(Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com

QAnon Is Just a Warmed Over Witch Panic — and It’s Also Very Dangerous (2020)

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This article was written in Oct 2020, prior to the conspiracy theory motivated insurrection at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. It was originally published in Skeptic magazine (Vol. 25, No. 4, 2020) and then online at Skeptic.com. An archived version is available here.

As 2020 nears its end and the COVID-19 pandemic continues, a rapidly growing far right conspiracy theory increasingly dominates headlines. QAnon is a crowd-sourced online mythology inspired by cryptic anonymous internet posts appearing since 2017 from an unknown figure (or group) known as “Q” or “Q Clearance Patriot.” It is an expanded successor to the debunked 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which claimed that Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats operated a child sex trafficking ring under a Washington, DC pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong. QAnon is also rooted in much older mythologies about sinister secret societies of Satan worshippers, witches, or Jews. Read more

Skull Island, Canada (2008)

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This article was originally published in Skeptic magazine (Vol. 14, No. 1, 2008) then online at Skeptic.com. An archived version is available here.

A still from the film King Kong, with inset image of a sketch made from alleged Cadborosaurus witness Kemp’s description many months after his sighting. King Kong © 1933 RKO Pictures Inc., © 2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

The 1933 and 2005 versions of King Kong share many rich details, and a moral. There are those who suggest that moral must be something about the power of love, but I suggest the moral is this:

“Never, ever go to Skull Island.” Read more

The Immortal Lily The Pink (2007)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts , , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on Dec 12, 2007. An archived version is available here.

Lydia Pinkham, as she appeared on an original antique advertising card, circa 1880.

The 100th anniversary of the FDA marks a milestone in medicine before which cranks and charlatans ran amok

This year has represented a little-remarked-upon major milestone in American medicine: the 100th anniversary of active Federal regulation of food and drugs. The Pure Food and Drug Act came into effect on January 1st, 1907 — the first step toward the creation of the modern Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a step forward from the dangerous anarchy of the patent medicine era.

For the first time, drug manufacturers were required by law to disclose the dosage and purity of their products (including, for the first time, disclosing whether they contained poison, alcohol, or narcotics such as heroin or cocaine). They were also required to refrain from deliberately lying about their products, and from fraudulently substituting a claimed ingredient for some other ingredient.

Bizarrely, such laws were needed. Read more

Make Wikipedia a Science-Based Resource (2009)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on July 22, 2009. An archived version is available here. 2025 NOTE: As Wikipedia is dynamic, I’ve updated the Wikipedia links below to point to Wayback Machine archive versions of those pages as they existed around the date when this article was published. If you are interested in becoming a Wikipedia editor in 2025 or later, please review the relevant current rules.

Is it Worth Paying Attention to Wikipedia?

Yes, it absolutely is. This is a shining opportunity for the skeptical movement. Wikipedia is among the most important public sources for almost any scientific, pseudoscientific, or paranormal topic. A Wikipedia article is almost always the number one Google hit for that subject.

Amazingly, any grassroots skeptic can make responsible improvements to that source at any time, easily and for free. Read more

Shroud of Turin: Redux (2011)

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This article was originally published in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on Dec 28, 2011. An archived version is available here.

Skeptics sometimes express impatience with discussion of seemingly quaint paranormal claims. (“What, Bigfoot—again?”) But the great lesson of paranormal history is that it is a wheel: no matter how passé or fringe a claim may sound, it is almost guaranteed to come ‘round again, in the same form or in some novel mutation.

In the last few days, global headlines have resurrected a nostalgic case from my childhood, just in time for Christmas: “The Shroud of Turin Wasn’t Faked, Italian Experts Say.” The cutting edge of yesterday—today! Even in my youth, this mystery was centuries old. Read more

Bigfoot, Big Con: A Review of The Making of Bigfoot (2004)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts , , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on April 12, 2004. An archived version is available here.

When Greg Long’s 2004 book The Making of Bigfoot arrived on my desk, I knew it was from Prometheus Books (which is a pretty good start), and about Bigfoot, but nothing else. Having heard none of the buzz about it, I was merely hoping it would prove to be a decent resource for one of my own articles on the sub ject. Then, when I realized that the entire 476-page book was exclusively about the late Roger Patterson’s infamous 1967 “Bigfoot” film, my heart sank. 476 pages on that tired old chestnut? Read more

There Be Monsters: A Review of Lake Monster Mysteries (2007)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on June 13, 2007. An archived version is available here.

Opening Ben Radford and Joe Nickell’s newest book, Lake Monster Mysteries, I was already pretty sure I’d like it. I admire other work by these authors, and I adore the notion of antediluvian leviathans sliding undetected through the world’s lakes, ponds, and swimming holes. (My role at Skeptic is similar to Radford’s role at the Skeptical Inquirer: go-to cryptozoology guy.)

A tremendous number of lakes are reputedly haunted by a wild proliferation of monsters. “According to surveys and research I and other cryptozoologists have conducted,” notes Loren Coleman in his Foreword to this book, “more than a thousand lakes around the world harbor large, unknown animals unrecognized by conventional zoology.”

Lake Monster Mysteries is a solid survey of this topic, and every bit as good as I expected. All your superstar favorites are here, from Nessie to Ogopogo, plus a satisfying sample of lesser-known creatures such as Memphré, Cressie, and the Silver Lake monster. Each receives its own snappy little one-chapter treatment, written in an engagingly warm and straightforward style. Read more

New Video from Loch Ness: Commentary (2007)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on June 13, 2007. An archived version is available here.

The Loch Ness Monster has hit the mainstream news media once again in a video shot by Gordon T. Holmes. Daniel Loxton takes a skeptical look at the video and provides his commentary. Daniel is the editor and illustrator of Junior Skeptic magazine and Skeptic magazine’s resident expert on cryptozoology.

Illustration by Daniel Loxton [later published inside Abominable Science!]


It’s strange what turns out to be newsworthy. As a rule, mainstream news media are all too happy to ignore such traditional skeptics topics as lake monsters; indeed, it is increasingly the case that the dedicated skeptics press has little interest in monsters and things that go bump in the night.

Yet, every once in a while, a cryptozoology story hits the mainstream press with a surprisingly big splash. This is certainly the case with new footage shot by one Gordon Holmes at Loch Ness, which is purported to show Nessie in action. This video of something-or-other on the water has garnered coverage from virtually all the major news providers of the English-speaking world (including CNN, CBS, FOX, BBC, ABC, NBC, MSNBC — even Forbes). Read more

James Randi, Skeptic Extraordinaire (2020)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts , , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published in Skeptic magazine (US), and in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on Oct 24, 2020. An archived version is available here. (I submitted the piece with a placeholder title. This title was chosen by the editors.)

The skeptical world has lost a towering figure in James Randi, stage magician, lightning rod, and co-founder of the modern skeptical movement. In 1976, Randi joined philosopher Paul Kurtz, astronomer Carl Sagan, psychologist Ray Hyman, science writer Martin Gardner, and other motivated science advocates and critics of fringe claims to establish North America’s first formal skeptical organization, then known as CSICOP—the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (now called CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry).

Randi may be the single most influential person in the history of skepticism from the 1970s through the first decade of the 21st century. His classic book Flim-Flam! is a defining text for scientific skepticism. He pioneered many of skepticism’s investigative techniques, and many of the arguments and attitudes of skeptical activists. While much of the skeptical literature consists of historical sleuthing and critical analysis, Randi was known for his distinct activist approach to confronting paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. His dramatic public exposé of televangelist Peter Popoff remains one of the clearest modern examples of a fringe proponent unmasked by evidence gathered in the field. Most skeptics would describe Randi as a powerful inspiration for their own work, myself included. Read more

The Remarkable Mr. Rinn (2013)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on Jan 30, 2013. An archived version is available here.

Portrait of Joseph Rinn against bookcases

Joseph F. Rinn. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)

In recent months, I’ve been digging into the forgotten history of early skeptical thinkers, authors, and activists. I’ve acquired and explored dozens of books from the nineteenth century and the first three quarters of the twentieth (the period prior to the 1976 formation of the CSICOP, which is usually considered the birth of the fully modern skeptical movement). From this research I’m developing a series of articles that include a recent Skepticblog post on the roots of the slogan “extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence,” my upcoming Junior Skeptic article on two hard core skeptical investigators who happened to be women, and a chapter-length project on the scope of scientific skepticism (and why it matters).

Today, I’d like to share a little about Joseph F. Rinn, a leading media skeptic who was most active in New York City in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Though his classic volume Sixty Years of Psychical Research is rarely consulted today (and a little pricey), it remains the deepest and most important source on the skeptical scene during the 1890–1950 period.
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