Hi guys,
I am new to paranormal/psychic forums. I am a musician and amateur magician and have a small interest in occult matters and I recently the other day joined a paranormal/parapsychology forum called the "Mind-Energy forum" (Skeptiko).
I now understand after doing some further research that the above mentioned forum (Skeptiko) has a lot of bad things said about it and a bad reputation. I was only on the forum for one day before I was banned! For no apparent reason, just they obviously didn't like my rebuttal to one of their claims. So instead of allowing dissent, decided to ban me, with no apology or message or anything. Apparently they don't want skeptics on their forum. I'm not actually a skeptic, I made it clear in one of my posts I believe some paranormal is genuine... but I was still banned.
So let me explain. When I first joined the forum, I came across a very strange post from a senior member called "anonymous". His post is apparently (?) meant to be a documentation of errors, fraud and mistakes that skeptics have made over the years. Here is what he posted.
He further linked to a website page that he owns called "sceptical misdirection", which can be found if you search for it (as a new user sorry I can't post links yet).
The guy who calls himself "anonymous" is not actually anonymous. The guy is associated with the spiritualist Victor Zammit, and co-runs the Debunking Skeptics (SCEPCOP) website.
Here is a description of his website:
The above website is his own website. Indeed, it is filled with all kinds of conspiracy theories and pages claiming scientific evidence for all kinds of paranormal phenomena and that all skeptics are working with the CIA, or have done fraud. I don't have time to go through all of it, perhaps there are many errors, but I would like to focus on one of his silly points above, that I attempted to debunk. (The one I have highlighted in red). This one:
I know the Mina Crandon case well. There's not a shred of evidence that Houdini's assistant planted any fake evidence.
My research leads me to believe that the "assistant" was Jim Collins and the first book that mentions this is William Lindsay Gresham's book Houdini: The Man Who Walked Through Walls (1959).
Collins was interrogated that same night of Crandon's séance, in Houdini's absence, and took an oath that he did not place any ruler inside the cabinet, that he had never seen that ruler (the one he was accused to have planted), and that his ruler was in his pocket.
Gresham does not give a reference for the supposed "confession" of Collins that Houdini had ordered him to frame Crandon by placing the ruler in her cabinet. Further research reveals where these errors come from.
Milbourne Christopher, magician and magic historian, expressed doubt about the incident and has cleared the issue up. He discovered that the source of the story, though not given by Gresham, was Fred Keating, a magician who had been a guest of the Crandon's in their house. Keating had discovered some privates notes from Houdini that had said some unkind things about him. He became very annoyed with Houdini and Collins.
Christopher has written that there was no confession from Collins and it was a sheer fabrication on the part of Fred Keating, a fellow magician annoyed by the unkind comments from Houdini.
There's no evidence the confession exists. Collins remained friends with Houdini's brother and denied that he had ever made any "confession". He under oath said he has never faked evidence. Why would he? I am not saying all mediums are frauds, but Crandon was exposed by countless psychical reseachers.
This is pretty much exactly what I posted on the forum before I was banned, mentioning the origin of the story came from Fred Keating etc. But before I know it, I was banned, and spiritualist user called "Open Mind" turned up and posted:
That Melbourne Christopher was a CIA agent!
If anyone is interested in rebutting the above absurd claims from anonymous or "open mind" (they are probably the same person). Then be my guest.
I don't know much about Richard Wiseman, so if anyone can discuss the comments about him and if they are accurate or not, I would be interested in seeing it. Thanks.
James
I am new to paranormal/psychic forums. I am a musician and amateur magician and have a small interest in occult matters and I recently the other day joined a paranormal/parapsychology forum called the "Mind-Energy forum" (Skeptiko).
I now understand after doing some further research that the above mentioned forum (Skeptiko) has a lot of bad things said about it and a bad reputation. I was only on the forum for one day before I was banned! For no apparent reason, just they obviously didn't like my rebuttal to one of their claims. So instead of allowing dissent, decided to ban me, with no apology or message or anything. Apparently they don't want skeptics on their forum. I'm not actually a skeptic, I made it clear in one of my posts I believe some paranormal is genuine... but I was still banned.
So let me explain. When I first joined the forum, I came across a very strange post from a senior member called "anonymous". His post is apparently (?) meant to be a documentation of errors, fraud and mistakes that skeptics have made over the years. Here is what he posted.
Quote:
Richard Dawkins asked Rupert Sheldrake to participate in a documentary on irrational beliefs but Dawkins refused to discuss evidence that telepathy is genuine which would mean that belief in telepathy is not an irrational belief. Martin Gardiner made false statements about skeptics failing to replicate parapsychological results when the skeptics never even tried. Martin Garndner claimed psychic medium Mrs Piper used cold reading techniques. He neglected to say that she had many successful readings using proxy sitters who knew nothing about the actual spirits that were coming through. James Randi made false statements attempting to debunk a video of dog telepathy when he never even watched the tape. He was forced to retract his statements. CISCOP fellows had to make six errors in a statistical analysis in order to hide evidence that astrology might have some basis in fact. Susan Blackmore justified her claim that she could not demonstrate any paranormal phenomena by ignoring her own studies that demonstrated a paranormal effect. Wiseman and Hyman tested 17 year old Russian school girl Natash Demkina's ability to make psychic diagnoses. She beat odds of 78 to 1 against chance, a statistically significant result. Twenty to one is the usual scientific standard. Wiseman said she failed and mistakenly said she achieved odds of 50 to 1. Hyman told her to forget her delusions. The commentator said she would return to Russia discredited. Houdini's assistant tried to plant fake evidence to discredit a psychic medium Mina Crandon. Her spirit guides exposed the plot. More at Skeptical Misdirection including pseudoskeptics paying for fake confessions and fake accusations of fraud. |
He further linked to a website page that he owns called "sceptical misdirection", which can be found if you search for it (as a new user sorry I can't post links yet).
The guy who calls himself "anonymous" is not actually anonymous. The guy is associated with the spiritualist Victor Zammit, and co-runs the Debunking Skeptics (SCEPCOP) website.
Here is a description of his website:
Quote:
If you've never investigated the scientific evidence, proving the existence of spirits and the afterlife you might be surprised to learn how much solid evidence there is. There was sufficient evidence reported by highly reputable scientists for afterlife research to have been accepted by mainstream science as long ago as 1922. It is very easy to read a brief description of the evidence for the paranormal and dismiss it by assuming some normal explanation. However, if you put in the time and effort to learn more, you will find that there have been many careful investigations that rule out the conventional explanations. |
The above website is his own website. Indeed, it is filled with all kinds of conspiracy theories and pages claiming scientific evidence for all kinds of paranormal phenomena and that all skeptics are working with the CIA, or have done fraud. I don't have time to go through all of it, perhaps there are many errors, but I would like to focus on one of his silly points above, that I attempted to debunk. (The one I have highlighted in red). This one:
Quote:
Houdini's assistant tried to plant fake evidence to discredit a psychic medium Mina Crandon. Her spirit guides exposed the plot. |
I know the Mina Crandon case well. There's not a shred of evidence that Houdini's assistant planted any fake evidence.
My research leads me to believe that the "assistant" was Jim Collins and the first book that mentions this is William Lindsay Gresham's book Houdini: The Man Who Walked Through Walls (1959).
Collins was interrogated that same night of Crandon's séance, in Houdini's absence, and took an oath that he did not place any ruler inside the cabinet, that he had never seen that ruler (the one he was accused to have planted), and that his ruler was in his pocket.
Gresham does not give a reference for the supposed "confession" of Collins that Houdini had ordered him to frame Crandon by placing the ruler in her cabinet. Further research reveals where these errors come from.
Milbourne Christopher, magician and magic historian, expressed doubt about the incident and has cleared the issue up. He discovered that the source of the story, though not given by Gresham, was Fred Keating, a magician who had been a guest of the Crandon's in their house. Keating had discovered some privates notes from Houdini that had said some unkind things about him. He became very annoyed with Houdini and Collins.
Christopher has written that there was no confession from Collins and it was a sheer fabrication on the part of Fred Keating, a fellow magician annoyed by the unkind comments from Houdini.
There's no evidence the confession exists. Collins remained friends with Houdini's brother and denied that he had ever made any "confession". He under oath said he has never faked evidence. Why would he? I am not saying all mediums are frauds, but Crandon was exposed by countless psychical reseachers.
This is pretty much exactly what I posted on the forum before I was banned, mentioning the origin of the story came from Fred Keating etc. But before I know it, I was banned, and spiritualist user called "Open Mind" turned up and posted:
That Melbourne Christopher was a CIA agent!
If anyone is interested in rebutting the above absurd claims from anonymous or "open mind" (they are probably the same person). Then be my guest.
I don't know much about Richard Wiseman, so if anyone can discuss the comments about him and if they are accurate or not, I would be interested in seeing it. Thanks.
James
via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=263688&goto=newpost
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