All posts tagged: Inquirer

A Decade (and a Bit More) of Writing for SKEPTICAL INQUIRER

A Decade (and a Bit More) of Writing for SKEPTICAL INQUIRER

Published by Sam Flores

The anniversary slipped by without my noticing it, but recently, while hunting down one of my earlier articles, I was reminded that my first online piece for Skeptical Inquirer, “Happiness, Religion, and the Status Quo,” was published on December 4, 2014. So, as of December 2024, I completed a decade writing the “Behavior & Belief” column for SI. As I recall, back in 2014, Barry Karr, then executive director of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, noticed that I’d been writing blog posts on superstition and other skeptical topics for Psychology Today. He contacted me and said, “If you ever want to write for Skeptical Inquirer, we would be happy to have you,” or words to that effect. I didn’t have to give it a second thought. I’d subscribed to SI for years and assigned it in my psychology classes, so the chance to write a column for SI was a dream come true. I said, “Yes, please!” and never looked back. Soon after I began writing online, Kendrick Frazier asked to add some of my …

This Isn’t about Bigfoot | Skeptical Inquirer

This Isn’t about Bigfoot | Skeptical Inquirer

Published by Sam Flores

The author at a Bigfoot museum Like many skeptics, I’m fascinated by things people believe in—ghosts, psychics, astrology, reiki—but I’m even more intrigued by why they believe in them. In my experience, everyone believes (or has believed) something that’s a little “out there.” So, when my husband and I learned about a nearby Bigfoot museum on a recent road trip, I had to go. Our GPS led us on quite the adventure through farms and woods and onto increasingly remote gravel roads. We finally found a driveway and discovered the “museum” was in someone’s house. After knocking to no avail, I called the number on the window. The woman who answered told us we were the only visitors, but she could let us in shortly. Jan, a lifelong Bigfoot believer since a childhood sighting, met us with infectious enthusiasm. (“Jan” is a pseudonym to protect her privacy.) She had spent most of her life collecting “evidence,” which she had documented both in a book and across four buildings on her property. The Evidence As the …

50 Years of Skeptical Inquirer Columns

50 Years of Skeptical Inquirer Columns

Published by Sam Flores

While there have been hundreds of one-off or occasional writers for CSICOP/CSI whose work is important and valued, Skeptical Inquirer columnists have shown a special dedication to skepticism and the organization. They repeatedly contribute unique insight and information, often by deadline. In my capacity as an editor at SI, I’ve had the privilege of editing and working with some of the best and brightest skeptics in the world. From an editorial standpoint, while articles typically require much more lead time between submission and publication—sometimes a year or more—columns are (usually) shorter, timelier, and often more personal and idiosyncratic. Columnists have a bit more license to pick their own topics and share their stories. This often results in delightful slices of life, from Martin Gardner reminiscing about meeting Ernest Hemingway on a New York sidewalk to Joe Nickell discovering his unknown daughter, from Stuart Vyse’s European travelogues to Robyn Blumner’s youthful interest in ancient aliens. All these reveal a more personal side of skepticism. As Craig Foster reveals in his own SI column, The Time Warp, …

Blind Victoria’s Secret | Skeptical Inquirer

Blind Victoria’s Secret | Skeptical Inquirer

Published by Sam Flores

I had missed my chance in San Francisco. It was May 20, 1987, and the Bay Area Skeptics (BAS) had already infiltrated a revival of faith healer W.V. Grant in San Francisco two nights before—without me. BAS was the first local interest group inspired by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). A year earlier, BAS and CSICOP had helped James Randi get the goods on another faith healer, Peter Popoff, who seemed to know an uncanny amount about people’s illnesses. Randi revealed on Johnny Carson’s popular late-night television program how Popoff’s wife broadcast previously collected information to a receiver in Popoff’s ear. Popoff declared bankruptcy within a year (Dart 1987). Unlike Popoff, Grant used no electronic devices. Rather, he was a master of memory: he worked the crowd before the meeting to obtain information on the ailing, using mnemonics to associate people and their details for rapid retrieval later. Grant also was careful about what he said, giving Jesus credit for any healing, not himself. Even though I had …

Fifty Years of Inquiry! | Skeptical Inquirer

Fifty Years of Inquiry! | Skeptical Inquirer

Published by Sam Flores

In the fall of 1976—fifty years ago—philosopher and secular humanist Paul Kurtz organized the meeting in Buffalo, New York, that led to the development of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). That same year, CSICOP published a journal called The Zetetic. The journal opened with this definition:             ZETETIC 1. adj. proceeding by inquiry. 2. n. skeptic, seeker; specif: one of a group of Pyrrhonist philosophers. —Webster’s Third New International Dictionary The journal’s editor, Marcello Truzzi, was joined by an impressive editorial board including Kurtz, James Randi, Ray Hyman, Martin Gardner, and Dennis Rawlins. In Truzzi’s opening editorial, he wrote, “As a name for the journal it reflects our belief that the proper attitude of science toward unusual claims should be one of balance between openness to new facts and skepticism with critical attention toward facts which are anomalous.” The journal’s second editor—and longest serving by over four decades—Kendrick Frazier ushered in a name change to The Skeptical Inquirer while maintaining the tone of open-minded skepticism. So began fifty …