Does the media, in particular the tabloid press, perpetuate ignorance and superstition at the expense of rational enquiry? Given the millions of newspapers and magazines sold each week it would appear that many people rely on those sources for information—if you read it in the newspaper it must be true.

Advertising of course, is the bread and butter of most newspapers and magazines, and where extraordinary claims are made it's a case of caveat emptor.

Until recently, the Manly Daily, one of the Cumberland Group of newspapers with a claimed readership of over one million, included in its 'Public Notices' column advertisements by psychics, clairvoyants and others of that genre. Now they have their own category listed under the title 'Psychic Notices'. The Saturday issue always contains a dozen or so advertisements and some of them are interesting to read, analyse and speculate upon. Consider the following examples that all appeared in this column on the same day.

*    TAROT readings, relationships, career, future direction, decisions.  Mon—Sat. Debbie. 972----.
*    TAROT and Psychic readings. Sue. 968----.
*    TAROT readings, questions answered reliably, will travel.
*    PAUL. 976----. asks, 'Are you sick? Maybe medically incurable. Then tried everything. There's one that you haven't tried yet! Call Paul.'
*    TAROT workshops. Learn to read the cards in one day. Phone Judy.
     997----.

Among them, through the medium of tarot cards, the first three advertisers presume to act in the roles of marriage guidance counsellor, social worker, financial adviser, vocational guidance officer, and miracle healer. They insulate one from the responsibility of decision making, and claim to be a font of infinite universal knowledge. The fourth advertiser however, claims that these attributes which would normally take one year of training to achieve can in fact be learned in a single day. Now I've heard of speed reading and mnemonics, but have considerable doubts that one could acquire Paul's encyclopaedic knowledge, the counselling skills of Debbie and the psychic ability of Sue all in one day. I may be right, for in the same column is a large advertisement by the Unity College of Healing which invites you to explore your psychic potential by enrolling in their twelve week course for one hundred and ninety-five dollars, to learn psychometry, clairvoyance and auric reading.

The value of this course was depreciated however, by another advertisement by Mary, who was offering a free night to understand the aura. Something for nothing or a sprat to catch a mackerel? A smaller advertisement bearing the same name and telephone number, advertised a ten week healing and spiritual development course commencing the following week. More on that one later.

Lower down the column was GYPSY, and although one is left to speculate whether this is her name or ethnic grouping, she leaves no doubt about her spiritual and psychic qualifications—she claimed to be 'internationally trained' and has worked in London and the USA. Having bought a 'gold' watch in Romania which turned green, and had some tobacco stolen while in London, my own encounters with gypsies lead me to suspect that they were trained by a fellow called Fagin!

Clairvoyants abound in the Psychic Notices column and their disparate and diverse abilities give cause for wonderment. BERIT on 968---- for instance, advocates healing oneself with 'pulsating therapy', and GRAEM 99---- specialises in casting charms.

One advertiser who has appeared almost continuously in the column for over twenty years is astrologer/clairvoyant/consultant Gordon Ballard. Mr Ballard was the subject of an Australian Skeptics' investigation in 1988, when, for a fee of one hundred dollars, he drew up a natal chart detailing the life and future prospects of a female subject who had died at the age of eight months, twenty-five years previously! Full details of this damning condemnation of astrology can be read in Chapter One. [Investigator 213]

Despite the adverse publicity over the 'tele-psychic' scam in America (see article in the Skeptic, 14[2]:7) the rip-off thrives in Australia. Using three different 0055 numbers, personal readings utilising Tarot, Runes or I Ching, can be accessed for just over seventy-five cents per minute. It would be an interesting and revealing exercise to ring all three numbers at the same time for a reading to see whether (a) you are given the same reading, or (b) all different. If the former, then one could reasonably assume all three methods were using the same standard response regardless of your choice. If the latter, it would testify to the inaccuracy of at least two readings leaving the third to be scrutinised for the same vague and ambiguous generalisations we normally associate with this type of psychic consultation.

Passing over 'Healing Solutions', Bach Flower Remedies, Reflexology, Hypnotherapy, Rebirthing and 'Raiki' (sic) (It's quite amazing the number of alternative healers who can't even spell the name of their own modality), we come to a psychic clairvoyant specialising in 'vision quest' and 'medicine bags'. 'American Indian Insight', according to the blurb, allows the advertiser to 'remove evil energies which have been affecting your life.' The readings according to the advertisement, are done 'unaided' which I assume means sans physical prompting aids such as tarot cards, and suggests that we are dealing with a channeler manifesting a (Red) Indian spirit. What relevance Red Indians have to present day Australians' social, economic and emotional problems I don't know.

Earlier in this chapter I mentioned Mary and her 'free aura reading night'.

I'm never one to look a gift horse in the mouth and this offer presented the opportunity to open up my closed mind to matters ethereal at no cost. The advertisement advised that limited space was available and this turned out to be literally true—the venue was what appeared to be a converted garage underneath a house with floor space for no more than a dozen or so aspirants.

Entering the overheated room, the atmosphere thick with the fragrance of smouldering joss sticks, I was greeted by Mary, a slim figure clad in a long white crocheted dress, apparently aged in her mid to late twenties who, after ticking my name off the list, handed me some poorly typed and unprofessional looking flyers and allotted me a space on the floor.

Around the walls were crayon drawings of human looking shapes enveloped in various multi-coloured hues; chakra diagrams, and charts detailing alternative healing techniques.

While waiting for the others to arrive, I perused the sheets given me and learned that Ms Mary McCarthy was a qualified teacher (no details of what), originally from Balmain; a Kinesiologist, Spiritual Healer, Channel and Counsellor. She facilitates workshops and courses in healing, meditation and spiritual healing. She also writes for Southern Crossings (a give-away New Age magazine). Various courses were advertised ranging from a one on one consultation at fifty dollars to, one hundred and sixty dollars for a two day workshop, which included 'art' materials for drawing auras.
 
With ten potential clients seated on cushions around the perimeter of the room, and Mary at one end in front of some crystals laid out in the form of a cross, we were invited to take off our shoes, make ourselves comfortable and meditate to the sound of softly playing 'mood' music.

During the twenty minute meditation, no less than four drawings fell off the walls, no doubt due to the negative vibrations radiating from yours truly, patiently waiting to be initiated into the art of aura reading. The wait over, I awoke refreshed apart from a crick in the neck, stiff knees and an anaesthetised posterior, to three quarters of an hour of the most unedifying, unscientific, uninformative new age clap-trap I've ever had the misfortune to listen to. Mary's version of aura theory was at variance with what I already knew, and the only authority invoked was Sai Baba whose aura, according to our lecturer, extends four to five feet and accounts for his benevolence and ability to perform miracles. A conclusion with which Premanand our sceptical Indian friend would have some difficulty concurring.

After a cup of tea or coffee we got down to the nitty gritty of sensing each other's auras. Each of us sat opposite a partner and meditated, then after ten minutes we were supposed to come up with information received from each other. Needless to say, like the three wise monkeys, I saw nothing, heard nothing and felt nothing.

Being highly resistant to the enticing promises of more by Demtel's famous TV salesman, I am not expecting more for my money and will not be enrolling in one of Mary's courses. However, I wrote the following letter to her in the vague hope that she may be enticed to subject some of her claims to a test.
 
 
Response? Yes, you guessed it—no reply, and Mary carries on teaching her unsubstantiated nonsense to all who are gullible enough to pay for it.


 
At one of Australian Skeptics monthly National Committee meetings, President Barry Williams thrust a rolled up copy of Woman's Day into my hand saying, "Do something with this.” Ignoring the rude connotation, I placed the magazine on the table before me, and lo and behold, it fell open, like a well thumbed copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover, at an 'exclusive' to reveal four pages of titillating poses by Rachel Hunter in skimpy swimware. Casting a keen eye over the feminine pulchritude, and noting the sweat and coffee stains evidence of the President's prior licentious lollygagging, I nodded my approval and asked what I was supposed to do with it. 'Not that you bloody fool, read the articles and write something about them' came the admonishing response.

Curious to see what the Editor-in-chief would find interesting enough to write about in a magazine already a past recipient of the bent spoon award, (this award is presented annually by the Australian Skeptics, to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal piffle), I thumbed through the mag. 'Exclusive' pics of Cher and her toy-boy; Denise Drysdale defends her lover— 'Exclusive'; another 'exclusive' on cricket hero Shane Warne; and yet another 'exclusive' on an Aussie 'hunk' in Hollywood; four pages of pics of the interior of the White House; more pics of socialites, film and other personalities; and then ... ah ha! 'CLOSE ENCOUNTERS'—three anecdotal accounts of Australians who claim to have been abducted (by you know who!) or have had a close encounter with a UFO. For good measure a story on those 'mysterious' crop circles was thrown in under the heading 'Aliens in Adelaide', accompanied by a pic of a not so circular circle and another of Colin Norris, director of Australian International UFO Research, poking around in the dirt. His expert opinion? 'I can spot a fake a mile off. This is no hoax. There has been a visit from an extraterrestrial craft here for sure.' An accompanying 'scientist' (discipline not stated) carried out soil and radiation tests and found that the salt content in the circle was forty per cent higher than the rest of the paddock and radiation was up. As these characteristics are claimed to be peculiar to UFO circles (so the story tells us) what more proof could one ask for?! Prior to this 'landing', Norris had received a call from the Air Force because they were getting so many reports of lights moving and standing still in the Adelaide Hills. I see exactly the same sort of activity in the hills surrounding my residence ... funny, I always thought they were car headlights—just goes to show how wrong one can be.
 
The article started with some comments from the 'experts'. Roy Lake, chairman of UFO Studies, says, 'You can't dispute the evidence that is materialising to the contrary', (whatever that means), and Tony Dodd, director of research for UFO Magazine, who believes the aliens have been involved in genetic engineering for centuries, concludes that 'because the similarities of the stories related by the people under hypnosis are so strong, even sceptics would change their minds.' Well here's one sceptic who won't change his mind for some very sound reasons. Firstly, anecdotal evidence, particularly under hypnosis, is not evidence at all. Secondly, despite tens of thousands of alleged sightings and landings of UFOs over the past half century, not one piece of tangible evidence in the form of hardware has ever been found, yet when the first astronauts landed on the moon they left behind footprints, tyre tracks, electronic equipment and a moon-buggy. Perhaps extraterrestrials always 'do the right thing' and take their garbage back with them. Thirdly, one would have thought that if crop circles were depressions made by alien spacecraft there would be some consistency in their size and shape, but to my knowledge no two have ever been shown to have had exactly the same shape or dimensions and some shapes have been decidedly odd. Fourthly, why would an alien civilisation which, if it exists, and by virtue of the advanced transport involved, would be far more technically advanced than our own, send spacecraft through distances measured in light years just to park on Earth for a few minutes and then whiz off into space? Fifthly, I would suggest that the reason for the similarity of descriptions of aliens by alleged abductees is patently obvious from an accompanying photograph of one of them clutching a copy of Whitney Streiber's 'Communion'. And finally, as man has made enormous progress in the field of genetic engineering in a matter of a few years it doesn't say much for the aliens' medical technology if they have been slugging away for centuries and are still experimenting on foetuses.

In an accompanying box labelled 'UFO researchers believe' we were told that an alien spaceship is spotted every fifteen seconds; women up to three months pregnant are being abducted and their unborn babies snatched; male abductees are being used for bizarre experiments; fifty thousand US security documents are being withheld from the public, and governments are covering up sightings to prevent mass civilian panic.

Having spent many a balmy night on my patio relaxing with a coldie and a pipe gazing at the stars, I have never yet spotted one of the two million odd spacecraft supposedly passing overhead each year, and conclude that my suburb must be in a UFO free zone as well as a nuclear free zone. Woman's Day readers can take comfort from that and may like to note that I currently have a couple of vacant units for lease and give a written guarantee that female occupants will not be abducted—at least not by aliens!

The suggestion that governments are 'covering up to prevent mass civilian panic' is quite amusing when one considers the number of government 'secrets' periodically leaked, and surely if it were true, then that knowledge in itself would create more panic than preventing it.



Moving on through the mag we have Fiona McCullum, Australia's 'best known and most accurate clairvoyant' (aren't they all?) answering questions sent in by mail. There is no indication or confirmation that any of her answers to the questions were accurate or otherwise.

Then we have 'The Lovers' Tarot', the brainchild of 'sex, psychology and psychic expert' Jane Lyle, who has used the tarot to predict the course of love affairs over the past ten years.

But wait, there's more! An exciting numerology guide by Australian numerologist Christopher Mason, which predicts your good and bad days for work, love and play, and palmist Jan Sinden, who will read your palm from a photocopy.

Had enough? There is also Joan Hanger revealing the secret meanings hidden in your dreams, and Athena Starwoman (see also Chapter 11, Blatant Fraud) dispensing knowledge gleaned from the heavens. Yawn! A total of thirteen pages of occult pabulum resulting in record sales.

OK Harry, so what's the point? Well, women are the first to complain that they are discriminated against, treated as second class citizens, considered intellectually inferior and incapable of rational thought; and yet the popular media on which many rely for information and advice encourages irrational thinking, superstition and the uncritical acceptance of unsubstantiated paranormal claims. It would seem that women are their own worst enemy.



Shortly after writing the above a copy of New Idea (Dec 5. 1992) came into my hands and guess whose making a comeback? Uri Geller, not as a psychic but as the star of a Dorothy Dix column!

The article commenced by saying that after years of amazing the world with his psychic powers, Uri Geller has decided to channel his energies into helping people lead healthier lives.

One could be forgiven for suggesting that as he is no longer able to get away with fooling the public with his conjuring tricks this is simply another less vulnerable business venture. He already has a newspaper column in Britain and in an experiment, thousands of readers who took part reported dramatic changes to their lives. The unemployed found work, people trying to sell their homes were inundated with offers, and some sufferers of chronic aches and pains felt better. Of course the number of people who noted no change in their status or affairs was not reported. Also in the article there were the usual misleading comments on deja vu linking it with psychic powers, and how Uri overcame bulimia. In his column Uri investigates a range of fascinating subjects such as UFOs and star signs, and offers advice on how to improve your sex life and how to communicate with animals, from household pets to dolphins. For Australia, he is preparing a special column on the telepathic abilities of Aborigines—apparently he hasn't seen the Telecom advertisement in which an Aboriginal is using a mobile telephone!



Having previously concluded that I lived in a UFO free zone my complacency was shattered when flying saucers were reported by several eye-witnesses between May 27 and May 31, 1995, over the Northern Beaches area of Sydney—weird orange lights hovering over the ocean, and a bright light changing colour before blooming into a large multi-coloured sphere being the most frequently observed.

The local suburban newspaper (The Manly Daily, May 28) featured a full front page story about two young men who claimed to have captured on video what they believed to be two UFOs hovering over the Sydney suburb of Frenchs Forest.

The pair were returning home from a nightclub at about 3.30am when they spotted a strange bright light hovering off the coast. They spent twenty minutes taking still photos of the object then raced home with the intention of returning with a video camera to capture it on film. It was not necessary however, as they claimed that the object 'followed' them and brought a friend with it!

Interviewed, one of the observers, a nineteen-year-old university student, said that 'it (the object) kept changing colour from fluorescent to reddish, even the aura it was putting off was changing. I definitely felt that there was an intelligence behind it.' He made the usual 'spotters' claim to have experienced a loss of time and remains convinced that he has had a 'galactic experience.' (Whatever that is!). He also admitted to having an avid interest in the unexplained, and collects videos and magazines concerning UFOs.

Manly UFO investigator Gary Wiseman (better known to Skeptics as an astrologer) was called in by the Daily for an opinion, and after viewing the video tape said predictably, 'It's not necessarily something from outer space, but it looks like something with extreme energy. The reaction from the boys is very similar to those people I have spoken to in the past.' The reporter also rang me to see if I would be interested in viewing the tape but I was unable to spare the time. However, given a description over the phone of what was on the film I ventured the opinion that it was probably Venus rising. Like the full moon low on the horizon this would account for the colour changes and distortion. Unsteady hand held cameras or videos would account for apparent rapid movements.

The Sydney Observatory education officer subsequently confirmed that the large bright object could have been Venus which rose in the east at 3.l5am.

The orange lights were apparently seen by many people over a period of several nights, but were certainly no mystery. One Avalon resident zoomed in on the lights with his binoculars and discovered that they were part of a large ship. This was confirmed by a Manly police officer who said there was a large container vessel moored off Harbord for a couple of days and on the nights in question, only the bright orange lights were visible in the dark.

Another resident further down the coastline looking through his telescope spotted two men flying kites on Dee Why beach.

Less objective however, were those convinced that they had experienced a true UFO sighting. One man said, 'The two lights I saw stood still for a long time. They moved very gracefully. These were definitely UFOs.' And a Balgowlah woman said she had spoken with aliens in the Past who had told her they were hoping to halt the environmental destruction of earth!

It would be trite of me to finish by saying 'what are we to conclude?' when the evidence is as plain as the nose on one's face. The Manly Daily beat-up continued for two more days.

Personally I feel it was just another of those Usual Faulty Observations.



Most readers will be aware of the American magazine National Enquirer, whose outstanding reputation is for the bizarre, and an ability to exaggerate, embellish, distort and sensationalise just about anything to the extent that any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental.

Recently on the market was the Australian version, more inclined to drift along with the plethora of women's magazines who thrive more on royal trivia than the paranormal fantasies featured by its American counterpart.

The headline of one story to which my attention was drawn (National Enquirer, August 31, 1993), proclaimed 'MIRACLE ROCK FLOATS IN THE AIR.' The sub-headline, not to be outdone exclaimed, 'Experts baffled by ninety kilogam stone that flies like a balloon.' Another picture showed a group of Indian men pointing with fingers and arms outstretched at a rock seemingly floating above their heads.

Now having done some pretty hard yakka in my time including clearing boulder strewn building sites, I was just a mite sceptical about a rock imbued with the ability to overcome the law of gravity. However, as the 'experts' were baffled I read on curious to find out why.

The story goes on to say that the stone—a round hunk of granite weighing just under ninety kg, located at a Moslem shrine in the city of Khed, can normally only be lifted by a weightlifter, but each day scores of visitors line up, chant 'Peerbaba Kamarali Dervish' the name of an ancient Moslem holy man, and effortlessly lift the stone with their forefingers. The text reports that the stone then hovers in the air for a few seconds and then drops heavily to the ground. In an adjacent box however, it is claimed that 'It floats on its own for a few minutes then drops.'

Who were the experts baffled by this extraordinary event? A riddle anyone could solve by dividing eleven pairs of willing hands into ninety kilogams? Well there was Abdul Karim, age fifty, a bicycle shop owner; Ubedulla Khan, a forty-five-year old teleprinter (sic!), and Javed Mehboob Tambuli, the shrine's caretaker. Not impressed? But what about this?

A Dr A. Nigavekar, head of the department of physics India's University of Poona, was quoted as saying, 'It's definitely not a trick ... I've examined the stone. It's an ordinary rock weighing just under ninety kilogams. There's absolutely nothing special about it at all.'

Now having spent two months in India lecturing at universities, scientific establishments and to rationalist organisations, predominant among which are members of high academic standing and who would be as likely to confirm such a mundane happening as miraculous as Uri Geller would admit to being a magician, I wrote to Dr Nigavekar asking whether he had been quoted out of context or inaccurately.

I just couldn't bring myself to believe that the head of a physics department could go along with such nonsense ... perhaps he was having a joke at their expense.

In September I received the following reply from Dr Nigavekar. The letterhead read: Department of Physics, University of Poona, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411 007. India. Prof. Arun S. Nigavekar, Member, University Grants Commission.


My faith in scientific integrity restored, I concluded that journalistic licence is one thing but another to put words in the mouth of one who would have been accepted as a credible witness but was not even present at the time.

I wrote to the National Enquirer enclosing a copy of Professor Nigavekar's letter and asked for their comments so that they could be included in a future article for the Skeptic. A few days later I received a call from the editor of the National Enquirer, Mr Grant Vandenberg, who thanked me for the opportunity to comment but added that the material in question had been sent them from the United States and he would have to fax them for a comment. I offered to delay publication of the proposed article until a reply was received — it never came. Shortly afterwards, the Australian edition of National Enquirer ceased publication.

In another article 'Holy Woman Oozes Oil and Bleeds from Hands and Feet', the followers of stigmatic Mirna Nazzour claim that she has been given divine healing powers by God. Thousands said (at least so the story goes) that they were cured by Syrian-born Mirna's touch—among them the blind, crippled and cancer sufferers. The article further claims that medical science has never given an explanation for stigmata and that in 1990, the 'miracle' was witnessed by Dr Mansour, a professor at the UCLA School of Medicine who testified to the authenticity of the deep wounds which opened on Mirna's body, saying they healed in two days—compared with an expected ten. Again I sought confirmation only to have the letter returned marked 'insufficient address'. Subsequent enquiries showed that there are fourteen Dr Mansour's listed in UCLA.

Two other points can be addressed however. First, the 'thousands' of anecdotal testimonies and second, the 'absence' of a scientific explanation for stigmata.

Generally speaking anecdotal evidence is worthless, and the National Enquirer degrades it even further by omitting the source of the information—if there ever was one.

Assuming it was not a hoax or a self-inflicted wound as in the case of the Bavarian stigmatic Theresa Neumann whose 'stigmatic' blood when analysed turned out to be of menstrual origin, there is a condition known as psychogenic purpura, in which spontaneous bleeding can occur with no current physical trauma. As it can be brought on by severe stress and occurs in people of 'hysterical predisposition', the cause therefore would appear to be a psychological manifestation rather than a supernatural one.

Yet another tall story in the National Enquirer referred to an iron pillar in New Delhi apparently impervious to rust. Having encircled this famous tourist attraction with my arms during a visit to India, it naturally took my attention.

Modern metallurgists combine metals and use sophisticated techniques during the manufacturing process to produce alloys suited to the diverse requirements of industry. A principal objective being strength and durability, a major requirement in many cases is that the end product be impervious to the elements. The process of treating and combining metals to resist corrosion, being a relatively recent innovation, it comes as a surprise to most to discover an ancient iron pillar virtually unrusted after centuries of exposure to the elements.

A testimony to skills of the early Hindu artisans, the curious monument stands near Kutab, about ten kilometres south of New Delhi, set midst the ruins of an ancient mosque. In stark contrast to the elaborately carved stone temples one customarily associates with early Indian architecture, the iron pillar is an imposing monolith weighing nearly seven tons and measuring just under eight metres in length, the solid shaft of wrought iron having a girth at ground level of about forty-one centimetres tapering to thirty-one centimetres at the top. Set up about 400 A.D. by Kumaragupta I, in honour of his father, a six line inscription describes the conquests of King Chandra Gupta II Vikramaditya (AD. 375-413), and another inscription mentions the name of Raja Anangapala (1052-1109).

Inscriptions engraved on rocks and pillars were a popular way of publicising the thoughts, actions and teachings of rulers of the day. Ashoka, the last major emperor in the Mauryan dynasty of India, (c. 265-238 BC. also given as 273-232 BC.) furthered the expansion of Buddhism throughout that country by promulgating a policy that he called 'conquest by dharma (principles of right life)', using (among others) Pillar Edicts. The lion capital of the pillar found at Sarnath became India's national emblem. It is popular with tourists, never tired of displaying their photographs depicting 'me standing on-in-under-by etc', and tradition has it, that if one stands with their back against the pillar, encircles it with their arms and clasping hands, happiness and longevity will be theirs. Unfortunate of course for those with short upper limbs!

Although those who have examined the Iron Pillar cannot say for sure why it appears to have resisted rusting, the explanation appears to be that during the shaping process (continuous hammering, reshaping and hammering again), the malleable iron was hardened and became extremely dense. The continuous rubbing of clothing by wishful thinkers on the pillar would of course account for the polished appearance of the lower portion.
 

From: Edwards, H. 1997 A Skeptic's Casebook, Australian Skeptics