Here in Indiana we have had two such events recently.

As described below a military jet accidentally broke the sound barrier over a populated area where supersonic flight is not normally allowed.

In addition we also experienced a magnitude 5.2 earthquake and its associated aftershocks.

This resulted in several articles where residents who experienced the quake initially misidentified it as the work of a ghost. [1], [2], [3]

An earthquake of that magnitude is an exceedingly rare event here in Indiana. It probably will happen less than half a dozen times in a typical human lifetime. Because it is so rare our brains are not able to understand it immediately. Strange paranormal ideas sometimes jump in and try to fill this gap between strange phenomena and our understanding.

I am not the type of cynic who thinks people who experience strange things are crazy. Strange and very rare events do indeed occur in our world. Things even more rare than earthquakes in the Midwest are possible. The important thing is that these strange events need to be evaluated using the scientific method. It is the most powerful tool we have for getting real explanations for strange events.

The paranormal ideas that may leap to mind when our day-to-day routine is interrupted by a very strange event may seem mysterious and interesting at first. However, much like junk food filled with empty calories paranormal explanations ultimately don't do us any good or increase our knowledge of the universe.

Evidence of alien life would be a fantastic scientific discovery. However, careful investigation eventually revealed that the lights and sound were caused by pilots from the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard engaged in a practice exercise. [4] [5]

The lights were caused by the flares and chaff that are used to fool heat seeking missiles. The sound was caused by a sonic boom generated when one or more of the jets accidentally broke the sound barrier.

Despite this perfectly rational explanation there are some like Glen Means of the Mutual UFO Network who refuse to accept any amount of evidence.

• The Indiana Daily Student (2007-10-31) shares stories of buildings on campus that are rumored to be haunted.
• The Rensselaer Republican (2007-10-31) teams up with The SouthLake Chapter of the Indiana Ghost Trackers for a rare show of skepticism while debunking the myth of "Old Man Moody". Kudos to both the reporters and the SouthLake IGT.
• WTHI, broadcasting out of Terre Haute (2007-10-25), shares the views of an Indiana woman who was one of the 34% of respondants to an A.P. poll who profess a belief in ghosts.
• The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (2007-10-28) offers what amounts to free publicity for the IGT chapter up in Fort Wayne. Their chapter doesn't appear to have nearly the necessary level of skepticism.
• The Evansville Courier Press (2007-10-27) repeats an old yarn about a lady in gray haunting the Willard Library. They even treat a local "psychic" as a valid journalistic source.
• The USI Shield (2007-10-25) looks for haunted sites around Evansville, including the aforementioned "lady in gray".
• The Bedford Times-Mail (2007-10-18) reports on how the Lawrence County Museum of History is raising money with frightening tales of Historical murders. Sounds like a fun and informative event. I only wish they had left the ghost hunter off the speakers list.

From September 21st through the 27th The Creation Evidence Expo was held in Indianapolis. According to the billing this event:

Is an incredible experience of exploration into the mysteries of our universe and the Truth of how we were all created! The Darwinian evolution theory will be exposed!

These kind of events never seem to contribute anything to science, but hey, people hold science fiction conventions where they spend a week talking about Klingons. Not everything has to contribute to science.

What worries me is the section of their website that says:

Parents! There are school field trips being planned - contact and encourage your child's school principal to RSVP a tour date NOW before they are all booked up!

More discussion of that in a moment.

The other recent event that caught my eye was a presentation to public school children in Wabash County (Wabash Plain Dealer, 2007-09-28) given by Dr. G. Thomas Sharp, president of the Creation Truth Foundation, Inc. For those who don't pay attention to creationist politics, the Creation Truth Foundation maintains the tiny (about 3000 square feet) and dubiously named Museum of Earth History in in Eureka Springs, AK.

Now the article in the Wabash Plain Dealer assures us that:

[Dr. Sharp's] presentation to the school children did not delve into religious interpretation.

So what is the concern? Both of these incidents illustrate the deceitful way that creationists are trying to bend the rules to get themselves into public schools. Parents are urged to pressure school officials to take children on field trips to creationist events. Creationists go into public schools and instead of really teaching about the past they present a narrative about dinosaurs and the scientific method so confusing and wrong that children are bound to be puzzled when they are exposed to the real science.

These people have tricked a lot of well meaning teachers, who may be very religious themselves, into believing that religion and evolution are completely incompatible. They then make the teachers complicit in their plans to smuggle religion and bad science into the classroom. The amount of deceit involved is staggering. What is so defective about their world view that they can't just explain it to people in the marketplace of ideas like everyone else?

Recently Camp Chesterfield held their 4th annual Spiritfest (The Shelbyville News 2007-09-13). We are told of this event:

Dozens of psychic readers will be available for readings, and a variety of body workers will be on hand offering therapeutic massage, Reiki and other healing techniques. There will even be a healer offering "drummings" which uses a Native American healing technique as a way to balance the body's natural energy centers and to help clear negativity from the person's energy field.

In addition, Camp Chesterfield mediums will be giving messages from loved ones on the other side [...]

So they have the trifecta of (1) almost certainly false information about the future, (2) "healing" techniques shown in scientific studies to be completely useless, and (3) telling lies about deceased friends and family.

I really shouldn't be so certain about their events because I wasn't able to go and check it out myself, but how many times do these tricks need to be debunked before their fraudulent nature can be taken for granted?

Their notice of tort claims includes violation of their civil rights, extortion, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, defamation, interference in business affairs, and strangely enough negligence by failing to comply with the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) rules for human research subjects.

The full text of the notice of tort claims is here.

Update 2007-03-23 23:05 - Mr Hashem has posted a video in response. Nota Bene, the video contains language some may find objectionable.

Update: Professor MacLeod has brought it to my attention that he actually won the science idol contest.

A video preview of their new project is available on YouTube.

Modern science is just beginning to understand why people attach strong emotions to objects and places. Bruce Hood, Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Bristol, is currently conducting research in this area.

Professor Hood asked members of [his] audience, if they were prepared to try on an old fashioned blue cardigan in return for a £10 reward. After receiving no shortage of volunteers, he then told the volunteers that the cardigan used to belong to Fred West, the mass murderer. On hearing this most of the volunteers put their hands down. Though a few did try it on, others moved away from them.

In fact, the cardigan had not belonged to Fred West. The experiment demonstrated that the belief that it had, made even the most rational of people feel uncomfortable.

Professor Hood said: "It is as if evil, a moral stance defined by culture, has become physically manifest inside the clothing."

It is true that many criminally insane people spent time in this old hospital. It is also true that some of the early practices of both medicine and psychiatry were painful and barbaric at best and morally abhorrent at worst. However, neither the bad people nor their bad deeds can stick to a place after the fact. A place is just a place, no matter how awful its history.

Update: This story (Indianapolis Star: 2006-10-06) discusses the film and has quotes from Mr Hall

Update: The Indiana Medical History Museum is located in the old pathology building on the grounds of Central State Hospital. They have a number of artifacts from the early history of the medical sciences in Indiana. Their FAQ indicates that they don't believe in ghosts either. Sounds like a sensible and interesting place.

Update Again: It looks like WTHR, the NBC affiliate out of Indianapolis, linked to us in their story about this film on 2006-10-23.

It goes without saying that UFOs exist. There are lots of things in the sky that people are sometimes unable to identify for one reason or another. But the jump from that fact to the assertion that these unidentified objects are advanced space craft piloted by extraterrestrial beings is simply not supported by evidence.

This course would be much more useful if it studied why people are sometimes unable to identify objects in the sky, what proper spotting techniques can improve the rate of positive identification, and all possible explanations for those that remain unidentified. Studying the implications of alien life at this point is a bit like daydreaming about what you will do with your lottery winnings before you scratch off the ticket, fun but not very productive until you determine if they exist.

See also: This Fort Wayne Gazette Article published 2006-10-01

Editorial briefs in The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (2006-10-03)

This training program was closed to the public. However, we know that it was part of Kreskin's Intuitive Cops Observational Preparedness Seminars, ICOPS. According to the website this program "defines the difference between intuitives, sensitives, psychics, ESP, and hypnosis". We know that psychics waste police resources and occasionally accuse innocent people so hopefully this program teaches police officers to avoid these frauds.

I think it is only fair to give Kreskin the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is not a proponent of psychic powers. This however only clouds the picture. What is this mysterious "intuition" that he is teaching? It could be techniques from his mentalism performances, but those tricks, which involve forced choices and the like, would seem to be useless to police officers in the pursuit of justice.

I am unsure what occurred at this training session. Perhaps it was as simple as Kreskin living out some Mandrake the Magician fantasy. But many skeptics, myself included would prefer if The Amazing Kreskin would come off the fence and decide once and for all if he wants to be an honest magician or a "psychic".