PUBLISHER ANDEDITOR IN CHIEF

Pat Linse

CO-PUBLISHERMichael Shermer

EDITOR AND WRITERDaniel Loxton

JUNIOR SKEPTICADVISORS

Cheryl HebertShoshana CohenTyson Gilmore

Emily RosaDevin Ziel

STAFFJaime BoteroTim CallahanAndrew Harter

Dr. Tom McDonough

CONTRIBUTORS TOTHIS ISSUE:

Pat Linse is theEditor in Chief of

JUNIOR SKEPTICmagazine.

James Loxtonis a Political

Science Ph.D.candidate atHarvard. Hecontributed

writing to thisissue.

Jim W. W. Smithis an illustratorwho is currentlyworking with Patand Daniel onthe upcoming

Baloney DetectionSeries. He

contributed art tothis issue.

Daniel Loxtoncontributed

writing and artto this issue.

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our cover

This issue’s coverfeatures a digital

painting byDaniel loxton.

When you think of Benjamin Franklin, doyou imagine a chubby man in knickers

and knee-high white socks flying a kite in the middle of a thunderstorm? Or, do you think of himas a “Founding Father” who helped to create the United States?

But did you know that Benjamin Franklin was also one of America’s first skeptical investigators?It’s true! In 1784, he participated in one of the first known scientific investigations to test a “para-normal claim.” Few people know about this interesting (and sometimes funny)part of Franklin’s life.

Who was Ben Franklin?

Benjamin Franklin was an American scientist who became world-famousfor his experiments with electricity. He also played an important role inhelping the American colonists win their independence from Britain.

Born in Boston in 1706, he was the youngest in a family of 17 childrenof a poor candle and soap maker. When he grew up and became awealthy printer, he decided to retire early and devote himself full-time toscience and other “gentlemanly pursuits” like writing and public serv-ice.

He also worked as a diplomat (someone who represents the gov-ernment of one country in another country). When he arrived inFrance, he got a rock star’s welcome from the French people, whoknew all about his famous experiments with electricity. He helped to

Ben Franklin

Hello!I’m Daniel, the Editor of JUNIOR SKEPTIC. This is my

brother James Loxton, the guest writer for most ofthis issue on great American skeptics.

We chose this issue’stheme purely for fun—of

course every country has itsgreat detectives, scientists,

and critical thinkers.

True! All the same, it’s fascinating tothink that famous figures from American history alsohelped shed light on weird paranormal mysteries!

Who were they?Let’s find out!

Hi! It’s an honorto be here.

Besides, Danieland I are Canadians.

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convince France to join sides with the Americancolonists in their struggle against Britain—a key turn-ing point in the American War of Independence.

After the war ended, Franklin continued to liveand work in Paris for two more years. It was duringthis time that he was asked to participate in a scien-tific investigation of a weird and popular new beliefcalled “mesmerism.”

The Power of Mesmerism

“Mesmerism” was fad named after the Germandoctor who introduced it to France—Franz AntonMesmer. He claimed the whole universe was filledwith an invisible fluid or force that caused everythingfrom the motion of the planets to human sickness.Mesmer also made the amazing claim that he couldharness this mystical energy to cure sick people!

Mesmerism (also known as “animal magnetism”)became wildly popular in Paris. According toMesmer, sickness was caused by “obstacles” to thenatural flow of a mystical fluid through the humanbody. He said the human body had “poles” like amagnet, and that massaging these “poles” in just theright way could clear the “obstacles” and bring peo-ple back to health.

Wealthy folks in Paris eagerly flocked to clinicsrun by Mesmer and his followers for treatment.Mesmerists used a wide variety of strangemethods. Sometimes they sat veryclose to their patient and mas-saged the “poles” of the body(such as the fingers, nose,or abdomen). Othertimes, they performedgroup treatments bytying people togetherin a circle around a tubfilled with iron filings.Iron rods that stuck out ofthe tub were placed on theareas of the body that neededto be healed. Other groups satoutdoors in a circle around a tree thathad been “mesmerized” (charged with mysticalenergy).

Incredibly, these bizarre methods seemed towork! During treatments, patients would oftenscream and shake violently (what Mesmer called a“crisis”). Afterwards, many of these patients testifiedthat they were cured. If these treatments worked—and they definitely seemed to—this was a hugebreakthrough for science and medicine!

The Commission

Although mesmerism became wildly popular, doctors were skepti-cal about this magical new medical treatment. They persuaded theKing of France to appoint a Royal Commission to investigate theclaims of Mesmer and his followers. Benjamin Franklin was selected tobe on the Commission along with what were then some of theworld’s most prominent doctors and scientists.

A well-known doctor who performed mesmerist treatments agreedto teach the Commission about mesmerism, and helped them doexperiments at his clinic.

The scientists watched as the doctor brought his mesmerizedpatients to a state of “crisis.” Mesmerism had dramatic effects on peo-ple who already believed in it. But when the doctor attempted to“mesmerize” the investigators, nothing happened.

The investigators observed, “magnetism has seemed to be worthlessfor those patients who submitted to it with a measure of incredulity,”which made them very suspicious. It suggested that the dramaticeffects experienced by many patients “followed from an anticipatedconviction, & could have been an effect of the imagination.”

The investigators came up with a hypothesis: it was imaginationthat was responsible for the supposed effects of mesmerism, not the invis-ible liquid claimed by Mesmer and his followers.

Franklin and the other scientists needed to test their hypothesis tofind out if mesmerism was a real force. The scientists came up with anumber of clever—and sometimes hilarious—experiments to see if the power of mes-merism was real or imaginary.

One test idea they cameup with became an

important part ofalmost all mod-

ern medicaltesting. Theyinvented testswhere the subjectonly thought theywere getting the treat-

ment, when actually they werenot. In one experiment, they asked a

woman to sit in front of a closed door,then made her think a doctor was on theother side mesmerizing her (even thoughno one was). Sure enough, after one minuteher teeth were chattering so loudly from her“crisis” that the experimenters could hear her

on the other side of the door!In another experiment, they got a mesmerist to secretly “magnetize”

one tree in a group of trees. Then they asked a boy who was consideredsensitive to mesmerism to hug the various trees until he found the rightone. The boy put his arms around one tree, then a second, then a third,then finally, after hugging a fourth tree, had a “crisis” and fell uncon-scious—even though he never went anywhere near the correct tree.

A hypothesis is aproposed explanation

for something—basicallyan educated guess. It

might be right or it mightbe wrong. careful

testing is needed tofind out whether a

hypothesis is true orfalse.

many people haddramatic reactions

during Mesmer’streatments:

screaming, shaking,even fainting!

(Franklin, cont.)

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

REad Franklin’s entire

report on Mesmerism in

Skeptic Vol. 4, #3

available at Skeptic.com!

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In yet another experiment, they got a mesmerist to “magnetize” differentparts of the body of a woman who was supposed to be especially sensitiveto mesmerist treatment. Then they asked her what was being magnetizedat that moment. She had no problem saying what part of her body wasbeing magnetized when she could see what was going on. But whenthey blindfolded her, all of her guesses were totally wrong!

Based on many experiments like these, the investigators concludedthat their hypothesis was correct. It was people’s imagination thatcaused them to have such reactions to mesmerism, notmanipulation of an invisible liquid or magical energy.

The Scientists’ findings

Benjamin Franklin and the other investigators pulled no punchesin their report: “Having finally demonstrated by decisiveexperiments that the imagination without magnetism producesconvulsions, & that magnetism without imagination producesnothing; they have unanimously concluded, on the questionof the existence & utility of magnetism, that nothing provesthe existence of Animal-magnetism fluid.”

In other words, the claims made by Mesmer and hisfollowers were all baloney. Although they looked goodon the surface, these extraordinary claims just didn’t standup to a careful examination.

But if mesmerism was nonsense, why did so many peoplebelieve in it? Were people back then more gullible thantoday? No.

We must not be too quick to judge! There was so muchnew knowledge being discovered at around that time that itwas hard for regular people to know what was true andwhat was not. As one historian explains, “Science had capti-vated Mesmer’s contemporaries by revealing to them thatthey were surrounded by wonderful, invisible forces:Newton’s gravity…Franklin’s electricity… and the miracu-lous gases… that astonished Europe by lifting man intothe air for the first time [in balloons]…. Mesmer’s invisible

4

Franklin’s electrical experiments revolutionized ourunderstanding of electricity. He gave scientists many of

the terms used to describeelectricity today, such as“conductor,” “charge,”“discharge,” “condense,”“electrify,” “positive,”

“negative,” and others. However, he was annoyed

at first that he couldn’tthink of any practical usefor his discoveries.

Eventually, he used hisknowledge of electricity

to invent safetydevices called light-

ning rods (which helped to protect houses and otherbuildings by safely channeling energy from lightningstorms to the ground). But first he toyed around withother earlier ideas about how to use electricity—some ofthem pretty kooky!

As one biographer wrote, “Initially, the best he coulddo was to suggest using an electrical shock to kill hensand turkeys for eating: it made them unusually tender.The French eventually picked up this technique and, pre-dictably, spent many years trying to use electricity toimprove the cooking of food. They even wondered if elec-tricity might not make large animals more tender foreating, but Franklin thought the electrical charge nec-essary to kill large animals might end up killing the cookinstead.”

Yikes! That gives “fried chicken” a whole new meaning!

Electric Chicken?

(Franklin, cont.)

fluid seemed no more miraculous.” Benjamin Franklin and other early skeptics didn’t reject

mesmerism because it was weird. (Lots of weird science fromthat time turned out to be true.)

Instead of making assumptions, or taking somebody else’sword for it, they decided to simply find out whether mes-merism was true or false. They tested mesmerism with well-designed experiments, followed the evidence—and learnedthat Mesmer’s claims were wrong.

Oui! I can feel it!He’s mesmerizing

my foot!

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Imagine: thousands of spectators look up in amazed silence.Far above them, a man dangles in a straitjacket—upside-down, helpless, suspended by his feet hundreds of feet in theair. Then, the man starts to twist and thrash. Incredibly, hesomehow breaks free and waves his arms in triumph!

It’s no wonder that Harry Houdini, the man who per-formed this death-defying stunt, is still considered the greatestmagician and escape artist that ever lived. But skeptics cele-brate another side of the man called the “World’s GreatestMystery Man and Escape King.” Houdini led a no-holds-barred assault against a belief system called “Spiritualism”:the paranormal idea that certain gifted people called “medi-ums” could communicate with the spirits of the dead.

Why would a rich, famous stage magician devote years ofhis life to debunking those who claimed to possess super-natural gifts? Well, Houdini knew “mediums” and psychicswere fake because he knew how they really did their tricks.He also knew that they took advantage of grieving peopleto make money.

He decided he had a moral duty to expose these fraudsfor the entire world to see. It was tough work, but he knewthat his expertise in fooling people made him perfectly suit-ed for it.

“It takes a flimflammer to catch a flimflammer,” he said.

Who Was Houdini?

Houdini was born in the central European country ofHungary (at about the time Wild West folks like Billy theKid and Colonel Custer were making history in far-awayAmerica). Houdini’s real name was Ehrich Weiss. He lateradopted the name “Harry Houdini” as his stage name.

When he was four-years-old, his family moved to theUnited States. Houdini’s father was a rabbi who struggledto find enough work in his new country to support hislarge family. Meanwhile, young Houdini showed talent asan athlete and magician—skills that later proved essentialfor performing the stunning escapes that would makehim famous.

He married a young woman named Bess, and the twoof them took to the road performing as a magic duo in“dime museums” alongside trained monkeys and freakshow stars. He worked hard to improve his skills untilone day he got his lucky break after dazzling a bigwigvaudeville theater manager. (“Vaudeville” was a popularstyle of stage show in North America in those days. Itoffered a mix of short, often funny acts).

Soon his reputation soared and the world watched inawe as Houdini did the seemingly impossible: escapingfrom multiple sets of handcuffs, or wriggling free oflocks and chains after leaping from a bridge into afreezing river—he even made a live elephant vanishinto thin air!

The Great Houdini

Why is “Spiritualism” Bad?

Spiritualism is the belief that it is possible to communicatewith the spirits of the dead with the help of a psychic go-between called a “medium.” It first became popular when twoyoung sisters from upstate New York named Margaret andKatie Fox claimed that a spirit was communicating with themthrough a knocking sound. This amazing claim soon made thegirls famous.

But it was all a hoax. Later in life, Margaret admitted that thewhole thing was just a prank that got out of hand, and that thesupposed supernatural knocks were nothing more than a poppingsound that she and her sister made by cracking their toe joints!

But by the time they admitted that the whole business ofSpiritualism and mediums was based on their own deliberatehoax, it was too late. The Spiritualist movement had alreadyspread rapidly across North America, Europe, and beyond.

Soon it became common for people to take part in Spiritualistmeetings known as “séances.” Small groups gathered in a dark-ened room with a medium who claimed to make contact withspirits, and make it appear that ghosts were performing miracu-lous feats. For example, furniture would tip over, strange voiceswere heard, musical instruments would fly around the room play-

The “World’sGreatest Mystery

Man and EscapeKing”—Houdini!

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ing on their own, and glowing gunk called “ectoplasm”would appear out of nowhere! Some mediums even claimedto be able to catch spirits on film in so-called “spirit photo-graphs.” (The “spirits” in the photos were often discovered tobe healthy, living people—a sure sign of trickery!)

But the most convincing séances didn’t involve any ofthese elaborate tricks. Many mediums simply made up mes-sages from people’s dead loved ones, saying they were in abetter place and happy, and that they sent their love. Thesecomforting messages were especially popular after the FirstWorld War, because millions of people were grieving for losthusbands, sons, fathers and brothers. Fake mediums quicklyrealized that they could make a whole lot of money fromother people’s sorrow.

Even Houdini had cashed in on this deception, back whenhe was young, poor and unknown. After doing undercoverresearch by sending someone to chat with the people of atown or visit the local graveyard, Houdini would give rivetingonstage séances. (This is a perfect example of “hot reading,”or using research to make yourself appear psychic.)However, he felt guilty about deceiving people this way, anddecided to give it up. As he explained, “When I noted thedeep earnestness with which my utterances were received…I felt that the game had gone far enough, for I most certainlydid not relish the idea of treading on the sacred feelings ofmy admirers.”

He realized it was wrong to manipulate people when theywere at their most vulnerable. He later described the profitsmade by mediums as “blood money made at the cost of tor-ture to the souls of their victims.” He heard horror stories offraudulent mediums robbing people of their life savings—andfamilies torn apart by the experience. He decided to do allhe could to put a stop to this foul practice.

Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle

The most famous promoter of Spiritualism was Sir ArthurConan Doyle, the writer who created Sherlock Holmes. AfterDoyle lost a son and other close family members in the FirstWorld War, mediums convinced him it was possible to con-tact his lost loved ones in the afterlife. Doyle soon made ithis life’s mission to promote Spiritualism, which brought himinto contact—and into conflict—with Houdini.

The two met when Houdini wrote a new book and sent acopy to Doyle. The book cast doubt on some of the earlyand most famous Spiritualists. Doyle strongly disagreed withthe skeptical book, but became friends with Houdini anyway.He hoped he could convince Houdini that Spiritualism was,as Doyle believed, “absolutely the most important develop-ment in the whole history of the human race.”

Then, one peculiar event exposed the deep differencesbetween the two men. Doyle and his wife invited Houdiniand his wife to vacation with them in Atlantic City. Whilethere, Lady Doyle led an “automatic-writing” séance forHoudini. (In this type of séance, spirits supposedly guide the

hand of the medium to write messages.) During the séance,Lady Doyle feverishly scribbled out 15 pages of messages—supposedly from Houdini’s dearly departed mother! Was thisclear evidence that Spiritualism was real?

Not so fast! Houdini immediately saw a number of seriousflaws in the supposed message from his mom. First, it beganwith a Christian cross symbol, which is not something theJewish wife of a rabbi would draw. Second, the message waswritten in English, but Houdini’s mother didn’t know English!Finally, although Houdini focused his mind on special familyknowledge, the supposed message from his mother onlyincluded general remarks like: “Oh, my darling, thank God,thank God… now I am happy. Why, of course, I want totalk to my boy—my own beloved boy.” Houdini did notbelieve the séance was real. He thought the Doyles weremisled by their religious feelings about Spiritualism.

Despite Houdini’s best efforts to explain the many waysfake mediums fooled people, he was never able to convinceDoyle. In fact, Doyle came to believe exactly the opposite:that Houdini himself was a medium! Doyle thought the onlypossible explanation for Houdini’s stunning escapes was asupernatural “dematerializing and reconstructing force” thatallowed him to pass through handcuffs and other restraints.Houdini publicly concluded that Doyle was “a bit senile” and“easily bamboozled.” Not surprisingly, their friendship fell topieces—without the help of any dematerializing force.

Houdini vs Spiritualism

Stage magicians (who admit they use trickery) use thesame methods as paranormal con artists such as mediums(who don’t admit that they use trickery), so magicians areoften better at detecting fraud than anyone else.

After years of research and after attending countlessséances, Houdini decided he’d never met a medium whopossessed genuine supernatural powers. He concluded thatall mediums relied on sleight-of-hand, hot reading, and otherstandard magic tricks. He set out to expose Spiritualist hoaxesby giving educational lectures and by writing a tell-all bookentitled A Magician Among the Spirits.

(Houdini, cont.)

Houdini demonstrates a trick mediums used tosecretly ring a bell while apparently restrained.

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As a leading authority on Spiritualism, Houdini was invitedto participate in a 1920s investigation sponsored by the mag-azine Scientific American. It was, at that point, the most seri-ous study of psychics ever attempted. The investigation tookthe form of a contest with a cash prize for the first person todemonstrate genuine psychic powers.

All the mediums were thoroughly searched and moni-tored. The first medium tested was quickly exposed as a fakeby a clever use of technology. Before the séance, an electri-cian (secretly!) wired up the medium’s chair so that a lightbulb hidden in the neighboring room would glow for aslong as the medium remained seated. If the medium left thechair, the bulb would turn off.

The séance began, and amazing things happened in thedarkened room: strange voices were heard, and people feltsomeone touch their knees. A trumpet even flew overheadplaying a tune. But the light bulb hidden in the next roomalerted the scientists every time the medium snuck out of hischair to play a phony supernatural trick

Another famous woman medium was such a smoothoperator that she convinced some of the investigators thatshe was the real deal. But Houdini soon caught her cheating.During one séance she rang a bell with her foot. In anotherséance she was searched and restrained in a box—butHoudini caught her secretly reaching for a folding ruler she’dsmuggled into the box. The ruler enabled her to secretlyreach out and move things outside the box.

If you’ve ever read The Adventuresof Huckleberry Finn, you alreadyknow a thing or two about MarkTwain. You know that he was avery funny man and that he was criti-cal of many things about Americansociety—especially slavery. But didyou know that he was also a skepticabout many of the “paranormal” and “pseu-doscientific” claims of his day?

This not-so-well-known part of Twain’s per-sonality is revealed in a hilarious way withinthe story of Huckleberry Finn, whenHuck encounters two characters call-ing themselves the “Duke” andthe “Dauphin.” These travelinghustlers make their livingthrough every kind of cheatingand lying imaginable, includ-ing mesmerism, phrenology,faith healing, and fortunetelling. One claimed to be aEuropean noble and the

other one said he was the long lost heir tothe French throne! (“Dauphin” was thetitle given to the crown prince ofFrance.) But Huck has no problem see-ing through their lies. As he puts it in

his own unique and memorable way, “Itdidn’t take me long to make up my mind

that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes atall, but just low-down humbugs and frauds.”

What caused Mark Twain to put these skep-tical words into the mouth of his most

famous character?

Who Was Mark Twain?

Twain was born in small-town Missouri in the1830s. His real name wasSamuel Clemens. (“MarkTwain” was a pen-name.) He lived anexciting life and even-tually grew into oneof America’s most

Mark Twain

(Houdini, cont.)

Houdini’s Legacy

Houdini continued to debunk Spiritualism for the rest ofhis life. He gave lectures to the public, infiltrated séancesundercover, wrote letters to newspapers, urged politiciansto pass laws against phony mediums, and even offered aten thousand dollar reward to any medium who couldpresent a supernatural manifestation that he could notreplicate through conventional means. (This challenge isthe grandfather to magician James Randi’s longstandingMillion Dollar Challenge for anyone who can perform anyparanormal ability under laboratory conditions.)

Sadly, the old scam of pretending to talk to the deadcontinues even today. But, thanks to Houdini’s tirelessefforts, this fraud is challenged much more often than itwas in his lifetime.

Houdini hated fraudulent mediums, but he did believein an afterlife. While he suspected it was impossible for thedead to communicate with the living (and he was sure thathe had never met an authentic medium), he decided tolaunch one final investigation into the matter just to besure. Houdini promised his wife Bess that he would try tocontact her after he passed away. When he died followinga freak accident in Montreal in the 1920s, she had theopportunity to put this ultimate test into effect. Every yearBess held a séance and waited to receive some contactfrom Houdini. She continued this sad ritual for ten yearsbefore giving up.

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beloved authors. Over the years, he worked a number ofjobs, including printer, riverboat pilot, prospector, reporter,travel writer, and, of course, novelist. But as he traveled theworld and wrote humorous articles and books about thethings he witnessed, he was always struck by how gulliblepeople were. It seemed people would swallow just aboutany fantastic claim if it was written in a book or presented ina convincing manner.

Twain knew that it was always better to take wild claimswith a grain of salt. One childhood experience, in particular,changed the way he looked at the world and transformedhim into a lifelong skeptic.

The Hypnotist

Mark Twain grew up when the state of Missouri was stillconsidered the far western frontier of the United States. Heactually had many of the kinds of adventures he later depict-ed through the characters of Tom Sawyer and HuckleberryFinn. The riverboats that chugged up and down the mightyMississippi were filled with travelers of every stripe. Some ofthese were real life versions of the “Duke” and “Dauphin”characters: hucksters who promised to perform incrediblefeats—but always for a fee! When Twain was around fifteenyears old, one such fellow left an impression Twain neverforgot.

This man, a “mesmerizer” (or stage hypnotist), put on anightly show in which he appeared to put volunteers from theaudience into a trance and cause them to do silly things for the

crowd’s amusement. Everyone in town flocked to his show.Young Twain saw how the audience cheered for the hyp-

notized volunteers, and wanted that attention for himself. Forthree nights in a row, he sat on stage with other potentialsubjects and stared into the hypnotist’s “magic disk” (a propwhich was supposed to put people into a trance). But nomatter how hard he tried to let himself be hypnotized, itnever worked. By the fourth night, his jealousy was sointense he decided he’d fake it!

He pretended to drift off into a trance. Sure enough, thehypnotist came right over and began to give Twain com-mands. For the rest of the night, Twain entertained the audi-ence by doing whatever the hypnotist instructed him to do.He ran away from imaginary snakes, kissed imaginary girls,and fished from the stage with an imaginary rod. He washappy to be getting attention, but also “ashamed and miser-able” for his dishonesty. He felt sure that the hypnotist wouldexpose him as an impostor.

Twain soon discovered, though, that he wasn’t the onlyone faking it—the hypnotist was the biggest fraud of all!

What brought him to this skeptical realization? In additionto asking people to act out spoken instructions, the hypnotistalso sometimes stood behind his volunteers to silently “drivea mental suggestion” into their minds. Twain knew he could-n’t understand instructions he couldn’t hear, and he definitelydidn’t have a special psychic connection with the hypnotist.

But Twain could see the faces of the audience, and hecould tell from their reactions when the hypnotist was behind

(Twain, cont.)

Young Mark Twain participatedin a paranormal scam. Laterhe was ashamed of his rolein what he called “a lie and a swindle.”

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him “willing” him to act out silent psychic commands. Whatwas he going to do? Now he was sure to get caught!

Twain decided to bluff. He outright pretended to receive apsychic command. He jumped up, grabbed an old gun thatwas lying onstage, and chased after a kid from the audience(who just happened to be the school bully).

How did the hypnotist react to this surprising turn ofevents? Did he expose Twain as a fake?

Nope. The hypnotist took credit for the whole thing! Hewas a fraud who was happy to play along with Twain’s faketrance. From then on, Twain just did what he’d done the firsttime: “Whenever I perceived that I was being willed to dosomething I got up and did something—anything thatoccurred to me—and the magician, not being a fool, alwaysratified it.” In other words, Twain would pretend that hereceived a psychic communication from the hypnotist (eventhough he hadn’t), and the hypnotist would pretend that hehad sent one (even though he hadn’t).

As a result, Twain soon became the hypnotist’s only sub-ject and the star of the town. He even made believers out ofthe local skeptics. As Twain later put it, there was only “oneperson in the village who did not believe in mesmerism andI was the one. All the others were converted but I was toremain an implacable and unpersuadable disbeliever in mes-merism and hypnotism for close upon fifty years.”

Twain vs. Phrenology

The skeptical lessons Mark Twain learned in his youthstuck with him. Much later he had the opportunity to applythem to a weird pseudoscience of the day called “phrenolo-gy.” Phrenologists claimed they could “read” a person’s per-sonality by measuring the shape of that person’s skull.

According to phrenologists, personality traits like“Benevolence,” “Destructiveness,” and “Caution” were foundin distinct, specific parts of the brain. If a person had a well-developed trait, that was supposed to mean that the size ofthat section of their brain would be large—which was sup-posed to create a bump in that spot on their skull. If a phre-nologist found, for example, a bump on a certain“Benevolence” spot on somebody’s skull, that person wassupposed to be kind and generous. If another person had adent in that same spot, that person was stingyand mean.

As a kid, Mark Twain first learned aboutthis “science” from a traveling phrenologistwho would often visit Twain’s small town.For a fee, the phrenologist would measurethe bumps on people’s skulls and afterwardsgive them a “character-chart” that was sup-posed to describe their personality. YoungTwain thought there was something verysuspicious about these charts: no matterwho was getting their personality meas-ured, the phrenologist would always flat-

ter the heck out of them! As Twain mischievously put it,everybody received a character-chart “that would comparefavorably with George Washington’s.”

These flattering readings should have set off people’sskeptical alarm bells, but Twain later recalled that “the voiceof the doubter was not heard in the land.” People liked whatthey were hearing too much to question it.

Twain knew better, though, and later in life he came upwith a way to put phrenology to the test. Twain’s smallphrenology experiment took place in London when he wasabout 40 years old. He decided to get two readings from thesame famous phrenologist: he’d show up once as a regularguy using a made-up name, and once as the world-famouswriter and humorist Mark Twain! If it were really true thatphrenologists could “read” a person’s character from thebumps on his or her skull, then Twain’s two readings shouldhave been more or less the same. Were they?

No. The two character readings were totally different!Twain’s first reading was so broad that it could have appliedto anyone—except for one important detail. The phrenologistclaimed Twain had a cavity in the part of the skull where“Humor” was measured, which meant Twain had no sense ofhumor whatsoever. (Don’t forget that Mark Twain is oftenconsidered one of the funniest writers of all time!)

Months later, after the phrenologist had forgotten his face,Twain returned for a second reading. This time he intro-duced himself as Mark Twain, the world famous humorist—and sure enough, his new reading totally contradicted the oldone. Twain recalled, “Once more he made a striking discov-ery—the cavity was gone, and in its place was a MountEverest—figuratively speaking—31,000 feet high, the loftiestbump of humor he had ever encountered in his life-longexperience!” Twain concluded that his childhood suspicionsabout phrenology were right all along: phrenology was abunch of baloney!

Twain’s Example

Mark Twain remained a skeptic throughout his life and leftan inspiring example for us all. Twain wasn’t an expert inscience or magic like Benjamin Franklin or Houdini—just a

guy with a sharp mind and a firm beliefthat extraordinary claims should bescrutinized.

His experiences taught him peopleare not only gullible but also stub-born. Late in his life he confessed to

his mother that his act with the hypno-tist had been “a lie and a swindle.” But

she refused to listen!

As Twain later reflected, “Howeasy it is to make peoplebelieve a lie and how hard it isto undo that work again!”

(Twain, cont.)

Many TV fans know comedian JayLeno as the long-time host of TheTonight Show. Yet, even after 16 years,Leno is still the new kid compared withthe previous host: skeptic Johnny Carson.

For a full three decades, Carson was theundisputed king of late-night television. Wholegenerations grew up with Carson—andmodern skepticism grew up with his sup-port.

It was Johnny Carson who broughtyoung Carl Sagan into the livingrooms of millions of Americans,making the great skeptic andastronomer into a household name.Sagan went on The Tonight Showa whopping 26 times over theyears (not counting spoofappearances when Carson imi-tated Sagan). What other enter-tainment show would go so farout of its way to share the won-der and mystery of science?

Carson also hosted manyappearances by the magician James Randi (one of the mostactive and important skeptics of all time). These appearancesgrew into a lifelong friendship and skeptical collaborationbetween Randi and Carson—and led to two of the moststunning moments in skeptical history….

Carson vs A Psychic Spoon-bender

During the 1970s, the reigning superstar of the psychicworld was a guy named Uri Geller (who has recently re-emerged on American TV). Geller was at that time, as magi-cian James Randi explained, “the most famous psychic in theworld” as a result of his skill at bending spoons using(apparently) psychic powers.

When The Tonight Show booked Geller for a demonstra-tion of his supernatural powers, the show took a simple pre-caution: they asked magician James Randi to use his expert-ise to help them prevent Uri Geller from using any sort oftrickery. (Just as in Houdini’s time, magicians are still the bestexperts for detecting whether self-proclaimed psychics areusing the techniques of stage magic.)

Randi’s advice? Don’t let Geller bring his own test objectsor props from home, and don’t let him or his people any-where near the show’s test items before the interview.

On the show, Geller attempted one of his standard tricks:using his claimed psychic powers to detect the contents ofsealed canisters. Waving his hands over the containers pro-

vided by The Tonight Show, Geller said, “We’ll start eliminat-ing the ones that do not have the water.” Johnny spoke up

sharply, saying, “Without touching them!” Geller laughednervously, saying, “He is really suspicious, y’know?I’m having a hard time with you.”

Geller certainly did have a hard time! Thevideo of this interview is easily found onYouTube and the website of the James Randi

Educational Foundation (JREF), and it’s prettypainful to watch. Geller floundered about awk-

wardly for what seemed like ages, with noopportunity to cheat… and with no sign ofpsychic ability. Finally the show cut tocommercial. After the break, Johnnyannounced that Uri said he didn’t “feelstrong” enough to use his psychic abil-ities. Geller complained that Johnnywas pressuring him to do a demon-

stration of his powers.

“I thought that was the idea,”Johnny said, reasonably. “I’m nottrying to put you down.”

It was a disaster for Geller—the world’s most famous “psy-chic” bombed completely, in frontof millions of viewers, frustratedby Johnny Carson’s open-mindedbut sensible precautions.

Carson vs A Faith HEaler

Today, Geller’s trainwreck of an appearance on TheTonight Show is remembered as one of the funniest momentsin the history of skeptical investigations. Yet it’s overshad-owed by an even more stunning event: the caught-red-hand-ed debunking of a “faith healer” named Peter Popoff.

Popoff is flashy and theatrical preacher who claimed hecould perform miraculous healings and other supernaturalfeats on stage. He was popular, as you’d expect—after all,who couldn’t use a miracle or two? According to his declaredincome, the preacher’s act pulled in millions of dollars a year.

A key aspect of Popoff’s show was that he had seeminglypsychic or divine knowledge about people in the audiencethat he had never met. Incredibly, he knew intimate detailsabout complete strangers, such as their names, streetaddresses, and medical conditions. To his fans, this wasproof that he was performing real miracles.

However, an investigation by James Randi discoveredsomething very different. Popoff’s miraculous knowledgeactually came from tiny a radio receiver hidden in his ear!Before the show, his staff would appear to be chatting casu-ally with people while secretly collecting personal informa-tion about them. During the show, Popoff’s wife wouldsecretly radio these details to him, and he would work thatinformation into his act.

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Johnny Carson

Johnny Carson’s comedy often had a skepticalflavor. He frequently pretended to be

astronomer Carl Sagan. He also did a comedyroutine based on an old mind-reading trick inwhich a psychic pretends to read

the contents of sealed envelopes.

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Under Johnny Carson’s watchful eye, UriGeller bombed on The Tonight Show. Gellerfailed to show any psychic abilities at all.

Likewise, the exposé of Peter Popoffwas an eye-opener for millions of viewersat home.

See for yourself! These episodes of TheTonight Show are quite easy to findonline. The James RandiEducationalFoundationpublishes many ofthem on YouTubeand atwww.Randi.org

Randi used a radio scanner to listen to and record these secretradio messages. Then, he took those recordings to The Tonight Show,and played them for the world.

During the interview, Randi first showed Johnny Carson a videoof a typical performance by Popoff, in which the preacher somehowknew an elderly couple’s names and medical problems. Then, Randiplayed the same tape again—but this time with the secret radio mes-sages Popoff heard added to the soundtrack. The result, played formillions of TV viewers, was simply jaw-dropping: line for line, thehidden radio fed Popoff information about a poor sick old man andhis wife, and Popoff repeated it out loud as though it were a mira-cle. Popoff was caught red-handed.

Carson did not know in advance what this video would show, andhe was visibly shaken by what he saw. “That’s a disturbing thingyou’ve shown there,” he said to Randi, adding that there is a lot ofmoney in this kind of business.

Sadly, yes. Though Popoff was soon bankrupt, he’s now back inoperation. In 2007, he brought in a million bucks more than he didthe year Randi and Carson exposed him! How can this be? As MarkTwain observed so long ago, it’s much easier to fool people than it isto convince them they’ve been fooled.

CarsoN and the JREF

After 30 years, Johnny Carson handed TheTonight Show over to fellow comedian Jay Leno.Yet, retirement did not stop Carson from supportingskepticism and the important work of James Randi.

Luckily, decades as the star of one of the mostpopular TV shows on Earth made Carson awealthy man. He was able to throw his fortuneinto various good causes. One of these was theJames Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), thenon-profit organization James Randi created topromote science. Carson’s generous support ofthe JREF amounted to hundreds of thousands ofdollars. (Even after Carson passed away, his estatehas continued to help the JREF.)

With a warm heart and a sharp mind, JohnnyCarson brought skepticism to millions. Randi paidhim this tribute: “John, I will miss you, as will somany millions here and around the world, but yourlegacy lives on.”

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