In this week’s eSkeptic, Margret Schaefer reviews Freud: The Making of an Illusion, in which its author, Frederick Crews, convincingly argues that Freud constructed psychoanalysis on a fraudulent foundation. How did Freud convince so many people of the correctness and the profundity of his theory?
Daniel Loxton considers how fuzzy folkloric phenomena come to be crystallized as "cryptids."
Donald Prothero pays a visit to Bigfoot’s traditional American stomping grounds in California’s Klamath Mountains.
Daniel Loxton considers the fact that eyewitness sightings of mermaids have been reported for millennia.
Daniel Loxton considers two notorious documentary-style television hoaxes in this excerpt from Junior Skeptic 48 (originally published in 2013 inside Skeptic magazine).
Daniel Loxton answers an email from a reader regarding a common paranormal argument.
Donald Prothero expresses exasperation at press linking Nessie to a small armored fish which vanished into extinction 160 million years before dinosaurs evolved.
Donald Prothero considers the marginal story of the "ropen"—an allegedly pterosaur-like cryptid—and the man who has led a one-man crusade to promote it using an army of sock-puppets.
In this week’s eSkeptic, Harriet Hall, M.D., The SkepDoc, reviews Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids by Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero (Columbia University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0231153201). This review appeared in Skeptic magazine issue 18.4 (2013)
When the story came out that Bigfoot DNA had been found, everyone was talking about it—and some of us were skeptical. In this week’s eSkeptic, Donald R. Prothero reports on what happened when an independent lab checked the samples. This post first appeared on Skepticblog.org.
Download and print 5 Cryptid Cards created by Junior Skeptic Editor Daniel Loxton. Creatures include: The Yeti, Griffin, Sasquatch/Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, and the Cadborosaurus… DOWNLOAD the free PDF
According to legend, an awesome, primeval monster — a huge serpent with flippers, a mane, and a head something like that of a camel or horse — slides undetected through the frigid waters off British Columbia and Washington State. Could a living dinosaur, a monster out of time, lurk here beneath the waves?
In this week’s eSkeptic, Daniel Loxton provides a skeptical commentary on Gordon T. Holmes Loch Ness Monster video and reviews Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World’s Most Elusive Creatures, by Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell.
In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer receives a press release from Jon-Erik Beckjord, a long-time Bigfoot hunter, along with four photographs of the mysterious creature. Maybe Shermer is just a lousy pattern-seeking primate, but he just can’t see Bigfoot at all, even when he squints and uses his imagination.
In this week’s eSkeptic, Daniel Loxton reviews The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story by Greg Long; a Georgia judge sends evolution lawsuit to trial.
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