Hoaxes

Over 325 skeptical definitions and essays on occult, paranormal,supernatural and pseudoscientific ideas and practices with references to the best skeptical literature

News page about a crop circle recently found in Suffolk, England, which appears to spell the word "sexsmith". It is thought to be in reference to the Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith.

In 1897 Alexander Hamilton, of Yates Center, Kansas, came out of his house to discover a cigar shaped UFO was hovering over his farm. Humanoids in the ship had a rope around one of Hamilton's calves and were trying to winch it aboard. This story appeared in the Yates Center local newspaper along with statements from leading citizens vouching for Hamilton's honesty. For almost a hundred years it was considered one of the best documented UFO cases on the books. The only problem with it was that it was a hoax.

Real true-life alien spacecraft affect their surrounding environment -- something UFO hoaxers have difficulty replicating. That's one of the amazing telltale signs used by ufologists to verify authentic UFO phenomena photos -- and one of the "insider professional secrets" revealed by internationally celebrated ufologist Der Voron, author of Unidentified Flying Objects: Starcraft, as explained to the Weekly Universe in an astounding and exclusive interview.

Middle Ages, France During the Middle Ages, dozens of outbreaks of hysterical fits and imitative behaviors were reported among repressed nuns in cloistered European Christian convents. "Volunteers" were often forced by their parents into joining religious orders against their will and to lead celibate lives that included vows of poverty and demanding physical labor (Madden 1857). During this time it was widely believed that humans could be possessed by certain animals, such as wolves. In France, cats were particularly despised as they were considered familiar with the Devil (Darnton 1984). It was perhaps this context that triggered an unusual episode of collective behavior, described in the passage below.

THE PARANORMAL IS easily hoaxed. Pranksters and the overzealous have, over the years, manufactured fake photographs, recordings, video and evidence for paranormal events. The intent of the prankster, usually, is to try to make fools of paranormal investigators by getting them to accept or at least investigate false evidence. Overzealous "believers" also have falsified evidence in a wayward attempt to convince the unbelievers that paranormal phenomena are real, or to seek fame.

Development of Beliefs in Paranormal and Supernatural Phenomena The media may provide fodder for pseudoscientific beliefs and create new monsters and demons for us to believe in, but each individual's culture is responsible for laying the groundwork for pseudoscientific and paranormal belief to take root.