SI DIGEST 9-10-98
SkeptInq@aol.com
Thu, 10 Sep 1998 16:06:53 EDT
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER ELECTRONIC DIGEST
September 10, 1998
SI Electronic Digest is the biweekly e-mail news update of the Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.) Visit
<A HREF="http://www.csicop.org/">http://www.csicop.org</A>
The Digest is written and edited by Matthew Nisbet and Barry Karr. SI Digest
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CSICOP publishes the bimonthly SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, The Magazine for Science
and Reason. The Sept/Oct 1998 issue features a special section titled "What
are the Chances?" and includes articles on coincidences, numerology and
calculated risks.
To subscribe at the $17.95 introductory Internet price, go to:
<A HREF="http://www.csicop.org/si/subscribe/">
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Or call 1800-634-1610 (1-716-646-1425 outside the US).
--CSICOP Announces Research Scholarship
--Council for Media Integrity Webpage Launched
--TNT to Air New UFO Special
--CSICOP Goes to Yale in Effort to Heat Up Campuses with Skepticism
--NY Times Science Examines False Memory Debate in Child Abuse Cases
--False Memory Syndrome Foundation Press Release
--OPINION: Faith or Deception in the Audrey Santos Miracle Case
--Tampa Bay Skeptics to Test Psychic
CSICOP ANNOUNCES RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
and The University of Hertfordshire are pleased to announce the creation of
the CSICOP Research Scholarship.
This three year scholarship will fund a Ph.D. student to carry out research
related to psychology and skepticism. Possible topics could, for example,
include:
The critical evaluation of evidence for the paranormal
The psychology of deception, lying and fraud
Eyewitness testimony and the paranormal
The psychology of belief in the paranormal
The media and the paranormal
Communicating science to the public
This research will be conducted under the supervision of Dr Richard Wiseman
at the Psychology Department of the University of Hertfordshire(UK). Dr
Wiseman currently heads a research unit specializing in the scientific
examination of alleged paranormal phenomena and related topics. The Unit has a
well established record of research and postgraduate training program. The
University is located just North of London, is well equipped to support
research students and has an excellent record of Ph.D. completion.
Applicants should have a good first degree in Psychology or relevant
discipline, and be able to demonstrate an interest in skepticism.
Further details can be obtained from Dr Richard Wiseman, University of
Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts., AL10 9AB.
Direct tel: 01707 284628: Direct fax: 01707 285073:
E mail: psyqrw@herts.ac.uk
COUNCIL FOR MEDIA INTEGRITY WEBPAGE LAUNCHED
In an effort to track and facilitate response to the latest paranormal claims
to hit the print or electronic media, CSICOP has added the Council for Media
Integrity(CMI) webpage to WWW.CSICOP.ORG. The CMI page contains a schedule of
upcoming programming, links to viewer response and letter-to-editor e-mail
addresses for most major U.S. news outlets, a section for submitting and
posting reviews of programming and books, and web links to other media
watchdog sites. The page was created by CSICOP summer intern and Cornell
Skeptics founder Matthew Zimmerman (mrz1@cornell.edu), and CSICOP Webmaster
Patrick Fitzgerald.
You can check out the CMI webpage by going to
<A HREF="http://www.csicop.org/cmi/">http://www.csicop.org/cmi/</A>
TNT TO AIR "THE SECRET KGB UFO FILES"
Brace yourselves skeptics....TNT, infamous for its UFO specials, is about to
air another.
"The Secret KGB UFO Files"
Sunday, September 13 8pm(ET/PT)
Sunday, September 13 at 9:30pm(ET/PT)
Wednesday, September 16 at midnight(ET/PT)
Tuesday, September 22 at midnight (ET/PT)
Promotional material found at
<A HREF="http://tnt.turner.com/kgb/frame_index.html">
http://tnt.turner.com/kgb/frame_index.html</A> .
"For the first time ever, viewers learn what many consider to be the
terrifying truth about the Soviet Union's encounters with extraterrestrial
intelligence and UFOs in Russia, Romania, China, and the Eastern Bloc. Roger
Moore hosts this extraordinary special featuring never-before-seen footage of
what is believed to be actual crash sites and alien autopsies, first-hand
accounts with former agents of the KGB of UFO incidents, powerful re-creations
of alien encounters and first-time interviews with the experts who have seen
the documentation and know the truth. THE SECRET KGB UFO FILES paints a
disturbing picture of the KGB's hidden campaign and discloses startling
revelations that will forever change the way the world thinks about this
phenomenon."
"Experts" featured on the show include Stanton Friedman, Paul Stonehill, Dr.
Richard Haines, and Antonio Huneeus.
**SEND VIEWER COMMENTS TO: TNT@TURNER.COM**
Viewers can submit and post reviews of the show on CSICOP's new Council for
Media Integrity webpage by going to
<A HREF="http://www.csicop.org/cmi/reviews/submit.html">
http://www.csicop.org/cmi/reviews/submit.html</A>.
CSICOP GOES TO YALE IN EFFORT TO HEAT UP CAMPUS SKEPTICISM
On Thursday, September 3, CSICOP Public Relations Director Matt Nisbet spoke
to an assembly of close to sixty Yale University students on the topic of
"Skeptics Confront the X-Files: The Paranormal and the Media." Response was
overwhelming with a large article appearing in the Yale Daily News the next
day. Steve Novella of the New England Skeptics Society was on hand to discuss
how students can become involved locally and on campus. It appears that the
formation of a Yale Skeptics group is not too far away.
CSICOP is actively working to assist already existing campus skeptic groups
and help found others at campuses across the world. In fact, tonight marks
the inaugural meeting of the newly launched Cornell University Skeptics. If
you would like to find out more information about starting a group or how
CSICOP can help your already existing group, contact Matt Nisbet at
SINISBET@aol.com or call 716-636-1425 x219.
NY TIMES SCIENCE EXAMINES THE FALSE MEMORY/CHILD ABUSE DEBATE
The NY TIMES Science section for Tuesday, Sept. 8 offers a good article on
recent developments in the false memory debate in child abuse cases. You can
find it at:
<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/090898sci-
abuse.html">http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/090898sci-
abuse.html</A>
FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE
***The following is a press release from the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation. The press release is forwarded as a point of reference and holds
no endorsement, official or unofficial from CSICOP or any of its
publications***
CONTACT:
Pamela Freyd, Ph.D.,
Phone: 215-387-7944
FAX: 215-387-1917
_____________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHILADELPHIA, PA. On Tuesday, September 8, 1998, the first CRIMINAL
trial involving "false" or "recovered" memories will open in Houston, TX. A
sixty-count indictment has been brought against five former employees of
Spring Shadows Glen Hospital. One count is for conspiracy, the other 59 for
mail fraud. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine. Officials estimate the trial may go on for three months.
Named in the indictment are Dr. Judith Peterson, psychologist, Gloria Keraga
and Richard Seward, psychiatrists, therapist Sylvia Davis and hospital
administrator Jerry Mueck. The prosecution intends to establish that the
defendants (among other things):
Conspired to defraud health insurance providers of millions of
dollars for the treatment of patients falsely diagnosed as
suffering multiple personality disorder said to be caused by
severe ritualized sexual abuse in satanic cults
Paid several thousands of dollars out in health insurance
premiums to keep the patients' policies in effect with the
intent to file claims amounting millions of dollars against
these policies
Directed subordinate members of the clinical staff to falsify
patient records in order to justify these claims
Established a hospital ward with the express purpose to
defraud insurance carriers
Abused their status as professionals, applied techniques
associated with mind control or "brainwashing", used hypnosis,
administered drugs for untested uses and in untested dosages,
and used restraints to coerce patients into believing they had
been ritually abused in cults
Used the U.S. mails to send out fraudulent bills for treatment.
The prosecutor in the case is Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Eastepp. In a
copyrighted article in The Houston Chronicle of October 29, 1997, Eastepp said
the case is based on medical records and insurance billings for seven patients
treated at Spring Shadows Glen. The identities of the seven patients are not
revealed in the indictment, which refers to the patients by numbers. However,
all of the patients had generous or unlimited insurance policies.
According to the October 29 article by Mark Smith in The Houston Chronicle,
"more than a dozen other patients have made similar civil claims involving the
former Spring Shadows Glen Hospital." In August of 1997, plaintiff Lynn Carl
was awarded $5.8 million dollars by a federal jury for damages suffered as a
result of her treatment at Spring Shadow Glen, believed to be the second
highest award granted in a false memory case. Carl testified that during her
stay at Spring Shadow Glen she became convinced that she had 500 different
personalities as a result of ritual satanic abuse. In December, a similar suit
was settled against treaters and a major teaching hospital in Chicago for a
record $10.6 million.
NOTE: The False Memory Syndrome Foundation has established a website for the
use of media to follow this trial and other breaking news on this issue.
Check the website at: <A HREF="http://www.fmsfonline.org/">
http://www.fmsfonline.org/</A>
OPINION: FAITH OR DECEPTION
Joe Nickell
Senior Research Fellow, CSICOP
Author of Looking for a Miracle
The faithful are seeking miracles and finding them -- they believe -- in
unlikely forms and places. These include apparitions of the Virgin Mary (in
the Bosnian village of Medjugorje, beginning in 1981), bleeding statues and
crucifixes (Quebec, 1985), and the portrait of Mary seen in a splotch on a
tree (Los Angeles, 1992). Now there are reported healings and other
"miraculous" phenomena attending a teenage girl who exists in a near-coma
state in Worcester.
Pilgrims currently stream to the home of Audrey Santo who has been bedridden
since a 1987 near-drowning left her in an open-eyed but unresponsive state.
Visitors to the home chapel, converted from a garage, report healings after
being shown statues that drip oil and communion wafers that bear smears of
blood.
Skeptics may not be guilty of excessive doubt when they wonder how and why a
tragic figure who cannot heal herself is able to heal others. And tests of the
oil only add to the skepticism. Although the Santo family report it as
mysterious and unidentifiable, analysis of one sample by a Pittsburgh
laboratory revealed it to be 80 percent vegetable oil and 20 percent chicken
fat.
While many -- but not all -- miracle reports are Catholic, the Church is
often skeptical of such extra-canonical phenomena. It has distanced itself
from Medjugorje (where six children supposedly conversed with the Virgin
Mary), and the local bishop proclaimed the affair a fraud. Similarly a
clerical commission that investigated a weeping and perambulating statue in
Thorton, California, in 1981 attributed the phenomena to probable hoaxing.
In fact, in the 14th chapter of Daniel (in Catholic bibles) is the story of
an animated idol of Baal. King Cyrus believed that the idol's consumption of
food and drink placed before it daily was proof of its genuineness. Daniel,
however, explained that the idol was only clay and brass "and it never ate or
drank anything."
Cyrus arranged a test in which the temple was sealed after the food was
placed, but Daniel had the floor covered with ashes. Morning came and, while
the food was gone, footsteps in the ashes led to hidden doors used by the
priests and their families.
This story is an effective prohibition against animated icons and other
effigies, which cross a theological line into idolatry -- that is, worship of
an image as if it were the real model rather than merely a symbol.
Appropriately, the news media have exposed many claims. For example, newsmen
from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation were able to borrow one of the
Quebec effigies and to have it scientifically analyzed. The blood had been
mixed with pork fat so that, when the room warmed from pilgrims' body heat,
the mixture would liquefy and run like tears. A more innocent explanation was
afforded the tree-splotch "Virgin" in Los Angeles: A tree expert determined a
fungus was responsible.
There seems, however, little incentive for Church prelates to adopt a
critical stance. The clerics who investigated the perambulating statue in
California, for example, were denounced for their efforts by many religious
believers who called them "a bunch of devils."
In the Santo case, the Worcester bishop has appointed a theologian and two
psychologists to investigate, but in light of the past perhaps a team of
magicians and scientists would seem more appropriate.
Although we live in a scientific age, there has been a resurgence in magical
thinking, resulting in a revival of religious fundamentalism, the rise of the
"New Age" movement, and an increase in "miracle" claims. The appeal is
widespread, although it may be especially strong among the economically
disadvantaged, where human despair and superstition may coexist. (The Santo
phenomena, for example, took place in the midst of Portuguese immigrant
families.)
People seem to hunger for some tangible religious experience, and wherever
there is such profound want there is the opportunity for what skeptics call
"pious fraud." Money is rarely the primary motive, the usual impetus being to
renew the faith of believers and confound the doubters. An end-justifies-the-
means attitude may prevail, but the genuinely religious and the devoutly
skeptical may agree on one thing, that the truth must serve as both the means
and the end. Ultimately, neither science nor religion can be served by a
deceptive approach.
Joe Nickell, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow of the international Committee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and
author or editor of sixteen investigative books on investigation including
Looking for a Miracle (Prometheus Books).
TAMPA BAY SKEPTICS TO TEST PSYCHIC
A "psychic" has come forward to be tested for the Tampa Bay Skeptics "$1,000
Challenge." The test is scheduled to take place in Tampa on September 19.
For full details, see the TBS website's "Challenges" page
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/tbayskept/challenges.html">http://members.aol.
com/tbayskept/challenges.html</A>