"On Monday, August 8, 1983, I was abducted by aliens." That's how Michael Shermer, founder and director of The Skeptics Society, opens the chapter on UFO abductions in his book Why People Believe Weird Things. You just know, don't you, that he's speaking tongue-in-cheek? He intends his story … [Read more...]
Credulity and the Astronomer – The Strange Case of Cedric Allingham
"It certainly has taken me by surprise," said Mr. Gascoigne. ... "Probably you think me blamable." "Not blamable exactly. I respect a man for trusting another." --George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, chapter 64 Do you know the strange story of Cedric Allingham? And--do you care? If you think … [Read more...]
Reincarnation, Quantum Physics, and Dr. Donald Menzel
Some 40 years ago, when I was a graduate student, I came upon a pamphlet by one Dr. Ian Stevenson, entitled something like “Evidence for Reincarnation from Claimed Memories of Former Lives.” I read it; I was impressed by what I recall as its judiciously open-minded approach. I showed it to my … [Read more...]
Donald Menzel, Phil Klass – the Men We Loved to Hate
Always there’s been somebody the UFOlogists have loved to hate. When I was a teen-age UFO investigator, this was Harvard astrophysicist Donald H. Menzel, arch-skeptic of the 1950s and 60s. Menzel died in 1976; his spot was taken by science writer Philip Klass. Like Menzel, Klass produced multiple … [Read more...]
