We were supposed to meet on the campus of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, the first week of April 2020. Of course we didn't. That was when--surely you've not forgotten?--everything was closing down, academic conferences no exception. The gathering in question was the triennial conference … [Read more...]
Cryptids, UFOs, Lost Continents – Colin Dickey’s “The Unidentified”
Colin Dickey. The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with The Unexplained. Viking, 2020. "Obsession" was perhaps an unfortunate choice of words for the subtitle. It suggests a lesser book than The Unidentified in fact is. Any book that incorporates … [Read more...]
The Skinwalker Ranch Mystery – Mick West, Brandon Fugal
"Twenty lashes with a wet noodle!" That was the penalty Ann Landers (or was it Dear Abby?) used to impose on herself, whenever she was caught in some egregiously foolish error in one of her newspaper columns. I don't think I deserve the full twenty. But maybe ten would be appropriate. The … [Read more...]
An Alien Abductee in Israel – the Strange Story of Ariel Semmel (Part 2)
(For part 1 of this post, click here.) "'Aliens' is a code word for something that exists, something that's evidently wiser than we are or wise in a different way, and we don't know what it wants or is able to do. Really, what's the difference between an 'alien' and God? Different people give … [Read more...]
Arguments or Horse Laughs? – The Debates of Martin Gardner and Marcello Truzzi
Dana Richards (ed.) Dear Martin, Dear Marcello: Gardner and Truzzi on Skepticism. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co, 2017. "Ben Azzai ... used to say: Despise no man and consider nothing impossible, for there is no man who does not have his hour and there is no thing that does not have … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »
