On a recent episode of Squaring the Strange, we have a roundtable discussion on the practical aspects of everyday life as a skeptic. Boots-on-the-ground skepticism efforts include social media presence, etiquette, and tactics; picking your battles; and knowing when...
Media Literacy
The ‘Science Can’t Explain!’ Fallacy
As a teenager I was fascinated by books about the strange and mysterious world around us. In the summer I’d walk to the local used bookstore and pull out a handful of crumpled allowance dollars to scoop up some old paperbacks from the Fifties. Along with Doc Savage...
The Top 5 Halloween Scares
Halloween is here, 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 from...
Explaining ‘Unexplained’ Photos for TV’s ‘Strange Evidence’
I will be appearing on a new 10-part series on Discovery’s Science Channel, on a show titled “Strange Evidence.” It examines bizarre and seemingly inexplicable photographs and videos. (I’m one of the guests who takes the “un” out of “unexplained.”) Will I be on the...
Appearance on “The Skeptic Zone” Podcast
In case you missed it, I recently appeared (along with Leo Igwe, Susan Gerbic, Eran Segev, and others) on the new episode of Richard Saunders's great podcast The Skeptic Zone. Check it out HERE! You can find more on me and my work with a search for "Benjamin...
Mother Kills Autistic Son to Spare Him from Fictional Abuse
Manhattan millionaire Gigi Jordan was found guilty of killing her eight-year-old autistic son in November 2014. Jordan admitted killing her son, Jude Mirra, with a lethal dose of medications in a hotel room in February 2010. However she claimed it was a mercy...
Burying the C.B.S.
The emailed press release I got last week began: "PETERSBURG, Ky., Sept. 26, 2017 - Since Darwin's ‘On the Origin of Species' was published in 1859, entirely new fields of science have been born and matured-fields which hold the keys to the origin of species. With a...
Squaring the Strange: Allegedly Psychic
On Squaring the Strange, Celestia and I discuss a recent story about a waitress being allegedly stiffed due to her pride tattoo. We go through numerous similar stories, some hoaxed, and discuss whether this is becoming a modern-day folk tale. Pascual joins for our...
My ‘Tracking the Chupacabra’ Used in Mexican-American Folklore course
My chupacabra book was used as a classroom text at Los Angeles Mission College in a course on Mexican American Folklore in the Chicano/Chicana Studies program... Kinda cool! You can find more on me and my work with a search for "Benjamin Radford" (not...
Another ‘Psychic’ Fail
A psychic tells a TV show where to find the remains of a young mother who went missing four years ago; they go to where her psychic visions claimed the victim was and found bones. The police were called and the psychic claimed victory... until the bones were...