Crop circles, psychics, and water monsters were the order of the day at a fair hosted by the Skeptics Society this Saturday in the auditorium of the Medical Sciences Building.
The Skeptics Society celebrates critical thinking and a scientific approach to paranormal events and legends. Are stories about monsters, aliens and ghosts myths, or do they have basis in reality?
The event featured an address by Benjamin Radford, managing director of the magazine Skeptical Inquirer. He and his researcher Joe Nickell investigate paranormal cases. When there was a report of crop circles in Ontario, Radford and Nickell scrutinized the claims, and found no evidence to suggest they were of paranormal origin. The circles were unusually close to roads or places that could be easily accessed by people on foot.
Radford and Nickell have also investigated “water monsters.” American Sandra Mansi claims to have taken a picture of the famous Champ Monster of Port Henry, N.Y. However, the sceptical team found no evidence for her claim.
Lawyer Amani Oakley also spoke at the fair. She had represented a family who claimed that their relative, Lana de Louis, died of a stroke after visits to her chiropractor. Contrary to popular belief, chiropractors, she said, are not scientific practitioners. Their methodology gives each chiropractor the freedom to invent their own methods of neck manipulation. According to Oakley, each chiropractor has a different diagnosis to give his/her patient. She claims that studies have shown that many patients develop strokes and paralysis as a result of their treatment.
U of T philosophy professor Ronnie de Sousa spoke on ethics and religion. He stated that a person does not have to worship a God to be ethical. He said that an ethical analysis of the Bible shows that religion advocates mass murder in order to proclaim and protect belief. God is not actually shown as loving. De Sousa then praised the ancient Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Epicureans for determining the correct path to morality.
Timothy Campbell and the Ontario Skeptics Players re-enacted the Larry King Live episode with Sylvia Browne, in order to reveal the “psychic” to be the charlatan they believe her to be.
Ghosts, UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, Nostradamus’ prophecies-all these make good tales, and we are more often than not led to believe in them. Skeptics have not been absolutely successful in proving that these stories are mere fiction. In all probability, some may very well be true. However, what skeptics have shown is the fact that not all hearsay is reliable, and rational skepticism prevents us from falling into ignorance and superstition.
