of callous ghoulishness that celebrates people’s death and misfortune.
The “Stone Tape Theory” of hauntings: A geological perspective
The Stone Tape “Theory” is touted regularly as a potential explanation for residual hauntings. Is it scientific? What does a geologist think about it?
Confusing speculative “language of stone” (Book Review)
I’m researching the history of the Stone Tape “theory” of haunting for my Spooky Geology site. It’s something I’ve been working on in bits and pieces for several years now. I’ve […]
Animal Planet’s Monster Week tones down the hype for 2016
It’s business as usual at Animal Planet channel. It’s Monster Week. You know, it’s not that bad to air shows like The Cannibal in the Jungle for one week or on […]
Paranormal investigators and Velikovsky sound similarly sciencey
In January 2013, I wrote about Immanuel Velikovsky, Worlds in Collision, and pseudoscience, referencing Michael Gordin’s excellent book The Pseudoscience Wars (2012). Well, I’m writing about it again, to be included in […]
The State of the Science: Parapsychology (Book Review)
In October of last year I wrote a blog post about a review of a new parapsychology compendium. Finally, I’ve gotten to read the entire book referenced for myself, cover […]
A Guide to Ghost Hunting Guidebooks: NO MORE! Please!
This might come as a shock to the millions of ghost enthusiasts out there: The scientific consensus is that ghosts are NOT spirits, remnants of the dead, recordings of energy, or […]
The stupidiocy of Ancient Aliens for kids (Book Review)
There are few good skeptical books for kids. But there are a shit-ton of terrible books promoting mystery and pseudoscientific nonsense aimed at kids or those getting started exploring a paranormal […]
Parapsychology continues to fail to impress reviewers
A correspondent clued me in to what he called a “devastating commentary on parapsychology.” I agree. The review on the Magonia Review of Books meshes with what I had written in June 2014 when […]
Sciencey: People get it
In the course of writing, there are times when you have to either create a new word because there isn’t just the right one coined yet or you adopt a […]
100 Things Popular Science Thinks Science Got Wrong, but Didn’t Quite
I was in the grocery checkout line a few weeks ago. I sometimes scan the magazine rack impulse grabs but never buy them. This week, the crop circle cover photo […]
I know, not just believe, this book is nonsense: Book Review
Sometimes publishers and authors send me stuff. I’m not sure why they think I’ll suddenly be open to unscientific, fringe ideas about how the world works and overthrow what we […]
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 […]
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 […]