Big-If True

This collection of Skeptical Inquirer magazine columns by investigator and folklorist Benjamin Radford guides readers on a science-based (yet open-minded) examination of 70 fascinating and mysterious topics. Drawing on two decades of first-hand research, Big-If True separates fact from fiction using forensics, science, psychology, folklore, and more. Big-If True examines these and dozens more mysteries including Bigfoot, reincarnation, chupacabras, Icelandic elves, conspiracy theories, UFOs, miracles, the terrifying Goat-Man, crop circles, subliminal advertising, sea serpents, wandering trees, medical mysteries, and hypnotist thieves-plus a 1990 Elvis sighting. For mystery lovers and armchair investigators alike, this book offers a look behind the scenes at investigating oddities and curiosities, both ancient and modern.


Chapter One LEGENDS 5
A Skeptic's Guide to Ethical and Effective Curse Removal • Egging the
Equator • Detour: Elves Ahead • Mysteries of the Coral Castle • Is Elvis
Presley in Home Alone? • Searching to Noah Vale • The Bell Witch Mystery
• The Myth of the Walking Tree • Bailing in the Mummies • Might Fright
Cause White? • (and more)


Chapter Two MONSTERS 51
Cryptozoology and Global Warming • The Mystery of the Texas
Chupacabra • Texas Goat-Men and the Chupacabra • A Wakey Water
'Monster' • Globsters Ahoy! • Investigating Mothman's Red Eyeshine


Chapter Three GHOSTS 83
Do Einstein's Laws Endorse Ghosts? • 'M' is for Mysterious Marks •
Have I Ever Seen a Ghost? • Soul Scales • The Cockington Church Ghost
Photo • Can Electromagnetic Fields Create Ghosts? • Infrared Cameras
and Ghost Hunting • A Closer Look at Orbs • The Sweet Spirit Sounds
of Rosemary Brown • (and more)


Chapter Four MYSTERIOUS POWERS AND PLACES 121
A Time to Die? • Crop Circle Origins • The GIGO Problem: Crop Circle
Research Edition • Channeling Ancient African Wisdom-Or Not • Mystery
of the Paulding Light • Dowsing: Dubious and Discredited • Fatima
Miracle Claims All Wet • Uri Geller Revisited • Did Psychic Visions
Locate Missing California Boy? • Beware Mesmer Thieves! • Secrets of
Spectacularly Skewered Skin


Chapter Five UFOs 165
The Phantom Menace of UFO Revelation • The Mysterious Phoenix
Lights • The Mysterious, Invisible 'Rods'


Chapter Six HEALTH AND MEDICINE 175
Bodytalk: Boon or Bogus? • Exercising the Brain Gym • Kinoki Foot Pads
• Diving HeadOn Into Pseudoscience • Subliminal Advertising, Trumpian
and Otherwise • Freaky Feldenkrais • Measuring Near-Death Experience
• A 100C Grain of Truth to Homeopathy? • Battle Over the BMI • The
Mysterious Morgellons Malady • Childbirth-Natural or 'Unnatural'? •
Vegetable Oil or Snake Oil?: The Pseudoscience of “Oil Pulling” • The
Pseudoscience of Personalysis • Left Brain or Right Brain? • (and more)


Chapter Seven CONSPIRACIES 229
Sandy Hook School Shooting: The Adam Lanza Death Certificate Conspiracy
• Curious Contrails: Death From the Sky? • The Truth About the 9/11
Truthers • Is America a Sheeple Factory?


Chapter Eight SKEPTICISM 243
Legitimizing Woo • Just Asking Questions • Caught Between the Possible
and the Paranormal • Dealing With Believers in Skeptical Investigation •
Anomaly Hunting • Mystery Solved-According to Whom? • Paranormal
Qualifications