When families of missing people are desperate they often listen to psychics. Here's a new article on the topic: "The psychic, Juanita Szafranski, led a search effort focused on a five-mile area surrounding the East Rock neighborhood. Peter Recchia, 59, went...
Media Literacy
Galaxy Photo Shows Haunting Face… Here’s Why
I'm quoted in a new article by Rob Lea on Medium about why people see faces in everything from ghost photos to clouds to photos of the galaxy... A collision of two galaxies of equal size 704-million-light-years from Earth has created what appears to be a ghostly...
Squaring the Strange #104: Pop Culture and the Satanic Panic
In a recent episode of Squaring the Strange we look back at pop culture aspects of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 1990s, including Dungeons & Dragons, Geraldo Rivera, heavy metal, "Satanic Yoda," and how technology influenced the panic...You can find it...
Interviewed About the 2016 Clown Panic
I'm quoted in a news article from Alabama.com about the Scary Clown Panic of 2016, and an Alabama woman sentenced to 10 years (later reduced to probation) for dressing as a clown and threatening to attack a school... It's a very good overview of the topic, and a good...
Truths and Myths Behind Halloween Scares
Halloween is coming up soon, and amid the make-believe witches, ghouls, and goblins, there are supposedly real-life villains who hope to harm on children October 31. News reports and scary stories on social media leave many parents concerned about protecting children...
“Malling While Muslim” Update
Earlier this year a West Virginia mother called 911 to report that an Arab man tried to abduct her five-year-old daughter at a mall. Police and mall security arrested the man (an engineer from Egypt who spoke little English), but surveillance footage showed no...
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.
Why Old News is Often Fake News
We’ve all seen it on social media, especially Facebook. Some friend, or “friend,” or friend of a “friend,” posts a news story. Because it’s social media, the story is often selected (by human nature and algorithms) for its outrage factor. Amid the kitten videos and...
Squaring the Strange: (Real) Diseases and (Fake) Diplomas
The new episode of Squaring the Strange is out! First we talk with Dr. Hans House about infectious diseases (flu, ebola, measles, etc.), as well as how to deal with vaccine deniers. Then we're joined by Kenny Biddle to talk about faked credentials, and I...
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...