Monday night I was flipping through the channels when I came across the daily news and information program on the Discovery Channel Canada, Daily Planet. This week, they have a special series called Daily Planet Goes British. They have, as the title suggests, filmed a week's worth of episodes in Britain, concentrating on all things British, and scientific.
The introduction mentioned the haunted Tower of London, a local nightclub called Hex, also allegedly haunted, and a psychic demonstrating the bending of nails. Much rolling of eyes ensued, along with repeated flipping of channels, but, as nothing else seemed to be on, I settled back on Discovery to see what they would make of it all.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The nail bending 'psychic' was none other than English magician, and noted skeptic Tony Youens, who was participating in a psychology graduate student's study of perception and the power of suggestion. The 'haunted' nightclub was investigated by Parapsychologist Dr. Ciaran O'Keeffe, who recently gained notoriety for revealing how out to lunch was medium Derek Acorah of the British TV show Most Haunted. As was to be expected, entirely mundane explanations for the haunting phenomena were found.
And as for the Tower of London, they talked a lot about all of the alleged sightings there, but admitted that they hadn't seen anything even remotely ghostly while they were there.
In this age of unbridled credulity, it was extremely refreshing to see a TV program espousing skepticism and critical thinking.
tags:Skepticism,News
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3 comments:
Hey, Paul ..... I visited the Tower of London this past July, and the guide talked quite a bit about the creepy happenings in that old place. Believe me, with some of the stuff that went on there, it wouldn't surprise me that there might be some "unfinished business." Tina http://journals.aol.com/onemoretina/Ridealongwithme
Dear Paul,
ah the power of sugestion is strong! And attitude! I agree... I alos think that our ability to see could be vastly improved
natalie
That's one of the few shows that I watch with anything approaching regularity. And the rebroadcast comes on just after Dex's bedtime; yay for me. Though Amy, invariably every time, mutters frequent comments on how Natasha looks like a horse.
Simon
http://simianfarmer.com
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