Bownessie, oh Bownessie
Rather oddly (some would say), the Bownessie lake monster has made the BBC news website here and here. Not because new ‘evidence’ has emerged, not because people have finally accepted that both myself and Dr Ian Winfield are correct in our guesses that it isn’t a monster but is in fact an animal or fish being misidentified, but because… well… I don’t know actually.
I have my theories though but I’ll come onto those later…
The BBC report focusses upon two pieces of the so-called evidence that a monster may be in the lake.
The first is the experience that local hotelier Thomas Knoblett had in 2009 while swimming in the lake. A one-foot-tall wake hit him when there was nothing in the lake that could have caused it (such as a passing boat or similar). Knoblett says in the video on the BBC website that he also felt something hit him as it passed. I’d never heard this part of his testimony before.
As Mr Bob Dezon, the ghost guru boffin who taught me most of what I know about investigating weird stuff said, if something was big enough to create a one-foot wake as it moved through the water, it would be big enough to break ribs and more if it were to hit a human swimming in the water.
Let’s not speculate though, eh?
The second piece of evidence they focus upon is the photograph taken by Mr Linden Adams in 2007 that allegedly shows an unidentified thing said to be ‘four meters long’ in the water.
The report also features Dr Ian Winfield who explained once again that it was probably just fish or animals being misidentified. Dr Winfield must get fed up with having to repeat himself over and over and over…
However he is only a Dr who studies the ecology of the lake every month and has been doing so from 1990. What does he know?
At first I found it very confusing that the report focussed upon two really old pieces of evidence that can’t really be taken at face value.
Then I remembered my brief discussion with Deborah Moyce, the PA for “psychic” Dean ‘Midas’ Maynard who conducted some ‘expedeitions’ on the lake in search of the monster. They had refused to share their findings with me because, and I quote Deborah here:
““I have spoken to Dean about your request and have to inform you that due to discussions being held with a third-party we are unable to give you this information at the moment as it may be used during the publishing of a book later on in the year.”
Now, I’m not psychic , right, but I reckon that this recent coverage on the BBC might be related to Mr Maynard’s monster book. We’ll see…
To read my extensive report on the Bownessie monster click here.
pic credit: Tom Gauld
Is there anybody there?
In January I spoke for the Centre For Inquiry about ghosts, ghost hunting and ghost hunters. The CFI have since made the video of the talk available and I have embedded it below.
This was a brand new talk I hadn’t delivered before, there was also an issue with the sound and I was also suffering from a throat infection. Apart from that though I don’t think it is too bad at all. (Even if I may say so myself…)
Following the talk I made several posts. I clarified my points about the SPR and Ethics here and here. Also, the EVP recordings didn’t play well during the talk so I made them available on my website here.
As a side note, I recently interviewed Dave Wood, the chairman of ASSAP, and CJ Romer, an investigator I have a lot of respect for, about the ethics of ghost hunting for the Righteous Indignation Podcast. You can listen online here. It ties in with the points I made within my talk quite nicely.
Once again, Thank you to the CFI and the BHA for inviting me to talk, and for being such friendly, gracious hosts.
The Animal Panel at QED
It has recently been announced that I am going to be speaking on ‘The Animal Panel’ at the QED Conference in March 2012. This is the second QED conference and will be the second time I’ve spoken on a panel for them and I’m very excited to be doing so. I will be speaking alongside Deborah Hyde and Joe Nickell (who both have a lot more experience than I do)
I am quite a new comer, when it comes to researching monsters (in any form). I’ve had my fair share of experiences researching the ‘beasts’ that are said to roam the English countryside and have an obsessive knowledge of all big cat sightings in the South of England because of the fear I developed after a big cat scare in the village I grew up in.
'The Hilperton cat' that started it all off
I was so petrified of the idea that a big cat could be in the village of Hilperton that I lived in until the age of eighteen that I would regularly have nightmares about it (and I still do).
My fear is mainly because I had two ‘cat’ experiences of my own at the age of seven that I rarely tell anyone outside of my family about. Maybe I shall share them with the panel? They still make me shudder to this very day.
When I first started learning about the rational causes for these reports and experiences it was people like Joe Nickell who inspired me to stop hiding under my duvet, and to go looking for the facts. Once you start rummaging it can be very hard to stop. Yet I also know just how real these scary experiences can seem because of my own scary experiences.
Monsters, they might not always be real, but they’re still scary. I am truly excited to be speaking as part of the Cryptozoology panel, you can find more details here on the QED website.
Brian McClinton thinks I’m trying to censor people?
Brian McClinton from the Humanist Associatio of Northern Ireland today claimed that the ASA adjudication against HOTS Bath was wrong and potentially a freedom of speech issue, during an interview with the BBC’s ’everyday ethics’ programme (you can listen directly here)
I find this extremely disappointing. The premise of the complaint was nothing to do with religion, or the right to be able to express your beliefs as a religious person. The complaint was about specific claims being made about specific illnesses being cured by faith healing – it was about the false hope this could cause. Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s really quite simple.
It is illegal to claim you can heal or cure cancer. Whether you are Muslim, atheist, christian, jewish, Jedi or catholic. It doesn’t matter what you beliefs are, you cannot make those claims.
The complaint was not about the group being religious, it was not about what they personally believed, it was about a specific claim they were making, and how they were making it.
I’m not entirely sure how many times I will have to repeat this until people get it, and I am entirely sure that some people never will get it because of some sort of victim complex.
As I have posted elsewhere to people who claim I am trying to shut them up because of what they believe, I’m not stating you shouldn’t pray for those who are ill or suffering, just don’t tell strangers your god can cure their cancer. That is what I have a problem with, and if a fellow humanist doesn’t get that, then shame on them.
Healing claims being made across the UK
I didn’t know that ‘Healing on the Streets’ (HOTS) was as widespread a group in the UK as it is. I did a search on Facebook a day or so ago and found dozens of branches of HOTS who operate in their local areas. It turns out that they may be making similar claims to those the Bath group were, that the ASA ruled were in breach of CAP codes.
SkepticBarista brought my attention to an encounter he has had today with the ‘Healing on the Streets’ group in Loughborough. He says:
Just seen these people out on the streets of Loughborough. As far as I know they plan on turning up on 1st Sat of every month. A woman gave me a leaflet with healing claims (Cancer, addictions, blindness, deafness + others).
I had see the ASA adjudication. She tried to take the leaflet back (Failed!) saying that their solicitor had said it was OK as they had some different text at the bottom. Checked with the leaflet I was given before Xmas, it’s all the same.
The text is certainly not a disclaimer and the whole leaflet will be with sent to the ASA.
It’s a bit worrying that these claims are still being made, and that the groups solicitor seems to think it’s ok. The ASA asdjustication stated the Bath advert must not reappear in it’s current form, and as you can clearly see from the image comparisons below, they are very similar with near identical claims being made.
I think it is worth people keeping an eye out for these claims being made in their local areas. You can easily submit a complaint to the ASA if you think claims like the ones that were adjudicated against are being made. Whether it’s Christians, Jews, Atheists, Muslims or Jedi’s making the claim – the claims are still irresponsible, and my complaint to the ASA about these claims was successful. I think there is a bigger impact to be had (& remember, you don’t have to ‘come out’ as the complainant as I did).
The ASA adjudication states:
HOTS offered to amend their ads to state “We believe God can heal” and “See God heal the sick” or “Pray for the sick”, to include the words “We believe” in any references to healing, to include a prominent reference to medical treatment on their website, and to remove the leaflet from their website.
However, the ASA did not find this a sufficient adjustment, stating:
We acknowledged that HOTS had offered to make amendments to the ads, and to remove the leaflet from their website. However, we considered that their suggested amendments were not sufficient for the ads to comply with the CAP Code.
I’m not suggesting people should only be targeting HOTS groups. There are other individuals and groups who make dangerous and misleading claims too. In the past I have complained about psychic surgeons and homeopaths too (proof surely I’m not out to target the religious?) but this is a group who make their presence well know and, in the fact of the adjudication, are still blatantly making claims they probably ought not to be.
Bath Chronicle write about my complaint
This morning, the Bath Chronicle have written a piece covering the complaint I made to the ASA about ‘Healing on the Streets’ Bath. They mentioned that I blog here and I am sure many people may find my blog as a result.
I would ask that anyone who does come here as a result to read my account of why I made the complaint by clicking here.
Anybody wishing to get in touch with me can do so through the ‘Contact’ page here.
Thank you
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