Sham Inquiry

As part of a research project, I looked at the phenomenon of sham inquiry. It’s when pseudoscience or a marketing scheme dresses up to look like science in order to add credibility. The public can be easily fooled – they think if you look like this: …you must be a scientist. Well, that’s obviously not……

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Animals hearing the earth whispers again

Earthquake in Illinois! Is this the end times? Hot-underground-fictional-place-for-sinners, no! And, I’ll go on record to say End Times stories are totally silly. The world has been going downhill since we humans got here in (more-or-less) present form a million years ago. Enough of that tangent. It was just to get attention anyway. It’s pretty……

Mythic Creatures in NYC

I visited the Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids exhibit on Saturday at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Here are my thoughts from it. I’ve been to this museum many times. It’s packed on a pleasant Saturday. If you go, I suggest you go early. Before I went to this section, I……

What might U Be?

Peruse this in the USA Today’s list of top 10 Haunted hikes. New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve/Wharton State Forest “Since 1735, hundreds have seen or heard a yellow-eyed creature with a bat’s wings, a dragon’s breath and a kangaroo’s tail that, according to legend, makes the Pine Barrens its home,” Lankford says. To improve your……

Deconstructing ‘scoftic’

To preface, I’m not against new words. I’ve shared my love of witty neologisms such as the portmanteau words “blobjects”, “blobsquatch”, “blurfos” and the like. In those cases, we can describe ‘something that is not accurately depicted’. And, something that can’t speak for itself. The buzz on Cryptomundo has developed over using the word “scoftic”,……

New Jersey Blobcat

Check out this story from New Jersey.  More big black cats roaming the suburbs? This one is hard to tell from the pictures, thus, we call it a “blobcat” (another fabulous neologism coined by a comment contributor to Cryptomundo). As I posted before, we can’t make positive identifications from poor records. Though, I would hazard……

What is the nature of the Fortean – Darwinism connection?

This is a really interesting question. After just grabbing at the loose thread, I feel like there is a whole sweater left to unravel! I’d like more info on Fort, Darwinism and the creationist connection. I’m looking for help from readers far and wide. I already have the works of Fort but am interested in……

Fortean = anti-evolution? Shouldn’t be.

The topic of creationism nearly makes me retch. I hate arguing about it, I hate even acknowledging that the fight even exists because it shouldn’t. I must vent so indulge me. The debate between creationists and evolutionists rages on these days over at Cryptomundo in a post opened solely for the two teams to duke……

Book Review: Ghost Hunters

Book review: Ghost Hunters by Deborah Blum, 2006 No EMF meters, infrared cameras or orbs here. If you want that, consult How to Hunt Ghosts by Joshua Warren (a curious read, in my opinion). This book is about the history of the Society of Psychical Research (British and American versions). My favorite books on this……

Whispers…Part 3 Anomalies and a new science

This is Part 3 of 3. The entire series is available as a PDF at my website. Centuries of scientific and popular observations has given us a body of anecdotes peppered with actual physical measurements and recordings of anomalous phenomena occurring prior to large earthquakes. This fact is not in doubt. It has become well……

Book Review: Lake Monster Mysteries

Book Review: Lake Monster Mysteries By Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell 2006, University Press of Kentucky How many good books about the world of lake monsters are out there? If you discount the plethora of Loch Ness books, not many. One with a skeptical tone was absolutely needed. This book is not lengthy – I……

Whispers…Part 2

Of all the natural disasters we experience regularly here on Earth, the most violent and destructive are earthquakes. Thousands are killed each year, especially in poorer countries where buildings are not designed to withstand the violent shaking and rolling of the ground. I’ll continue my discussion of currently unexplainable or poorly explained phenomena that have……

Whispers from the Earth

I spent a significant portion of my reading time the past year researching the latest ideas about earthquake prediction. I’ve always been fascinated by reports of earthquake lights and animal behavior foreshadowing a quake. One of my favorite books is “When the Snakes Awake” by Helmut Tributsch. I recently reread it and it prompted me……

Unexplained Blobjects

I love when a creative word is coined that so neatly (and humorously) describes a cultural meme that needs describing. Several months ago, I came across a favorite new word, my neologism of the year. Blobsquatch While examining the questionable Sasquatch (Bigfoot) photos that pop up regularly on the Cryptomundo blog, I was introduced to……