I spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with conspiracies and conspiracy theories. Over the years I've written about dozens and dozens of conspiracy theories, including the Obama birthers, the Sandy Hook shootings (for which I still receive hate e-mails), Osama...
Investigation
Talk on Chupacabra Investigation for ABQ SciFi Society
I'll be giving a presentation on my chupacabra investigation to the Albuquerque SciFi Society on October 9 at 7:30 PM; the origin of the chupacabra has interesting origins with H.R. Giger and the film "Species." You can find out more HERE. You can find more on...
Paranormal Kool-Aid Interview: What’s the Harm in Magical Thinking?
I was interviewed on the harm in magical thinking, including discussing my research into muti murders in Africa, in which albinos have been persecuted, attacked, and murdered because of the belief that their body parts are magical. It’s a topic I’ve written about and...
Podcast Interview on Conspiracy Theory Psychology
I was recently a guest on the 16Miles2Hell show, talking about conspiracy theories, the history of conspiracy dissemination, and the psychology of conspiracies... Put on your tinfoil hat and check it out! You can find more on me and my work with a search for...
Stonehenge: Myths and Conspiracies
For those who didn't see it last week, here's my article on Stonehenge myths and how restoration efforts sparked conspiracy theories is now out, you can see it HERE. You can find more on me and my work with a search for "Benjamin Radford" (not "Ben Radford")...
The Post Hoc Fallacy: Vaccine Fears and Roosevelt-Menacing Indians
I recently read Candice Miller's book The River of Doubt, about Theodore Roosevelt's 1914 exploration of an unknown river in the Brazilian Amazon. It's a fascinating story of adventure, misadventure, murder, and more. In the book I also found an excellent real-life...
Eyewitness Unreliability and the Filedrawer Effect
My new blog on eyewitness testimony and how we can all be fooled... Dennis Plucknett and his two sons, along with a friend, went hunting at a camp in northeast Florida in 2004. It was early morning, and the group had gotten separated. His fourteen-year-old son...
Quoted in New Report on Debunking Online Rumors
A journalism researcher named Craig Silverman published a report on best practices for debunking online misinformation in journalism and the skeptical community: “I recently completed a fellowship with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism that saw me study how news...
Using Satellites to Search for Bigfoot
When adventurer Steve Fossett went missing Sept. 3, 2007, Web users were enlisted to help in Fossett's rescue from the comfort of their own homes. Using a program called Mechanical Turk, high-resolution satellite imagery of the search area was collected from a company...
Was Screaming ‘Dead’ Honduran Teen Buried Alive?
I think I solved the bizarre mystery of a girl who was supposedly buried alive last week in Honduras... You can read my piece on Discovery News HERE.