DAVID LUTZWEILER has some suggestions for CSICOP, the paranormal-debunking committee…


I appreciate your website very much. A couple of suggestions, prompted by my disgust at the stupidity of CSICOP [Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, a US cabal set up to debunk anything considered non-scientific – Ed] in treating such matters, especially their apparent crop circle spokesman, Joe Nickell:

First: In a ‘Newsweek’ article on "Hoaxes" a couple of years ago, Joe referred to the lack of any reliable blind test in which a person could tell which stalks came from an allegedly genuine crop circle and which came from a man-made circle, based on molecular structure. A light goes on: let's arrange such a blind test. Get Joe to go out with a croppie into a dozen or two dozen circles, of which, say, five are known in advance to be artificial, man-made with planks. Take samples and mark them in Joe's presence with a simple coded numbered tag, and hand them to a third party for deliverance to one of those scientists who have noted the changes in molecular structure (e.g., the bursting of the nodules). The scientists should have no trouble identifying correctly the real circles and the man-made ones. Have a video of the results being given to Joe and record his reaction.

Second: Let us recognize that what we have going on here is what a few others have mentioned, viz., a revelation of ourselves, and how the human mind works in formulating its belief system. Sceptics like Joe Nickell and the others at CSICOP or ‘Scientific American’ are not really interested in truth, but only in perpetuating a mythical worldview that they have come to love supremely, to the point of self-destruction.

It is like the OJ Simpson trial. The evidence may be conclusive and compelling; but there is more than pure reason at work in the creation of a total belief system. Therefore, attacking the non-rational factors must be as much a part of any apologetic as dealing with the rational factors.