Skeptic - 1995 - Vol 9 No 2

Magazine Overview

Title: The Skeptic
Issue: Volume 9 Number 2
Date: 1995
Publisher: The Skeptic
Country: UK
Price: £1.85

This issue of The Skeptic, Volume 9 Number 2, published in 1995, features a cover headline "How to become a charlatan" and includes articles on the myth of the unicorn, the mystery of the self, and the earthly origins of alien stereotypes. The magazine maintains a skeptical stance, examining various claims and phenomena through a rational lens.

Articles and Features

How to Become a Charlatan

Edzard Ernst provides a satirical, step-by-step guide on how to become a successful fraud. He advises identifying an unoccupied niche with a weird yet appealing touch, creating a pseudoscientific name for the method, and establishing a glamorous, mysterious background linked to ancient cultures. Ernst emphasizes making the concept drastically out of line with scientific establishment thinking and insists on being convincing, monomaniacal, and charismatic. He also suggests making the practice ridiculously expensive, as people tend to believe higher prices equate to higher worth. Ernst is identified as the Director of the Centre for Complementary Health Studies at the University of Exeter.

The enduring myth of the unicorn

Tony Wheeler investigates the persistent myth of the unicorn. He explores how science defines knowledge through methods like intuition, authority, rationalism, personal experience, and science itself, noting that science's skepticism drives the need for replication and experimentation. Wheeler distinguishes between mythical unicorns and natural one-horned animals like the rhinoceros. He details the unicorn's symbolism as a creature of power, purity, force, love, strength, and righteousness, noting its beauty and lack of interest in humans. The article includes a medieval German folk-song about the unicorn and discusses its depiction in various cultures, including Chinese mythology where the k'ilin is a significant animal. The origin of the myth is traced to the Talmud and its mistranslation in the Bible, where the Hebrew word 're'em' (wild ox) was translated as 'unicorn'. The immense size and strength of the wild ox became associated with the mistranslated unicorn, especially after the wild ox's extinction.

Buck Nelson's Trip to Mars, the Moon and Venus

This piece, part of Hilary Evans' Paranormal Picture Gallery, recounts the story of Ozark farmer Buck Nelson. In April 1955, at the age of sixty, Nelson claimed to have taken a pleasant journey into space with his dog, Teddy. He described the spaceship as large and comfortable and stated that people on Mars, the Moon, and Venus looked like humans but were better looking. Nelson reportedly refused a $1,000 offer to keep his story secret, believing he had a duty to share messages from space-people.

Hits and Misses

Steve Donnelly presents several brief reports:

• A ghost in the ohm: The article discusses David Jones' hypothesis that ghosts exist in a parallel world near absolute zero. It highlights the case of the Rich family in Wales, whose house is reportedly haunted by a spirit that causes unpleasant smells, throws objects, and significantly increases their electricity bills, costing between £500 and £800 per quarter. The family is frustrated by the influx of psychic researchers.
• Tears of blood: This section reports on a weeping Madonna statue in Civitavecchia, Italy. Magistrates ordered the statue locked away, and the owner, Fabio Gregori, is under investigation for fraud. Tests revealed the weeping liquid was male blood. The article also humorously notes unsubstantiated rumors about John Major having a weeping statue of Margaret Thatcher.
• Repressed memory: The article touches upon the use of hypnosis for uncovering repressed memories, particularly in cases of alleged alien abduction and past-life regression. It notes that some US psychotherapists use this method to treat conditions like depression and headaches. The piece questions the validity of the repressed memory hypothesis, citing concerns about its use in uncovering child abuse and referencing cases where individuals were released from prison after their daughters' repressed memories were found to be fictitious.
• Mail order hex kit: A Tokyo company, Juonsha, is selling mail-order curse kits that include a straw doll, accessories, a curse manual, and a curse-blocking doll. Customers are advised to imagine the misfortune they wish upon the victim.
• The devil's money: This report covers two lottery-related incidents. In the US, a man arrested for stealing transformers claimed he needed them to build a time machine to find winning lottery numbers. In Brazil, Maria Benoiza Nascimento burned a winning $60,000 lottery ticket, fearing it was 'the devil's money' on her minister's advice.
• The ram: An article in The Scotsman suggests that Aries individuals, symbolized by the ram, make the most insurance claims for motoring accidents, while Sagittarians make the fewest.
• Oops, more Aries drivers: This is a brief note referencing the previous item.
• Blame Microsoft: Steuart Campbell points out a typographical error in the previous issue's column, which was caused by software incompatibilities during file transfer between Mac and PC systems.

Meet the Italian Skeptics

Sergio Della Sala profiles the Italian Skeptics Group 'CICAP' (Comitato Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sul Paranormale). Founded in January 1989, CICAP includes respected Italian scientists, some of whom are Nobel Prize winners. The organization has conducted investigations into paranormal claims, including poltergeists and crop circles. Three members, including Della Sala, gained attention for their replication of the 'melting blood' miracle of St. Januarius. CICAP hosts annual conferences and publishes a quarterly magazine, Scienza & Paranormale. The article notes that CICAP operates in a country where paranormal claims often have religious connotations, making public acceptance of a scientific approach challenging. CICAP aims to facilitate a rationalist approach and provide a public viewpoint alternative to media portrayals of the paranormal.

On the Horn of a Dilemma: Investigating the persistent myth of the unicorn

This article, by Tony Wheeler, delves into the nature of knowledge and the myth of the unicorn. It discusses how 'science' as a method of knowing relies on accumulated knowledge, replication, and experimentation, contrasting it with intuition, authority, and personal experience. Wheeler examines the unicorn myth, differentiating between mythical and natural one-horned animals. He describes the unicorn as a symbol of beauty, power, purity, and righteousness, often depicted as a noble creature uninterested in humans but susceptible to the guile of a virgin. The article includes a medieval German folk-song and explores the unicorn's presence in Chinese mythology as the k'ilin, considered one of the four magical propitious animals. The origins of the myth are traced to the Talmud and the mistranslation of 're'em' (wild ox) in the Bible into 'unicorn', associating the wild ox's strength and ferocity with the mythical creature.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The magazine consistently promotes a skeptical and rationalist approach to claims of the paranormal, pseudoscience, and unexplained phenomena. Articles critically examine purported evidence, expose fraudulent practices (as satirized in the 'How to Become a Charlatan' piece), and explore the cultural and psychological origins of beliefs in myths and the supernatural. The editorial stance is one of critical inquiry, encouraging readers to question extraordinary claims and to rely on evidence-based reasoning. The inclusion of diverse topics, from ghosts and UFOs to historical myths and psychological phenomena, reflects a broad interest in debunking and understanding the appeal of the irrational.

Title: The Skeptic
Issue: Volume 9 Number 2
Date: April 1995

This issue of The Skeptic features a diverse range of articles, from the historical and mythological exploration of the unicorn to a critical examination of skepticism itself, and an investigation into the origins of alien stereotypes.

Personal Experience of Travellers

The article "Personal experience of travellers" explores the historical accounts that contributed to the belief in the unicorn. Early descriptions by travelers like Pliny the Elder and Marco Polo, though often misidentifying the rhinoceros, bolstered the legend. Marco Polo's account of the rhinoceros as a "great disappointment for unicorn-hunters" highlights the discrepancy between myth and reality. The article also touches upon the symbolic representation of the unicorn in Christian tradition, particularly in bestiaries, where it was associated with Jesus Christ and purity. The visual representation of the unicorn varied, with artists drawing inspiration from animals like bulls, antelopes, and goats, suggesting a lack of a consistent, real-world model.

Elaboration by Rationalism

This section discusses the persistent motif of a lion fighting a unicorn, interpreted as the overthrow of matriarchal moon-worshipping societies by patriarchal sun-worshipping ones, or the succession of spring by summer. It also notes how tales from Crusaders, describing wild antelopes with closely set horns appearing as a single horn, may have contributed to the unicorn image. The article points out that these animals, often depicted in crude sketches and local art, became part of British heraldry, with unicorns featuring on crest badges of Scottish clans and later on the British coat of arms.

Intuitive Belief in the Medical Benefits

The unicorn's horn, or "alicorn," was believed to possess significant medicinal properties, treating ailments from epilepsy to the plague. The article explains that the "true" alicorn was thought to be mammoth tusks, while false alicorns were often narwhal tusks, which were more readily available. The value of these horns was immense, with some equating their weight to gold, and a throne in Denmark was reportedly built of them. The belief in the horn's potency was so strong that it was included in the British Pharmacopoeia for nearly a century.

Intuitive Belief in the Unicorn

This section delves into the psychological and intuitive aspects of belief in the unicorn, contrasting it with rationalism and scientific evidence. It references Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass" to illustrate the whimsical nature of such belief, where a unicorn expresses surprise at the idea of humans being "fabulous monsters."

Science: Test the Medical Claims

By the 17th century, medical skeptics began to doubt the pharmaceutical value of unicorn horns, attributing claimed cures to the placebo effect. This led to a decline in faith and the eventual omission of powdered unicorn horn from the British Pharmacopoeia in 1746.

Science: Repeat the Observations

The exploration of new continents diminished the perceived habitat for the mythical unicorn. The identification of the narwhal's tusk as the source of many "unicorn horns" and the growing appreciation for mammoths as a source of "unicornum verum" further eroded the legend. Despite the decline, fundamentalist believers in the Bible clung to the unicorn myth.

Scientific Deduction and Experiment

In 1827, Baron Cuvier declared the unicorn biologically impossible based on skull bone fusion. However, Dr. W. Franklin Dove later demonstrated in 1933 that a single horn could be grown on a bull-calf by surgically manipulating horn buds, suggesting a possible explanation for the myth's origins and the creation of "unicorns" for herd leadership.

Conclusion

The article concludes that personal experience, intuition, rationalism, and authority all contributed to the unicorn myth. Science, through its rigorous testing and experimental methods, has been instrumental in distinguishing between myth and reality, discarding unreliable knowledge in favor of conserved, reliable knowledge.

Sources

A comprehensive list of sources is provided, citing various books and articles related to unicorns, monsters, and medical history.

The Eyes that Spoke

This two-part investigation by Martin Kottmeyer explores the earthly origins of alien stereotypes, focusing on the "wraparound eyes" prominent in alien abduction accounts. Kottmeyer posits that these distinctive eyes, along with other alien features like the lack of ears and a backward-tilted cranium, may have been influenced by the 1964 science fiction television episode "The Bellero Shield" from "The Outer Limits." He notes that the first description of these wraparound eyes in the Barney and Betty Hill abduction case occurred shortly after the episode aired, suggesting a potential, albeit delayed, influence. The article also examines the concept of "speaking eyes" in alien encounters, linking it to the idea of non-verbal communication and potentially to the influence of science fiction tropes.

Postscript

Kottmeyer adds a postscript noting a further instance of "speaking eyes" in a segment on the "Allagash Abductions" on "Unsolved Mysteries," reinforcing his argument about the influence of media on abduction narratives.

Skeptic at Large

Wendy M. Grossman's column, "Skeptic at Large," critiques an article from "Psychic News" that attempts to categorize skeptics. Grossman questions the validity and motivations behind these categories, suggesting that her own skepticism stems from a scientific education and exposure to critical thinking, rather than the motives attributed by the article's author, Dr. Victor Zammit. She playfully analyzes Zammit's categories, finding them largely inapplicable to her own experience and suggesting that many skeptics may be "partial skeptics" who hold beliefs in some paranormal phenomena while rejecting others.

Reviews

Beneath the mythmaking

This review by Hilary Evans discusses Peter Brookesmith's book "UFO: The Complete Sightings Catalogue." Evans praises the book for its balanced approach, starting with the UFO experience itself and acknowledging the complexity of the phenomenon. Brookesmith, a skeptic himself, avoids blanket explanations and considers various contributing factors like folklore and psychosocial elements, but dismisses intervention by otherworldly beings. The review highlights the book's case-by-case approach, its thoughtful commentary, and its accessibility to those new to the UFO phenomenon.

Conspiracy theory

This review covers Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman's book "The Shakespeare Conspiracy." The authors propose that Shakespeare was a spy murdered by Sir Walter Raleigh, linking Shakespeare to the Secret Service under Thomas Walsingham. The review notes that due to the limited knowledge of Shakespeare's life, this claim is difficult to prove or disprove, but the authors present detailed arguments and evidence, including the identification of a "Willm Halle" as a secret agent and a potential alias for "Mr. W.H." mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnets. The book also explores myths surrounding Shakespeare's life.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

This issue of The Skeptic consistently champions critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning. The articles on the unicorn myth and alien stereotypes demonstrate a commitment to debunking pseudoscience and exploring the psychological and cultural factors that contribute to belief in the extraordinary. The "Skeptic at Large" column directly addresses the nature of skepticism, advocating for self-awareness and a nuanced understanding of belief systems. The reviews of books on UFOs and Shakespearean conspiracy theories further underscore the magazine's focus on scrutinizing claims and separating fact from fiction. The overall stance is one of intellectual rigor, encouraging readers to question assumptions and seek verifiable evidence.

Title: The Skeptic
Issue: Volume 9, Number 2
Date: 1995
Character: A skeptical magazine that critically examines paranormal claims, pseudoscience, and unusual phenomena, featuring reviews of books and articles on these topics.

Reviews

Shakespeare Authorship and Alchemy

Chris Willis reviews "Shakespeare's Plays: The Theories" by Phillips and Keatman, finding their arguments fascinating but based on scanty evidence and dubious textual analysis, recommending it for those interested in Shakespeare despite reservations.

Wolf Roder reviews "Jung on Alchemy" edited by Nathan Schwartz-Salant. This volume presents Carl Jung's writings on alchemy, exploring its connection to the development of the psyche. Roder finds the topic difficult to comprehend and notes Jung's interpretation of alchemical symbols as reflecting dreams and insights, citing an example of a woodcut with a symbolic meaning that Roder finds questionable.

Marine Monsters and Fortean Phenomena

Donald Rooum reviews Richard Ellis's "Monsters of the Sea." The book covers various marine creatures, including the megamouth shark and giant squid, and delves into myths and curiosities. Rooum notes the book's extensive sources but finds its arrangement haphazard, though still delightful for entertainment.

Richard Wiseman reviews "Fortean Studies Volume 1" edited by Steve Moore. This volume includes remnants of Charles Fort's autobiography and detailed reports on classic Fortean phenomena. Wiseman praises the thorough research, balanced discussions, and open-mindedness of the articles, commending the team for resisting sensationalism.

Conspiracy Theories and Alternative Health

Vicki Hyde reviews "Geneset: Target Earth" by David Wood and Ian Campbell. The authors present a theory that the Earth could be hit by a comet, incorporating historical inaccuracies and geometrical symbolism. Hyde finds the book's logic flawed and its presentation difficult to follow, comparing it to Bruce Cathie's work and Velikovsky's theories.

Jack Raso's "Alternative Healthcare" is reviewed by an unnamed author. The book is a skeptical guide to alternative health fads, divided into an account of fads and a glossary. The reviewer finds the author's style supercilious and notes a tendency to list things, but ultimately questions the book's purpose and audience.

Psychology and Anomalies

Toby O'Neil reviews Henryk Skolimowski's "The Participatory Mind." Skolimowski proposes that reality is shaped by our individual perception. The reviewer finds the book difficult to read, rambling, and lacking a coherent argument, disagreeing with Skolimowski's conclusions about science and evolution.

William R Corliss's "Biological Anomalies: Humans III" is reviewed by Les Francis. This volume, part of Corliss's "Catalogue of Anomalies," focuses on human evolution, presenting reports of scientific anomalies with data and anomaly evaluations. Francis highlights the book's breadth and the author's systematic approach.

Cindy Dell Clark's "Flights of Fancy, Leaps of Faith" is reviewed by Les Francis. This anthropological study examines children's beliefs in figures like the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, suggesting these beliefs form a foundation for adult religious belief. The reviewer notes the book's scholarly approach and its exploration of the line between imagination and reality.

Wolf Roder reviews Celia Green and Charles McCreery's "Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep." The book introduces lucid dreaming and proposes a theoretical framework. The reviewer finds the book interesting and valuable, noting its discussion of metachoric experiences and potential applications of lucid dreaming.

Psychic Research Guidelines

Tony Lawrence reviews "Guidelines for Testing Psychic Claimants" by Richard Wiseman and Robert L Morris. He highly recommends the book for anyone interested in testing psychic claimants, especially television producers. The book addresses the challenges of fraud in psychic research and offers advice on experimental design, drawing on Wiseman's expertise as a conjuror.

Letters

Witchcraft

Elsie Karbacz Colchester writes about witchcraft, distinguishing between its modern interpretation ('Wicca') and its historical context. She argues that 'Wicca' is a modern invention and discusses the historical practices of pre-Christian European cultures. Karbacz also warns against a resurgence of 'Satanic' scares, importing the idea from the USA.

Martial Arts and Microsoft

Andy Brice discusses the concept of 'chi' in martial arts, noting that while some view it as imagery, others treat it as a real force. He responds to a previous letter suggesting martial arts are solely about fighting, stating his own experience differs. Brice also comments on the perceived 'occult' nature of Microsoft, citing numerological evidence related to Bill Gates III and suggesting this as an explanation for the company's success.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

This issue of The Skeptic maintains its consistent stance of critical inquiry into paranormal claims, pseudoscience, and anomalous phenomena. The reviews consistently apply a skeptical lens, evaluating evidence, logic, and methodology. Themes include the questioning of established narratives (Shakespeare authorship), the scientific basis of beliefs (alchemy, psychology, alternative medicine), and the potential for fraud or misinterpretation in extraordinary claims (Fortean phenomena, psychic research). The magazine champions rationalism and evidence-based reasoning, encouraging readers to approach extraordinary claims with a healthy dose of skepticism.