Re: SI DIGEST 11/5/197
SkeptInq@aol.com
Wed, 5 Nov 1997 14:48:49 -0500
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER ELECTRONIC DIGEST
November 5, 1997.
SI Electronic Digest is the weekly e-mail news update of the Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.)
www.csicop.org.
The Digest is written and compiled by Matthew Nisbet and Barry Karr. Send
comments and news to SINISBET@aol.com.
In this week's edition:
1. Dave Thomas Cracks _The Bible Code_ In People Magazine.
2. Launch of New Journal Receives Widespread Media Attention.
3. BBC's Equinox exposes "Secrets of the Psychics."
4. Center for Inquiry- International Probes Dr. Frankenstein.
5. Center for Inquiry- Midwest Conference Successful.
6. Commentary: Joe Nickell on "Haunted Minds."
1. DAVE THOMAS CRACKS THE _BIBLE CODE_ IN PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Nov. 3, 1997-- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER consulting editor Dave Thomas and his
critique of Michael Drosnin's best-selling _The Bible Code_ (SI
November/December 1997) were featured in a Nov. 3 People magazine article.
Thomas is quoted as saying that when heard Drosnin's prophetic assertions,
"My baloney detector went off three-alarm." The article relates how Thomas
programmed his home computer to find the same kind of "hidden messages" in
other texts. "Applying scientific methods to the Bible [is] demeaning to
religion and dangerous to science" says Thomas.
2. LAUNCH OF NEW JOURNAL RECEIVES WIDESPREAD MEDIA ATTENTION
October 14, 1997-- At the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Prometheus
Books and the Council for Scientific Medicine held a press conference to
launch the official debut of the Journal for the Scientific Review of
Alternative Medicine. The only peer-reviewed medical journal devoted
exclusively to objectively evaluating the claims of "Alternative Medicine",
the Review has been endorsed by over 50 prominent physicians and scientists,
including 5 Nobel laureates.
The Review's debut received international coverage that included CNN, USA
Today, Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, Fox News, and the journals Science and Nature.
"The new journal will consider each claim on its merits," says Review Editor
Wallace Sampson, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Stanford University.
"It will reject no claim because it fits, or fails to fit, some paradigm.
It will simply seek justified answers to two questions: 'Is it true?' and
'Does this treatment work?'"
Topics covered in the first issue include homeopathy, therapeutic touch, the
alleged anticancer cure hydrazine sulfate, chelation therapy, Deepak Chopra's
claims regarding quantum healing, alternative medicine proponent Andrew Weil,
and more.
To subscribe to the journal call Prometheus Books at 1800-421-0351. Media
inquiries may be directed to Executive Editor Lewis Vaughn at 716-636-7571.
3. BBC'S EQUINOX EXPOSES "SECRETS OF THE PSYCHICS."
BBC's "Equinox" recently aired a four-part series titled "Secrets of the
Psychics." A breath of fresh air to skeptics worldwide, the "Equinox" series
was an exceptional mix of entertaining, educational and skeptical treatment
of the history of psychics.
Featuring CSICOP fellows Ray Hyman and Susan Blackmore along with many other
prominent skeptics, the series covered the history of spiritualism and
psychics from the Fox sisters to Uri Geller. "Equinox" blended colorful
skeptical commentary with illuminating dramatizations and explanations of
famous mediums and their art of illusion. "Equinox" also takes the viewer
inside the laboratory and shows how easily test subjects may be fooled. The
series even reveals a few magician tricks! BBC's production is likely to
become an important future video reference work on the history of
spiritualism and psychics.
4. CENTER FOR INQUIRY- INTERNATIONAL PROBES DR. FRANKENSTEIN
October 31, 1997-- Halloween eve, the Center for Inquiry- International in
Amherst, New York, hosted "Frankenstein and its Implications." Free Inquiry
Editor Timothy J. Madigan and Canisius College Anthropology Professor James
Birx lectured on Mary Shelly's classic tale and its connection to
contemporary issues like cloning. Afterwards, the costumed crowd of more than
130 were treated to a viewing of the original 1931 "Frankenstein" film
classic.
5. CENTER FOR INQUIRY- MIDWEST CONFERENCE SUCCESSFUL
October 24-26, 1997-- Over 60 skeptics and humanists from six states
traveled to Kansas City to attend the Center for Inquiry-Midwest's "Science
and the Culture Wars," a conference dedicated to the promotion of "science
and reason in an irrational world." One highlight of the weekend was a debate
with three invited creationists. CFI-Midwest director Verle Muhrer begged
fellow skeptics to be kind. While humans share more than 90 percent of their
genetic makeup with chimpanzees, he pointed out, "we're 100 percent
genetically identical to the creationists." The conference raised more than
$10,000 towards the construction of a proposed new CFI-Midwest building and
was featured in an Associated Press article that ran nationwide.
6. HAUNTED PLACES OR HAUNTED MINDS?
Joe Nickell
The imprecise category of alleged phenomena known as ghosts has fired the
popular imagination since earliest times. Indeed, with Halloween, images of
apparitions may be as common as falling leaves. Poltergeists disturb
television, ghouls decorate stor
fronts, and disembodied spirits chill listeners to fireside stories.
As part of human nature, there exists a primal craving to believe in the
transcendental. Much as America is intrigued by aliens, belief in ghosts is
pervasive. A 1990 Gallup poll revealed that 29% of Americans believe that
houses can be haunted, and 25% believe that ghosts or spirits of dead people
come back in certain places and situations.
Given such surprisingly high percentages of gullibility, America has become
a lucrative market for ghost claims. Maybe the most famous, and certainly
the most mass-marketed tale of haunting is that of the alleged "Amityville
Horror." In December, 1974, George and Kathy Lutz moved into a new home in
Amityville, New York, a community on Long Island. Twenty-eight days later,
the Lutzes fled the house, claiming they had been driven from their home by
sinister forces that had
ripped open a two-hundred and fifty pound door, caused green slime to ooze
from the ceiling, peered into the house at night with red eyes, left
cloven-hooved tracks in the snow outside, and produced other ostensibly
paranormal phenomena, including commanding in a masculine voice, "Get out!"
The claimed impetus for the demonic haunting? Little more than a year
earlier in November 1973, the house had been the site of tragic murders.
Ronald Defeo had shot to death his parents, two sisters, and two brothers.
At trial, Defeo had claimed he had heard voices in the house instructing him
to kill.
Soon a book was in the offing. The Amityville Horror, boldly
subtitled A True Story, came out in 1977 and promptly went through
thirteen printings by 1978. In July of 1979, the book was released as
a box-office movie hit, leading to multiple sequels still in video
release today. But upon release of the film, the Lutz's attorney,
William Weber, revealed that the elaborate tale was a hoax. "We
created this horror story over many bottles of wine that George Lutz
was drinking," Weber told the Associated Press. "We were really
playing with each other. We were creating something the public wanted
to hear about."
Since the public certainly does crave ghost stories and tales that
supposedly elude worldly explanation, it is wise to hold to methods of
inquiry that evaluate such claims rationally and scientifically. In over
twenty years of ghostbusting, an international organization, the Committee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) has
identified several types of alleged hauntings. In some instances, the
phenomenon is merely an illusion or misperception. For example, at Toronto's
historic Mackenzie House, late at night, ghostly footfalls on the stairs were
heard by different caretaker families even though there were no intruders in
the house at the time. Investigation revealed the sounds were coming from a
parallel iron staircase in the building next door, and that the unknown
entities were members of the cleanup crew.
Another common haunting phenomenon is a simple type of hallucination. It is
typified by another example from the Mackenzie House, when a caretaker's wife
woke to see a man in a frock coat standing by her bedside. In such cases,
although the witness' eyes are open, he or she may nevertheless be dreaming,
resulting in a vivid experience known as a "waking dream."
In addition to the bedside phantom, some percipients report seeing
apparitions-- "as real as real"-- while clearly awake. Such persons
sometimes even have a personal, household ghost or "familiar", and may be
classified as fantasy-prone personalities.
These individuals may also assume identities as self-styled mediums or
psychics, religious visionaries, or UFO abductees.
Then there are the deliberate hoaxes. Poltergeist ("noisy spirit") cases
tend to be of this type. Often the disruptive phenomena, such as objects
flung across a room or lights turned off and on, can be traced to a child in
the household. While credulous parapsychologists generally attribute the
disturbances to energy forces associated with puberty, the evidence of
numerous cases reveals the effects are actually deliberate acts of hostility
or means of attracting attention. For example, in 1848 in Hydesville, New
York, it was reported that the ghost of a murdered peddler mischievously
haunted the Fox family home. Publicity surrounding the disturbances sparked
the 19th century spiritualist movement, and only decades later was it learned
that the ghost was an elaborate hoax perpetrated by two young girls in the
home, Maggie and Katie Fox.
The power of suggestion is a major influence in spreading ghostly reports.
One witness may persuade another of an event, a phenomenon known by the
French expression folie a deux or "folly of two", or there may be a bandwagon
effect involving many persons, a type of influence called psychological
contagion. In the case of a haunted lodge near Santa Cruz, California, for
instance, where ghostly antics were reportedly proliferating, the owner
recognized how the "ghost" was really influencing his staff: that's all they
talk about," he told SKEPTICAL INQUIRER magazine. As a centerpiece of
conversation, tales of ghosts and spirits fed off each other, prompting and
supporting further speculation among the staff about strange happenings and
perceived occurences.
Again, years ago at Liberty Hall in Frankfort, Kentucky, the curator thought
spooky tales were good for business and the staff promoted belief in ghosts
at every opportunity, the result being constant reports of alleged spirit
phenomena-- imagined taps on the shoulder, cold spots, and so on. But when a
subsequent curator placed a moratorium on such hustling of the public, the
haunting reports dwindled. Liberty Hall is not unique. Hundreds of haunted
businesses dot the American landscape. From New Castle, Delaware, to Eureka,
California, other curators, innkeepers and restaurateurs market the
supernatural to snare wayward travelers.
Over the centuries, people's perceptions of ghosts have evolved. Each
historic period perceives an apparition in terms of its own cultural
attitude. During the Inquisition, sightings featured souls trapped in
purgatory. The Victorian age brought visions of silent gray ladies, while
modern day reports include everything from sightings of tragically killed
children to turn-of-the-millennium demons. Skepticism of extraordinary
claims like those of hauntings, however, should remain constant. So next
time you hear a tale of a haunted house, or if at some astounding moment you
think you have witnessed a ghost, resist the temptation to instantly believe,
and always insist that verifiable, sound evidence be provided.
------
Joe Nickell is Senior Research Fellow-- and ghostbuster-- for the Committee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is
author of the books Entities, Secrets of the Supernatural, and fifteen other
investigative books.
e has over 20 years experience in investigating hauntings and haunted
places. www.csicop.org.
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CSICOP is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to the
critical examination and investigation of claims of the paranormal and fringe
science. Founded in 1976, CSICOP is always receptive to departures in
thought, yet insists that they be tested before they are accepted. The
bi-monthly journal the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, The Magazine for Science And
Reason , is the main forum for publication of these inquiries. Both CSICOP
and the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER are based at the Center For Inquiry, Amherst N.Y.
www.csicop.org
To subscribe to SKEPTICAL INQUIRER call 1 800-634-1510.
Media inquiries can be directed to Matthew Nisbet at 716-636-1425.