European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 5, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes Mav daily Magazine evidence of a poltergeist not at Paul Kurtz just threw the phone for the photo to show How easy it is to fake the profits from the Twilight zone up photo there is a fifth dimension beyond thut which is known to it is a dimension us vast us space and As timeless is it is the Middle ground Between Light and Between science and and it lies Between the pit of mans fears and the Summit of his this is the dimension of it is an area we cull the Twilight Rod Serling begin Delguercio United press International abominable Loch Ness the Bermuda Tri for tune Palm Faith this is the age of science belief in such paranormal Phenomena has grown rap idly in the United states in recent according to recent polls and people who keep track of such More newspapers than Ever carry astrology most publishing companies now offer books on the of a recent Survey of students at Hollins College in Vir for found that More than half of the student body believes in ghosts and mental Only one Quarter of College students Are thought to have believed in these things Only 10 years a Small band of prestigious authors and magicians is trying to counter this their ranks include Isaac the science fiction writer Francis co discoverer of Dias double Helix Carl the astronomer and noted and the eminent they belong to an organization called the committee for the scientific investigation of claims of the the committee is concerned that not Only Are the vast majority of these claims but they can be life threatening and undermine Public science the committee spreads its word through a quarterly Magazine called the sceptical were part science journal and part popular mag said Kendrick the Boston magazines Par time editor in chief and a full time science it turns out that in the overwhelmingly Large majority of cases when we apply this kind of the facts As originally presented dont pan says he realizes that his with its tiny circulation of cannot Hope to offset the in fluence of newspapers such As the National inquirer with a circulation of he Hopes his readership will spread its influence beyond its Small were not trying to convince our were trying to provide facts and then multiply the we have a lot of readers who Are writers and schol my View is that we want to reach a Large which bases its views on some semblance of the were not interested in reaching committed most wont be persuaded he the committee also has its own team of ghost so to whenever there is a burst of publicity about an unexplained event such As evidence for the Loch Ness monster or a haunted House Paul the groups founder and gathers a team of scientists and people skilled in detecting trickery to investigate the no one knows what is behind the increased belief in the although historical evidence indicates that when the world approached the end of the last millennium there was also in increased interest in the reaching the end of a thousand year period seems to stimulate people to think about the end of the say committee the sceptical inquirer recently published a study that showed pseudoscience flourishes in areas where there has been a decline in religious people who no longer believe in traditional religion Are searching for some sort of said Martin who wrote a column on mathematics for scientific american for almost 25 the paranormal provides a Way of believing in the supernatural without having to adopt a traditional religious Point of a decline of science education May also account for some of the without a Basic understanding of the Laws of nature people Are More easily taken says and theres its very profitable for publishers to do books about the paranormal and very profitable for to shows to Deal with the paranormal from a pro stand Gardner Book publishers Are doing the books because there is Public interest and that further stimulates Public the feedback from the Media keeps the Ball committee founder Kurtz says there Are very few publications or broadcast outlets not guilty of pandering to the the sceptical inquirer has attacked the new York times Magazine and Public broadcast Ings Nova for stories they have done on ufos and theres a disconcerting Lack of balance in the the Media plays up to the paranormal in a kind of he people Swallow it line and Ray a psychologist at the University of Ore believes Many people fall prey to claims of the paranormal because of the Way our minds the brain is constantly seeking clues to help it interpret the incomplete information it for most conversations Are full of incomplete sentences and thoughts that the mind fills in Fortune tellers rely on they often Tell their client that due to difficulties of language and comm they May not always understand the exact meaning that the Fortune Teller in these cases the client is to strive to reinterpret the message in terms of his own vocabulary and after the session the client remembers the not the original Fortune tellers also Tell people what they want to not what they think is the said the human mind is More willing to accept what it would like to rather than what evidence indicates is the in one psychologists gave a group of College students a detailed questionnaire and then made a detailed analysis of each they gave the students a copy of their customized analysis and a copy of a fake psychological sketch identical for everyone and asked them to pick which was fifty nine percent of the students thought the fake called a was More in the Spiel said some of your aspirations tend to be pretty at times you Are while at other times you Are Intro wary and you have found it unwise to be too Frank in revealing yourself to you Pride yourself on being an Independent thinker and do not accept others opinions without satisfactory sound familiar this Spiel was first used in 1948 and composed mostly from a newsstand astrology it is designed to apply to everyone but not seem that the psychologists found the spiels that work Best Are composed of 75 percent positive comments and 25 per cent to give the Spiel the positive comments must also be slightly More specific than the generalized negative imagination plays an important part in the which is often Why More creative poo pie Are easily Hyman