About two years ago, around the start of the COVID pandemic, I was looking at a friend’s Facebook page answering her question about how best to protect herself. At the time, masking was just coming to the fore but social distancing was advised and hand sanitizers were...
Psychology
Zoom Talk: ‘America the Fearful: Navigating the Media’s Phantom Fears
I recently gave a Zoom talk titled 'America the Fearful: Navigating the Media's Phantom Fears,' based on my new book: "News and social media provide a steady diet of things to fear: COVID. Vaccinations. Immigrants. Kidnapping rings. Satanists. QAnon. Mass shootings....
Squaring the Strange #17: Deathbed Confessions, Real and Rumored
The new episode of our podcast Squaring the Strange is out! This time we discuss a short list of purported deathbed confessions. The last words of a consequential figure can be hijacked or twisted to fit agenda -- or, sometimes, it's not just the words that are made...
Chapter in New Book: ‘North American Monsters A Contemporary Legend Casebook’
I'm delighted to have contributed a chapter in this new book on the folklore of monsters! I haven't read it yet but many of the other authors are brilliant friends and colleagues, and I'm looking forward to it. I also did the cover art! Check it out HERE!
Squaring the Strange # 170: Pet Psychics and Psychic Pets
New episode of Squaring the Strange is now out! After a brief discussion on the recent jailbreak (rock break?) of a Japanese nine-tailed fox demon and some thoughts on war rumors we talk about people who think they can talk to animals. Or people who think their animal...
Guest on Paranormal Activity podcast: Curses and Voodoo
I'm a recent guest on the Paranormal Activity podcast, talking about curses, voodoo, and voodoo dolls... Check it out HERE!
Quoted in New Book: ‘Disenchantment, Re-Enchantment, and Folklore Genres’
Not the most compelling cover art, but I'm quoted in this new book from the Belgrade Institute for Literature and Arts. The subject, of all things, is my research into the Pokemon seizure panic of 1997. Check it out HERE!
Squaring the Strange #167: Bob Larson, the D-List Demon Dispatcher
The new episode of Squaring the Strange is out! This week we discuss an old Satanic Panic dog learning some new tricks. Televangelist Bob Larson has turned to giving remote exorcisms via Skype and Zoom these past few years, and we speak with two people who have...
The Battle Over Wikipedia Misinformation: Interview with Guerilla Skeptic Guru Susan Gerbic
If—like most people—you’ve ever searched Wikipedia for skeptical topics, or looked there for topic covered by organized skepticism, chances are you’ve probably read some of Susan Gerbic’s work. She’s a (very) active member of the Center for Inquiry and the Independent...
Debunked ‘Primal Scream’ Therapy Returns With Covid
In the news: Moms gathering to scream out their pandemic frustrations. Psychotherapist Arthur Janov believed that neuroses are caused by childhood pain and could be relieved by re-experiencing it through crying and screaming. A huge fad in the 1970s, the idea of...