(Investigator 13, 1990 July)
Skeptic Allan Lang expects silliness and nuttiness to reach new and spectacular levels in the 1990s.
This is because many religions predict doomsday by 2000 and are thereby adding their weight to the avalanche of nonsense now coming from the New Agers.
Writing in The Southern Skeptic in March Mr Lang noted, "The trends also appear to be getting wilder."
In the case of UFOs the sightings of the 1940s were followed by "contactees" of the 1950s, "abductees" of the 1960s and "interferees" of the 1980s.
"Interferees" are alleged aliens from Space who supposedly perform surgery on humans they kidnap.
Lang bases his prediction for the 1990s on an analysis of trends and cycles". He says, "fringe literature occurs in a 20 year cycle" and, "interest in all types of nonsense...tends to peak at the same time".
The cycle
that Lang
perceives has risen and
fallen twice since World War II as follows:
| Society Receptive | Years of Nuttiness |
Interest Declines | Sanity Restored |
| 1945-1950 | 1951-1955 | 1956-1960 | 1961-1965 |
| 1965-1969 | 1970-1976 | 1977-1982 | 1983-1985 |
| 1986-1989 | 1990s |
Most of
the evidence can
be summarized as
follows:
| Nonsense Topics | Authors | Books Published | Number of Books in Peak Years |
| Ancient Astronauts |
|
71 | 1969 – 4; 1970 – 10; 1974 – 11;1977 – 12 |
| Lake Monsters |
|
53 | 1930-1938 – 6; 1971-1980 – 28 |
| Noah’s Ark |
|
17 | 1955-1956 – 2; 1972-1978 – 12 |
| Shroud |
|
27 | 1951-1957 – 6; 1974-1979 – 7; 1980-1984 – 11 |
| Bermuda Triangle |
|
All in the 1970s |
Books on the Shroud did not quite follow the expected trend because of "the activities of the Shroud of Turin Research Project" explained Lang.
The "Face on Mars" craze of 1986 showed that society was entering the "receptive" phase again. Lang laments that in February of 1990 a local New Age shop had in stock: "17 different books on crystals."
(BS)