Post by PeterB on Jul 14, 2009 9:57:06 GMT -4
Well, I thought you all might be interested to learn how the Haunted Down Under show went.
In a word, prettydarngood!
Before the show started, I wasn't sure what its tone would be, and how welcome I'd be as a skeptic. I also wasn't sure how we'd be able to talk for 2 hours about spirit photography, specifically, the spirit photography of Debbie "Never Alone" Malone, and her claims that the photos represented "tangible evidence" of an afterlife. The panel on the show consisted of presenter Rusty O'Nhiall, his American assistant Lisa Phillips, an Australian medium called Christine Seger (?spelling), an American medium called Beth Brown, an American skeptic called Paul Tee (?spelling), and me.
Well, call me a psychic.
The target, er, I mean, the special guest, Debbie Malone, lasted 20 minutes before spitting the dummy and hanging up. What was most interesting was that the worst of her grilling was provided by one of the mediums on the panel. After Christine, Beth and Paul all explained some of the problems which can arise when using cameras, one of the mediums asked Malone what she meant by "tangible evidence". This is when Malone claimed she'd been ambushed, said she had more important things to do, and hung up.
After this, we had a wide-ranging discussion of all sorts of topics. Paul discussed the recent failure of a Danish psychic at James Randi's million dollar challenge, and I was then invited to explain the Australian Skeptics' challenge. We then talked about psychics supposedly assisting police in their investigations, focussing a little on Malone's claims to have helped solve the Ivan Milat case. Malone's claim on YouTube to be a complete skeptic was then dismantled, mostly by Rusty, who then also quoted a recent article from the West Australian newspaper (PANs would know where on Jay's web-site to look for mention of this newspaper!) in which the relatives of a murdered woman and the WA Police were both highly critical of Malone's claims, at one point saying that all Malone's revelations were information that was already made public.
Rusty then asked me to explain my skeptical journey, during which explanation I mentioned the Mystery Investigators web-site, run by a skeptic colleague, and an article I wrote for it about the abysmal TV series "Psychic Investigators". After that we talked about evidence for psychic abilities, and both Paul and I emphasised the point that if psychic abilities were ever proven, that wouldn't be the slightest concern to skeptics. It became interesting when Rusty turned the question onto Christine, and asked what she'd do if it was ever proven that psychic powers didn't exist; she actually sounded quite defensive, and suggested that nothing would change.
Throughout the show, I kept saying that I didn't rule out the possibility of psychic powers, merely that they hadn't yet been clearly demonstrated. At the end, I warned listeners to be careful about the evidence which others presented about their claims, as people can be mistaken or malicious, and also that skeptics weren't about attacking all ideas, just the bad ones.
Anyway, after the show, the other panel members congratulated me on my politeness, and Lisa Phillips asked me if I'd be interested in taking part in a regular show with them, about every 6 to 8 weeks. Hooray! A win today, I think, for the skeptics.
In a word, prettydarngood!
Before the show started, I wasn't sure what its tone would be, and how welcome I'd be as a skeptic. I also wasn't sure how we'd be able to talk for 2 hours about spirit photography, specifically, the spirit photography of Debbie "Never Alone" Malone, and her claims that the photos represented "tangible evidence" of an afterlife. The panel on the show consisted of presenter Rusty O'Nhiall, his American assistant Lisa Phillips, an Australian medium called Christine Seger (?spelling), an American medium called Beth Brown, an American skeptic called Paul Tee (?spelling), and me.
Well, call me a psychic.
The target, er, I mean, the special guest, Debbie Malone, lasted 20 minutes before spitting the dummy and hanging up. What was most interesting was that the worst of her grilling was provided by one of the mediums on the panel. After Christine, Beth and Paul all explained some of the problems which can arise when using cameras, one of the mediums asked Malone what she meant by "tangible evidence". This is when Malone claimed she'd been ambushed, said she had more important things to do, and hung up.
After this, we had a wide-ranging discussion of all sorts of topics. Paul discussed the recent failure of a Danish psychic at James Randi's million dollar challenge, and I was then invited to explain the Australian Skeptics' challenge. We then talked about psychics supposedly assisting police in their investigations, focussing a little on Malone's claims to have helped solve the Ivan Milat case. Malone's claim on YouTube to be a complete skeptic was then dismantled, mostly by Rusty, who then also quoted a recent article from the West Australian newspaper (PANs would know where on Jay's web-site to look for mention of this newspaper!) in which the relatives of a murdered woman and the WA Police were both highly critical of Malone's claims, at one point saying that all Malone's revelations were information that was already made public.
Rusty then asked me to explain my skeptical journey, during which explanation I mentioned the Mystery Investigators web-site, run by a skeptic colleague, and an article I wrote for it about the abysmal TV series "Psychic Investigators". After that we talked about evidence for psychic abilities, and both Paul and I emphasised the point that if psychic abilities were ever proven, that wouldn't be the slightest concern to skeptics. It became interesting when Rusty turned the question onto Christine, and asked what she'd do if it was ever proven that psychic powers didn't exist; she actually sounded quite defensive, and suggested that nothing would change.
Throughout the show, I kept saying that I didn't rule out the possibility of psychic powers, merely that they hadn't yet been clearly demonstrated. At the end, I warned listeners to be careful about the evidence which others presented about their claims, as people can be mistaken or malicious, and also that skeptics weren't about attacking all ideas, just the bad ones.
Anyway, after the show, the other panel members congratulated me on my politeness, and Lisa Phillips asked me if I'd be interested in taking part in a regular show with them, about every 6 to 8 weeks. Hooray! A win today, I think, for the skeptics.