Free Republic

John O’Connor’s The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster is a work of mourning. Bigfoot, as O’Connor, a journalism professor, illustrates, is thriving—if by “Bigfoot” we’re talking about the legend of Sasquatch and the communities that have sprung up to seek out the hairy, towering primate said to lurk in the depths of America’s few remaining old-growth forests. It’s that Bigfoot, the symbol, who, O’Connor argues, flourishes and does so because of how much we’ve lost. This Bigfoot is a black armband commemorating everything from the environmental devastation wrought on the continent to the dearth...

'Our study demonstrates that genetics should be able to unravel other, similar mysteries'THE abominable snowman has featured in folklore and mythical stories for hundreds of years. Also referred to as the Yeti and compared to Bigfoot, scientists have tried to work out whether the creature actually exists. Several scientific theories explain how the abominable snowman is likely just a mythical beast. In 2017, researchers from the University of Buffalo conducted DNA analysis on the supposed remains of Yetis. They discovered the remnants belonged to a dog, Asian Black Bears, Himalayan Brown Bears, and Tibetan Brown Bears. Scientists studied nine so-called...

In a video posted on November 13, comedian Rémi Gaillard reveals the deception. The story has been put together and driven by him. The curious light beam was in fact a drone equipped with a diode, and the witnesses of the accomplices ready to relay the information. Her hoax was staged with a meteorologist from Gard, attesting to the seriousness of the phenomenon observed in the sky, and a horse breeder from Hérault, telling TF1 journalists her amazement at the unidentified flying object. "I had to tell the worst story of my life," she confided. Rémi Gaillard affirms that he...

In 1896, newspapers throughout the United States began reporting accounts of mysterious airships flying overhead. Descriptions varied, but witnesses frequently invoked the century’s great technological achievements. Some sources reported dirigibles powered by steam engines. Others saw motorized, winged crafts with screw propellers. Many recalled a flying machine equipped with a powerful searchlight. As technologies of flight evolve, so do the descriptions of unidentified flying objects. The pattern has held in the 21st century as sightings of drone-like objects are reported, drawing concern from military and intelligence officials about possible security threats. While puzzling over the appearance of curious things overhead...

The Fox sisters: Kate (1838-92), Leah (1814-90) and Margaret (or Maggie) (1836-93). Lithograph after a daguerreotype by Appleby. Published by N. Currier, New York. In 1848, two sisters from upstate New York, Maggie and Kate Fox, reported hearing ‘rappings’ and ‘knocks’ that they interpreted as communication coming from a spirit in their house. These events and these sisters would eventually be considered the originators of Spiritualism. Credit: N. Currier, New York --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spiritualist mediums might be more prone to immersive mental activities and unusual auditory experiences early in life, according to new research. This might explain why some people and...

Former “MythBusters” co-host Adam Savage has been accused of sexually abusing his younger sister in a new lawsuit. The woman, now 51, claims that the abuse happened in the 1970s when she was between 7 and 10 years when they lived in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y “Beginning in or about 1976 and continuing until approximately 1979, Adam Savage, would repeatedly rape Miranda Pacchiana and force oral sex upon her, and forced Miranda to perform oral sex on him, along with other forms of sexual abuse,” the lawsuit, obtained by Fox News, alleges." ------ “While I hope that my sister gets the help she needs to find peace, this...

I’m optimistic by nature—as a scientist, you have to be. But my hopeful feeling is not wishful thinking; it is firmly grounded in the logic of SETI. Half a century sounds like a long time, but the search is truly in its early days. Given the current state of SETI efforts and abilities, I feel that we’re on the cusp of learning something truly revolutionary.

Commenters on YouTube are divided as to whether the lights are UFOs or just flares used by the military. The latter is plausible, given the proximity of the Outer Banks to multiple military facilities, including Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg in Eastern North Carolina. “I know what those lights are,” posted Derrick Chennault on YouTube. “As a former Marine based at the 2nd Marine Air Wing in Cherry Point, N.C. ... we used to regularly drop flares out of the back of our plane in the evenings for military exercises... Glad to see the Marines are still spooking people.” Guy...

Sybil was the first major book to tie "MPD" to child abuse. Published in 1973, it was followed by a compelling 1976 movie. Sybil played a substantial role in the cultural and psychiatric tsunami, later known as the "false" or "recovered" memory debate. According to author Debbie Nathan "In the entire history of Western civilization, there had been less than 200 cases over a period of centuries. But after the book and film, suddenly there were hundreds and thousands. And by the late 1980s there were 40,000 cases diagnosed in the United States alone." See Sybil Exposed

[SNIP]The diminution of the Big Idea isn’t easy to accept,even for those willing to concede that there are major problems in their field.An ego depletion optimist might acknowledge that psychology studies tend to be too small to demonstrate a real effect,or that scientists like to futz around with their statistics until the answers come out right.(None of this implies deliberate fraud;just that sloppy standards prevail.)Still,the optimist would say,it seems unlikely that such mistakes would propagate so thoroughly throughout a single literature,and that so many noisy,spurious results could line up quite so perfectly.If all these successes came about by random chance,then...

What do you get when a magician buys an A-frame house in the desert? A sprawling, brightly colored compound that looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. It has hidden rooms, fire poles, and a place where visitors must sign in and have their mugshot taken. The Slammer is the creation of Penn Jillette. It sits on 10 acres of land in the Las Vegas desert. The residence started out as an A-frame house and grew as the magician, one half of the act Penn and Teller, added on. It has covered parking, a recording studio, a home...

A major investigation into scores of claims made in psychology research journals has delivered a bleak verdict on the state of the science. An international team of experts repeated 100 experiments published in top psychology journals and found that they could reproduce only 36% of original findings. The study, which saw 270 scientists repeat experiments on five continents, was launched by psychologists in the US in response to rising concerns over the reliability of psychology research. “There is no doubt that I would have loved for the effects to be more reproducible,” said Brian Nosek, a professor of psychology who...

Explanation: What is that light in the sky? Perhaps one of humanity's more common questions, an answer may result from a few quick observations. For example -- is it moving or blinking? If so, and if you live near a city, the answer is typically an airplane, since planes are so numerous and so few stars and satellites are bright enough to be seen over the din of artificial city lights. If not, and if you live far from a city, that bright light is likely a planet such as Venus or Mars -- the former of which is constrained...

Americans get riled up about creationists and climate change deniers, but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods. It’s all pseudoscience—so why are some kinds of pseudoscience more equal than others? If you want to write about spiritually-motivated pseudoscience in America, you head to the Creation Museum in Kentucky. It’s like a Law of Journalism. The museum has inspired hundreds of book chapters and articles (some of them, admittedly, mine) since it opened up in 2007. The place is like media magnet. And our nation’s liberal, coastal journalists are so many piles of iron fillings. But you don’t...

Believe it or not—and I suspect most readers will not—there’s a liberal war on science. Say what? We are well aware of the Republican war on science from the eponymous 2006 book (Basic Books) by Chris Mooney, and I have castigated conservatives myself in my 2006 book Why Darwin Matters (Henry Holt) for their erroneous belief that the theory of evolution leads to a breakdown of morality. … The left’s war on science begins with the stats cited above: 41 percent of Democrats are young Earth creationists, and 19 percent doubt that Earth is getting warmer. These numbers do not...

After Ray Wallace died in 2002, his children revealed that he had a pair of carved wooden feet he used to stomp around the woods in Northern California, leaving tracks that he claimed belonged to Bigfoot. The disclosure should have been a blow to Bigfoot hunters everywhere, because Wallace's stories about a huge, hairy humanoid are credited with starting the Bigfoot movement. If Wallace was a practical joker, shouldn't that make those who believe in Bigfoot think twice? "You're not going to shake these people," Michael McLeod said. "They don't want to admit anything. They still deny Wallace has anything...

If you prefer to keep a little magic in your life—by which I mean believing in the possibility of UFOs—then read no further. For I am going to tell you about the latest UFO hoax.

No need to phone home. Those red lights dancing over Morristown in recent weeks were not E.T. and his friends paying a visit. They were salesman Chris Russo of Morris Plains and science teacher Joe Rudy of Chester having a little fun. On the eSkeptic website, they reveal how they engineered the hoax with helium balloons, flares, a video camera and a call to a TV station. They write: ...despite the fact that there is still no evidence of their existence, the UFO myth is as strong today as ever, fed by cable channel shows that prop up UFO "experts"...

UFO blamed for wrecking wind turbine after 65ft-long blade is ripped off An investigation was underway today into how a wind turbine had a 65ft-long blade torn off - after locals claimed UFOs were behind it.... ...at 4am, locals heard a ‘massive bang’ and reported lights in the vicinity of the noise. Mystery: The damaged wind turbine, with one of its blades ripped off, in Conisholme, Lincolnshire By dawn the 290ft-tall turbine was a wreck, with one of its three blades twisted while another was missing. It was later found on the ground nearby.... There were no reports of low-flying...

A Royal Navy aircraft engineer claims to have seen a "glowing" UFO hover over the M5 motorway. Michael Madden, 25, said he watched in disbelief as the disc-shaped object floated above his head before it "zoomed off at incredible speed". He said the unidentified flying object flew for up to three minutes above junction 21 of the M5, near Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Mr Madden was on his way back from Manchester with colleague Michael Casson, 22, at 9.50pm on Sunday June 29 when he saw the suspected 'extra-terrestrial' craft....