Videos purporting to show the rare natural phenomenon of ball lightning are popping up on social media. Are they real or fake?
Category: Unexplained
Weird news and mystery booms for the end of 2022
Here we are in a new year! Let’s hope it’s a good one. Coming soon is a new post about what I did on vacation. I was looking for interesting […]
Dead bulls generate media BS
News outlets have picked up and run with the story of five bulls (Hereford bovines) that have died under mysterious circumstances near Salem, Oregon last July. I’m not sure why […]
Stone-throwing wall-thumpers: Review of Australian Poltergeists
Paul Cropper sent me a copy of his new book with co-author Tony Healy, Australian Poltergeist: The Stone-throwing Spook of Humpty Doo and Many Other Cases. He must have known […]
Unexplained terminology Explained: ‘Paranormal’ versus ‘Supernatural’
Paranormal investigators say they look for evidence of paranormal activity. That phrase always confounded me. I don’t quite get it. What does it mean when someone says they have evidence […]
Scientist states he has explanation(s) for sky noise but it only sounds sciencey
I’ve been closely following the story of strange noises from the sky that flared up in January. I wrote about them on Doubtful News (now defunct). The noises are widespread, varied […]
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 […]
Research groups’ useful social function is not “being scientific”
The LA Times reports on the MUFON conference with the headline “convention emphasizes scientific methods”. The reporter then skewers this idea by showing how at least some of the attendees […]
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 […]
Monster Stories from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is the locale for oodles of strange stories, from the ghosts of Gettysburg to Thunderbirds of the northern forests, from the Jersey Devil sightings along the Delaware to UFOs […]
Everyone panic. Or not.
A few weeks ago, I moved my desk next to an upstairs window overlooking a Bradford pear tree. For the past 3 weeks, when I sat at the desk during […]
Studying modern day amateur scientists and researchers or “What the hell was that?”
I’m off inside my own head these days… My main project is my Masters’ thesis in Science and the Public. I started gathering data this summer; fall will be consumed […]
Weird things road trip
Spent 10 hours driving through north central PA and upstate NY today. I saw an incredible sunrise over the Susquehanna River, the misty mountains and valleys north of Williamsport and […]
Solving Unexplained Mysteries: A review of “Scientific Paranormal Investigation” by B. Radford
This past March, I registered for a seminar on Scientific Paranormal Investigation at CFI – Washington, DC. Ben Radford was presenting and the event description mentioned his upcoming book of […]
Pennsylvania bigfoot sighting – just a story?
Cryptomundo is reporting a bigfoot (or dogman-type creature) sighting the occurred in western Pennsylvania on July 10. The report should say “Jumonville” not Jammonville. This area east of Uniontown is […]
Elbowing in
Continuing with “Sham Inquiry” Elbowing in on good science The Journal of Scientific Exploration is the published by the Society for Scientific Exploration which describes itself as “a professional organization […]
Ghost Hunting – Sham Inquiry
Thousands of eyewitnesses report ghostly encounters from ancient history to modern times. Contact with the dead is very much part of our modern culture. With the expansion of television content […]
Pretend science
Playing Pretend Science In order to be technical, like science, pseudoscientists engage in a method of data gathering that is not haphazard or lazy. Intricate collection and analysis is often […]
Weak evidence
Quality of evidence A frequent complaint from the fringe is that the scientific community is dismissive of the actual evidence for their extraordinary claim. Proponents of psi or UFOs will […]
Book Review: Ghost Hunters
A review of a popular treatment of psyhics and ghost hunters.