In case you missed it, our recent episode of Squaring the Strange has all sorts of weirdness! From Celestia: Ben recounts his latest TV appearance and chupacabra follow-up. The AlienStock / Storm Area 51 thing happened, or tried to happen. And two movies...
Conspiracy theories
Rumors of Halloween THC Candy Threats
I'm quoted in a new Rolling Stone article on rumors of THC-laden candy threats this Halloween... You can read it HERE.
Peal To Panic: Analysis Of A False Abduction Rumor
How a fictional missing girl led to a massive police search that terrified a community. My recent article takes a closer look at a recent child abduction rumor and panic in England... A mother recently claimed in a Facebook post that an eight-year-old girl had...
The Trump ‘Distraction’ Quasi-Conspiracy
One common claim about Donald Trump is that he often says and does things not only for effect, but with the specific goal of distracting the public and news media from something else he wants to keep hidden. The claims have circulated for years, especially on social...
Why Chupacabra Reports Only Go Back To 1995
I recently came across a blog by a fellow cryptozoology writer, Nick Redfern, which began with a well-deserved rant about armchair debunkers. The shabby state of research into Fortean topics is widely acknowledged by skeptics—and some “believers” (for lack of a better...
Squaring the Strange: Organ Theft Urban Legends
The new episode of Squaring the Strange is about organ theft urban legends, a favorite subject of mine. Richard Saunders of The Skeptic Zone joins us to discuss organ theft tales! The notion of waking up one day without a few organs, the biological equivalent of being...
Misleading Memes As Cloaked Propaganda
Soon after a university cheating scandal recently broke, a meme declared that “White privilege is REAL,” and gave three examples presumably illustrating that premise. The first shows a photo of actress Felicity Huffman and states that “Feds will seek 4 months jail...
Art Project Unknowingly Promotes Urban Legend
I saw this meme recently, it’s a Cuban art project about exploited children. However one of the photos, bottom left, is based on an urban legend. The artist is trying to raise awareness of child organ trafficking, but it doesn’t actually happen. I’ve researched,...
Co-Opting Black History Month With Conspiracy
My recent blog examines a popular meme about the "true" inspiration for the Lone Ranger, an amazing lawman named Bass Reeves. I looked into it, curious to see if it was true, but soon found myself in a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories--and examining why skeptics...
The Tragedy Of Jazmine Barnes: Phantom Serial Killers And Eyewitness Errors
My recent blog is about the tragic shooting of Jazmine Barnes days before New Years, and how mistaken eyewitnesses and mistaken assumptions led to the search for a non-existent racist serial killer in Houston.... On December 30, 2018, a seven-year-old Houston girl...