by Joe Nickell
In a section called “Psychic Powers,” readers are told that “after cutlery-bending Yuri [sic] Geller’s first British broadcast on 23 November 1973, children began to discover their own paranormal powers.” They could bend metal objects like nails and keys, and perform other feats, “seemingly just by thinking hard” (170). A photograph in physicist John Taylor’s 1975 book Superminds showed a seven-year-old boy’s supposed psychokinetically bent fork and spoon. Alas, as reported by Martin Gardner (1979-1980), the little psychokinetic marvels were actually exhibiting “kindergarten principles of deception.” Observed secretly, the children simply bent the metal in the usual way. A boy used both hands to bend a spoon, while a little girl placed the end of a rod under her foot.
Under “Poltergeists,” the forteans include the 1984 case of Tina Resch, the Columbus, Ohio, 14-year-old who seemed startled by airborne telephone receivers and other flying objects (Sisman 1992, 77). Although reporters and parapsychologists were duped, some photographs and television newstapes captured Tina in the act of toppling a lamp and producing other effects, and a television technician saw her surreptitiously move a table with her foot. Investigator James Randi characterized her at the time as a disturbed teenager (Randi 1985). A decade later, Tina Resch Boyer was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her three-year-old daughter (Frazier 1995).
The mysteriously swirled patterns in southwest English grain fields known as crop circles are discussed from various perspectives, but the evidence for hoaxing gets short shrift: “Numerous attempts by crusading sceptics and newspapermen,” states the book, “have failed abysmally to mimic the crop circle phenomenon, which is widely perceived as a hoax.” The book concludes: “If it is some kind of practical joke, then the organization behind it outstrips the Mafia, KGB and Illuminati combined” (Sisman 1992, 110). Actually, in 1991, “two jovial con men in their sixties” admitted that they had launched and nurtured the hoax, in which they had been followed by many others in a bandwagon or copycat effect. The hoaxers quickly fooled circle “experts” who declared bogus patterns authentic (Nickell and Fischer 1992).
As these examples show, many of the claims in Incredible Stories do not withstand scrutiny. In addition, numerous tales lack specific names, places, dates, or source citations that might make further investigation possible. Such accounts suffer a lack of credibility as severe as the several pieces that rely on absurd tabloid sources like Weekly World News.
And then there are the simply outrageous assertions, like the unqualified statement that in 1951 Mary Reeser of St. Petersburg, Florida, “spontaneously combusted.” Noting “evidence of the extraordinarily fierce heat, inexplicably contained,” the book offers a dubious suggestion that there might have been a connection with “an intense geomagnetic storm” (Sisman 1992, 57). As the forteans could have learned from the Summer 1987 Skeptical Inquirer, Mrs. Reeser’s death was not so mysterious. She was last seen smoking a cigarette after having taken sleeping pills—hers was thus an accident waiting to happen. The large stuffed chair she sat in and her own considerable body fat obviously contributed to the destruction, and the fact that the floor and walls of her efficiency apartment were made of concrete doubtless limited the fire’s spread. By leaving out such details, Incredible Stories undermines fortean arguments against the scientific method.
The forteans must know that it takes little effort to launch an incredible claim, whereas serious, prolonged investigation is frequently required to get to the bottom of a mystery. Although there are legitimate enigmas that should not be dismissed out of hand, forteans have a responsibility not to make frivolous claims. Like the boy who cried wolf, they may find themselves without credibility.
REFERENCES
Fort, Charles. [1941] 1974. The Complete Books of Charles Fort. Reprinted New York: Dover.
Frazier, Kendrick. 1995. “Columbus poltergeist” Tina Resch imprisoned in daughter’s murder. Skeptical Inquirer 19, no. 2 (March/April): 3.
Gardner, Martin. 1979-1980. The extraordinary metal bending of Professor Taylor. Skeptical Inquirer 4, no. 2 (Winter): 67-72.
Gibson, Walter. 1967. Secrets of Magic Ancient and Modern. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
———. 1997. Mystery of the crystal tears. Skeptical Inquirer 21, no. 3 (May/ June): 16-17.
Nickell, Joe, and John F. Fischer. 1992. The crop-circle phenomenon: An investigative report. Skeptical Inquirer 16, no. 2 (Winter): 136-49.
Randi, James. 1985. The Columbus poltergeist case. Skeptical Inquirer 9, no. 3 (Spring): 221-35.
Sisman, Adam. [1992] 1998. Incredible Stories: The Best of Fortean Times. Reprinted New York: Barnes & Noble.
Taylor, John. 1975. Superminds. New York: The Viking Press.
Index
abduction, by aliens. See UFO
abductions
Ablaze! The Mysterious Fires of
Spontaneous Human Combustion
(Arnold)
Aborigines
Dreamtime
yowie
accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)
dating, Shroud of Turin
acupressure
acupuncture
Adler, Alan
Adolph and Rudolph
African religion, and voodoo
aftercatch, carnivals
Afterlife, The (Randies and Hough)
Alexander of Svira
Alfonso VI, king of Spain
alien hybrid
DNA testing
aliens. See extraterrestrials
Allen, Steve
Allen, Thomas B.
Alligator Boys and Girls
Allison, Dorothy
discrediting
Altea, Rosemary
altered states. See consciousness, altered
states; fantasyprone personality;
hypnopompic/hypnagogic
hallucinations; lucid dreaming;
sleep paralysis
Alvarez, Luis
American Institutes for Research
(AIR), remotevie wing research
American Museum (New York)
American Psychological Journal,
Amityville Horror: A True Story (Anson)
Amityville horror
DeFeo murders
haunting, manifestations of
as hoax
Amityville II: The Possession (Anson)
anatomical wonders, carnivals
Anderson, George
angels
aliens as
psychological rationale
animals
carnival attraction
cryptids
mutilation and El Chupacabras (the
goatsucker)
pet mediums
pet psychics
psi research of
psychic pets
real versus swamp monsters
sacrifice, voodoo
talking animals
Anson, Jay
apparitions
and altered state of consciousness
See also ghosts; visitations, of dead
Appearances of the Dead: A Cultural
History of Ghosts (Finucane)
apports, meaning of
apports trick
method of trickery
Archer, Mike
Arnold, Larry E.
Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE)
astral travel. See out-of-body experiences
astrology
challenging claims
signs of zodiac
Atasha the Gorilla Girl
Atlantis
auditory hallucinations, and waking
dreams
aura
of animals
scientific nature of
Australia
cryptids
Fisher’s ghost
Hyde Park Barracks haunting
Rookwood Cemetery
and channeling
See also Writing, unknown sources
Aveni, Anthony F.
Aztecs, conversion to Catholicism
BaimaBollone, Pierluigi
Baker,Robert A.
Ballard, Chris
bally, of carnival
Banks, Elmore Lee
Banner of Light,
Barber, Theodore X.
Bard, Ron, Barnum effect
Barnum, P. T.
bearded ladies
Bigfoot, size of tracks
Bigfootlike creatures
sasquatch
tracks of
yeti
yowie
billet reading
methods and trickery
birth defects
carnival oddities
past explanations of
birthmarks
Bishop, Father Raymond J.
Blackmore, Kent
bladebox illusion
Blatty, William Peter
Blavatsky, Helena P., as fantasyprone
personality
Blitz, Antonio
Blood and the Shroud, The (Wilson)
blowoff, carnivals
BLT Research Team
bogeyman
origin of term
voodoo
Boggy Bayou monster
Bogle, Michael
Boliakiu, Kirill
Bonnie and Clyde
“booger” tales
Book ojCommandments (Smith)
Book of Mormon, The (Smith)
Booth, John Wilkes, mummy of
Bowdern, Father William S.
Bower, Doug
Brodie, Fawn M.
Browne, Sylvia
cold readings
errors, methods of covering
as fantasyprone personality
Bucklin, Robert, Budig, Ulrike
bunyip
burnedover district, octagon houses
bushranger
Cabri, Jean Baptiste
Cadena, Richard
California, Blythe line drawings
Camino: A Journey oj the Spirit, The
(MacLaine)
Camino pilgrimage, Santiago de
Compostela
Camp Chesterfield
apports trick
billet reading scam
past exposes of
photos of
spirit card writing trick
undercover visit to
camp meetings
fakery exposed
for spiritualism
See also Camp Chesterfield
Cardiff Giant
card writing trick
Carl, Christa
carnivals
anatomical wonders
animal acts
Barnum sideshows
blowoff
compared to circus
curios
gaffed (faked) freaks
human oddities
illusion show
origin of
outsiders (rubes)
tattooed persons
teninone shows
torture acts
wonderworkers
carte de viste, Tom Thumb’s wedding
Carter, Charles J.
Cassadaga Lake Free Association
Cassiopaeans
Caterpillar Man
Catholics and Catholic Church. See
Roman Catholicism
Cayce, Edgar
biographical information
readings, nature of
cemeteries
necropolis (Spain)
Rookwood Cemetery
tomb of Marie Laveau
Center for Inquiry West
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
remote viewing
cereologists. See crop circles
Chang and Eng
channeling
and automatic writing
See also clairvoyance; mediums
Charbonnet, Robbie
Chariots of the Gods?
charismatic movement, speaking in
tongues
charms
apports
grisgris of voodoo
relics of saints
Charney, Geoffroy de
Charney, Margaret de
Chatworthy, Duane
Chevalier, Ulysse
chicken man, alien hybrid
Childlight: How Children Reach Out to
Their Parents from the Beyond
(Theisen)
chimney effect
chiropractic, forerunner of
Chorley, Dave
Chornyi, Kuril
Christ of the Hills Monastery, weeping
icon
Christian Science
Christopher, Kevin
Christopher, Milbourne
Church of Christ
Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday
Saints, Joseph Smith
Church of Nikola, weeping icon of
cinematic neurosis
Cipac, Marcos
Circles Effect and Its Mysteries (Meaden)
circus, compared to carnival
clairvoyance
cold reading
forms of
of Marie Laveau
meaning of
medical intuitives
remoteviewing
See also mediums
Clement VII, pope, on Shroud of Turin
Clever Hans
Clifford, Edith
Cline, Charlie
coincidences, explanations of
cold reading
meaning of
mediums
Coleman, Loren
Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the
Paranormal (CSICOP)
Communion: A True Story (Strieber)
Communion Letters, The (Strieber)
Communion, Transformation, and
Breakthrough (Strieber)
complementary medicine, New Age fads
compostum (cemetery)
Comtesse, Marie
Coney Island, side show attractions
confabulation, meaning of
conjoined twins, carnivals
consciousness, altered
and apparitions
and demonic possession
medicationinduced
and visions
See also fantasyprone personality;
hypnopompic/hypnagogic
hallucinations; lucid dreaming;
sleep paralysis
contagion, meaning of
contortionists, carnivals
Coons, Adam
Corbin, Myrtle
Cowdery, Oliver
criminal investigations
psychic sleuths
remoteviewing case
Cromarty, Barbara
Cromarty, James
crop circles
believers theories about
crop stamping theory
hoax, features related to
photos
vortex effects
Crossing Over
See also Edward, John
crucified persons, carnivals
crying statues. See effigies
cryptids
bunyip
thylacine
yowie
curios, of carnivals
Cuzco, Peru, puma shape
Cyr, Louis
Damballah (snake loa)
dancing, and voodoo ceremonies
D’Arcis, Pierre
Dateline NBC
Davenport, Ira
grave of
Davenport, William
Rookwood Cemetery grave
Davis, Andrew Jackson
Davis, Richard
dead
communication with, believers
growth of
contacting with Ouija board
momentofdeath apparitions
See also ghosts; mediums; seances;
<
br /> visitations, of dead
death
animal knowledge of
deathbed visions
neardeath experience
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), on
Soviet psi research
DeFeo, Dawn
DeFeo, Geraldine
DeFeo, Louise
DeFeo, Ronald, Jr.
DeFeo, Ronald, Sr.
Delgado, Pat
Dellafiora, Angela, as remoteviewer
demonic possession
debunking
Exorcist, The, basis of
manifestations of
Dennett, Michael R.
Dennis, John V.
dermooptical perception
detectives, psychic. See psychic sleuths;
remoteviewing
Devil’s Coachhouse
Dickens, Charles
Dickie the Penguin Boy
Diego, Juan
dime museums
ding
Dixon, Jeane
DNA analysis
alien hybrid
Shroud of Turin
DNA of God, The (GarzaValdez)
Doolagahl. See yowie
dowsing, meaning of
Doyle, Arthur Conan
drawings, unknown sources
Image of Guadalupe
Shroud of Turin
spirit card writing
spirit precipitations on silk
Drbal, Karel
dreams
about deceased persons
dreams (cont.)
dreamvisions. See
hypnopompic/hypnagogic
hallucinations; lucid dreaming;
sleep paralysis
Dreamtime
Dr. Judith Orloffs Guide to Intuitive
Healing (Orloff)
Dubois, Carl
Durks, William
Dyles, David
Earle, Jack
ectoplasm
Eddy, Mary Baker
as fantasyprone person
at Winchester Mystery House
Edessa, image of
Edward, John
cold readings
discrediting
editing of shows
errors, methods of covering
fortuneteller stint
readings, elements of
Edwards, Frank
effigies
Catholic, weeping/bleeding
Russian weeping icons
El Chupacabras (the goatsucker)
debunking
as predator
El Cid (knight)
El Hoppo the Living Frog Boy
embalming, with myrrh
Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits,
England
crop circles
spontaneous human combustion
(SHC) case
epilepsy
ESP, Seers & Psychics (Milbourne)
