This collection of Skeptical Inquirer magazine columns by investigator and folklorist Benjamin Radford guides readers on a science-based (yet open-minded) examination of 70 fascinating and mysterious topics. Drawing on two decades of first-hand research, Big-If True separates fact from fiction using forensics, science, psychology, folklore, and more. Big-If True examines these and dozens more mysteries including Bigfoot, reincarnation, chupacabras, Icelandic elves, conspiracy theories, UFOs, miracles, the terrifying Goat-Man, crop circles, subliminal advertising, sea serpents, wandering trees, medical mysteries, and hypnotist thieves-plus a 1990 Elvis sighting. For mystery lovers and armchair investigators alike, this book offers a look behind the scenes at investigating oddities and curiosities, both ancient and modern.
Chapter One LEGENDS 5
A Skeptic's Guide to Ethical and Effective Curse Removal - Egging the
Equator - Detour: Elves Ahead - Mysteries of the Coral Castle - Is Elvis
Presley in Home Alone? - Searching to Noah Vale - The Bell Witch Mystery
- The Myth of the Walking Tree - Bailing in the Mummies - Might Fright
Cause White? - (and more)
Chapter Two MONSTERS 51
Cryptozoology and Global Warming - The Mystery of the Texas
Chupacabra - Texas Goat-Men and the Chupacabra - A Wakey Water
'Monster' - Globsters Ahoy! - Investigating Mothman's Red Eyeshine
Chapter Three GHOSTS 83
Do Einstein's Laws Endorse Ghosts? - 'M' is for Mysterious Marks -
Have I Ever Seen a Ghost? - Soul Scales - The Cockington Church Ghost
Photo - Can Electromagnetic Fields Create Ghosts? - Infrared Cameras
and Ghost Hunting - A Closer Look at Orbs - The Sweet Spirit Sounds
of Rosemary Brown - (and more)
Chapter Four MYSTERIOUS POWERS AND PLACES 121
A Time to Die? - Crop Circle Origins - The GIGO Problem: Crop Circle
Research Edition - Channeling Ancient African Wisdom-Or Not - Mystery
of the Paulding Light - Dowsing: Dubious and Discredited - Fatima
Miracle Claims All Wet - Uri Geller Revisited - Did Psychic Visions
Locate Missing California Boy? - Beware Mesmer Thieves! - Secrets of
Spectacularly Skewered Skin
Chapter Five UFOs 165
The Phantom Menace of UFO Revelation - The Mysterious Phoenix
Lights - The Mysterious, Invisible 'Rods'
Chapter Six HEALTH AND MEDICINE 175
Bodytalk: Boon or Bogus? - Exercising the Brain Gym - Kinoki Foot Pads
- Diving HeadOn Into Pseudoscience - Subliminal Advertising, Trumpian
and Otherwise - Freaky Feldenkrais - Measuring Near-Death Experience
- A 100C Grain of Truth to Homeopathy? - Battle Over the BMI - The
Mysterious Morgellons Malady - Childbirth-Natural or 'Unnatural'? -
Vegetable Oil or Snake Oil?: The Pseudoscience of "Oil Pulling" - The
Pseudoscience of Personalysis - Left Brain or Right Brain? - (and more)
Chapter Seven CONSPIRACIES 229
Sandy Hook School Shooting: The Adam Lanza Death Certificate Conspiracy
- Curious Contrails: Death From the Sky? - The Truth About the 9/11
Truthers - Is America a Sheeple Factory?
Chapter Eight SKEPTICISM 243
Legitimizing Woo - Just Asking Questions - Caught Between the Possible
and the Paranormal - Dealing With Believers in Skeptical Investigation -
Anomaly Hunting - Mystery Solved-According to Whom? - Paranormal
Qualifications
Author Biography:
Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a Research Fellow with the non-profit educational organization the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He has written thousands of articles on a wide variety of topics, including urban legends, the paranormal, critical thinking, and media literacy. He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelors degree in psychology from the University of New Mexico and has a masters degree in education from the University of Buffalo. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the American Folklore Society, the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research, among other organizations. Radford is one of the world's few science-based paranormal investigators, and has done first-hand research into mysterious phenomena in sixteen countries on four continents including psychics, ghosts and haunted houses; exorcisms, miracles, Bigfoot, stigmata, lake monsters, UFO sightings, reincarnation, and crop circles, and many other topics. He is perhaps best known for solving the mysteries of the Santa Fe Courthouse Ghost in 2007, the Hispanic vampire el chupacabra in 2010, and his book Bad Clowns, the first to fully examine the evil clown phenomenon. Radford has appeared on Good Morning America, the Travel Channel (including Destination Unknown) the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the Learning Channel, CBC, BBC, CNN, and other networks with three letters. He also served as a consultant for the MTV series The Big Urban Myth Show and an episode of the CBS crime drama CSI. Radford has appeared in hundreds of publications including the Wall Street Journal, Wired, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time, Outside, Rolling Stone, and Ladies' Home Journal. Learn more about Radford at www.RhombusBooks.com
