Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal

Notes

~oteS Chapter 3. Magicians Among the Spirits 1. I used principles and evidence detailed in my books Pen, Ink and Evidence (1990), Detecting Forgery (1996), and Crime Science (1999). The scrapbook consists of fifty-six leaves (112 pages) of unwatermarked, machine-made "wove" paper about 6 5/ 8 by 15 1/4 inches high, bearing ledger-style vertical rulings ; it is bound with pasteboard covers (having marbled-paper exteriors and leather spine and corners) in the manner ofmany mid-nineteenth-century"blank books" (see Nickell 1990, 164). The dated clippings and writings are consistent with their time periods, ranging from 1856 to 1910. 2. Another clipping-annotated"1861/Adrian, Mich."-notes that on January 26, Ira E. Davenport wed "Miss Augusta Green of this city." Chapter 8. A Study in Clairvoyance 3. Mr. B gave readings for three women, offering about a dozen assertions for each in a rambling style but scoring only one or two "hits" with each. Even those were dubious: for example, he told one woman, ''I'm getting some sickness vibes with you, as ifyou had been in the hospital not too long ago, had been through something that came close to being an operation." He also said he saw a brother. She credited him with success by switching the focus from herself, saying (to applause), ''I've a brother who had an operation, and I've been in his hospitals lately." 4. Dahmer's grisly crimes came to light with his arrest on July 22, 1991; he was sentenced February 17, 1992 (see Croteau and Worcester 1993). Notes Chapter 9. The Kennedy Curse 5. This contrast in approaches is illustrated with regard to the Shroud of Turin in my "Science vs. 'Shroud Science;" Skeptical Inquirer 22.4 (July/August 1998): 20-22. Chapter 13. The Silver Lake Serpent 6. A native American named John John was cited as relating how, long before, two members ofhis tribe who had camped on the lake shore were frightened by the appearance of a monstrous serpent. The Senecas have a legend of Djo-nih-gwa-donh or the Great Horned Serpent. (See Jesse J. Cornplanter, Legends ofthe Longhouse, New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1938, 73-80.) 7. "Boniface" refers to the landlord in Irish dramatist George Farquhar's comedy, The Beaux' Strategem (1707). The term has come to mean "a hotel proprietor ; innkeeper." (See Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd ed. New York: Dorset & Baber, 1983.) 8. This appears to be a variant of "nigger in the woodpile;' an offensive expression referring to some hidden factor that has an adverse effect on something . (See E. M. Kirkpatrick and C. M. Schwarz, eds., The Wordsworth Dictionary ofIdioms, Ware, U.K.: Wordsworth Reference, 1993, 240.) Chapter 15. Paranormal Lincoln 9. Among other implicitly paranormal claims relating to Lincoln are the "mysterious coincidences" that are often claimed between him and President John F. Kennedy. See Martin Gardner, The Magic Numbers ofDr. Matrix (Buffalo , N.Y.: Prometheus, 1985) and Bruce Martin, "Coincidence: Remarkable or Random?" Skeptical Inquirer 22(5) (September/October 1998): 23-28. Chapter 28. The Gypsies' "Great Trick" 10. Other sources suggest the term may derive from hokey-pokey, an alteration of hocus-pocus. Chapter 31 . The Cryptic Stone 11. The carved grooves also contain metallic scrape marks and traces of what appears to be black paint. 317 'f' 318 If' Notes Chapter 37. The Secrets of Oak Island 12. Although the presence of coconut fiber on the island is unexplained, similar fiber has been reported on Sable Island, some two hundred miles to the east and the site of numerous shipwrecks. Chapter 42. Spirit Paintings 13. Spirit photography was reportedly "discovered" by Boston photographer William H. Mumler, who noticed "extras" on recycled glass plates from which previous images had not been entirely removed. In 1862, Mumler began producing spirit photographs for credulous sitters but was later exposed when some of the entities were recognized as living city residents (Nickell 1995, 31). Chapter 43. Watching the Spirits Paint 14. If it is true, as earlier stated, that the picture seemingly appeared on the "canvas" nearest the sitter, all that would have been needed was for the pair of panels to have been casually reversed as they were taken down from the frame and carried to the sitter. 15. I have wondered whether the Bangses might have produced a picture in "real time," working on the rearmost panel (reversed for...